A7N8X-VM all crap?

rool · 02-20-2004, 06:50 PM

Just got my second A7N8X-VM/400 to build myself a htpc.
The previous one I bought when building a pc for a friend didn't want to shut down and the memory gave me thousands of errors. Turned out it was totally borked and I got a new one after 3 months of RMA-procedures.

I then thought I've had all the bad luck one can have with one specific motherboard model but noooo, the one I got now had some other, not smaller, problems. First thing is that I get random reboots which probably is related to the integrated graphics in some way because they always happen when something initiates. Second thing is when doing certain things like opening advanced settings for graphic adapter or playing a movie the screen starts filling up with horizontal lines of different colors. After a while they all turn purple and the box reboots.
Is it just that the board is all junk or have I missed something?

I have installed all drivers, the newest ones for graphic and motherboard from nvidia.com.
I have tested different memory modules, Corsair pc2700 and Twinmos pc3200, both separate and together.
(Other hardware in the setup is an xp2500+, qtec 550W psu, dvd-rom and a 40gb hd).

As I ran the memory in dual channel mode the effects of the horizontal lines got much less intensive and I got by quite a long time before the box rebooted.
I then tried to turn the hardware acceleration off entirely and then the problems all disappeared. This is how I run the system now and everything lags.

Any suggestions?

cjean · 02-21-2004, 03:32 PM

Hi buddy,

I've built 3 systems with the same board as you without any problems. This board only nrrd regular memory stick. For all 3 systems I bought KINGSTON VALUE RAM DDR 333. That's it. Personnaly I do not believe those high end memory stick like Corsair or what ever make a huge difference on day to day utilisation. But this is only my personnal opinion. For this board, you may consider exchanging you corsair to kinston. It may sounds unlogical, but the facts are the facts.

Good luck.

Charles

By the way DO NOT INSTALL THE NVIDIA'S DRIVERS, take the ones on ASUS web site only. This way you will save time and headhakes.

Norvac · 03-10-2004, 04:53 PM

Hey there

I am a reseller of a lot of the ASUS motherboards. My biggest sellers are the A7N8X-VM, A7N266-VM & A7N8X-VM/400. These boards are great motherboards but very very picky on memory. Previously we sold a massive amount of boards bundled with the kingston value ram KVR266X64C25/256 &/512 also KVR333X64C25/256 & /512 Up until about three weeks ago this was an awesome bundle. Kingston has since switched it's value ram memory revision, and is now using "elpida" memory. When you load the video drivers (either asus or nvida versions) the system becomes completely unstable. Video corruption, tearing artifacting and random reboots in win2k. Win XP pro will not even boot after initial installation (between first and second boot from loaded OS) Corsair value ram has never worked on this system. ASUS and Kingston both know and are working on the problem. All different versions of BIOS update and NFORCE drivers as well as all different configs of memory will not work. The only solution that I know of is a add-on video card (unacceptable) or higher end memory. I am currently in the process of obtaining 5 different brands of memory to test on this board....I will post which memory works when I know. Higher end Corsair XMS, Mushkin, and Kingston HyperX memory does work....but is very expensive related to the cost of this board.

Norvac Electronics

rool · 03-10-2004, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Norvac
Hey there

I am a reseller of a lot of the ASUS motherboards. My biggest sellers are the A7N8X-VM, A7N266-VM & A7N8X-VM/400. These boards are great motherboards but very very picky on memory. Previously we sold a massive amount of boards bundled with the kingston value ram KVR266X64C25/256 &/512 also KVR333X64C25/256 & /512 Up until about three weeks ago this was an awesome bundle. Kingston has since switched it's value ram memory revision, and is now using "elpida" memory. When you load the video drivers (either asus or nvida versions) the system becomes completely unstable. Video corruption, tearing artifacting and random reboots in win2k. Win XP pro will not even boot after initial installation (between first and second boot from loaded OS) Corsair value ram has never worked on this system. ASUS and Kingston both know and are working on the problem. All different versions of BIOS update and NFORCE drivers as well as all different configs of memory will not work. The only solution that I know of is a add-on video card (unacceptable) or higher end memory. I am currently in the process of obtaining 5 different brands of memory to test on this board....I will post which memory works when I know. Higher end Corsair XMS, Mushkin, and Kingston HyperX memory does work....but is very expensive related to the cost of this board.

Norvac Electronics

Great! That is exactly the problem I'm having. I'll try some other memory modules and hopefully it'll solve the problem. Got a Radeon 9600 in the mail though, as I thought it would be the only way out of the mess.
I'd very much appreciate some details from your tests with the different memory brands later.
*Switch back to happy-mode* =)
Thanks for the info.

BobLafleur · 03-22-2004, 10:34 PM

I had a similar problem with the onboard video:

I tried to install Windows XP. After the first reboot, when the install starts to detect hardware, I'd just get a bluescreen with errors like MEMORY_MANAGEMENT_ERROR.

With Linux (Red Hat, Fedora) I could install, but when I booted and X loaded, the first X screen would be full of garbage, and weird things would start happening (X would re-initialize, etc).

I put in a PCI video card (can't use AGP in the case I have it in) and problems are gone.

But I cannot get the system to allocate no RAM to video. The smallest I can allocate is 8MB (taken away from my 512) leaves me with 504MB. I can't get a full 512MB of RAM available.

BlendNo27 · 03-22-2004, 11:09 PM

As you can see from my sig, I have a working version of this board. The onboard memory will shut off ONLY if you attach an agp vid card, there are no other options in the bios. Second, this board is very frickin picky about memory as the others have stated. I use 1 stick of crucial 512 pc2700 and have no problems with this configuration.

The board however, is very stable once you get it working. Good luck.

pony-tail · 07-14-2004, 04:59 PM

I just bought one of these boards - A7N8X-VM /400 and I am using it with a XP3200+ cpu and tried to use a single stick of Kingston Value Ram (PC3200) 512meg
OS. is Win2K and SuSE 9.1 Dual boot
both OS s install ok but in windows the system fails as soon as the Chipset drivers are installed
gets pixellation ,black patches where there should be colour , or just straight out reboots .
SuSE . starts X then just locks.
but works in command line.
The cpu works fine on another machine.
as does the ram . but the other machine has a via chipset
not sure of which via chipset but a Gigabyte board.
I was under the impression from previous posts that kingston ram was the most
suitable ram for these boards
but I cannot find much on the web or in thi forum about the /400 version of this board

Norvac · 07-15-2004, 01:26 PM

Your having the exact same memory problem that i've had in the past with this board. Kingston VALUE ram unfortunatly is not the solution here. I had a revision that was good, then another wouldn't work, and now i'm back to working revisions. Without actually testing each kind of "off the shelf" cheaper ram there isn't a way to really be sure that it will be happy with the IGP. The only solution that i've found is high end ram like OCZ, Kingston HyperX, or Corsair XMS.

Did you see the post about the possiblity of memory timings being too aggressive? It may be that you need the nvidia system utility to slow the timings down and see if that works.

Norvac

pony-tail · 07-17-2004, 12:51 AM

I just got a 256 Legend DDR 400 and the board is working fine - have to wait for my next pay to get another

pony-tail · 07-17-2004, 05:01 AM

Pretty good board once you sort out the ram.
XP3200 is a bit dissapointing though.
a good match for a P4 2.8 but not as fast as I expected.
the mobo graphics is exeptional for an integrated GPU
even the 3D is pretty good

pony-tail · 08-02-2004, 04:14 AM

A couple of weeks down the track - no issues , no freezes , no reboots , no graphics abberations .
not bad at all .
looks like Ledgend ram is the way to go for me .

02-20-2004, 06:50 PM	#1
rool Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 13	A7N8X-VM all crap? Just got my second A7N8X-VM/400 to build myself a htpc. The previous one I bought when building a pc for a friend didn't want to shut down and the memory gave me thousands of errors. Turned out it was totally borked and I got a new one after 3 months of RMA-procedures. I then thought I've had all the bad luck one can have with one specific motherboard model but noooo, the one I got now had some other, not smaller, problems. First thing is that I get random reboots which probably is related to the integrated graphics in some way because they always happen when something initiates. Second thing is when doing certain things like opening advanced settings for graphic adapter or playing a movie the screen starts filling up with horizontal lines of different colors. After a while they all turn purple and the box reboots. Is it just that the board is all junk or have I missed something? I have installed all drivers, the newest ones for graphic and motherboard from nvidia.com. I have tested different memory modules, Corsair pc2700 and Twinmos pc3200, both separate and together. (Other hardware in the setup is an xp2500+, qtec 550W psu, dvd-rom and a 40gb hd). As I ran the memory in dual channel mode the effects of the horizontal lines got much less intensive and I got by quite a long time before the box rebooted. I then tried to turn the hardware acceleration off entirely and then the problems all disappeared. This is how I run the system now and everything lags. Any suggestions?
(Offline)

02-21-2004, 03:32 PM	#2
cjean Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Montreal, Quebec Posts: 30	Hi buddy, I've built 3 systems with the same board as you without any problems. This board only nrrd regular memory stick. For all 3 systems I bought KINGSTON VALUE RAM DDR 333. That's it. Personnaly I do not believe those high end memory stick like Corsair or what ever make a huge difference on day to day utilisation. But this is only my personnal opinion. For this board, you may consider exchanging you corsair to kinston. It may sounds unlogical, but the facts are the facts. Good luck. Charles By the way DO NOT INSTALL THE NVIDIA'S DRIVERS, take the ones on ASUS web site only. This way you will save time and headhakes.
(Offline)

03-10-2004, 04:53 PM	#3
Norvac Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14	-VM Boards aren't crap Hey there I am a reseller of a lot of the ASUS motherboards. My biggest sellers are the A7N8X-VM, A7N266-VM & A7N8X-VM/400. These boards are great motherboards but very very picky on memory. Previously we sold a massive amount of boards bundled with the kingston value ram KVR266X64C25/256 &/512 also KVR333X64C25/256 & /512 Up until about three weeks ago this was an awesome bundle. Kingston has since switched it's value ram memory revision, and is now using "elpida" memory. When you load the video drivers (either asus or nvida versions) the system becomes completely unstable. Video corruption, tearing artifacting and random reboots in win2k. Win XP pro will not even boot after initial installation (between first and second boot from loaded OS) Corsair value ram has never worked on this system. ASUS and Kingston both know and are working on the problem. All different versions of BIOS update and NFORCE drivers as well as all different configs of memory will not work. The only solution that I know of is a add-on video card (unacceptable) or higher end memory. I am currently in the process of obtaining 5 different brands of memory to test on this board....I will post which memory works when I know. Higher end Corsair XMS, Mushkin, and Kingston HyperX memory does work....but is very expensive related to the cost of this board. Norvac Electronics
(Offline)

03-22-2004, 10:34 PM	#5
BobLafleur Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Springfield, MA Posts: 1	I had a similar problem with the onboard video: I tried to install Windows XP. After the first reboot, when the install starts to detect hardware, I'd just get a bluescreen with errors like MEMORY_MANAGEMENT_ERROR. With Linux (Red Hat, Fedora) I could install, but when I booted and X loaded, the first X screen would be full of garbage, and weird things would start happening (X would re-initialize, etc). I put in a PCI video card (can't use AGP in the case I have it in) and problems are gone. But I cannot get the system to allocate no RAM to video. The smallest I can allocate is 8MB (taken away from my 512) leaves me with 504MB. I can't get a full 512MB of RAM available.
(Offline)

03-22-2004, 11:09 PM	#6
BlendNo27 Last of the Northwood's! Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Sea-town Posts: 637	As you can see from my sig, I have a working version of this board. The onboard memory will shut off ONLY if you attach an agp vid card, there are no other options in the bios. Second, this board is very frickin picky about memory as the others have stated. I use 1 stick of crucial 512 pc2700 and have no problems with this configuration. The board however, is very stable once you get it working. Good luck. __________________ New Hotness P5K-E/Wifi-AP \| C2D E6750 @ 3.2 \| 4GB CORSAIR TWIN2X2048-8500C5D \| ASUS EAH2900XT \| 2x36.7G WD Raptors Raid0 \| Audigy2ZS \| Vista 64 Ultimate Old and Busted P4C800-ED rev 1.02 \| P4 3.4C @ 3.8 1:1 Ratio D1 \| GEIL Golden Dragon PC3500 2x512 \| Visiontek X1950Pro \| 160G/80G WD Caviar \| Swiftech H20-8501 \| XP Pro SP2
(Offline)

07-14-2004, 04:59 PM	#7
pony-tail Certified Ancient Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: QLD Posts: 72	I just bought one of these boards - A7N8X-VM /400 and I am using it with a XP3200+ cpu and tried to use a single stick of Kingston Value Ram (PC3200) 512meg OS. is Win2K and SuSE 9.1 Dual boot both OS s install ok but in windows the system fails as soon as the Chipset drivers are installed gets pixellation ,black patches where there should be colour , or just straight out reboots . SuSE . starts X then just locks. but works in command line. The cpu works fine on another machine. as does the ram . but the other machine has a via chipset not sure of which via chipset but a Gigabyte board. I was under the impression from previous posts that kingston ram was the most suitable ram for these boards but I cannot find much on the web or in thi forum about the /400 version of this board __________________ pony-tail Rig 1 Asus P4C800e - 3.4gig EE ATI 9800 XT Sonata case Mepis Rig 2 Shuttle SB61 3.2g ATI X800 pro Mepis / Win2K Rig 3 Shuttle SN45G xp3000+ GF 5900 Kubuntu Rig 4 Asus A8N-SLI premium X2 4400 Sonata case Kubuntu 64
(Offline)

07-15-2004, 01:26 PM	#8
Norvac Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14	Your having the exact same memory problem that i've had in the past with this board. Kingston VALUE ram unfortunatly is not the solution here. I had a revision that was good, then another wouldn't work, and now i'm back to working revisions. Without actually testing each kind of "off the shelf" cheaper ram there isn't a way to really be sure that it will be happy with the IGP. The only solution that i've found is high end ram like OCZ, Kingston HyperX, or Corsair XMS. Did you see the post about the possiblity of memory timings being too aggressive? It may be that you need the nvidia system utility to slow the timings down and see if that works. Norvac
(Offline)

07-17-2004, 12:51 AM	#9
pony-tail Certified Ancient Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: QLD Posts: 72	I just got a 256 Legend DDR 400 and the board is working fine - have to wait for my next pay to get another __________________ pony-tail Rig 1 Asus P4C800e - 3.4gig EE ATI 9800 XT Sonata case Mepis Rig 2 Shuttle SB61 3.2g ATI X800 pro Mepis / Win2K Rig 3 Shuttle SN45G xp3000+ GF 5900 Kubuntu Rig 4 Asus A8N-SLI premium X2 4400 Sonata case Kubuntu 64
(Offline)

07-17-2004, 05:01 AM	#10
pony-tail Certified Ancient Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: QLD Posts: 72	Pretty good board once you sort out the ram. XP3200 is a bit dissapointing though. a good match for a P4 2.8 but not as fast as I expected. the mobo graphics is exeptional for an integrated GPU even the 3D is pretty good __________________ pony-tail Rig 1 Asus P4C800e - 3.4gig EE ATI 9800 XT Sonata case Mepis Rig 2 Shuttle SB61 3.2g ATI X800 pro Mepis / Win2K Rig 3 Shuttle SN45G xp3000+ GF 5900 Kubuntu Rig 4 Asus A8N-SLI premium X2 4400 Sonata case Kubuntu 64
(Offline)

08-02-2004, 04:14 AM	#11
pony-tail Certified Ancient Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: QLD Posts: 72	A couple of weeks down the track - no issues , no freezes , no reboots , no graphics abberations . not bad at all . looks like Ledgend ram is the way to go for me . __________________ pony-tail Rig 1 Asus P4C800e - 3.4gig EE ATI 9800 XT Sonata case Mepis Rig 2 Shuttle SB61 3.2g ATI X800 pro Mepis / Win2K Rig 3 Shuttle SN45G xp3000+ GF 5900 Kubuntu Rig 4 Asus A8N-SLI premium X2 4400 Sonata case Kubuntu 64
(Offline)

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