ASRock 939Dual-SATA2

Well after trying 7-8 different combinations of my dvd roms and hdds it finally booted up straight into the bios with a message saying something along the lines of "Several failed boot attempts failed....." So i got to go into the bios and make most of the necessary changes. But even after that the system would not boot using my SATA drives, it would just freeze up at the POST screen. So i decided to just format an old IDE hdd from my last comp to update the bios. After i got the bios updated everything worked great. This mobo/cpu combo is atleast 2-3x faster than my old setup which was seom crappy gigabyte mobo and a 3ghz intel cpu. I must say that im glad to be back in the world of AMD.
Thanks for all the help guys. :D

akcm - the panel for the power led, hdd led and on/off switches should be in the lower right hand corner, if it isnt there you prolly wanna RMA that board

-dudebrah
 
Dudebrah said:
Well after trying 7-8 different combinations of my dvd roms and hdds it finally booted up straight into the bios with a message saying something along the lines of "Several failed boot attempts failed....." So i got to go into the bios and make most of the necessary changes. But even after that the system would not boot using my SATA drives, it would just freeze up at the POST screen. So i decided to just format an old IDE hdd from my last comp to update the bios. After i got the bios updated everything worked great. This mobo/cpu combo is atleast 2-3x faster than my old setup which was seom crappy gigabyte mobo and a 3ghz intel cpu. I must say that im glad to be back in the world of AMD.
Thanks for all the help guys. :D

akcm - the panel for the power led, hdd led and on/off switches should be in the lower right hand corner, if it isnt there you prolly wanna RMA that board

-dudebrah
Click to expand...

Nice one, I thought it was a drive issue. Glad the latest BIOS sorted it out for you. :D
 
Hi,

As to the power LED problem, I end up modding the plug and it works. However, I have encountered another problem. After a program insatllation, I was asked to reboot. The screen was freezed and I end up doing a reset which doesnt work. So I do a cold start. No error beep and no boot up screen. I try a few more time and the symptom still the same. After waiting for 5 min, I give it another try. This time, the PC can boot into XP.

Is this the 'Cool Boot' problem and can it be solved by upgrading the BIOS ?

Thanks

Akcm
 
akcm said:
Hi,

As to the power LED problem, I end up modding the plug and it works. However, I have encountered another problem. After a program insatllation, I was asked to reboot. The screen was freezed and I end up doing a reset which doesnt work. So I do a cold start. No error beep and no boot up screen. I try a few more time and the symptom still the same. After waiting for 5 min, I give it another try. This time, the PC can boot into XP.

Is this the 'Cool Boot' problem and can it be solved by upgrading the BIOS ?

Thanks

Akcm
Click to expand...

Yes, there is a known problem with early BIOS revisions. Upgrading to the latest revision (2.20) will sort out your cold boot issues.
 
My board has been acting flaky lately - I did some testing on everypart and the only thing it could have been is the mobo. I was getting data corruption, drives not recognized, USB headers no longer functioning...:( I RMA'd the board to Newegg, and we'll have a new one back in a week or so. Spent at week tesing the RAM with MemTest in another system, HD's tested with Seagate tools, testing the CPU in another system, tried a different PSU... <sigh>

I got the board in November, and have friends with it and this is the first issue anyone I know has had. Up until a month ago, this was one of the most stable boards I've ever had. Bummer. I know the 2.20 BIOS helped with some issues I was having, but not the flaky issues with the SATA, IDE, and USB. I'm off camping next week, so should have a box waiting for me when we get back and have some system rebuilding to do before heading back to work.

Peace,
Tim
 
somecallmeTim said:
My board has been acting flaky lately - I did some testing on everypart and the only thing it could have been is the mobo. I was getting data corruption, drives not recognized, USB headers no longer functioning...:( I RMA'd the board to Newegg, and we'll have a new one back in a week or so. Spent at week tesing the RAM with MemTest in another system, HD's tested with Seagate tools, testing the CPU in another system, tried a different PSU... <sigh>

I got the board in November, and have friends with it and this is the first issue anyone I know has had. Up until a month ago, this was one of the most stable boards I've ever had. Bummer. I know the 2.20 BIOS helped with some issues I was having, but not the flaky issues with the SATA, IDE, and USB. I'm off camping next week, so should have a box waiting for me when we get back and have some system rebuilding to do before heading back to work.

Peace,
Tim
Click to expand...

That is bad news and frustrating. Seems unusual that the motherboard should suddenly start playing up. Sounds like a chipset issue, Southbridge or Northbridge possibly. I hope the RMA sorts out your problem. The 'board has been very stable for me so far, touch wood!
 
spicey said:
That is bad news and frustrating. Seems unusual that the motherboard should suddenly start playing up. Sounds like a chipset issue, Southbridge or Northbridge possibly. I hope the RMA sorts out your problem. The 'board has been very stable for me so far, touch wood!
Click to expand...

RMA process took a week - shipped off last Monday, it got here this Monday, but I was 2 1/2 hours North camping on Curlew Lake (about 25 miles from Canada in WA state). Anyway, we are home washing clothes and what not so I thought I would pop in the mobo between loads and cleaning out the van and putting stuff away that needs put away (blah blah blah)...

Booted right up - (didn't catch the BIOS that was on it), I had to have my SATA2 drive in IDE mode as I had not loaded the drivers when I was mucking about trying to get it going - so. It's running very well so far and I'm happy as can be.. .:)

Peace,
Tim
 
well i just recevied the motherboard today and after putting everything in, i found out that nothing works. when i press the power button, the fans go on for like 2 seconds and then turn off again. i thought it was the power supply at first, but then i tried in a friends computer and it works just fine. i also tried the processor and ram in a friends comp and they're fine also. this is a motherboard issue right? and is there any possible way to fix this? thanks. :)
 
Kwincy said:
Anybody have a 7950Gx2 card working on this mobo? I'm considering getting one of these video cards and not getting an SLi board, as this board is working just fine for me.

Kwincy
Click to expand...

Ditto, Wondering if anyone has a 7950Gx2 up and running?
 
I am about to get this board and pair it up with:

Athlon 64 4000+
2x512MB Mushkin 2-3-2 PC3200 high performance memory
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro AGP (moving up to Radeon X1900XT PCI-E later)
Maxtor 120GB SATA 1.5 HDD (adding a SATAII drive later for OS/programs and using 120GB SATA 1.5 for storage)

I was wondering if you guys could maybe post a step-by-step guide to setting up the board from scratch for those of us just getting one. That would help out big time.

From what I have read about this board, these are the things I need to do first:

1) Do a BIOS update to v2.20 (if not already shipped with that version)

2) Get the SATA driver from (ASRock or ULI?) onto a floppy so I can press F6 during my Windows XP Pro install (like normal)

3) After I get to my desktop, install the drivers from the ULI website? 1695 I think?

4) Anything special I need to do when upgrading my primary HDD to SATAII and my video card to PCI-E?

Basically I'm talking about all the things to get the board running before installing all the drivers for my hardware, then things to do later after adding newer hardware (SATAII and PCI-E) Do we not use any drivers from ASRock, just ULI?

Somebody fill me in.
 
Tantrix said:
I am about to get this board and pair it up with:

Athlon 64 4000+
2x512MB Mushkin 2-3-2 PC3200 high performance memory
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro AGP (moving up to Radeon X1900XT PCI-E later)
Maxtor 120GB SATA 1.5 HDD (adding a SATAII drive later for OS/programs and using 120GB SATA 1.5 for storage)

I was wondering if you guys could maybe post a step-by-step guide to setting up the board from scratch for those of us just getting one. That would help out big time.

From what I have read about this board, these are the things I need to do first:

1) Do a BIOS update to v2.20 (if not already shipped with that version)

2) Get the SATA driver from (ASRock or ULI?) onto a floppy so I can press F6 during my Windows XP Pro install (like normal)

3) After I get to my desktop, install the drivers from the ULI website? 1695 I think?

4) Anything special I need to do when upgrading my primary HDD to SATAII and my video card to PCI-E?

Basically I'm talking about all the things to get the board running before installing all the drivers for my hardware, then things to do later after adding newer hardware (SATAII and PCI-E) Do we not use any drivers from ASRock, just ULI?

Somebody fill me in.
Click to expand...

Step by step setup: screw mobo in, plug everything into it (don't forget the 4 pin power). :D

1. For OC'ing, Bios 2.1 has been better for some than 2.2
2. Check.
3. Check
4. You may want to skip SATAII on this board, the JMicron controller has been kinda problematic for some. I've been running plain SATA though in raid with no problems. The AGP to PCI-E switch is easy, nothing to worry about.

There's nothing wrong with the Asrock drivers IMHO.


Great value board.
 
vinceboi said:
well i just recevied the motherboard today and after putting everything in, i found out that nothing works. when i press the power button, the fans go on for like 2 seconds and then turn off again. i thought it was the power supply at first, but then i tried in a friends computer and it works just fine. i also tried the processor and ram in a friends comp and they're fine also. this is a motherboard issue right? and is there any possible way to fix this? thanks. :)
Click to expand...

I have just received the motherboard and with just the Hiper 525W PSU and new Athlon 64 3800+ connected, the case and cpu fans spin for a split second when psu switch is turned on without the front panel switch even on or connected but nothing else happens when trying to get it working with all necessary components - dead. Suspect faulty motherboard but interested if anyone else with same problem?

Thanks.
 
geezerone said:
I have just received the motherboard and with just the Hiper 525W PSU and new Athlon 64 3800+ connected, the case and cpu fans spin for a split second when psu switch is turned on without the front panel switch even on or connected but nothing else happens when trying to get it working with all necessary components - dead. Suspect faulty motherboard but interested if anyone else with same problem?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

That's normal with these boards. Keep going.
 
ewb302 said:
That's normal with these boards. Keep going.
Click to expand...

Really? Mine behaved just the same and it turned out the board
was defective, but not before taking the psu with it also. Don't forget to
clear CMOS, little good that it might do.
 
I stumbled across a post over at ocworkbench that might interest you AsRock Dual-SATA2 owners.

The author has compiled all OFFICIAL and BETA bios releases up to 2.10 in bootable CD iso format including the ASRFLASH utility ... no more floppy!

Just download and burn with your favorite program and follow the provided instructions.

I'm hosting the file and you can click here to download.
 
arcturus said:
Really? Mine behaved just the same and it turned out the board
was defective, but not before taking the psu with it also. Don't forget to
clear CMOS, little good that it might do.
Click to expand...

ya really, my asrock dual 939 would always spin up for a sec when you turned the psu on
 
geezerone said:
I have just received the motherboard and with just the Hiper 525W PSU and new Athlon 64 3800+ connected, the case and cpu fans spin for a split second when psu switch is turned on without the front panel switch even on or connected but nothing else happens when trying to get it working with all necessary components - dead. Suspect faulty motherboard but interested if anyone else with same problem?

Thanks.
Click to expand...


have you tried running it outside the case? Possible that something is shorting on the backside.
 
icthus13 said:
Can anyone get their audio drivers to work under Vista RC1? I can't :(
Click to expand...

I m afraid it's not your problem ,but driver problem.I don't think it's a coincidence that AsRock has released a new board,called "AsRock DUAL Vista",which is what i m using right now.It is the good old dual SATA2 ,but with new C-Media chipset and branded "Vista Premium ready".For the rest it's identical to the old one.Let's hope they release Vista Drivers for the DUAL SATA 2 too,cause i have this board too.
 
I just flashed to 2.20 from one of the older BIOSes (1.3? 1.5?) to try to help with a random hardlock problem I've been having. Now, unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to check prior to flashing, but after flashing my BIOS, CPU temp as reported in the BIOS (And confirmed by Speedfan - which I again, was foolish enough not to have reinstalled and checked pre-flash) was EXTREMELY hot! I won't have time to do a proper tear-down to check for HSF cooling problems and such for at least a day or two, so I thought I would check in the meantime whether anyone else has had any kind of overheating/temperature problems after flashing to one of the newer BIOSes? Cool'n'Quiet issues that might lead to overheating? Or is the temp problem probably what was prompting my issues in the first place?

Thanks!
 
uzor said:
I just flashed to 2.20 from one of the older BIOSes (1.3? 1.5?) to try to help with a random hardlock problem I've been having. Now, unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to check prior to flashing, but after flashing my BIOS, CPU temp as reported in the BIOS (And confirmed by Speedfan - which I again, was foolish enough not to have reinstalled and checked pre-flash) was EXTREMELY hot! I won't have time to do a proper tear-down to check for HSF cooling problems and such for at least a day or two, so I thought I would check in the meantime whether anyone else has had any kind of overheating/temperature problems after flashing to one of the newer BIOSes? Cool'n'Quiet issues that might lead to overheating? Or is the temp problem probably what was prompting my issues in the first place?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


I'm on 2.20 and running nice and cool...maybe it's dusty in your case?
 
Any news on new ULI unified drivers?

I still have this board sitting in the closet because I can't use it until there are x64 unified drivers that enable full AGP acceleration.

Is nvidia planning to ever release a new set of unified drivers for the ULI chipsets?

I would like to use the board...
 
markintosh13 said:
Step by step setup: screw mobo in, plug everything into it (don't forget the 4 pin power). :D

1. For OC'ing, Bios 2.1 has been better for some than 2.2
2. Check.
3. Check
4. You may want to skip SATAII on this board, the JMicron controller has been kinda problematic for some. I've been running plain SATA though in raid with no problems. The AGP to PCI-E switch is easy, nothing to worry about.

There's nothing wrong with the Asrock drivers IMHO.


Great value board.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I put a SATAII HDD on the Asrock Dualt SATA2 mb and I'm now getting some explorer errors from time to time. I just ran HD Tune on it and it BSOD with an error about SCSIPORT.SYS. Maybe I should put the drive in 150 compatibility mode and move it to a SATA connector instead of using the SATAII connecotr?
 
I posted this in its own thread but I'll repeat it here, in case somebody doesn't see the other one or in case somebody comes here looking for this same problem later:

I just got one of these mobos (but mine was the VSTA) and tried to turn it on - I got a quick spin of the fan (just a split second), and that was it. I was using a Fortron 550W power supply, that has been reliable for the last 2 years running an ABIT KT7A-RAID w/ 4 hard drives, 2 DVD drives, and a full PCI bus. I had to get an adapter for the 4-pin 12V connector on my motherboard, and that came right out of one of my regular molexes. So just to test, I got a 500W power supply from CompUSA, and it works just fine.

I measured the 12V rails on my 2 PSUs, the Fortron was 12.21, and the CompUSA was 12.39. Could this be why? Is it possible my BIOS is configured to use a higher voltage, and if I turn it down a bit, I could use the other PSU? I'd really rather use the Fortron, as I trust it more than the CompUSA.
 
uzor said:
I just flashed to 2.20 from one of the older BIOSes (1.3? 1.5?) to try to help with a random hardlock problem I've been having.
Thanks!
Click to expand...


im experiencing the same - i even went to 2.10

was slightly better but still every now and then my rig would just freeze in windows - no error logs too.
 
2.20 is doing the same for me..Hardlocking in Windows...It clearly no fun..

Have reinstalled windows on a whim..thinking thats what it was..nope..still does it

Swapped Power supplys,Video cards,Ram,CPU's still all have the same effect..Hardlocks..and its completely random..I could be doing something intensive..or I could just be Idling or webbrowsing.

plus I want to go back to 1.90 bios..But I dont have it anymore...I was stable there..

I shouldve never grabbed the newer Bios...and wouldnt you know it..All of Asrocks Bios are not Downloadable from thier site as of this weekend..Grrrrr.
 
Well.. I have been using this board since it came out and I must say I am a bit dissapointed. It seems that over time I have had more lock-ups, reboots, glitches and problems out of this board than any other I have owned. (I usually buy Asus's higher end boards and Intel Proc) I found an ifinite number of problems with the AGP drivers and have learned that not installing them is the key to any stability. Other than AGP Issues, I can find no other "set" of variables that can reliably reproduce instability, but it does happen from time to time. Later versions of the Bios HAVE corrected a lot of the problems I experienced early on. I can say it is not "Horrible" or that I have a bad board, because I can fun for days without problems.

I guess over all, I must say that I regret "saving" $50 or so dollars and not buying a higher end board. (Not realizing that I was sticking with AGP for so long and wanting PCIe too).

I Don't think I will buy another ASRock board again.
 
I hear ya friend.

AGP only works on windows x64 if you do not install the drivers... but then you lose AGP acceleration completely. It is just a 66mhz PCI slot at that point.

I may buy an asrock board again, but I will NEVER buy a board with a ULI chipset until it is more clear what nvidia is going to do with them.

It would be a waste of money if nvidia plans to stop support on them (and with a new uli unified being needed so badly yet it hasn't come yet, who knows?).

Right now it sits in my closet collecting dust in my "ebay eventually" stack.

EDIT:

Hey I just checked the asrock page and I noticed that they have 2.30 AGP driver version... on nvidia's site there is only a 2.20 unified.

Does anyone have windows xp64 running with an AGP card to test? could this be where things finally start working? I am almost afraid to try it... I would have to rebuild my system and it may not work.
 
TheBluePill said:
Well.. I have been using this board since it came out and I must say I am a bit dissapointed. It seems that over time I have had more lock-ups, reboots, glitches and problems out of this board than any other I have owned. (I usually buy Asus's higher end boards and Intel Proc) I found an ifinite number of problems with the AGP drivers and have learned that not installing them is the key to any stability. Other than AGP Issues, I can find no other "set" of variables that can reliably reproduce instability, but it does happen from time to time. Later versions of the Bios HAVE corrected a lot of the problems I experienced early on. I can say it is not "Horrible" or that I have a bad board, because I can fun for days without problems.

I guess over all, I must say that I regret "saving" $50 or so dollars and not buying a higher end board. (Not realizing that I was sticking with AGP for so long and wanting PCIe too).

I Don't think I will buy another ASRock board again.
Click to expand...

I agree, over time my Dual Sata 2 has become unreliable. Lockups/ resets are common place. I've resorted to using SATA 1 mode on a SATA 2 drive and setting memory to auto rather than 1T for improved stability. I regret buying this motherboard, I should have upgraded to a dedicated PCI Express motherboard rather than getting a hybrid AGP/ PCI Express board and trying to get a little more life out of my aging AGP graphics card.

Live and learn - I won't buy an Asrock again - cheap and rather nasty boards. I wish I'd gone with Abit, my BH7 didn't crash ever.
 
Well... just my 2 cents.. I have been running fine on my mb since they came out also.. I run SATAII w/ my 500gb hitachi and SATA1 w/ my Raptor. I have swapped out processors from 64-3500 to X2 3800+ to a Opteron.. I also have ran an x800xl AIW in the agp port and now have a 7800GTX 512 on the pcie. This has actually been one of the most stable boards I have owned. I guess I will go knock on some more wood. lol

The funny thing is that I now feel the same way about Abit as you do about Asrock.
 
Yeah, I know bumping a old thread. But i figure this is the most "official" thread for it.

Has anyone tried to mount a Scythe Infinity or Ninja on this board?

I think the Ninja will fit, but any ideas about the infinity?
 
Yashu said:
I hear ya friend.

AGP only works on windows x64 if you do not install the drivers... but then you lose AGP acceleration completely. It is just a 66mhz PCI slot at that point.

I may buy an asrock board again, but I will NEVER buy a board with a ULI chipset until it is more clear what nvidia is going to do with them.

It would be a waste of money if nvidia plans to stop support on them (and with a new uli unified being needed so badly yet it hasn't come yet, who knows?).

Right now it sits in my closet collecting dust in my "ebay eventually" stack.

EDIT:

Hey I just checked the asrock page and I noticed that they have 2.30 AGP driver version... on nvidia's site there is only a 2.20 unified.

Does anyone have windows xp64 running with an AGP card to test? could this be where things finally start working? I am almost afraid to try it... I would have to rebuild my system and it may not work.
Click to expand...


Well, I think I need to backpettle a bit, I wound up using the PCIe slot and upgrading to the latest BIOS on the ASROCK Board. It seems to be A) Running far more stable with the latest Bios, and B) the PCIe Performance is quite good. (According to 3D mark) So I am going to call this a "wash" on being happy/dissapointed in the board. I AM pretty happy that I didn't have to spend $100 on another board just to upgrade my video card, so the Dual Slots (The only real reason to buy this board) made it a worthwhile purchase.

I Still would not buy another ASROCK board if there was an option from one of the higher end manufactueres. I guess this board was just a "stop-gap" that came at the right time, at the right price.
 
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