A7N8X setup/config/troubleshoot FAQ

this should probably be in the watercooling section, as they are the only people with computers quiet enough to hear this....

but anyways, my ethernet jack/box on the motherboard makes a high-pitch whyning (sp?) sound... and it seems to stop when there's no activity....

has anyone else noticed this? is it normal?

the other thing is that it always has the orange light on, i've never seen the green light go on?
 
I'm having a nasty issue right now as well. I have the A7N8X Deluxe, which came in my PC from Alienware. It originally had a bios version called "Alienware Rev 1010". I bought this PC back in September of last year. Now, when I bought my 6800 GT recently, I was experiencing some nasty problems with performence (getting less than 1/2 of what I should have been getting). I figured I needed a BIOS update, being a year old and all. So I flashed it, changed some settings, and noticed only a slight increase in performance. So then, I formatted. Installed the mobo and display drivers again, viola - perfect performance. My problem though, cropped up when I tried to install the drivers for my Audigy 2 card. For the first time ever, the installer CD told me "Could not locate a Sound Blaster product on your machine". WHAT? I have a top-line audio card right there in the PCI slot. It's recognized by WinXP perfectly fine, but the CD doesn't see it, therefore I cannot install the drivers properly. I can install the drivers "manually", but when I do this, I get less than 1/4 the performace from the product, accompanied by massive popping and crackling. I went through every possible step that Creative's tech people can think of, and it didn't work. Alienware will no longer help me either, since updating my BIOS without their knowledge, apparently voids my system warranty. The card was working fine before my BIOS update, so it can't be fried or anything. I'm thinking it might of had something to do with the BIOS update though. I checked on the Alienware site, and tried talking to their tech people. Apparently, the only "Rev 1010" BIOS they use, is for INTEL based boards. Makes me wonder how in the hell I had it on this Athlon board then.

If any of you guys have any input on troubleshooting/resolving this audio card fiasco, please have at it!
 
Vassago5k said:
...Alienware will no longer help me either, since updating my BIOS without their knowledge, apparently voids my system warranty.....

If any of you guys have any input on troubleshooting/resolving this audio card fiasco, please have at it!

Well, that sure is a load of crap, I say we all tell Alienware what we think about that and suggest to all of our customers, friends, family, etc. that they do not buy any Alienware products in the future, unless, they resovle this for you.

It's time to bring back "the customer is always right" kind of customer service, we need to stop tolerating being treated like crap by corporations. Never accept "sorry, we can't do that" it's usually a blatant lie.

Maybe somebody can put a little blurb about your problem on the [H] front page? That should get you some assistance real fast.

:confused:
 
james.m.flood said:
but anyways, my ethernet jack/box on the motherboard makes a high-pitch whyning (sp?) sound... and it seems to stop when there's no activity....
...
the other thing is that it always has the orange light on, i've never seen the green light go on?

Well, seems like there's a problem with your green LED and it just makes that noise instead of lighting up, eh? I've never heard an LED before though.
 
As with your RAM troubles i tried VALUEMAX by kingston and bahh.
The ASUS board doesnt seem to like CL 3 ram or certain 2.5, i dont know how ASUS of all big names can put out somthing that is imcompatible with nearly ALL ram types out there!.
 
my cousin has the A7N8X-X board. He has an AMD 3200+, 512mb RAM, Geforce MX400 vid card, a few HDD's, a cd and dvd drive. Nothing else. He installs XP and boots for the first time, installs all the drivers (4.27 Nforce2's from nvidia, etc). Sound works fine.

He restarts, customizes the BIOS from the default speed (100mhz FSB) to 200mhz (to make the proc run at 3200+ speeds (11.0 x 200 = 2200mhz) He then boots to windows and the sound is messed up. He plays an Mp3 with winamp 5.5 (the SAME mp3 he played fine when the FSB was at 100mhz) and it is garbled, lots of static and white noise to the point where you can't really tell its music. If he changes the FSB back to 100mhz its fine. He has tried 100mhz with different multiplyers, no change. Unless its 100mhz x 11 (factory stock setting) the sound is messed up. Now its NOT all sound, but every MP3 and some AVI movies..

anyone?
 
I have an A7N8X-E Deluxe in my setup and I can't get the FSB past 175 Mhz. At 200 MHz, it doesn't post (I have to clear the CMOS). At 180 MHz it posts but it doesn't boot.

Does anyone here can run stable at 200 MHz FSB?
 
Not going over 180ish Mhz is a symptom of 1 or 2 or both items.

First is dual-BANKED rams....sticks of 512M... on NForce2 boards need "CPC off". The bios defaults to CPC on, and with 2x 256M sticks would be fine. You need to track down a mod'd Uber bios with CPC off mod'd into it. just google CPC ...and check nforcersHQ.com to read more about it.

Also, depending on your CPU, a mod known as "L12" to can help improve higher FSB issues. Google that too.

I have A7N8Xdel v2.0 boards that do 220-230Mhz with decent ram. Same issue is felt on NF7-S....only the DFI LPuB/Infinity's have "cpc" a user controlable item in the bios, of the NForce2 boards out there.
 
Thanks for the feedback!

Ok, here's the situation:

- My board is an A7N8X-E Deluxe, rev 2.xx
- I use 2x256 Geil Golden Dragon DDR400 in Dual Channel mode
- I have installed the Uber BIOS 1008 (the lastest one for this board)

After I flashed the new Uber BIOS things became better. At 200 MHz it does post, but I receive a blue screen while WinXP is booting (complains something about classpnp.sys). I couldn't find an option to disable CPC also.

Any other suggestions?
 
Unfortunately there is no hack'd bios for it that has CPC off. I have a freind in the same pickle, his ram is trash anyway, but he cant go over 145Mhz (512M Elixir PC3200) and Im sure it is CPC off he needs. I pop'd in 2x256M CH5 into his machine, and on Uber1008 it did 230Mhz no sweat, but 2x 512M BH5 would stop at 195Mhz.

I'd consider then getting 2x 256M of serious memory.....ZipZoomFly still has 256M sticks of Kingston KHX3000 (PC3000) ddr which is BH5 chips and can do 240Mhz and beyond at tight 11,2,2,2 timings. I think it's only $80ish per stick.
 
Well, if I have to replace my memory in order to make it work, I'll get 2x512 and sell these Geil modules. What brand/models do you recommend?
 
Any CH5, BH5, or BH6 sticks, each company made them.

There is some BH5 still around....ZipZoomFly has KHX3000 Kingston for $240 (2x512kit) I got 6 sticks of it, all do 240+Mhz 11,2,2,2.

The new Micron chip based stuff is a bit more but also super fast. Like OCZ "EB" sticks, each company makes a version of it.

Also, Kingston valueram 512M stick that use the Hynix xxxxxBT-D43 chips, they can show up at Bestbuy on sale for $59/stick after rebates, and will do 250Mhz fsb (though at loose timings).
 
Critofur said:
Well, that sure is a load of crap, I say we all tell Alienware what we think about that and suggest to all of our customers, friends, family, etc. that they do not buy any Alienware products in the future, unless, they resovle this for you.

It's time to bring back "the customer is always right" kind of customer service, we need to stop tolerating being treated like crap by corporations. Never accept "sorry, we can't do that" it's usually a blatant lie.

Maybe somebody can put a little blurb about your problem on the [H] front page? That should get you some assistance real fast.

:confused:


most people wouldnt recommend alienware, at least people who know better
 
There is a new bios from Trats/RedDwarf over at NForcersHQ based on the 1008. Worth a look.
 
I have a A7N8X deluxe with 512MB (2 x 256MB sticks) in the board at the moment (slots 2 & 3) and I want to go up to 1GB, but still keep the dual channel memory feature..
will it work simply by putting another stick of 512MB in the first slot, or would it be better to get two sticks of 512MB to replace the 256??


Cheers
 
Yes, I was at 1G for a while with 2x256M 1x512M sticks of CH5 (HyperX3500) though without CPC off ability I was slowed down to 210Mhz max. With a CPC off bios you can prolly hit 230Mhz-ish.
 
USB problem here...

I had a buddy set mine up physically and put it all together. Everything in my system works except the front two USB ports on the case. He couldn't get those to work, anyone know why? I know nothing about the setup of the inside of my case until I actually look at it tonight...

It says it supports 6 USB's, 4 rear, 2 front, but my 2 front either don't work or aren't connected... :(
 
I had a recent runin with a psu that fried an old Apox motherboard.

I bought the A7n8x, along with a new powersupply, and another stick of ram. The only components which died in the whole ordeal.

My new rig is made up of:
(NEW) Asus A7n8x
1GB Pc2700 Ram / (NEW) Mushkin 512 + Other 512
AMD 2500+ Barton 333 FSB
80Gb Maxtor HD
20Gb Segate HD
Plextor DVD Burner
Generic CD Burner
Silverston 400 Watt Powersupply

My problem is...
I built the PC the last two nights after class, and when everything was said and done I went to power on, when switching on the power for the PSU, the Green light turns on (meaning the mobo is getting power), no other visual or audial signals to the fac that the thing has power. When I turn on the on switch, nothing happens. I have tried litterally everything, switching out ram, changing jumpers, new power coard. I'm absolutly on the end of my rope and have no idea what to do. Please, anything will help. The problems I've seen so far don't seem to relate to mine. I have also seen a problem with a specific CPU cooler and that is not my case, please any help is help.
 
i guess i'm lucky :p the only problem i had with my -e deluxe was configuring the onboard sound, but some tinkering made it work, and i have had zero problems !!! Just upgraded to a 3200+ and installed a gig of PDP pc3200 dual channel kit, and it's smoooooth sailing so far !! although i did order the regular deluxe, and had to RMA it to new egg, board was just dead as a doornail, NOTHING would power up
 
Well, I'll add my 2 cents to this...I've had an early revision of the A7N8X Dlx board for almost 2 years now and it ran more or less ok...USB problems out the wazoo and the onboard ethernet never worked, but I digress. Then yesterday I put on Win XP SP2 and it killed the board, jumper-reset the BIOS, nothing...it won't post, beep, boot or anything, but all the drives and LED's come on. Grrrrrr....
 
digiram said:
This not within the current topic, but I am having wierd sound probs with my dlx 2.0. I keep hearing this weird buzzing in the background from the onboard audio. It gets wierder and more noticable when the cpu is doing something. For example, I move my mouse around and the sounds starts changing. Anybody run into any similar issues with the a7n8x onboard sound???

BTW, it's not a driver issue, I've tried reinstalling drivers, and it occurs before the pc boots into windows. I also got a front port audio thing connected so I could hook up my head phones to the front. I've tried taking out the front port audio thingy, and put the jumpers back on the audio pins, you guys know the 6 or so pins in the back by the agp slot, and that didn't make a single difference. The static and buzzing occurs when the speakerz are plugged into the back line out, or on the line out in the front. It happens with my headphones and speakers.


Trymoving your mouse cord away from your speaker cords. I had this problem and this solved it. It was exactly what you are describing.
 
WickedAngel said:
Anyone know how to make this splendid mechanical crackling stop with the A7N8X-X?

You mean the sound crackling right? Same thing on my a7n8x-dlx. All you have to do is go into the nforce menu in start menu, and decrease the Master audio from max (just move it slighty down from max). I forget what other ones i had to do it to, Wave i think. Try to do it to every audio slider. I havent had a crackle ever since i did this, about a year ago.....
 
I'm currently running 256mb x 2 ram in slot 1 and 3 which is dual channel mode. I'm thinkin of adding a stick of 512mb in slot 2 since my board only supports 3 memory slots. So will this work fine which will put me at 1 gig of ram.
 
If, by chance , you are using an analog cable from your CD to your sound card....remove it and enable digital audio for all your CD drives.....
 
i have been met with the same problems with my a7n8x deluxe as most of you such as distorted audio, over voltage, amongst other things. it is important to point out that Asus has really gone down hill if you have a Asus board thats made in china its actually been built by ASRock a company who makes low quality boards. besides been unstable these boards are built with some of the cheapest components avaible. i had a gut feeling that for this sytem i shoulda went with the Abit NF7-S but still went with the Asus and here i am a year later regretting it and ready to sell my a7n8x and get the nf7 to be honest im surprised this asus board still works considering all the overclocking ive done with it, i found this board will support upto 400fsb no problem but anything more you risk frying the board. anyone looking to buy a new system should avoid asus products like the plague
 
So is the board working for everyone now?? I just finished reading this entire sticky (out of boredom) and posts are down to a trickle now or did you all RMA'd. Mine is still going at 220 x 10 (got the mb when it first came out). Now with Bios 1008. A coupla of guys and I troubleshoot this board at least 2 years ago and I am surprised to see so many problems still. Ack!
Earlier in 2004 I got the -X version for a friend and it has been running fine from day 1.
I just bought another (-E version) and again continues to run well at 200FSB after 2 weeks we will see.
Soon this mb will be at the end of its life anyways and I got my $$ usage out of them.
 
Great. I have an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe board, and it has been running a Barton 3200+ XP CPU with a gig of Corsair 3200XL memory and a GF 6800 GT... everything is fine with it... But I bet now that I read this thread, I will start having a gazillion problems! :rolleyes:

Jinx!
 
just wondering if anyone has used all 3 dimm slots and has been able to reach 400fsb without issues. i know the box says its 400mhz dual channel and anything else is 333mhz but ive heard diffrent so if anyone can put some light on this subject for me thanks.
 
Asus has posted (on 11/19/2004) ver 1013 of the BIOS for the A7N8X-E Deluxe mobo. It fixes these issues (quoted from their website):

1. Patch new Samsung DDR400 DRAM to fix enter WinXP problem
2. Fixed Speech IC detect abnormal for CPU overclocking
3. Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at: http://www.asus.com.tw/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx

Number 2 should eliminate some of the false, unexplained "System Failure due to CPU overclocking" warnings
 
Got a problem, and would prefer not to RMA the board if I can avoid it. Basically, turn on the computer, and MB speaker just goes into a long, single, non-stop beep.

Just got the board today, and would be rather annoyed if I have to send it back, basically been without a puter for a week already(well, my desktop anyways, so a decently powerful computer)

I've tried resetting the CMOS, pulling out 1, then the other RAM chip, putting them in different orders, etc.

Know the processor's good(at least I think anyways), and RAM's good as well. Not sure what else to check at this time.
 
barefootbilly said:
USB problem here...

I had a buddy set mine up physically and put it all together. Everything in my system works except the front two USB ports on the case. He couldn't get those to work, anyone know why? I know nothing about the setup of the inside of my case until I actually look at it tonight...

It says it supports 6 USB's, 4 rear, 2 front, but my 2 front either don't work or aren't connected... :(

You've probably already figured this out by now, but there is a USB voltage jumper on the board that you should try changing. I think it sets the USB ports to choose either the 5V rail from the PSU or the 5V rail on the mobo. One allows six USB and the other doesn't if I recall correctly.
 
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