Need help with new Opteron build

[FetalMonkey]

This is a new build PC, Opteron 148, Venus heatsink, Asus A8N5X board, 2GB OCZ 3-4-4-8 DDR500, Maxtor PATA 200GB, eVga 7900GT Superclocked, 370W Coolmax. Initially, everything worked ok. Installed XP SP2, loaded up all the drivers, I was off and running. Bumped up the FSB or whatever they call it now to 220Mhz, it ran a 32M superPi fine (34 min, for whatever its worth). I go back into BIOS and try tweaking my rather loose RAM settings, just changed 2T to 1T to see what would happen. Now it wouldn't boot into XP, just ran once through that scrolling blue bar and stopped dead, every time. So I changed it back to 2T…and it still wouldn't load. Cleared CMOS, same thing. I figured I must have toasted my installation, so I do a format and reinstall. Now when I load the ASUS drivers off the CD, it freezes up entirely AS the driver for SM Bus Controller is installing ("NVIDIA nForce PCI System Management Driver"). Reboot to unfreeze and it just goes to a black screen after POST, no XP logo or beeps or anything, it just sits there and I can't even get in safe mode or bring up the dialog to do so. I try re-formatting and reinstalling again a few more times, this time installing the driver from the Device manager instead of through the asus installer, but it’s the same thing everytime I get to the SM bus Controller.

I thought this was the Ethernet controller as it is only seen as "Other PCI Bridge Device" until a start the driver update wizard, and my ethernet doesn't work. Note that I am not using SATA at any point, it's disabled in BIOS, so this is not the SATA no-boot issue. So I disable the on-board LAN and put in an Ethernet card I have laying around. Now I can get to Nvidia's site and install the nForce drivers from there, which I do for everything else but the SM Bus Controller, which I leave for last (oddly enough it didn't seem to be a critical item to have installed). I notice that the Nvidia driver seems identical to the Asus one, but the Nvidia version installs without freezing anything. However, at this point the PC starts hitching randomly, hiccuping for a split second, every couple of seconds regardless of load.
I have Asus PC Probe II installed telling me the temps are ok (37C or thearabouts for no load…about 10C less on average than what BIOS says). I don't hear the HD doing any unusual activity, and the video drivers are the latest 84.xx from Nvidia. It's annoying as hell and I'd really like it to stop, but I'm out of tricks to try…the only sets of chipset drivers I know of either freeze the board up entirely or cause it to hiccup.
What could be causing it? The only thing I can think of is that my volts are running a little low, 11.68 on the +12rail, something like 4.8X on the 5, but I don't want to go out and buy another PS if that’s not going to fix it (and I don't plan on installing any other devices, ever, this is for my brother).
Sent a love-letter to Asus but haven't heard a reply back…I'm just about ready to RMA this thing and try a different board.

 

[rickster]

Random hiccups are often a sign of an under supplied system, go get a quality PS with a power rating larger than you need based on the components you are running. If you are runnong just a couple of drives (ie no 8 drive raid arrays) and no SLI a 500W should be more than enough.

Heh, just reread your above post...."370W Coolmax" yep, get a better supply!!! 500 or 550 Wats should give to some room to stretch your legs and grow a bit.

 

[Supershanks]

i'm with rickster, ran thru your specs & pulled up dead @ that PSU. I'm suprised you got as far as you did.

Do yourself a favour & have a look here Recommended! - NF4 Ultra/SLI MobosowerSupplies i know your on an asus board but the same principals apply u need a minimum 480w psu with 24pin mobo lead.