ASUS P4B533 is JUNK!

[ar15moto]

Well, here is my sad tale of woe.
I have saved up my coin to buy a new system. I read on Toms Hardware that the ASUS P4B533-V with the 845G chipset was a good deal. I figure ok, but I'll go for the VM vice the V. I bought 2 sticks of PC2700ram and a INTEL 2.26 533 chip. Everything arrives and I figure I'll have it up and running in no time. WRONG! First I loaded up my mule hard drive with a fresh copy of WIN 98 SE on my old ABIT BH6 PIII 700 set up. It worked fine. I then swapped out the old stuff for the new stuff. Right off the bat the system crashed. It didn't even load all the way. Yes, I set up the BIOS and CMOS correctly, I am not stupid. After 5 attempts I was able to get it to boot into windows. All was good except it was not able to find a PCI universal serial bus. No where to be found, not on the ASUS CD and not on the WIN98 CD. So I figure WTF, I'll go with the flow.
Then I wanted to use my computer (imagine that), so I loaded all of the ASUS CD software. Well, I tried anyways. The video drivers won't load, they hang up right at the very last part of the load and it gives me a message to contact "tech support". How nice. Oh yea, when I try to load the Intel Application Accelerator I get an error message telling me that "this program only works with INTEL chipset motherboards. WTF? The 845G is not an INTEL chipset?
OK, I figure I'll load up the ole modem and get on the Nvida, oh wait, I didn't tell you? I have an Nvida MX2-400 AGP video card. There is an AGP port on the card. Hmmmm, you would think that the AGP card would work with the motherboard. Well, you would be wrong. It won't load up the drivers. It locks up when I boot using the Nvida card. Oh yea, I downloaded the latest drivers for the card from Nvida. No luck there. So now I am stuck with a computer that has the screen settings on BLIND and I can't use my AGP Nvida card. Oh yea, did I mention that the Logitech USB mouse went completly apeshit when I tried to use it? It was openening up everthing that the cursor scrolled across. Nice, very nice.
Oh yea, the modem. Well, after 12 tries I finally was able to convince the motherboard that there really was a modem installed. HOWEVER (you knew that was coming), it seems there was a conflict with it and some great unknown "OTHER DEVICE". For the life of me I was unable to find out what it was. It took another round of telling the motherboard that there was no problem and the modem finally did work.
OK, now you are thinking I should have used a slicked hard drive to install with the new system. Ahh grasshopper, I am getting there. I pulled out my other mule hard drive and slicked that one up too. I even let Windows format it. Windows loaded just fine untill the last screen came up. Then I got the blue screen of death. Nice. Reboot and BSOD. Again and again and again. So I reslick the hard drive and try again. Nope. Same thing. So I go back and reinstall the first hard drive and reinstall windows on top of it. That works great, except now I have lost my CD drive. And of course on the last reboot it askes me for some info from the WINDOWS CD. Hey dipshit, you took away my CD drive, so how do you expect me to get you the information you want!
I have flashed the BIOS, I have downloaded the latest and greatest, nothing works.
Now it's 6 hours later and I have had it.
I have owned a Tyan board, I hated it.
I owned an IWill board, I hated that.
I owned an INTEL board, I really hated that.
The only board I have never had a problem with was my ABIT BH6.
This ASUS motherboard is the biggets POS I have ever dealt with.
If I didn't have $108 invested in it (RMA is coming) I would gladly take it out to my gun range and blast a few 12 guage slugs in it to teach it a lesson.
It taught me a lesson, and that is to never again buy ASUS.

 

[bluzbrother]

first off, WIN 98 sucks
Second try installing your devices one at a time... WIN98 required me to move pci cards around to avoid IRQ conflicts in the past with other boards. I have a P4B533 and after the first 30 minutes of testing all the bios settings (was very iffy on POST at first) the board has been rock solid and reliable for the past 2 months. Oh, why don't you get a real operating system like Win2k or WinXP?

AOL-For people who like to pay extra for their SPAM

 

[le_grande_banane]

Money well spent for my Asus P4B533-EAL IMHO...
Perhaps, you have been hasty or just not patient enough.
First of all... I hope you read your user's guide first... remember RTFM = Read The FRIENDLY Manual... saves a lot of grief.
Secondly, Win 98 SE, is I am afraid to say, getting a bit long in the tooth.
I have both Win 98 and Win XP dual bootable on my system.
The problem with the PCI USB is to do with the fact that USB 2.0 has only been supported by Micro$erf in Windows XP and not Win 98 (so far)... I bet you never bothered to go to Micro$erf's KnowledgeBase... nah that would have been too easy...

This board has been wonderful, despite a few hiccups, and it runs sweet. Most of the time I have spent on it has been to get the lastest drivers etc for all my peripherals because, not everthing has been supported by Win XP. This is a legacy we ALL have when have bits and pieces of various vintages. Yes, even my mobo with it's new software and drivers etc. were only a few weeks old and I have since updated them, and I am not talking about the BIOS.

I hope this helps... With computers, I learnt a long time ago, that one needs to develop a "Type B- or Type C+" personality, because having a "Type Ä" personality which you appear to own, will only bring tears before bed-time.

Have a nice day...

et tu Brute


I surf the internet with a Commodore 64 - Just watch that baby go!

 

[Crashman]

First I loaded up my mule hard drive with a fresh copy of WIN 98 SE on my old ABIT BH6 PIII 700 set up. It worked fine. I then swapped out the old stuff for the new stuff. Right off the bat the system crashed.

LMAO! And you blame the board? Hmmm

OK, it IS possible to transfer a drive from one system to another in many situations, BUT, if you want a clean detection of all the new devices, you have to go into Safe Mode and delete ALL devices from Device Manager. And you have to uninstall ALL installed drivers. Nice eh?

Somebody said 98SE sux, well they suck, you can't even use this workaround with XP!

In either situation you are best off to run the new installation ON THE NEW SYSTEM. As for RMA'ing the board, it sounds like you're one of those turds who blame everyone else for problems you cause yourself, then drive the prices of everything <b>I</b> purchase through your bogus RMA's.

Oh, the EASIEST and CLEANEST thing to do is format the drive, Copy the Win98 directory from the CD to the hard drive in DOS mode by typing "md C:\WIN98" and then "copy d:\win98 c:\win98" assuming D is the letter assigned to your CD drive. Then run settup from the C:\Win98 directory instead of the CD, and you'll have access to all the needed setup files before your IDE controller is detected.

If you copy your other drivers to the C drive in the same manner, you can set the whole thing up without worrying about what order they get detected in or where the CD is.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[Black_Cat]

I was juggling knives today and cut some of my fingers off. Those damn knives!

To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.

 

[Black_Cat]

I am not stupid

I beg to differ. However, you seem like you are in a bit of a quandary and I'm always willing to help the handicapped. First off, calm down. Although it may very well be a bad board, let's not jump to conclusions so fast. Like Columbo, we must consider ourselves detectives and rule out all possible suspects.

Whenever you put a system together you should always start with the bare minimum. Mobo, RAM, and video card. That's it. Don't worry about modems or anything else. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I have an adequate power supply?
2. Are both my sticks of RAM good?
3. Are all of the jumper settings correct?
4. Are all of the cables in good condition and fit snuggly?
5. Is the CPU running cool enough?
6. Should I really be trying to chew gum and work on a pc at the same time?

If you can safely rule out all of the above common problems, then maybe it is a bad board. It happens to all of us. I've RMA'd boards from just about every manufacturer including Asus. It happens sometimes. These things are very delicate and get bounced around on their long journeys to get to your spastic little hands.

To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.

 

[ar15moto]

Well, today was another day.
First off, WinBolwz 98 is SUPPOSED to work with this motherboard and CPU combo.

If you think that 2000 or XP are "real operating systems" then I feel for you.

I did load up a freshly slicked (fdisked and formated) hard drive with a fresh install of Win 98. I also did the same with a copy of WinBlowz XP Home. Nadda, it locked up solid too.

Oh, I am supposed to READ the manual that came with the board? And here I thought it was to start fires with. I wonder what's up with the on-line support and the stuff on the CD I read too. The board is all set up just like it is supposed to be according to the manual, CD and on-line files.

So I read that it could be the power supply or the memory. I went to the only computer store open on a Sunday and I borrowed (to the tune of $212.000) a couple of sims of memory that were tested on an MSI board plus a new 350 watt power supply.

Took those home and installed them, no difference. Slicked a hard drive, fresh install of XP (so there) and it ceashed again.

Oh yea, when I loaded the fresh install I used the on board video, sound and lan cards. I didn't install any of my extra stuff.

According to the "RTFM" it states: "Download the USB 2.0 driver from Microsuck. You must install the driver before you can use the USB 2.0." Accordingly, since I am not using USB 2.0 at this time I don't need it.

BlackCat, not above me, just BeLOW me.

When I returned the memory and the power supply I "borrowed" I took in the motherboard and the memory. The guy at the shop pulled out his mule hard drive with Winblowz XP on it, it crashed right away too. He tried to load up a fresh hard drive with both 98 and XP, they both crashed. It's the board.

Too bad about your fingers. Good thing you don't own guns, instead of lopping off those fingers you probably would have shot through the floor and killed the neighbors baby in the crib.

Just a thought.

Thanks for the help. Have a nice day. Now go away.

 

[jlanka]

If you think that 2000 or XP are "real operating systems" then I feel for you.

OK, I'll bite. What do you consider a "REAL" operating system???

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Black_Cat]

So you got a bad board. Join the club. As I said before, it happens. To vilify Asus because you got one bad board is unjust.

To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.

 

[upec]

I agree. If you install a new motherboard and new CPU then it is better to reinstall Windows because the Windows needs a different HAL.

 

[upec]

I think it is not a bad board. He just need to installed his OS.

 

[Cooj]

Keep your hostility and frustration to yourself. Obviously your board (if what you say is true) is a blip and doesn't happen except for those lucky few. So quit whining and complaining and disagreeing with everyone who's offering help.

Next time keep it to yourself and don't bother people who are just trying to help.

Cooj

I am ignorant no more!

 

[upec]

Windows 2000 is a lot more stable than Windows 98. When I was using Windows 98 I need to reboot my computer at least once a day but with Windows 2000 I can run my system for a few weeks without reboot my system.

 

[Crashman]

Ran mine on 98SE for two months without a reboot. In fact I couldn't reboot becuase it would have interupted a program that took two months to run.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

Hmm, you don't want to get the wrong HAL, especially if you're on a space ship, it might turn against you.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>