ASUS A7N8X FAQ - READ BEFORE POSTING [Updated 23/5/05]
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ASUS A7N8X FAQ - READ BEFORE POSTING [Updated 23/5/05]
by xlr8shun » Tue Dec 31, 2002 10:53 pm
ASUS A7N8X MODEL FAQ.
REMEMBER FOR AUDIO PROBLEMS THERE IS AN AUDIO FORUM AND AUDIO FAQ
GENERAL INFORMATION
Q. Which vendors are shipping the ASUS A7N8X Rev 2?
Q. What is the difference between the ASUS A7N8X, the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe, and the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe GOLD?
A. The ASUS A7N8X doesn’t include SoundStorm, only has 1 Ethernet port, doesn't have Firewire, doesn’t have SATA, doesn’t include the game port with extra USB ports on a breakout board, and does not include ASUS POST Reporter. The Deluxe model is the same as the regular model except it boasts a full featured MCP-T including SoundStorm, Firewire, USB 2.0, Dual LAN, and SATA with RAID 0/1 support. The Deluxe GOLD model is the exact same as the Deluxe model but comes with InterVideo WinCinema Suite, a collection of audio/video editing applications.
Q. I just installed the nVidia nForce UDP v.2.00 driver package but I don’t have any sound. What’s wrong?
A. ASUS has a customized version of the MCP-T southbridge. They added a few extra features to the APU, which required them to change the device ID's of the APU. These drivers do not have these custom device ID's in their INF files so the drivers do not get installed. The drivers are fine to use, and work perfectly with this board, however you must install them manually. Open your device manager by right clicking on My Computer>manage>device manager and installing the drivers manually for all the sound devices in your system. Recently ASUS came up with a version 1.16 package, which despite the lower version number, is actually newer, then the 2.00 package and it is recommended you install those as the custom device ID's are no longer and issue and manual installation is no longer necessary. These drivers also resolve other issues, some of which are outlined in this FAQ.
Q. What’s in this 'custom MCP-T' from ASUS then?
A. The current list of customizations that ASUS has done to the MCP-T is as follows:
Q. I have trouble with my CDRW/DVDRW. I always get errors when burning, it worked fine on my previous motherboard what’s wrong?
A. First, make sure you have an ASPI layer installed. This is necessarily for burning CD's in windows. You can get the latest ASPI layer from Adaptec. Proceed to the second step if your burner still does not work.
Second, make sure you don’t have the IDE drivers from package 2.00 installed (as detailed above). Proceed to the third step if your burner still does not work.
Third, make sure your CDRW/DVDRW is set as a master, either on the primary or secondary channels. Proceed to the fourth step if your burner still does not work.
Fourth, set it to PIO mode for the time being. Sorry I don’t have anything further about this yet.
Q. On boot, I get the error "CPU have overspeed"?
A. Try one of the following:
Your CPU is not unlocked and you're attempting to overclock it. You need to unlock your processor. Go hereto find out how to unlock the XP Thoroughbred series of processors.
...or...
Setting your CPU to the default speed.
...or...
If your CPU is set at the default speed, or your CPU is unlocked and you still get this error then, search the bios for the option Halt On and select the option No Errors that will 'ignore' the error and continue the boot process. *note* sometimes people get this error when overclocking sometimes they don’t. This is also an effective workaround for those getting this error when overclocking.
Q. What slots do i put my memory in to enable Dual Channel DDR (TwinBank)?
A. The manual says for 1 stick to reside in each channel. What that means is to benefit from DCDDR you should place modules in slots 1 & 3, or slots 2 & 3. Slot 1 is located closest to the Ziff Socket (black in color) slot 2 is next (blue) and slot 3 is next (also blue). Using all 3 slots can also enable DCDDR. People’s results have varied from system to system depending on what slots they put their modules in. Some get better performance with a certain configuration and some get better stability with another. You should try your own tests as they will more then likely differ from others.
Q. How do I set up Dual Channel DDR/TwinBank/DualDDR optimally?
A. In order for DualDDR memory to run at it's optimal speed, you need to have an equal amount of RAM in each channel. Slots 1 and 2 are channel 1, and slot 3 is channel 2. Right now I've got 256MB in slot 2, and 256MB in slot 3. This means 256MB in each channel. If I was to upgrade and wanted to keep full Dual DDR, I would need a 512MB stick, and put it in slot 3, and the 256MB sticks in slots 1 & 2. This would give me 512MB in each channel, and an equal balance. This would give me an optimal Dual DDR setup.
If I were to have, say, 512MB in one channel, and 256MB in the other, only 256MB of the channel with the 512MB stick would be running in Dual DDR, since the channels would not be balanced. The rest of the 512MB stick would run in standard single channel mode, giving below optimal performance.
Q. I use Corsair memory and my system won't post! How do i fix it?
A. This problem affects a certain batch of Corsair XMS3200C2 and XMS3500C2 modules, as Corsair has already said on their support forums. They have talked with ASUS and this should be corrected in a future bios update. The problem is that the bio doesn’t like the way Corsair programmed the SPD on that certain batch of modules. Corsair has sense went back to the older (compatibly) way of programming the SPD on their modules so not to worry.
The fix is to get into the bios and set the memory timings manually, Corsair recommends the following settings for their XMS3200C2 and XMS3500C2 modules:
Testing parameters for XMS3200 CAS 2:
DRAM Clock: 200 MHz
DRAM Timing (overrides SPD values): Manual
System Performance: Normal
Bank cycle time (or tRAS): 6
Bank Interleave: 4
RAS Precharge (tRP): 3
RAS-to-CAS Delay (tRCD): 3
CAS Latency: 2
Command Rate: 1T
Memory Voltage: motherboard default*
Testing parameters for XMS3500 CAS 2:
CPU Speed: Manual
CPU External Frequency: 145
CPU to Memory FSB ratio: 4:6
SDRAM Configuration: Manual
SDRAM CAS Latency: 2T
SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3T
SDRAM RAS Precharge (tRP): 3T
SDRAM Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 7T
SDRAM Command Control: 1T
SDRAM Bank Interleave: 4 Banks
Memory Voltage: motherboard default*
These are suggested timings from the manufacturer, your ram can run at higher or lower (at your own risk) timings. Remember for best performance results it’s always best to run the RAM and CPU FSB in SYNC on an nForce2 motherboard, the ASUS A7N8X being no exception.
The problem is that this problem results in computers not being able to POST, and without POST you cannot get into the bios to change these settings. Some people have been successful in getting 1 boot if they reset the CMOS, which would allow them to get into the bios to change these settings from SPD to the above values. If you are one of the unfortunate ones who cannot get their system to boot then a simple work around is to install another stick of working RAM into the machine, set the ram timings, save your settings then insert your Corsair modules. Of course any CMOS resetting will result in you having to repeat this procedure until a new bios is released that fixes this issue. As of this writing there doesn’t seem to be a bios that fixes this yet.
Q. Is my power supply big enough? What kind of power supply should i be getting? Can i use my old one?
A. As a general rule of thumb a quality 350w power supply unit should work for most 'normal' applications. However, you should check out the following link and make sure that the power supply you have is sufficient, or make sure that the power supply you are going to buy will be sufficient. This is a very good article, and if you follow their advice and take your time to do your own calculations. You will be sure you end up with a power supply suited for your system.
Q. Which is better, my Creative SBLive!/5.1/Audigy1/2 or nVidia SoundStorm?
A. While you will get many different answers to this question. Given the community of people you are asking advice from the majority of your answer will be SoundStorm. If you compare feature-to-feature, SoundStorm wins hands down, real time Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding is just awesome. However the true and final test is your ears. What sounds good to me might not sound as good to you. So if you have the hardware to test, then test and pick which one you like the best. If you don’t have the hardware to test, then I would have to suggest just staying with SoundStorm, as you are not really missing anything with a Creative card.
There are plenty of posts about this already in the Audio section of the forum, please use the search function and add-on to those posts rather then starting a new "Which is better sound, xxxx or SoundStorm?" thread.
Q. My BIOS and Asus Probe show different CPU temperatures! What do I do?
A. Nothing; the BIOS takes the temperature straight from the CPU, whilst Probe takes the temp from the motherboard sensor, and so the BIOS should give a higher temp. It's not serious, don't worry about it!
Q. What do I use to view my system temperatures?
A. While I personally like MotherBoard Monitor. At the time of this writing it is not compatible with all nForce2 motherboards. Some recommend SpeedFan, but it also isn’t compatible with all nForce2 motherboards at the time of this writing. There is one utility that I know of that is compatible at this time. It is called Hardware Sensors Monitor, it however is not free and requires you to register after the trial has expired. ASUS ships on the CD that came with the Motherboard, a program called ASUS Probe, you can find new updates for it in ASUS support section of their website or at any of ASUS FTP sites.
USA - ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/asus/misc/utils/
TAIWAN - ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/
GERMANY - ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/UTIL/PC_Probe/
Q. I have lots of errors in my Event Viewer regarding nVidia's IDE driver.
A. The IDE driver packaged in the nVidia nForce UDP v.2.00 package doesn’t work well for a lot of people. While this isn’t specifically related to the A7N8X in general it does apply. If you have installed the nForce UDP v.2.00 package uninstall the nVidia IDE nForce driver and either install the default MS driver that shipped with your version of Windows, or install the IDE driver from the ASUS nForce v.1.16 package. Although the driver looks to have an older version this driver package is actually newer then the nForce v.2.00 driver package and installing these is recommended anyway as it resolves other issues, some of which are noted in this FAQ.
Q. My system posts and boots extremely slow, hard drive detection seems to take a long time, and/or windows doesn’t boot all the time.
A. Again not entirely A7N8X related but does apply. Generally speaking 1 of 3 things could be happening. If you have any Western Digital hard drives connected to your system you should set their jumpers at either the standalone setting (for single drives on a channel or drives using the SATA controller), or cable select setting (for drives that are not the only device on the IDE channel). This is an issue with Western Digital drives. Setting their jumpers at conventional master/slave settings causes problems and should not be used. There is usually a jumper setting diagram on the label on the topside of the drive. If by chance your drive doesn’t have this diagram then you can get the correct jumper positions from Western Digital.
...or...
You are using the IDE driver from the 2.00 package, which has been known to cause problems on some peoples systems, cause errors and other problems, see the above question for more information. You should uninstall this driver and either install the default IDE driver that came with your version of windows, or you should install an updated driver as outlined in the question above.
...or...
There have also been issues of slow boots with people who have the Firewire controller(s) enabled, but no devices hooked up to it. What essentially is happening is that while booting, the system polls the Firewire controller for devices. In theory when the system polls the controller it should either 'reply' "device BlahBlahBlah on controllerX" or it should reply "No device on controllerX". It seems as though in some cases if there is no device present its not getting a "no device present" reply and you have to wait for the signal to 'time out' which causes the delay in boot times.
Q. What is 'flashing', in relation to computer components, and should i do it?
A. Flashing is when update your BIOS on your motherboard, CD/DVD drive, 3D card etc. to another BIOS revision. Generally speaking people will recommend you flash your BIOS when you are experiencing problems that the new BIOS indicates it resolves. An unsuccessful flash can render your board useless, while its rare it does happen. The only way to fix your motherboard after an unsuccessful flash is to install an either reprogrammed BIOS chip or a new one. Either of which you would generally need to send your motherboard back to the manufacturer.
Q. How do i flash my bios?
A. Assuming you want to flash your bios, there are 2 recommended ways on how to do it. The ALT+F2 Method, and the Boot Disk method.
Q. Where can I find BIOS updates?
A. ASUS FTP sites are where the majority of people find them. You can also find them in the support section of ASUS website. Frequently accessed FTP URL's for BIOS updates are:
USA - ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/asus/mb/socka/nforce2/
TAIWAN - ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socka/nforce2/
GERMANY - ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/BIOS/S ... t/nForce2/
Germany usually has bios updates first, however check them all for updates as they don’t usually have the same files on them. Sometimes ASUS is slow to update their mirrors.
Q. I have the 101D BIOS, but when i try to flash my ASUS A7N8X DELUXE i get an error saying that the bios size is too small. How do i fix this?
A. The 101d BIOS is meant for the A7N8X (Non-Deluxe), not for the Deluxe version of the board. DO NOT install this BIOS on your Deluxe model board. Doing so could render the board unbootable and would require you to send the board back to ASUS to reprogram the BIOS.
Q. Should I buy an A7N8X? I've heard of lots of problems on this message board.
A. The motherboard is in fact excellent, but the fact is that different people have different system setups, and so the board, and any updates might react differently from person to person.
Another reason you see so many complaints is because people don't tend to post success stories; people only tend to post if they're looking for technical support
Q. When i turn on my computer i keep hearing a voice error telling me something is wrong with my computer when there isn’t anything wrong. How do i shut this off?
A. Well depending on what BIOS you use, there are 2 different ways to shut this off, this is called ASUS Post Reporter, and options to disabled it are in the BIOS. Under the Advanced section of the BIOS, scroll all the way to the bottom of the list. There is an option called Speech POST Reporter. Set this to disabled. For most people this will work, however if this doesn’t disable it, then you must ALSO disable the option directly above it, POST Complete Report. This should disable the voice errors when you power on your computer.
Q. When i turn on my computer i keep hearing "CPU fan failed!" error, but my CPU fan is still running. What is going on?
A. There are 2 possibilities here:
The BIOS only recognizes a fan is connected when its RPM's are greater then 2000. This is a limitation of the BIOS and if memory serves me correctly is indeed being looked into by ASUS, and lower RPM values should be added at a later date
...or...
Your CPU fan doesn’t have an RPM monitoring wire for your fan, this wire is usually white or yellow. With the red wire being positive and the black wire being ground.
Either way, you can live with it, or disable the voice errors by following the instructions in the previous question.
Q. What does BIOS Option [i]xxxx in the BIOS mean? (xxxx being one of the many, many, many options in the BIOS).[/i]
A. The most informative piece of material you got with your motherboard is the manual. If you don’t read any thing else that came with the motherboard you should read this. If you have already read it and did not find your answer, then read it again. EVERY motherboard manual comes with a section explaining the different BIOS options. Some manuals go into greater detail then others so if you are still unsure about what an option does or is then check out The Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide. This is a very in-depth guide explaining most of the more common BIOS options and what they do.
Q. I have static/popping/noise coming from my speakers/headphones when there is no sound coming from them. How do i fix this?
A. while this may seem like an easy problem to fix, there could be numerous causes of this problem. Some of the more common causes i will list here.
Internal causes
BIOS and drivers
Make sure you have the latest motherboard BIOS, DirectX drivers and sound and video drivers.
If you previously used a different soundcard, it's possible that stuff left behind by your previous driver is causing the problems. There is, unfortunately, no guaranteed way to fix this, other than doing a clean install of Windows. If you know how, use regedit and search (files and folders) to track traces of your old soundcard and get rid of them.
December 30th, 2002. A note about DirectX:
Unless you need it right away, it's probably best not to upgrade to DirectX 9 for the time being. It's freshly released and it'll take nVidia and the others a while to get the issues ironed out. Let other people bear the burden of immature drivers and stick with the safety of DirectX 8.1
.
Mute unnecessary lines - on the ASUS A7N8X (and possibly other boards) it is common for the Line In and in some cases the AUX line to cause noise in your speakers. If you are not using these lines then mute them. If you want to use them later, then unmute them.
External causes
Cabling and connections
If you have a damaged cable this could be an obvious cause for noise issues. Much more likely than a flawed cable, however, is a flawed connection. If you have any "wiggly" connections, you should fix them. Bend the wire end double before you shove it into a clip, replace loose plugs if you can or use a pair of pliers to make them fit more snugly (careful! - You easily squeeze too hard). Alternatively, you can put a piece of paper in the socket to make for a tighter fit, but be sure you leave enough blank metal for contact.
Amplifier and speakers
A low-quality or underpowered amplifier can cause cracks and pops in your sound at high output levels. If you get a really thick, distorted sort of booming echo on the sound at high levels, turn down the volume right away - you're hard at work destroying your speakers.
The speaker is, electrically, a very simple device - essentially it's nothing more than a piece of wire wound around a magnet. The mechanical and acoustical aspects can be rather more complicated, but generally aren't. Suffice it to say, damaged and/or poorly designed speakers can cause their share of noise issues, but usually the cause will be elsewhere in the chain.
Try out your amplifier and speakers using a different source than the PC - a Discman or a TV, anything really. This will immediately tell you whether the problem is (only) in your PC or not.
Electric Interference
Of all the kinds of electric interference, the ground loop is probably the most common. It occurs when you connect two devices that use different electric ground levels. This happens a lot when you hook up your PC (which grounds on the ground lead in your electric outlet) to a TV, VCR or to a radio tuner (all of which ground on the antenna cable). Because of the different ground levels, electric current runs over your signal cable between the two devices. This manifests itself as a constant humming noise.
To solve a ground loop, you have to put the two devices on the same ground level (i.e. in the same electric outlet, but this isn't always possible) or you have to electrically isolate the two devices. If you're using digital out, and you have the proper sockets on your PC and Amplifier, you can use optical digital out. In all other cases you can put a ground loop isolator in your cable. These can be found in any electronics store. The Ground loop is a common problem, and you can find a lot of information about them on Google(at the time of writing a search for "ground loop" yields 893,000 pages).
Miscellaneous interference
The inside of a computer is, basically, signal hell. So is the giant knot of cables at the back. There's a lot of stuff in there packed close together, and all of it emitting its own electronic and electromagnetic garbage. Problems with this are hard to identify and harder to get rid of. Use good quality cable for better shielding, avoid winding cable into tight coils. If you have the means to receive the signal, it's generally better to use digital out than analog out.
Q. I have looked and looked and looked, but i cannot seem to find out how to get my HDD LED to work! HELP!
A. RTFM ASUS for as long as i have been using their boards has always put the HDD LED connector away from the normal set of panel connections. It’s usually located right above the block of connections all by itself. You can find out its specific location by looking in the manual on page 25, chapter 2, IDE Activity LED.
Q. I have a third party sound card that i want to use, but i cannot get the game port to work. I have disabled the onboard game port in the bios, but it still shows a conflict in the device manager. How do i fix it?
A. On page 97 of the manual, section 6.2 Troubleshooting. It states:
The solution you ask? Disable the onboard game port in device manager, shutdown, install your third party sound card, boot to windows, disable the third party sound cards game port, enable your onboard game port, install your sound card drivers. viola!
Q. My AGP video card doesn’t fit in the AGP slot. What’s the deal?
A. 1 of 2 things is happening here. One, your AGP slot is also an AGP PRO slot. which requires extra connectors for AGP PRO cards. It gives them extra voltage needed for the AGP PRO spec. An AGP PRO slot is a bit longer then a regular AGP slot. Your motherboard should have a little sticker with a plastic spacer shoved in one side of the slot (closest to the back panel). This is there to prevent people from accidentally installing normal AGP cards incorrectly resulting in a dead video card and possibly a dead motherboard. So if you DO NOT have an AGP PRO card please leave the plastic spacer where it is, and make sure it is installed before installing a NON AGP PRO card into your system.
...or...
you are trying to install an AGP card that users an older AGP spec, one that allows AGP video cards to use 3.3v rather then the more common and widely accepted 1.5v. Unfortunately nVidia and Intel have dropped support for the older 3.3v AGP video cards and require you to have a video card that runs at 1.5v. If your VGA card does not fit in the AGP slot and is of an older generation such as the first Voodoo series cards or some old ATI Rage series cards, then you will need to upgrade your video card to use it in this motherboard.
Q. Does the ASUS A7N8X (and deluxe) support ASUS MY-LOGO feature?
A. While it does not officially support MY-LOGO, it does support full screen boot logo's, which can be manually edited and inserted into the bios with a bios editing program. More information is being looked into and instructions for adding MY-LOGO support to the bios should be forth coming very soon. so please be patient
Q. What revision is my ASUS A7N8X and what available revisions are there?
A. At the time of this writing there are rumors (have been) about a revision 1.05 board that was released. These turned out to be just that, rumors. At this present time there are only revision 1.04 released boards out. You can find out what revision your motherboard is by looking between the 2nd and 3rd PCI slot, it will say 'ASUS A7N8X' with a revision number in small lettering right after it.
Q. I have herd problems about installing nForce drivers on Windows98/se. Is it safe to install them and do i have to go through any special procedure?
A. Lord Krim has made a nice little list for you to follow when installing nForce drivers in Windows98/se.
A. In the 'Advanced Chipset Features' section of the bios, change the 'System Performance' option to 'User Defined'. This should allow you to see all the MHz increments available.
Q. I have windows98 or SE and i can’t get any sound working, i have installed the drivers but there is a problem in the device manager. How do i get sound working in windows98 or 98SE?
A. There is a hot fix for windows98 and 98SE that needs to be installed in order for the sound on your motherboard to work properly. You can find more information about the hot fix here and download the patch here. There is also another patch you should have installed, you can find it here. Also make sure that if you are using the 2.0 drivers from nVidia then to check above, as there is some important information about those drivers being installed on a7n8x-deluxe boards.
Q. I cannot get my keyboard/mouse to power on my computer even though i have selected the option in the BIOS. What’s going on?
A. Not only do you need to enable the option in the BIOS you also need to change a jumper, the jumper is labeled as KBPWR1 in the upper left corner of the motherboard. Default is 1-2, for keyboard/mouse wakeup you should set this to 2-3. This requires that your PSU be able to supply at least 1a on the +5v standby rail, if your power supply cannot supply at least 1a then do not use this function. More information can be found on page 19 of your manual.
Q. I flashed with the wrong file. Or my flash was incomplete. Is there any way to recover?
A. If your floppy drive seeks on power up and then stops after a short period of time, you may have a chance to recover. The following information was obtained from Wim's Bios http://www.wimsbios.com/ FAQ's. Corrections on AWARD Bios by Terry McGuire.
Award: The boot-block BIOS will execute an AUTOEXEC.BAT file on a bootable diskette. Copy an Award flasher & the correct BIOS *.bin file on the floppy and execute it automatically by putting AWDFLASH *.bin /sn /py /cc /r in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The * would be the correct bios .bin file and there must be spaces between the slash marks. Put it in the floppy and turn on the computer when the floppy seeks it will load the correct bios and reboot by itself. When it finishes you have to remove the floppy and enter the CMOS SETUP and modify the CMOS for your configuration.
Q. My computer boots up and shuts down after a few seconds. What’s the deal?
A. This is ASUS COP (overheat protection) kicking in so you don’t fry your CPU. Be thankful that you are not out buying a new processor right now Make sure your heatsink is mounted correctly, there is a raised part on the socket with the letters "socket 462" on it, there is also a notched out, or indentation on one side of the heatsink, this notched out piece fits over the raised area of the socket. If you put your heatsink on incorrectly the heatsink will NOT touch the CPU core and can cause this issue. For a graphic demonstration of how to place your heatsink on our CPU check out TomsHardware. The top picture shows the raised part of the socket (on the far left) and the notched out part of the heatsink (also on the far left).
Q. My CPU will only run at 100mhz, it’s a 133 or 166mhz CPU. What’s wrong?
A. There could be a couple things gone terribly wrong here. One is that you got unlucky and got a board that has problems with a few model of XP CPU's and auto detects their speed incorrectly. This is easy to fix, just set the CPU speed manually in the bios. This is a known issue and not specific to just the a7n8x, a future bios should incorporate a fix.
There is also the possibility of an incorrectly mounted heatsink. Please read the above question and answer and check that your heatsink is attached correctly.
Last but not least, there is a jumper on the motherboard labeled CPU_FSB, this jumper sometimes gets set to 100mhz, rather then 133mhz (the default). check to make sure that this jumper isn’t set at 100mhz, causing your CPU to run at a slower FSB then normal.
BIOS INFORMATION
***official change log will be posted when/if they become available***
1001c
more information can be found here. release dates, change logs, and even links to the bios revisions themselves. this site is for the a7n8x deluxe only, it currently does not have any non-dlx bios revisions.
UBER BIOS REVISIONS
Demoulous has modified some of the ASUS stock bios that enable extra features hidden or not found in the regular BIOS' found on ASUS FTP site. These BIOS revisions are not supported by ASUS and as Demoulous states these is a ‘use at your own risk’ deal. He has tested his BIOS revisions to work on HIS BOARD only. He cannot guarantee they will work on your motherboard so if during the flashing process you render your board unbootable Demoulous nor nForcersHQ shall be held responsible for any damages you incur. Should you want to try one of the UBER BIOS revisions check the ASUS section of the forum for his latest creation
thanks Demoulous!
MISC INFORMATION
VOLTAGE MOD and VOLTAGE MONITOR MOD
***WARNING***This information is for enthusiasts only. The information below contains steps that should only be attempted by persons with experience. The following procedures if done incorrectly could damage the motherboard and any components connected to it. Serious injury could also result if proper care is not taken while performing the following procedures. NFHQ or its members share any responsibility in your actions, they are done so by your own free will. NFHQ shall not be responsible for, but not limited to, any bodily harm or damage of system components. These modifications will also void your warranty. Having said that, try these at your own risk***
Shortly after this boards release a few users got busy on deciphering the schematics of the boards power supply. In a few days we had a voltage mod for the board. This URLcontains links to pictures and instructions that will allow you to increase the VCore (CPU Core Voltage), the VDIMM (DDR RAM Voltage), and allow you to connect a device to read the VDIMM voltage output level.
a chipset voltage mod has also surfaced for this motherboard. this mod has given many users who tried it very good overclocking results when overclocking the FSB. users have reported stable 230mhz FSB!!! coupled with ram capable of running sync results in a blazingly fast system. more information can be found on volt modding the chipset here
-- ADDED 23/5/05 --
If you're faint hearted, and want to avoid doing the Voltmod, you can always try putting active cooling on your Northbridge. This basically means sticking a small heatsink fan on your northbridge in order to cool it. This is also generally a good idea to do when you perform the voltmod, in order to remove any extra heat produced. There is no guarantee this will help your overclocking potential, but it's a lot less risky than a voltmod if you aren't confident with modifying your board.
Thanks to forum member Arawn for his experiences!
----
A HUGE thanks goes to the many who contributed to this FAQ, the moderators of NFHQ, and its members. If it weren’t for their questions and similarly, their answers, this FAQ would have not been possible.
Any updates/fixes/spelling errors should be reported via private message, to me or another moderator and they will be reviewed for addition to the FAQ.
last edited on Saturday January 30, 2003 @ 06:33 EST (-5 GMT)
REMEMBER FOR AUDIO PROBLEMS THERE IS AN AUDIO FORUM AND AUDIO FAQ
GENERAL INFORMATION
Q. Which vendors are shipping the ASUS A7N8X Rev 2?
Q. What is the difference between the ASUS A7N8X, the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe, and the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe GOLD?
A. The ASUS A7N8X doesn’t include SoundStorm, only has 1 Ethernet port, doesn't have Firewire, doesn’t have SATA, doesn’t include the game port with extra USB ports on a breakout board, and does not include ASUS POST Reporter. The Deluxe model is the same as the regular model except it boasts a full featured MCP-T including SoundStorm, Firewire, USB 2.0, Dual LAN, and SATA with RAID 0/1 support. The Deluxe GOLD model is the exact same as the Deluxe model but comes with InterVideo WinCinema Suite, a collection of audio/video editing applications.
Q. I just installed the nVidia nForce UDP v.2.00 driver package but I don’t have any sound. What’s wrong?
A. ASUS has a customized version of the MCP-T southbridge. They added a few extra features to the APU, which required them to change the device ID's of the APU. These drivers do not have these custom device ID's in their INF files so the drivers do not get installed. The drivers are fine to use, and work perfectly with this board, however you must install them manually. Open your device manager by right clicking on My Computer>manage>device manager and installing the drivers manually for all the sound devices in your system. Recently ASUS came up with a version 1.16 package, which despite the lower version number, is actually newer, then the 2.00 package and it is recommended you install those as the custom device ID's are no longer and issue and manual installation is no longer necessary. These drivers also resolve other issues, some of which are outlined in this FAQ.
Q. What’s in this 'custom MCP-T' from ASUS then?
A. The current list of customizations that ASUS has done to the MCP-T is as follows:
- TAD (modem/speakerphone) now shows up as an option
- Microphone 2 becomes the default Microphone device
- SPDIF In support is enabled if the I/O bracket is available
Q. I have trouble with my CDRW/DVDRW. I always get errors when burning, it worked fine on my previous motherboard what’s wrong?
A. First, make sure you have an ASPI layer installed. This is necessarily for burning CD's in windows. You can get the latest ASPI layer from Adaptec. Proceed to the second step if your burner still does not work.
Second, make sure you don’t have the IDE drivers from package 2.00 installed (as detailed above). Proceed to the third step if your burner still does not work.
Third, make sure your CDRW/DVDRW is set as a master, either on the primary or secondary channels. Proceed to the fourth step if your burner still does not work.
Fourth, set it to PIO mode for the time being. Sorry I don’t have anything further about this yet.
Q. On boot, I get the error "CPU have overspeed"?
A. Try one of the following:
Your CPU is not unlocked and you're attempting to overclock it. You need to unlock your processor. Go hereto find out how to unlock the XP Thoroughbred series of processors.
...or...
Setting your CPU to the default speed.
...or...
If your CPU is set at the default speed, or your CPU is unlocked and you still get this error then, search the bios for the option Halt On and select the option No Errors that will 'ignore' the error and continue the boot process. *note* sometimes people get this error when overclocking sometimes they don’t. This is also an effective workaround for those getting this error when overclocking.
Q. What slots do i put my memory in to enable Dual Channel DDR (TwinBank)?
A. The manual says for 1 stick to reside in each channel. What that means is to benefit from DCDDR you should place modules in slots 1 & 3, or slots 2 & 3. Slot 1 is located closest to the Ziff Socket (black in color) slot 2 is next (blue) and slot 3 is next (also blue). Using all 3 slots can also enable DCDDR. People’s results have varied from system to system depending on what slots they put their modules in. Some get better performance with a certain configuration and some get better stability with another. You should try your own tests as they will more then likely differ from others.
Q. How do I set up Dual Channel DDR/TwinBank/DualDDR optimally?
A. In order for DualDDR memory to run at it's optimal speed, you need to have an equal amount of RAM in each channel. Slots 1 and 2 are channel 1, and slot 3 is channel 2. Right now I've got 256MB in slot 2, and 256MB in slot 3. This means 256MB in each channel. If I was to upgrade and wanted to keep full Dual DDR, I would need a 512MB stick, and put it in slot 3, and the 256MB sticks in slots 1 & 2. This would give me 512MB in each channel, and an equal balance. This would give me an optimal Dual DDR setup.
If I were to have, say, 512MB in one channel, and 256MB in the other, only 256MB of the channel with the 512MB stick would be running in Dual DDR, since the channels would not be balanced. The rest of the 512MB stick would run in standard single channel mode, giving below optimal performance.
Q. I use Corsair memory and my system won't post! How do i fix it?
A. This problem affects a certain batch of Corsair XMS3200C2 and XMS3500C2 modules, as Corsair has already said on their support forums. They have talked with ASUS and this should be corrected in a future bios update. The problem is that the bio doesn’t like the way Corsair programmed the SPD on that certain batch of modules. Corsair has sense went back to the older (compatibly) way of programming the SPD on their modules so not to worry.
The fix is to get into the bios and set the memory timings manually, Corsair recommends the following settings for their XMS3200C2 and XMS3500C2 modules:
Testing parameters for XMS3200 CAS 2:
DRAM Clock: 200 MHz
DRAM Timing (overrides SPD values): Manual
System Performance: Normal
Bank cycle time (or tRAS): 6
Bank Interleave: 4
RAS Precharge (tRP): 3
RAS-to-CAS Delay (tRCD): 3
CAS Latency: 2
Command Rate: 1T
Memory Voltage: motherboard default*
Testing parameters for XMS3500 CAS 2:
CPU Speed: Manual
CPU External Frequency: 145
CPU to Memory FSB ratio: 4:6
SDRAM Configuration: Manual
SDRAM CAS Latency: 2T
SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3T
SDRAM RAS Precharge (tRP): 3T
SDRAM Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 7T
SDRAM Command Control: 1T
SDRAM Bank Interleave: 4 Banks
Memory Voltage: motherboard default*
These are suggested timings from the manufacturer, your ram can run at higher or lower (at your own risk) timings. Remember for best performance results it’s always best to run the RAM and CPU FSB in SYNC on an nForce2 motherboard, the ASUS A7N8X being no exception.
The problem is that this problem results in computers not being able to POST, and without POST you cannot get into the bios to change these settings. Some people have been successful in getting 1 boot if they reset the CMOS, which would allow them to get into the bios to change these settings from SPD to the above values. If you are one of the unfortunate ones who cannot get their system to boot then a simple work around is to install another stick of working RAM into the machine, set the ram timings, save your settings then insert your Corsair modules. Of course any CMOS resetting will result in you having to repeat this procedure until a new bios is released that fixes this issue. As of this writing there doesn’t seem to be a bios that fixes this yet.
Q. Is my power supply big enough? What kind of power supply should i be getting? Can i use my old one?
A. As a general rule of thumb a quality 350w power supply unit should work for most 'normal' applications. However, you should check out the following link and make sure that the power supply you have is sufficient, or make sure that the power supply you are going to buy will be sufficient. This is a very good article, and if you follow their advice and take your time to do your own calculations. You will be sure you end up with a power supply suited for your system.
Q. Which is better, my Creative SBLive!/5.1/Audigy1/2 or nVidia SoundStorm?
A. While you will get many different answers to this question. Given the community of people you are asking advice from the majority of your answer will be SoundStorm. If you compare feature-to-feature, SoundStorm wins hands down, real time Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding is just awesome. However the true and final test is your ears. What sounds good to me might not sound as good to you. So if you have the hardware to test, then test and pick which one you like the best. If you don’t have the hardware to test, then I would have to suggest just staying with SoundStorm, as you are not really missing anything with a Creative card.
There are plenty of posts about this already in the Audio section of the forum, please use the search function and add-on to those posts rather then starting a new "Which is better sound, xxxx or SoundStorm?" thread.
Q. My BIOS and Asus Probe show different CPU temperatures! What do I do?
A. Nothing; the BIOS takes the temperature straight from the CPU, whilst Probe takes the temp from the motherboard sensor, and so the BIOS should give a higher temp. It's not serious, don't worry about it!
Q. What do I use to view my system temperatures?
A. While I personally like MotherBoard Monitor. At the time of this writing it is not compatible with all nForce2 motherboards. Some recommend SpeedFan, but it also isn’t compatible with all nForce2 motherboards at the time of this writing. There is one utility that I know of that is compatible at this time. It is called Hardware Sensors Monitor, it however is not free and requires you to register after the trial has expired. ASUS ships on the CD that came with the Motherboard, a program called ASUS Probe, you can find new updates for it in ASUS support section of their website or at any of ASUS FTP sites.
USA - ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/asus/misc/utils/
TAIWAN - ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/
GERMANY - ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/UTIL/PC_Probe/
Q. I have lots of errors in my Event Viewer regarding nVidia's IDE driver.
A. The IDE driver packaged in the nVidia nForce UDP v.2.00 package doesn’t work well for a lot of people. While this isn’t specifically related to the A7N8X in general it does apply. If you have installed the nForce UDP v.2.00 package uninstall the nVidia IDE nForce driver and either install the default MS driver that shipped with your version of Windows, or install the IDE driver from the ASUS nForce v.1.16 package. Although the driver looks to have an older version this driver package is actually newer then the nForce v.2.00 driver package and installing these is recommended anyway as it resolves other issues, some of which are noted in this FAQ.
Q. My system posts and boots extremely slow, hard drive detection seems to take a long time, and/or windows doesn’t boot all the time.
A. Again not entirely A7N8X related but does apply. Generally speaking 1 of 3 things could be happening. If you have any Western Digital hard drives connected to your system you should set their jumpers at either the standalone setting (for single drives on a channel or drives using the SATA controller), or cable select setting (for drives that are not the only device on the IDE channel). This is an issue with Western Digital drives. Setting their jumpers at conventional master/slave settings causes problems and should not be used. There is usually a jumper setting diagram on the label on the topside of the drive. If by chance your drive doesn’t have this diagram then you can get the correct jumper positions from Western Digital.
...or...
You are using the IDE driver from the 2.00 package, which has been known to cause problems on some peoples systems, cause errors and other problems, see the above question for more information. You should uninstall this driver and either install the default IDE driver that came with your version of windows, or you should install an updated driver as outlined in the question above.
...or...
There have also been issues of slow boots with people who have the Firewire controller(s) enabled, but no devices hooked up to it. What essentially is happening is that while booting, the system polls the Firewire controller for devices. In theory when the system polls the controller it should either 'reply' "device BlahBlahBlah on controllerX" or it should reply "No device on controllerX". It seems as though in some cases if there is no device present its not getting a "no device present" reply and you have to wait for the signal to 'time out' which causes the delay in boot times.
Q. What is 'flashing', in relation to computer components, and should i do it?
A. Flashing is when update your BIOS on your motherboard, CD/DVD drive, 3D card etc. to another BIOS revision. Generally speaking people will recommend you flash your BIOS when you are experiencing problems that the new BIOS indicates it resolves. An unsuccessful flash can render your board useless, while its rare it does happen. The only way to fix your motherboard after an unsuccessful flash is to install an either reprogrammed BIOS chip or a new one. Either of which you would generally need to send your motherboard back to the manufacturer.
Q. How do i flash my bios?
A. Assuming you want to flash your bios, there are 2 recommended ways on how to do it. The ALT+F2 Method, and the Boot Disk method.
- The ALT+F2 Method
- Download the required BIOS image file from one of the ASUS FTP sites.
- Copy or extract the BIOS image file (named xxxxxxxx.bin) to a blank floppy disk with no bad sectors on it.
- Restart the machine with the floppy disk in the floppy drive when prompted at machine initialization, press ALT+F2 to begin AWDFlash, follow the onscreen instructions and reboot when done.
- After rebooting, press DEL to enter the BIOS setup and select to "LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS". After doing this select to "SAVE & EXIT."
This does not require you to have a bootable floppy disk.
- The Boot Disk Method
- Create a bootable floppy disk in accordance with the instructions laid out in the manual of your particular operating system. This bootable floppy needs to be able to boot to a DOS console capable of executing normal MS-DOS batch and executable files.
- Download and extract the BIOS file to the floppy.
- Boot using your DOS floppy disk to the ‘A:\>’ command prompt. At the DOS command prompt type: AWDFLASH.EXE and follow the onscreen instructions.
- Reboot the machine.
- After this, press DEL to enter the BIOS setup and select to "LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS". After doing this select to "SAVE & EXIT."
Q. Where can I find BIOS updates?
A. ASUS FTP sites are where the majority of people find them. You can also find them in the support section of ASUS website. Frequently accessed FTP URL's for BIOS updates are:
USA - ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/asus/mb/socka/nforce2/
TAIWAN - ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socka/nforce2/
GERMANY - ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/BIOS/S ... t/nForce2/
Germany usually has bios updates first, however check them all for updates as they don’t usually have the same files on them. Sometimes ASUS is slow to update their mirrors.
Q. I have the 101D BIOS, but when i try to flash my ASUS A7N8X DELUXE i get an error saying that the bios size is too small. How do i fix this?
A. The 101d BIOS is meant for the A7N8X (Non-Deluxe), not for the Deluxe version of the board. DO NOT install this BIOS on your Deluxe model board. Doing so could render the board unbootable and would require you to send the board back to ASUS to reprogram the BIOS.
Q. Should I buy an A7N8X? I've heard of lots of problems on this message board.
A. The motherboard is in fact excellent, but the fact is that different people have different system setups, and so the board, and any updates might react differently from person to person.
Another reason you see so many complaints is because people don't tend to post success stories; people only tend to post if they're looking for technical support
Q. When i turn on my computer i keep hearing a voice error telling me something is wrong with my computer when there isn’t anything wrong. How do i shut this off?
A. Well depending on what BIOS you use, there are 2 different ways to shut this off, this is called ASUS Post Reporter, and options to disabled it are in the BIOS. Under the Advanced section of the BIOS, scroll all the way to the bottom of the list. There is an option called Speech POST Reporter. Set this to disabled. For most people this will work, however if this doesn’t disable it, then you must ALSO disable the option directly above it, POST Complete Report. This should disable the voice errors when you power on your computer.
Q. When i turn on my computer i keep hearing "CPU fan failed!" error, but my CPU fan is still running. What is going on?
A. There are 2 possibilities here:
The BIOS only recognizes a fan is connected when its RPM's are greater then 2000. This is a limitation of the BIOS and if memory serves me correctly is indeed being looked into by ASUS, and lower RPM values should be added at a later date
...or...
Your CPU fan doesn’t have an RPM monitoring wire for your fan, this wire is usually white or yellow. With the red wire being positive and the black wire being ground.
Either way, you can live with it, or disable the voice errors by following the instructions in the previous question.
Q. What does BIOS Option [i]xxxx in the BIOS mean? (xxxx being one of the many, many, many options in the BIOS).[/i]
A. The most informative piece of material you got with your motherboard is the manual. If you don’t read any thing else that came with the motherboard you should read this. If you have already read it and did not find your answer, then read it again. EVERY motherboard manual comes with a section explaining the different BIOS options. Some manuals go into greater detail then others so if you are still unsure about what an option does or is then check out The Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide. This is a very in-depth guide explaining most of the more common BIOS options and what they do.
Q. I have static/popping/noise coming from my speakers/headphones when there is no sound coming from them. How do i fix this?
A. while this may seem like an easy problem to fix, there could be numerous causes of this problem. Some of the more common causes i will list here.
Internal causes
BIOS and drivers
Make sure you have the latest motherboard BIOS, DirectX drivers and sound and video drivers.
If you previously used a different soundcard, it's possible that stuff left behind by your previous driver is causing the problems. There is, unfortunately, no guaranteed way to fix this, other than doing a clean install of Windows. If you know how, use regedit and search (files and folders) to track traces of your old soundcard and get rid of them.
December 30th, 2002. A note about DirectX:
Unless you need it right away, it's probably best not to upgrade to DirectX 9 for the time being. It's freshly released and it'll take nVidia and the others a while to get the issues ironed out. Let other people bear the burden of immature drivers and stick with the safety of DirectX 8.1
.Mute unnecessary lines - on the ASUS A7N8X (and possibly other boards) it is common for the Line In and in some cases the AUX line to cause noise in your speakers. If you are not using these lines then mute them. If you want to use them later, then unmute them.
External causes
Cabling and connections
If you have a damaged cable this could be an obvious cause for noise issues. Much more likely than a flawed cable, however, is a flawed connection. If you have any "wiggly" connections, you should fix them. Bend the wire end double before you shove it into a clip, replace loose plugs if you can or use a pair of pliers to make them fit more snugly (careful! - You easily squeeze too hard). Alternatively, you can put a piece of paper in the socket to make for a tighter fit, but be sure you leave enough blank metal for contact.
Amplifier and speakers
A low-quality or underpowered amplifier can cause cracks and pops in your sound at high output levels. If you get a really thick, distorted sort of booming echo on the sound at high levels, turn down the volume right away - you're hard at work destroying your speakers.
The speaker is, electrically, a very simple device - essentially it's nothing more than a piece of wire wound around a magnet. The mechanical and acoustical aspects can be rather more complicated, but generally aren't. Suffice it to say, damaged and/or poorly designed speakers can cause their share of noise issues, but usually the cause will be elsewhere in the chain.
Try out your amplifier and speakers using a different source than the PC - a Discman or a TV, anything really. This will immediately tell you whether the problem is (only) in your PC or not.
Electric Interference
Of all the kinds of electric interference, the ground loop is probably the most common. It occurs when you connect two devices that use different electric ground levels. This happens a lot when you hook up your PC (which grounds on the ground lead in your electric outlet) to a TV, VCR or to a radio tuner (all of which ground on the antenna cable). Because of the different ground levels, electric current runs over your signal cable between the two devices. This manifests itself as a constant humming noise.
To solve a ground loop, you have to put the two devices on the same ground level (i.e. in the same electric outlet, but this isn't always possible) or you have to electrically isolate the two devices. If you're using digital out, and you have the proper sockets on your PC and Amplifier, you can use optical digital out. In all other cases you can put a ground loop isolator in your cable. These can be found in any electronics store. The Ground loop is a common problem, and you can find a lot of information about them on Google(at the time of writing a search for "ground loop" yields 893,000 pages).
Miscellaneous interference
The inside of a computer is, basically, signal hell. So is the giant knot of cables at the back. There's a lot of stuff in there packed close together, and all of it emitting its own electronic and electromagnetic garbage. Problems with this are hard to identify and harder to get rid of. Use good quality cable for better shielding, avoid winding cable into tight coils. If you have the means to receive the signal, it's generally better to use digital out than analog out.
Q. I have looked and looked and looked, but i cannot seem to find out how to get my HDD LED to work! HELP!
A. RTFM
ASUS for as long as i have been using their boards has always put the HDD LED connector away from the normal set of panel connections. It’s usually located right above the block of connections all by itself. You can find out its specific location by looking in the manual on page 25, chapter 2, IDE Activity LED.Q. I have a third party sound card that i want to use, but i cannot get the game port to work. I have disabled the onboard game port in the bios, but it still shows a conflict in the device manager. How do i fix it?
A. On page 97 of the manual, section 6.2 Troubleshooting. It states:
ASUS Manual wrote:If installing a PCI card with a game port, the PCI game port cannot be used due to a limitation of the nVidia chipset. However, the game ports on the MB will always function.
The solution you ask? Disable the onboard game port in device manager, shutdown, install your third party sound card, boot to windows, disable the third party sound cards game port, enable your onboard game port, install your sound card drivers. viola!
Q. My AGP video card doesn’t fit in the AGP slot. What’s the deal?
A. 1 of 2 things is happening here. One, your AGP slot is also an AGP PRO slot. which requires extra connectors for AGP PRO cards. It gives them extra voltage needed for the AGP PRO spec. An AGP PRO slot is a bit longer then a regular AGP slot. Your motherboard should have a little sticker with a plastic spacer shoved in one side of the slot (closest to the back panel). This is there to prevent people from accidentally installing normal AGP cards incorrectly resulting in a dead video card and possibly a dead motherboard. So if you DO NOT have an AGP PRO card please leave the plastic spacer where it is, and make sure it is installed before installing a NON AGP PRO card into your system.
...or...
you are trying to install an AGP card that users an older AGP spec, one that allows AGP video cards to use 3.3v rather then the more common and widely accepted 1.5v. Unfortunately nVidia and Intel have dropped support for the older 3.3v AGP video cards and require you to have a video card that runs at 1.5v. If your VGA card does not fit in the AGP slot and is of an older generation such as the first Voodoo series cards or some old ATI Rage series cards, then you will need to upgrade your video card to use it in this motherboard.
Q. Does the ASUS A7N8X (and deluxe) support ASUS MY-LOGO feature?
A. While it does not officially support MY-LOGO, it does support full screen boot logo's, which can be manually edited and inserted into the bios with a bios editing program. More information is being looked into and instructions for adding MY-LOGO support to the bios should be forth coming very soon. so please be patient
Q. What revision is my ASUS A7N8X and what available revisions are there?
A. At the time of this writing there are rumors (have been) about a revision 1.05 board that was released. These turned out to be just that, rumors. At this present time there are only revision 1.04 released boards out. You can find out what revision your motherboard is by looking between the 2nd and 3rd PCI slot, it will say 'ASUS A7N8X' with a revision number in small lettering right after it.
Q. I have herd problems about installing nForce drivers on Windows98/se. Is it safe to install them and do i have to go through any special procedure?
A. Lord Krim has made a nice little list for you to follow when installing nForce drivers in Windows98/se.
- Installing the nForce drivers
- Run the 2.0 driver UDP for win98.
- After it unpacks the files for the installation hit cancel.
- Open Windows Explorer to the directory that the device drivers were unpacked to. (It's probably on your C: drive unless you picked something different when you were installing.)
- Delete or move the display directory. (The installer hangs due to some updates that didn't make it into the win98 display drivers that are in this package.)
- Now run Setup.exe and don't let it reboot when it asks you. Once you finally exit the installer, reboot. Windows likes to reboot after a driver is installed, but it asks you too soon here. If the system reboots to soon, you will have problems getting back into windows and have to use safe mode to remove the partially installed drivers and start over again.
- Installing the display drivers
- Download your favorite set of Detonators.
- Run the Detonators you downloaded and reboot.
- Optimizing
- Enable DMA - DMA is not enabled in windows 98 by default, so you will need to enable it for the drives that can use it. This gets rid of scratchiness and static sounds in the audio. Do this at least for your hard drive.
- Open your control panel.
- Double-click on the system icon.
- Click on the Device Manager tab.
- Click the little plus sign next to the Disk Drives.
- Right-click on the drive and go to properties.
- Click on the Settings tab.
- Click the checkbox next to DMA, ignore the warning that pops up, and reboot.
- Download and install DirectX 8.1b or 9.0.
- Install the Win98 Audio hot fix. (Make sure to install this after DirectX, not before.) This will get rid of the skipping around you will experience while playing mp3s. This might be on the CD included with your motherboard, but if it is not I can email it to you or you can try the link that is floating around this forum. Before long I might just go ahead and upload it to one of my servers.
- If you have more than 512MBs of ram add the line "MaxFileCache=512000" to your system.ini file under "[vcache]". Win98's vcache has a bug that gives it problems coming up with how much caching on the disk needs to be set aside if you have more than 512. Windows can become unstable and start giving you false out of memory messages if you don't have this line in your system.ini file.
A. In the 'Advanced Chipset Features' section of the bios, change the 'System Performance' option to 'User Defined'. This should allow you to see all the MHz increments available.
Q. I have windows98 or SE and i can’t get any sound working, i have installed the drivers but there is a problem in the device manager. How do i get sound working in windows98 or 98SE?
A. There is a hot fix for windows98 and 98SE that needs to be installed in order for the sound on your motherboard to work properly. You can find more information about the hot fix here and download the patch here. There is also another patch you should have installed, you can find it here. Also make sure that if you are using the 2.0 drivers from nVidia then to check above, as there is some important information about those drivers being installed on a7n8x-deluxe boards.
Q. I cannot get my keyboard/mouse to power on my computer even though i have selected the option in the BIOS. What’s going on?
A. Not only do you need to enable the option in the BIOS you also need to change a jumper, the jumper is labeled as KBPWR1 in the upper left corner of the motherboard. Default is 1-2, for keyboard/mouse wakeup you should set this to 2-3. This requires that your PSU be able to supply at least 1a on the +5v standby rail, if your power supply cannot supply at least 1a then do not use this function. More information can be found on page 19 of your manual.
Q. I flashed with the wrong file. Or my flash was incomplete. Is there any way to recover?
A. If your floppy drive seeks on power up and then stops after a short period of time, you may have a chance to recover. The following information was obtained from Wim's Bios http://www.wimsbios.com/ FAQ's. Corrections on AWARD Bios by Terry McGuire.
Award: The boot-block BIOS will execute an AUTOEXEC.BAT file on a bootable diskette. Copy an Award flasher & the correct BIOS *.bin file on the floppy and execute it automatically by putting AWDFLASH *.bin /sn /py /cc /r in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The * would be the correct bios .bin file and there must be spaces between the slash marks. Put it in the floppy and turn on the computer when the floppy seeks it will load the correct bios and reboot by itself. When it finishes you have to remove the floppy and enter the CMOS SETUP and modify the CMOS for your configuration.
Q. My computer boots up and shuts down after a few seconds. What’s the deal?
A. This is ASUS COP (overheat protection) kicking in so you don’t fry your CPU. Be thankful that you are not out buying a new processor right now
Make sure your heatsink is mounted correctly, there is a raised part on the socket with the letters "socket 462" on it, there is also a notched out, or indentation on one side of the heatsink, this notched out piece fits over the raised area of the socket. If you put your heatsink on incorrectly the heatsink will NOT touch the CPU core and can cause this issue. For a graphic demonstration of how to place your heatsink on our CPU check out TomsHardware. The top picture shows the raised part of the socket (on the far left) and the notched out part of the heatsink (also on the far left).Q. My CPU will only run at 100mhz, it’s a 133 or 166mhz CPU. What’s wrong?
A. There could be a couple things gone terribly wrong here. One is that you got unlucky and got a board that has problems with a few model of XP CPU's and auto detects their speed incorrectly. This is easy to fix, just set the CPU speed manually in the bios. This is a known issue and not specific to just the a7n8x, a future bios should incorporate a fix.
There is also the possibility of an incorrectly mounted heatsink. Please read the above question and answer and check that your heatsink is attached correctly.
Last but not least, there is a jumper on the motherboard labeled CPU_FSB, this jumper sometimes gets set to 100mhz, rather then 133mhz (the default). check to make sure that this jumper isn’t set at 100mhz, causing your CPU to run at a slower FSB then normal.
BIOS INFORMATION
- Code: Select all
+---------------+---------------+-----------------------+
| date MMDDYY | version | notes |
+---------------+---------------+-----------------------+
| 11-05-02 | 1001c | deluxe/non-deluxe |
| 12-23-02 | 1001e | deluxe/non-deluxe |
| 12-17-02 | 1001g | deluxe/non-deluxe |
| 12-08-02 | 101d | non-deluxe only |
| 01-07-03 | 1002.01aw4 | deluxe |
| 01-07-03 | 1002.01aw2 | non-deluxe |
| 01-16-03 | 1002.04 | deluxe |
| 01-17-03 | 1002.03 | deluxe/non-deluxe |
| 01-30-03 | 1002 final | deluxe (only?) |
+---------------+---------------+-----------------------+
***official change log will be posted when/if they become available***
1001c
- *Initial BIOS.
- *updates sil3112 (SATA) bios to v.4.1.36c - improves write performance.
*Checks Firewire status on bootup
*Improves sil3112 and other old PCI LAN cards PCI performance
*Fixes a small percentage of ASUS a7n8x that cannot shutdown or wakeup from S3 state
*Improves performance with older nanya ram modules
* *CAUTION* in some cases users report this bios makes the northbridges extremely hot.
- *supports new speech IC
*Revise speech IC menu item control method
*Seems to lock multipliers for some people.
*Reports of instability seem more common for some users who upgraded.
- *initial Bios for ASUS A7N8X NON-DLX board ONLY.
- *aw4 indicates for award bios with 4mbit flash rom (deluxe)
*FSB selection now goes to 250mhz (500mhz ddr)
*FSB Spread Spectrum locked at .5
*"sync" renamed to "100%" in memory frequency selection menu
*Fixes a multiplier auto detection issue.
- *aw2 indicates for award bios with 2mbit flash rom (non-deluxe)
*Although it hasn’t been said or tested, i assume that the same changes in 1002.01aw4 are also in 1002.001aw2.
- *was posted before version 1002.003
*Users indicate temps seem to be lower with this revision. perhaps giving false readings.
*Some users experience 'system failed memory test' after flashing.
*Apparently this bios has been removed from ASUS websites and any user upgrading to this bios should do so at their own risk. As this bios may not be supported by ASUS due to problems it may have had.
- *was posted after 1002.004
*This bios seems to be much better then the .004 version.
*Many users have had good experience with this bios.
- *Update Serial ATA option ROM to 4.1.50.
*Fix that system fails to flash BIOS by pressing Alt+F2 when USB mouse is enabled.
*Fix that USB port 3,4 can not resume from S3/S4.
*Improve motherboard stability when using Infineon DDR333.
*Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at: http://www.asus.com.tw/support/cpusuppo ... pport.aspx
more information can be found here. release dates, change logs, and even links to the bios revisions themselves. this site is for the a7n8x deluxe only, it currently does not have any non-dlx bios revisions.
UBER BIOS REVISIONS
Demoulous has modified some of the ASUS stock bios that enable extra features hidden or not found in the regular BIOS' found on ASUS FTP site. These BIOS revisions are not supported by ASUS and as Demoulous states these is a ‘use at your own risk’ deal. He has tested his BIOS revisions to work on HIS BOARD only. He cannot guarantee they will work on your motherboard so if during the flashing process you render your board unbootable Demoulous nor nForcersHQ shall be held responsible for any damages you incur. Should you want to try one of the UBER BIOS revisions check the ASUS section of the forum for his latest creation
thanks Demoulous!
MISC INFORMATION
VOLTAGE MOD and VOLTAGE MONITOR MOD
***WARNING***This information is for enthusiasts only. The information below contains steps that should only be attempted by persons with experience. The following procedures if done incorrectly could damage the motherboard and any components connected to it. Serious injury could also result if proper care is not taken while performing the following procedures. NFHQ or its members share any responsibility in your actions, they are done so by your own free will. NFHQ shall not be responsible for, but not limited to, any bodily harm or damage of system components. These modifications will also void your warranty. Having said that, try these at your own risk***
Shortly after this boards release a few users got busy on deciphering the schematics of the boards power supply. In a few days we had a voltage mod for the board. This URLcontains links to pictures and instructions that will allow you to increase the VCore (CPU Core Voltage), the VDIMM (DDR RAM Voltage), and allow you to connect a device to read the VDIMM voltage output level.
a chipset voltage mod has also surfaced for this motherboard. this mod has given many users who tried it very good overclocking results when overclocking the FSB. users have reported stable 230mhz FSB!!! coupled with ram capable of running sync results in a blazingly fast system. more information can be found on volt modding the chipset here
-- ADDED 23/5/05 --
If you're faint hearted, and want to avoid doing the Voltmod, you can always try putting active cooling on your Northbridge. This basically means sticking a small heatsink fan on your northbridge in order to cool it. This is also generally a good idea to do when you perform the voltmod, in order to remove any extra heat produced. There is no guarantee this will help your overclocking potential, but it's a lot less risky than a voltmod if you aren't confident with modifying your board.
Thanks to forum member Arawn for his experiences!
----
A HUGE thanks goes to the many who contributed to this FAQ, the moderators of NFHQ, and its members. If it weren’t for their questions and similarly, their answers, this FAQ would have not been possible.
Any updates/fixes/spelling errors should be reported via private message, to me or another moderator and they will be reviewed for addition to the FAQ.
last edited on Saturday January 30, 2003 @ 06:33 EST (-5 GMT)
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xlr8shun - nForce Padawan
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