The NForce 4 Ultra chipset is a POS.

Zinn said:
I had this RAM in my board before and had nothing but problems. Very similar stuff to what you're experiencing. It ran fine with my Pentium 4, but HATED my NF4 Ultra board.

The only solution I've found is to raise the memory voltage to between 2.8 and 2.9 volts.
Click to expand...

Excellent point, some RAM require a higher voltage then your motherboard might supply at default.
 
i have an nf4 and it works just fine. no problems at all. maybe youre just unlucky with these boards? of course every board and chipset manufacturer has their good and bad parts...you might jsut keep getting stuck with the lemons
 
UPDATE:

I am UNABLE to remove the NVidia IDE drivers because I am running RAID which are required to load windows if you want RAID 0.
 
Hyper_Lite said:
Here is a list oveything in my box

Lian Li modified
AMD Athlon64 3500+ Venice (939)
Asus A8N-E nforce 4 ultra chipset
E-VGA NVidia 7800GTX PCI-E Video Card
1GB Patriot PC3200 Ram (2-3-2-5)
2x 120GB WD 7200RPm 8MB HD's in RAID 0 (EIDE ATA100)
PCI Sound Blaster Audigy
3.5" NEC Floppy
Lite-On DVD-Rom 16x
Lite-On DVD-RW 12x
Promise ATA100 Controller Card (Controls CD-Roms)
Antec True Power II 430 Watt PSU (3.3V@28A, +5V@35A, +12V1@17A, +12V2@17A, -12V@1A, +5VSB@2A)
Windows XP Pro
4 Case Fans
3 Case lights (Not on)


Drivers and Software:

Windows XP PRO SP2
NVidia IDE 5.10.2600.534 drivers (I rolled back from the 6th version)
Click to expand...


Loose the promise controller ,...........trust me
 
RAID-0 with two WD1200JB's isn't worth it. Sell them and get a single 16MB Maxtor drive, WD2500KS, or Hitachi T7K250 and enjoy both more capacity and performance.
 
Hyper_Lite said:
UPDATE:

I am UNABLE to remove the NVidia IDE drivers because I am running RAID which are required to load windows if you want RAID 0.
Click to expand...
No, the nVidia SW IDE Drivers are not needed for RAID, but the nForce RAID drivers are. There is a difference. Install the drivers during the XP installation, but DO NOT install them when you update your nForce chipset drivers.
 
UPDATE.............................


AS I stated before I had RAID 0 setup and still had to use NVidia drivers to get Windows to install. I decided to delete the configuration and just a load a up a single HD. Well I did that and I am still running into same problem. Right after the Asus splash screen I can hit F8 and get the Windows loading box, but when I choose Normal it goes away and comes up about 15 seconds later then loads windows. I do NOT have any NVidia drivers loaded except fot the NIC and My GTX 7800 drivers. I tried disabling the NIC before I installed the drvers and it didn't make a difference. I still am unable to burn CD's so I am thinking it is now the board.

Everything is at default settings, except I bumped the voltage up on the memory like some said to and that didn't help I even bumped all the timings up one notch.
 
Wow, I surprised to see people still having problems with the nVidia IDE drivers. I experienced most of the described issues with the earlier revisions of the driver and even then that was on the NF2 chipset. It didn't matter what mobo I used if I installed the driver then yes it would equal as one gentleman put it "teh suck". :) I haven't noticed any issues with the latest drivers on any of my NF2 or NF4 boards. I think I even have the nVidia drivers running under windows 2003 with no crashes. I think Hyper_Lite may be experiencing issues with another component in his system or possibly flaky board.

Just out of curiosity, those of you experiencing problems with the latest IDE drivers, are you all overclocking when it happens.
 
Hyper_Lite said:
Everything is at default settings, except I bumped the voltage up on the memory like some said to and that didn't help I even bumped all the timings up one notch.
Click to expand...

The memory should be autodetected and then just bump up the voltage. Have you tried new cables? I had similar issues with a SCSI setup. It turned out the $30 cable was a piece of shit and had to be replaced. All problems solved at that point.

I hope you get this solved. I feel your pain. It's a really annoying thing to deal with.
 
The more I read this, the more it's starting to sound a little like a problem I once had...

I kept reinstalling Win2K and WinXP OVER and OVER and OVER. Problems started where Windows would take forever to boot. Then it would freeze at the splash screen sometimes. Then it'd boot to a BSOD. I wasn't OCed at the time. I formatted and reinstalled at least 20 times... My old HD worked fine, so I thought I had a bad drive. One last ditch effort was to get the WD drive utilities and zero-fill the drive. Must've been something funky somewhere on that drive, cuz that fixed it, and I've been using the same drive ever since.
 
tesfaye said:
The memory should be autodetected and then just bump up the voltage. Have you tried new cables? I had similar issues with a SCSI setup. It turned out the $30 cable was a piece of shit and had to be replaced. All problems solved at that point.

I hope you get this solved. I feel your pain. It's a really annoying thing to deal with.
Click to expand...


Yes it's very anoying. I have tried all of that. I have rounded cables and swapped those out with the Asus cables that came with the board.

No go :(
 
dangfx said:
Well, I not going to have as harsh words as Hyper_Lite about the nforce4 ultra chipset, but I have one, and while i love my board, it's given me its fair share of problems.

My problem right now is that it is randomly locking up in windows. doesnt matter when or what i'm doing -- load or idle. it just stops. no BSOD. no nothin'.

My Specs:
Asus A8N-E revision 2, bios 1005. (drivers from Asus CD, probably 6.53??)
AMD X2 4400+
2GB (1GB stick x 2) Corsair Value Select VS1GB400C3 (in first and third DIMM slots, A1 and B1)
BFG 7800GTX PCI-E (77.72 drivers from nvidia; seemed more stable than the 77.77 drivers)
Antec TruePower 550 EPS12V SSI Server-rated PSU
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATA 200gb (on 1st SATA channel)
Creative 52x CD-ROM (IDE Primary master)
Plextor 716AL DVD/CD burner (IDE, Secondary master)
Plextor 16/10/40A CD burner (IDE, Secondary slave)
Floppy drive
2 case fans + 1 CPU fan (AMD retail box HSF)
Windows XP Pro, SP2 (have also tried it with XP x64 Edition for a bit)

everything is running at stock speeds, on auto in the bios. no overclocking. I have left the 1005 bios, as that seems to be the most stable which people say. Windows is completely updated. I have not installed the nvidia IDE drivers. temps according to the bios are between 35-39 degrees (celcius).
Click to expand...
Well, for simplicity sake (to keep you from disassembling anything), if you don't mind having to reisntall everything, try zero-filling your HD like I had suggested before (read my other reply). If not... Believe it or not, just try reseating everything on your motherboard. I had a computer that simply wouldn't even power up back when I was a tech at the dreaded CompUSA (BLARG!!!). Pulled the processor, put it back in, and it powered right up. Stray dust particles can do some pretty fux0red up things.
 
I had a MSI K8N Neo4 Plat (a64 4200 x2) for a few weeks and it was nothing but problems. I had sound stuttering issues as well as incredibly low performance reading and writing to sata hard drives attached to the onboard siI3114 controller. I searched though a lot of forums and tried a variety of solutions including playing with irq's, beta bios, and different drivers. One thing I did notice while going through the forums was that people with X2s and a variety of boards seemed to have far more problems than people with non X2's. Just to test a theory I swapped a friend's single core a64 in and the problems stopped. After that I returned the MSI board and exchanged it with a Lanparty nF4 SLI-DR. After a bios flash, which was required to add X2 support, this board has run flawlessly. This experience makes me wonder if some motherboard manufacturers just haven't taken the necessary time to test their NF4 motherboards with the X2 chips.
 
Maybe that's MSI has that program where you send your board in to have it updated/validated for X-2 support.
 
I personally haven't heard about any progam like this but I did call their tech support and they didn't mention anything like that. Even if they do have a program to certify your board for x2 it really shouldn't be neccesary to have to pay shipping.
 
No many of the MSI neo4 SLI Platinum boards from early on required you to send them in for an "update" to be able to support 7800's and X2. Mine did, and I have done that though it is running neither.
 
It seems to me like a recurring theme.....MSI NF4 boards have some problems. I dont know what but there have been many posts over the last two weeks about there boards and some very frustrated folks.
I just built up a system over the weekend....ASUS A8N-sli deluxe/fx-53/7800GTX/1GB Corsair xms 3200/Seagate 120 GB HD The system loaded flawlessly and has run without a hitch since. XP SP2 as an OS. I didnt use the nVidia IDE drivers or the nVidia firewall. All runs stock. This is my second A8N board and I have had no problems at all.
Maybe the MSI boards have some quirk????
 
Treyshadow said:
No many of the MSI neo4 SLI Platinum boards from early on required you to send them in for an "update" to be able to support 7800's and X2. Mine did, and I have done that though it is running neither.
Click to expand...
I don't understand why the board would need an update to support the 7800. Doesn't it draw less power or the same as previous gen top o da line cards? The x2 thing should be a bios update. I want to get an x2 but I don't want to send my board in. They make no mention of the turn around time for that program.
 
...have you tried removing the IHS off the processor and then lapping the core?






If not ....that is a good thing.... :)

Does the processor work fine in another mobo?
Memory pass memtest?
Do the voltages fluctuate heavily looking at the output in the bios?
Does the hard drive(s) you are using work fine in another setup with it being drive with OS on it?
How do your temps look?
Does the video card work fine in another setup?
Marvell nic disabled in bios prior to installing OS?
Does OS load ok with all onboard stuff disabled and only minimal components hooked up?
Have you tried different memory slots , or perhaps just one stick of memory?
Have you tried resetting bios back to defaults via popping battery out and unplugging power cord for at least on minute with cmos clear jumper on "clear cmos" leads?
Are you using a PSU with a native 24pin ATX connector ?

...just questions to verify it is indeed the mobo ...I feel for you as far as being frustrated , but it's even more frustrating getting a new component only to find out that there was really nothing wrong with the old part ...

I "play" with computers all day long for a living and constantly am getting "bad" parts in from different offices on campus where I work ...only to find that sometimes its just a matter of getting the right parts hooked up together and presto change-0 ..stable usable system again ... just my experiance.

Just odd that you would get 2 different mobo's from different manufacturer's that are bad ... the nForce 4 chipset has been good to me , so I personally wouldn't blame the chipset .. but again ..that's just my experience.

:)
 
ThreeDee said:
...have you tried removing the IHS off the processor and then lapping the core?






If not ....that is a good thing.... :)

Does the processor work fine in another mobo?
Memory pass memtest?
Do the voltages fluctuate heavily looking at the output in the bios?
Does the hard drive(s) you are using work fine in another setup with it being drive with OS on it?
How do your temps look?
Does the video card work fine in another setup?
Marvell nic disabled in bios prior to installing OS?
Does OS load ok with all onboard stuff disabled and only minimal components hooked up?
Have you tried different memory slots , or perhaps just one stick of memory?
Have you tried resetting bios back to defaults via popping battery out and unplugging power cord for at least on minute with cmos clear jumper on "clear cmos" leads?
Are you using a PSU with a native 24pin ATX connector ?

...just questions to verify it is indeed the mobo ...I feel for you as far as being frustrated , but it's even more frustrating getting a new component only to find out that there was really nothing wrong with the old part ...

I "play" with computers all day long for a living and constantly am getting "bad" parts in from different offices on campus where I work ...only to find that sometimes its just a matter of getting the right parts hooked up together and presto change-0 ..stable usable system again ... just my experiance.

Just odd that you would get 2 different mobo's from different manufacturer's that are bad ... the nForce 4 chipset has been good to me , so I personally wouldn't blame the chipset .. but again ..that's just my experience.

:)
Click to expand...

Was this question aimed at me?
 
thesmurph said:
Was this question aimed at me?
Click to expand...


...aimed at original poster ...and to all that might be having problems with their hardware whether it be nVidia stuff or whatever ...ask questions ..try and be thorough (sp?) in trouble shooting ..that's all ... :)
 
I dont feel like reading the 4 pages of posts... But most of your problems is probally RAM. I have the MSI K8N SLI and its been PERFECT! I never had any issues. Never crashed never froze. I have been running it with water cooling for about 2 months now. Its been nothing but great. You just have to make sure you guy quality ram, and then go into Bios and make sure all the settings are correct with the RAM. Hope this helps. Dont hate MSI they are great boards.
 
banGerprawN said:
Dont install the "nVidia SW IDE" drivers. which, by the way, you would know not to do if you were actually an enthusiast on this forum instead of just some random spammer. Thanks, and good luck... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


had the same problem with my Msi K8N Neo 2 Platinium .. Nforce 3 ...i even tryed installing the latests Nvidia SW IDE drivers ... dont touch that crap
 
For what it's worth, I had a nForce2 system and now have a nForce4. I for one have never had a problem with the nVidia SW IDE drivers on both of the systems. they perform very well, and I have had no bunner problems. After the BIOS post my Windows XP SP2 loads in about 5 secs over all very speedy system, and no complaints.
 
dangfx said:
anyone have any ideas about my problem? :( (on page 2 ^^above^^)

:confused:
Click to expand...

I had a similiar problem recently, the OS would just lock up. And sometimes the HD is not detected at bootup. So I suspected an HD problem.
I downloaded and ran the Western Digital diagnostic tool and it detected bad sectors. Then I ran the WD repair utility to fix them. After that, I ran Windows scandisk, which fixed a few more problem. Havent had a problem with the system since. See if Maxtor has such tools.
 
GlimmerMan,
thanks for the suggestion. Ran the Maxtor utility, found no errors. drive is clean.

:confused:
 
Are the NVDA IDE drivers nessecary to get NCQ support?

I bought an NCQ-enabled HD but there doesn't seem to be any way for me to know its working.

Or is all this happening at a lower level?
 
I had the same problem.. though mine was due to screwed up optical drive..
Lock ups would happen pretty fast, 5-10 minutes especially when burning, or attempting to access files on HDD. Logins would take upwards of 5 minutes.
 
ktingle said:
Are the NVDA IDE drivers nessecary to get NCQ support?

I bought an NCQ-enabled HD but there doesn't seem to be any way for me to know its working.

Or is all this happening at a lower level?
Click to expand...

NCQ and the other featureset is at the lower level, the IDE drivers are not necessary to use this feature. You just have to have an NCQ capable drive that announces this featurset to the SATA controller (which also has to support NCQ, which the nVIDIA SATA ports do).
 
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