horrible, horrible infinity problems.

man, what a struggle I am in. So many problems, where to start?
I got my dfi about a week ago, but have been running my nf7 until my mobile 2400 and 2500 cpus showed up, which was today.

So I got to boot it up, and I get nothing. Try the usual tricks, clear cmos, old down insert, remove power plugs, etc. Got it to post a couple times, and it would freeze in bios, requiring me to go clearing cmos again, insert, yadda yadda. If I could get it to post, it would freeze in the windows splash screen, or while loading drivers for safe mode.

So during a rare post, I notice that it is saying the cmos battery is bad. I popped it out and swapped it for the batt from my NF7. That seemed like it would work, it ws posting more readily, though it was still likely not to post about half the time.

PLaying around in bios, looking for the odd setting that must be annoying the dfi, I find that the Dimm voltage is fluctuating between 3.45 and 3.55!
Also, probably related, my 3.3 line, formerly rock solid at 3.3 even under heavy overclocking, has dipped to 3.2.
of course, I changed the dimm voltage to 2.6, reboot, and it STILL says 3.45-3.55. I am real lucky I have BH-5 which likes high voltages, otherwise I'd likely have dead ram. Dead BH-5 ram. I would be angry to say the least.

I got it into windows a couple times, first time loaded the drivers, rebooted fine (this is with cpu running at like 800mhz) and then installed my radeon drivers. Rebooted fine. Noticed that like others, the LAN would not install properly, but that was all. So I go to reboot again, and it freezes shutting down. Now I can't even get into windiws, back to freezing @ splash.

More weird problems: my cdrw is detected in post about half the time. Even when it IS detected, it will not boot from cd. Sometimes it recognizes it under the first post screen, but not the second. Every time I have gotten into windows, it is recognized, even if post did not.

Miscellaneous info:
the southbridge is really, really hot.
The cpu waterblock IS seated properly, and gives temps under 30c.
I have tried running 1 stick of ram, and in all three slots. Same problems, same crazy 3.45-3.55 voltages
I have tried disconnecting cdrw completely, no change.
I have tried HDD on ide2, no change.
I know my bioses and I have tried every relevant setting, have disabled unused ports (IEEE, SATA, etc) no change.
I have given agp .1 extra volts
I run no PCI devices.

I am totally at the end of my rope. Nothing I do will make the dimm voltage go down, nothing will make it post reliably, I can't seem to do anything with it. Is it time to send it back?

That sucks! It sounds like you have a bad board. I would suggest RMA'ing it for a new one.

Sorry to hear that, mine has been pretty solid. Once I got the beta bios going 240 fsb is no problem.

correct me if I am wrong , did you do a fresh install of windows with apic mode off?, if yes and when not overclocked it still freezes, then something is wrong. Then RMA is way to go...........

Sorry to hear your problems.
I just sent back a LP B for some of the same problems.. I had a Error msg. that batt. bad and checksum whatever error.

My board seamed dead to begin with but I stripped it down to the MB and 1 mem and posted.
With the mobile CPU it posts to 100FSB and default multiplier so I set it up at 133 FSB (that is default for MOBILE CPU) X 11 -- that posted OK..then 166FSB X 11 ok .. saved to CMOS Reloaded.
Then added the 1.44 and 2nd memory stick and ran memtest86 for a pass .. ok .. then I added the CD drive and everything went OK from then on **** EXCEPT**** my MB would not sometimes hold CMOS settings after a reboot AND I believe I did get the batt. -- checksum message another time. Changed BATTERY .. No differance.

I them set at 190 X 12 and made sure it stayed there loaded Win98se and Prime95 and ran it all night.
Temps. were 28c system and 41.5 CPU on P95 on AIR ( HSF I use is Thermaltake TR2-M2).
The only problems I had after that was loosing CMOS now and then -- NO AUDIO and NO USB.
This was a Refurb. board to begin with so I sent it back and my NEW Infinity should be here today. Hope this one is OK.

PS .. the Fortrons are good but the 350 may be on the lite side. If you have a VOM meter check the voltages .. the DFI boards seem to read low about .3 volts .. HINT.. HINT BUT check yours.

check my sig, i rail modded it, and fortrons are already teh bomb to begin with. Well, thanks for the shared stories - I guess what I am finding here is that there is no magic bullet, but that the occasional DFi board is jsut really messed up. Hopefully I will have more luck with the retail infinity I ordered. I know newegg does not usually retest refurbs after it gets them back, so I guess this falls on DFI's head. I don't expect every refurb to be perfect, but I would have thought that approving a board with cmos batt problems that also will only run 3.45v or more through the ram might be caught. I'd be so po'd if my ram was dead - and i guess it still may be, I won't know for a bit.

OOOOHHH that is a REFURB board ....HMMMMM

This is a NEW Infinity I just got this morning and this is the first test on the Inet..

The ONLY problem was reinstalling the NVida drivers after I uninstalled the drivers that were for the ULTRA B that I sent back.
I wanted to make sure they were right ALTHOUGH the Infinity worked FINE on the "B" drivers..

I beleive that someone other than DFI is Refurbing Neweggs MBoards .. My "B" came in box from ANOTHER BRAND .. and I don't think DFI would do that.
IF DFI is refurbing these they should throw in a driver CD and a I/O shield at least .. I didn't expect UV cables and Front X.

My audio problem on the refurb. "B" was missing jumpers on the Front X header on the board that chose between the front and rear audio jacks.
The BATTERY in the NEW Infinity was at 3.01 volts (next to no good).. a NEW batt is 3.25V so I put the new one in.

This board even keeps CMOS settings ... so far. NEW is a better experance!!!

let's hope so! mine shipped out today. The box I got the bad one in was a generic DFI box.

__TRONIK__ said:

So I got to boot it up, and I get nothing. Try the usual tricks, clear cmos, old down insert, remove power plugs, etc. Got it to post a couple times, and it would freeze in bios, requiring me to

Click to expand...

I've got a total of 4 of the Infinity boards here (one is the Infinity AL - the rest are the NFII Ultra Infinity). Two are (and have been) working just fine. The AL worked for a while and then when I moved it into the new case it worked for 1 boot and then quit - no post, no nothing. The other brand new <NewEgg purchased) was dead when I tried hooking it up... outside of any case, sitting on top of the anti-static wrap on the box it came in. No beep, no bonk, no nothing other than the LED's coming on and the fan spinning up on the CPU. Put the same components into the new NF7-S board that I ordered at the same time and they work fine.
The new DFI is going back to NewEgg with a request to exchange it for another NF7-S or AN-7 (I think it was). I also have to Lanparty's for the P-4's and they are doing great.
I've used DFI boards for a long time, but this is getting ridiculous. The known problem was why I ordered the Abit at the same time - the machine I was putting together HAD to be done by a certain time.

hmmm, that sucks considering the DFI rep claims they use higher quality components. Guess the quality control or the companies they farm out the fab to (if they do) do a suck job with the plans. I did notice on the infinity that the dead cmos battery was some weird off brand. Guess some corners had to be cut in order to afford the higher quality chipset or something. I am still willing to take the chance for the performance potential. If I were to get another bad DFI board this time I would likely say forget it and stick with the Abit. Basically when you are talking super high performance boards though you have to expect a higher chance of problems. If I just wanted stability and modest overclocking I would have stayed with Asus, but their performance ceiling is just too low for my tastes at this point. Of course every chipest design and mobo generation is different though, I hear the best overclocking amd64 board is the Shuttle and I certainly would not pick them for an Nforce2 overclocking board.

As far as the abit goes, get the nf7 not the An7. The an7 seems to offer more potential problems with no performance advantages. Just don't expect 230+ fsb. Ditto the epox. I hear the chaintech zeniths overclock well but they are very expensive by comparison.

I am not ready to give up on DFI yet, I have suffered through a host of radeon problems because they have the best performance, and DFI looks like they are pretty committed to pushing the envelope.