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ASUS A8V Deluxe problem?

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crosis.23

New Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Hi Guys,

This is my first post on the OCforums so thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this.

My hardware setup is:

AMD Athlon64 3500 Newcastle
Asus A8V Rev.2 Deluxe
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200XL Platinum TwinX (2x512)
160GB SATA Maxtor Harddrive (partitioned 40GB-120GB)
NEC Dual-layer DVD-RW
Abit Radeon 9800XT 256MB
EMu 1820M Soundcard
Antec Sonata Piano Black Quiet Case - 380W TruePower Silent PSU
Windows XP SP2

(note NO floppy drive)

I first built this system at the end of last November and it has been totally fine since then.Fast,hardly any windows crashes,generally (and suprisingly!)stable system.

Then one day when booting it gaver the message that the overclocking had failed and I was given the option to reset the BIOS(i think?) defaults or just reboot and try again.

I thought this was very strange as I had not performed any overclocking but assumed that the mobo must try and do some automatic Ocing.I choose to reset the defaults anyway and the computer rebooted fine after that.

2 weeks later it just hung when booting windows.I waited......and waited....and waited but nothing so I had to hard reset and I was given the usual boot in safe mode..etc.. options.

If I choose the boot option where you can see the progress of the boot and it hangs when it reaches a file called gagp30kx.sys.

I have run Memtest86 and it says the cache on the processor and both RAM sticks are cool.

On another forum someone said they just did a Windows Repair Install from the windows cd.However without a floppy drive (borrowed one to get windows on there the first time but its no longer available to me...damn) the windows cd can't find my hardrive....grrrrr
I've been trying to make a streamlined cd but I'm a bit confused on how I should name everthing in the txtsetup.sif file when relating it to the Promise ULSATA drivers,all the examples are for the Silicon Image 3112 drivers.If anyone has made a slipstreamed cd for their A8V I'd love to have some help!!!Please!!

The only thing I haven't tried is the jumper that SuperNade mentioned in his excellent A8V thread (nicE oNe SuperNade!!)

Is this all just a windows problem or is there something I'm not seeing that's wrong with the mobo/my setup??I don't understand why it has worked fine for months then...kaputt...and I have done nothing to the hardware,it hasn't even been moved.

Anyhows any help would be muchly appreciated.
Thanks again!!

crosis.23
 
Hello and Welcome to the Forums!!!

crosis.23 said:
My hardware setup is:

AMD Athlon64 3500 Newcastle
Asus A8V Rev.2 Deluxe
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200XL Platinum TwinX (2x512)
160GB SATA Maxtor Harddrive (partitioned 40GB-120GB)
NEC Dual-layer DVD-RW
Abit Radeon 9800XT 256MB
EMu 1820M Soundcard
Antec Sonata Piano Black Quiet Case - 380W TruePower Silent PSU
Windows XP SP2

Right off the cuff, I'd point a finger at your PSU. When you build a system, NEVER compromise on the PSU. But, assuming your PSU is o.k, lets look at the other possible suspicious candidates.

(note NO floppy drive)

I first built this system at the end of last November and it has been totally fine since then.Fast,hardly any windows crashes,generally (and suprisingly!)stable system.
This board runs awesome at stock!
Then one day when booting it gaver the message that the overclocking had failed and I was given the option to reset the BIOS(i think?) defaults or just reboot and try again.

I thought this was very strange as I had not performed any overclocking but assumed that the mobo must try and do some automatic Ocing.I choose to reset the defaults anyway and the computer rebooted fine after that.
The overclocking failed mesage is a quirk of this MoBo. Just press F1 and then continue to move on by pressing F10.

2 weeks later it just hung when booting windows.I waited......and waited....and waited but nothing so I had to hard reset and I was given the usual boot in safe mode..etc.. options.

If I choose the boot option where you can see the progress of the boot and it hangs when it reaches a file called gagp30kx.sys.

You get these kinds of errors if your memory configuration isn't right.
I would suggest that you manually enter the timings and voltage in the BIOS. Same goes for the CPU. Try copying the setting in my guide (if you are trying to overclock).

I have run Memtest86 and it says the cache on the processor and both RAM sticks are cool.
If you can start in safe-mode, try doing a system restore, using an earlier restoration point.

On another forum someone said they just did a Windows Repair Install from the windows cd.However without a floppy drive (borrowed one to get windows on there the first time but its no longer available to me...damn) the windows cd can't find my hardrive....grrrrr
I've been trying to make a streamlined cd but I'm a bit confused on how I should name everthing in the txtsetup.sif file when relating it to the Promise ULSATA drivers,all the examples are for the Silicon Image 3112 drivers.If anyone has made a slipstreamed cd for their A8V I'd love to have some help!!!Please!!
I hope you are using the correct Promise SATA drivers. You can find theme here:-
http://usa.asus.com/support/downloa...=1&m_id=1&f_name=378ata_100104528.zip~zaqwedc

YOU NEED A FLOPPY DRIVE TO INSTALL THE DRIVERS.

The only thing I haven't tried is the jumper that SuperNade mentioned in his excellent A8V thread (nicE oNe SuperNade!!)

Is this all just a windows problem or is there something I'm not seeing that's wrong with the mobo/my setup??I don't understand why it has worked fine for months then...kaputt...and I have done nothing to the hardware,it hasn't even been moved.

Anyhows any help would be muchly appreciated.
Thanks again!!

crosis.23

Mate, I think your PSU may not be upto scratch. Sometimes a poor PSU can have a cascade effect on system stability, all kinds of bad things can happen. Just don't trust the case PSU's.

Keep posting in here as issues comes up. I'll try to help you out.

Good Luck! :beer:

S-N
 
sorry it been soo long

Hi SuperNade

sorry tis been so long since I posted any replys i just been tryin to get this to work and post a solution.Unfortunately nothing so far.

I have checked my board and so I can say I have a rev2 board and I think it said it was a 10007(?) BIOS chip.As I said I haven't got a floppy drive so I can't install the latest BIOS via floppy,can I do it any other way?Do I need the latest BIOS to use the Promise378 SATA drivers?

The Streamlined CD that I mentioned was half working.I have created a Windows XP CD that will detect the drive however it installs the VIAMRAID driver and uses this to control the drive.After the first part of the install (after the first reset) I get a BSOD every time with the same message:

If this is the first time you have seen this........blah
Please uninstall any new hard drives,hard drive controllers.....blah
error code STOP:0x0000007B(0xF79F7528,0xc0000034,0x00000000,0x00000000) :bang head

Following the same method for creating the CD but with the Promise 378 driver it never finds the hard-drive.As I asked earlier is this an issue with my BIOS chip or BIOS version?

for the unattended XP CDs check out:
http://unattended.msfn.org/index.htm
you'll love it!!

oh yeah can you please tell me what files are on the floppy disk for the Promise378 drivers,as I can't make one!? is it just the following XP files:

ptipbm.dll
ulsata.cat
ulsata.inf
ulsata.sys
vsserver.scc (what does this do??)

again I'm sorry for the late reply
your help is greatly appreciated

EDIT - oh yeah I ran some tests as well.
Memtest86 said everything was cool.
I've tried the machine running Cluster Knoppix and everything boots fine!! :p SO I don't think its a hardware issue.Had Knoppix rendering a 3d animation for me in Blender....seemed cool.I will upgrade my PSU when I've got some more £$£$£$£$£ but it does seem to be fine.
 
Last edited:
crosis.23 said:
I have checked my board and so I can say I have a rev2 board and I think it said it was a 10007(?) BIOS chip.As I said I haven't got a floppy drive so I can't install the latest BIOS via floppy,can I do it any other way?Do I need the latest BIOS to use the Promise378 SATA drivers?

If you can get a floppy drive, do so. It makes things much easier. From reading around the board and my own experience most people have the best luck with the 1009 bios.

crosis.23 said:
The Streamlined CD that I mentioned was half working.I have created a Windows XP CD that will detect the drive however it installs the VIAMRAID driver and uses this to control the drive.After the first part of the install (after the first reset) I get a BSOD every time with the same message:

If this is the first time you have seen this........blah
Please uninstall any new hard drives,hard drive controllers.....blah
error code STOP:0x0000007B(0xF79F7528,0xc0000034,0x00000000,0x00000000) :bang head

Double check that you are plugged into the Promise controller and not the VIA. The promise controller ports are side by side and lower than the via ports. Also disable the via controller in the bios.
 
"haven't got a floppy drive so I can't install the latest BIOS via floppy,can I do it any other way? " yes with your support cd. under utilities select asus update. then you can flash you bios in windows.
 
it works!!

I finally did it and got a slipstreamed XP cd to install the Promise378 SATA drivers and I've installed windoze!!
It can be done WITHOUT a floppy drive!!
woo+yay


now to recover the 100GB from the corrupt partition....
 
cheers SuperNade here's a pint for you too mate :beer:

have you (or anyone else) tried it out yet?
any luck??
 
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