Game problems with my new A7N8X

prae · Jun 11, 2003

I've got a brand new A7N8X Deluxe Rev 2 motherboard with a retail 2500+ XP processor (with HSF), 2 256 Mb sticks of 2700 RAM (not a name brand).

I'm not trying to overclock it. I'm only trying to run it at its stock settings. At least I think I am. Is there anywhere I can find the right settings?

My machine runs just fine normally. In fact, I love the way it performs. However, when I run Mechwarrior 4: Mercs, it crashes giving me an exception error. A time or two it has even crashed all the way to rebooting itself.

I've flashed the BIOS from 1003 to 1004, but it seemed worse so I flashed it back to 1003.

I've been monitoring the voltages using PC probe and they look like they're in spec. At least I think so. For example, the 5 V line runs between 4.892 to 4. 7 something.

My system is in my signature. I'm really getting discouraged. I could understand things being flaky if I were pushing it, but I'm not pushing the processor or memory at all. Can anyone give me any ideas? Do I maybe just have a bad motherboard? Could it be the power supply? It's a 300 W unit.

Mustanley · Jun 11, 2003

Do any other programs exhibit strange behavior or crash?
I'm curious as to why your are running the SB Live! and Linksys NIC when you already have 2 onboard ethernet controllers and Nvidia soundstorm?

prae · Jun 11, 2003

That game was the only problem I had until I flashed the BIOS to 1004 and the machine rebooted while I was posting to a messageboard.

I haven't tried much of anything else yet (i.e., other games) since I'm rebuilding the system and haven't installed everything yet.

As far as the peripherals, the SB Live is force of habit I guess. The NIC is kind of that way too except it's the one that has the MAC address that my ISP knows.

Mustanley · Jun 11, 2003

I assume you have a decent power supply. Does it crash immediatly upon running MW4, or only after playing for a while?
I would remove that sblive! card. Not saying it's contributing to the problem, but it is inferior to the soundstorm and takes more cpu overhead.
Also, there is a 1005 bios out for the Rev2 boards you might try.

prae · Jun 11, 2003

I've updated to 1005.

I may just give those peripherals a shot. Is the onboard NIC any good? It's a Realtek isn't it?

I've been wondering about my PS. It's a 300 W unit that came with the case (not a recognized solid brand name). I can play for a while then it quits - just the game, not the machine (but even that's happened maybe twice).

A friend told me to try messing around with the memory timing.

Mustanley · Jun 11, 2003

There should be two onboard NICs. One is the integrated Nvidia nic and the other is a 3com that Asus integrated into the motherboard. Both work equally well in my opinion. You will need a separate driver for the 3com NIC which is available on the install CD that came with the board or can be downloaded from the Asus website.

As your friend mentioned, you may need to try relaxing the memory timings in the bios (select optimal, not aggressive). You could also try adding a little voltage to the cpu (core voltage) and the memory (dimm voltage). I'd suggest upping the memory to 2.7 volts and the cpu to 1.70 volts and then test it out and see if it takes a difference. If not, just put them back to stock.

There are just so many small variables, it takes time to isolate the culprit, as I'm sure you've learned. Good Luck.

login211 · Jun 12, 2003

use the nvidia nic, it's better than the 3com and the linksys, i can post some benchs by anandtech.com if u wanna see....

mac address is not a problem at all
-goto dos(cmd in run)
-type ipconfig /release
-shutdown
-hook your internet up to the nvidia nic
-reboot and you should have internet, if you do not just go to dos and type ipconfig /renew

is that 2500+ a barton?? if it is a barton then set your mem freq to 100%, if it is NOT a barton, set your mem freq to 80%

set ram timings to optimal instead of aggressive

btw are those 2 sticks of ram identical?? if they are not the same then you may need to relax the ram timings some more

disable fast writes

a GOOD 250W psu would be ok for your system, i'm talking enermax or antec... if you have a noname 300W i suggest you grab a 350w enermax

what are you cpu DIODE temps btw?

gl

prae · Jun 12, 2003

The CPU is a Barton. I got both sticks of memory from the same place at the same time, so they should be the same.

I switched over to the onboard peripherals - the nVidia NIC and the audio. I also enabled the 1394 interface.

Now the game crashes on start up.

My timings, etc. are as follows:

CPU ext freq: 166
CPU freq mult setting: auto
CPU freq mult: 11 (grayed out)
system performance: user defined
CPU interface: optimal
Memory freq: 100%
resulting freq: 166 (grayed out)
memory timings: optimal
active precharge delay: 7 (grayed out)
RAS to CAS: 3 (grayed out)
RAS precharge: 3 (grayed out)
CAS latency: 2.5 (grayed out)
FSB spread spectrum: 50%
AGP spread spectrum: disabled
CPU Vcore setting: auto
CPU Vcore: 1.650 V (grayed out)
Graphics Aperture: 64
AGP freq: auto
system BIOS cacheable: disabled
Video RAM cacheable: disabled
DDR ref voltage: 2.6 V
AGP VDDQ voltage: 1.5 V
AGP 8X: disabled
AGP fast writes: disabled

I got an Antec TruePower 430 today, but haven't installed it yet.

login211 · Jun 12, 2003

your settings are fine, only thing i would change is apg freq to 66 but i guess it doesn't matter much when you're not overclocking

hopefully the antec will solve your prob

prae · Jun 12, 2003

I installed the Antec and it wouldn't power up.

login211 · Jun 12, 2003

hrrmmmm

what are you temps?

are you sure you installed the psu properly? does the power led light up on the board? how about the agp led?

try clearing cmos and setup the bios again and see if that helps but i guess you need your comp to boot first :/

login211 · Jun 12, 2003

this could also be a video card issue, asus and ati don't mix well usually

but you still have the prob of getting yoru comp to boot

trdsw20 · Jun 12, 2003

Well usually your symptoms could be caused through PRU or memory. Im kind of pointing toward the memory being bad. You might want to run Memtest and see if itll pass without errors.

prae · Jun 12, 2003

Using the settings above and the onboard peripherals (nVidia NIC and sound), I got a blue screen with a short memory dump when I tried running the game. I tried another game and got the same result.

I wondered about the PSU hookup so I reinstalled the old supply and everything was fine. I then reinstalled the new PSU and still no go. I again reinstalled the old PSU and it powers up just fine.

Just to get the box to power up, do I need anything besides the case switch and the motherboard power connected?

Where can I find memtest? I plan to exchange the memory for a brand name.

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it. (but you should see how frustrated I'm getting while I'm doing this...)

login211 · Jun 12, 2003

http://www.memtest86.com/

if you find errors it doesn't mean that the memory is bad for sure, memtest86 lies

use docmem2 to find out if you have bad memory http://www.palmtreepc.com/docmem2.exe

login211 · Jun 12, 2003

memtest86 lies but if you have good memory(error free for sure) and you get errors in memtest86 that means that the memory isn't compatible with with the board, asus boards are usually extremely picky about the memory

check out www.nforcershq.com if you want to know what memory this board likes that isn't on asus's website....

trdsw20 · Jun 13, 2003

so many double posts these days you should really learn to use the edit key

Mustanley · Jun 15, 2003

I upped the AGP voltage by 0.1 V in the bios and BF1942 no longer crashes. You might give that a shot.

prae · Jun 16, 2003

Just to follow up...

I found the culprit. I had a bad stick of RAM.

Mustanley · Jun 16, 2003

Did you manage to get the Antec PSU working?

Game problems with my new A7N8X

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