8KHA+, now booting, installing, and running....=) Thanks!

[Mr B]

8KHA+, no boot, no beep, code C3.

I finally got the DDR to set this up tonight, and it's fighting me...lol

At first I was getting a code C1....so I swapped the ram out from my main rig. (the stick of ram I bought tonight is working fine in the main).

Now I'm getting a code C3, and it's just hanging at that point. The manual says for this code;

C3h.....Expand compressed BIOS code to DRAM.

Does that make this a BIOS or a memory problem? Any help would be gratefully appreciated!

TIA!

Mr B

 

[FRANK]

I've found the 8KHA+ to be a bit finicky about RAM.

If I'm not mistaken, C1 and C3 both indicate a RAM problem. Try swapping modules and switching slots. A little trial and error is sometimes necessary, but worth it.

I've had problems with both Micron PC2100 as well as Crucial PC2100. After playing with it for a while I've managed to get them to work with very good results. I've been able to get to 156MHz+ CAS 2 at the "fastest" setting on the memory bus with either.

Once you get begin to get up on the FSB, you'll become with familiar with the "26" code as well. Eventually you'll be able to reset the CMOS with your eyes closed.


Right now, I've got an XP1600+ @1656 on an 8KHA+ with the FSB at 207MHz, memory bus at 156MHz, Sandra 2002 memory scores of 2344/2141.

Good Luck!

 

[Mr B]

Hmmmm...

Since I've posted the starter here I've;

Tried two different sticks in all three slots, each. Nothing.

Swapped out cpu's...both my 1.4 and 1.0 T-Birds worked fine on the AK31, neither booted on the 8KHA+.

Reseated the vid card, and checked the connection to everything else.

The ram that's on the 8KHA+ now, has run fine on both the AK31, and the MSI K7T266 Pro I have. The ram I bought tonight is running fine on the MSI now...

I gotta be missing something stupid. I didn't disconnect any of the IDE/floppy cables from the drives when I swapped mother boards, but maybe one is loose at that end...

Time to run thru it all again....

 

[William]

Try taking the battery out of its little thing, that seems to really give mobos a kick in the pants.

 

[FRANK]

Although I've been fortunate in this regard some have reported defective boards. However before I'd jump on this, I'd exhaust all other possibilities. I'm sure others will jump on this thread with better experience than I have.

One other thing that I'd check is the power supply, these boards are picky about these as well. I'm using a generic 400W unit from CompUSA. From what I understand, the 5v rail is particularly important, make sure the voltage is in the 5v range but also make sure that it is stable. Too much variation on this line will surely cause problems.

I'll give it some more thought but this is all I can come up with now.

Stick with it, the results you'll get from this board will be well worth the trouble.

Good Luck!

 

[Mr B]

I'm the 2nd (or 3rd) user of this particular board...and I don't think the previous user would have shipped me a bad one.

I got it from Skip.

I'll try pulling the CMOS battery overnight...perhaps that will do something productive.

Perhaps.....

The only thing I haven't done is try a different PSU, I think. I've got it running off a generic 300W....that will be one of the next things I try....different PSU.

** nope. Pulling the battery didn't resolve the problem. **

 

[Mr B]

I've read thru the manuals that came with all three of my AMD based boards (AK31, 8KHA+, and MSI K7T266 Pro).

I was thinking that perhaps it could be an incompatability problem with the ram. (ECC/non ECC) It states quite clearly in the 8KHA+ manual that ECC ram is NOT supported.

The AK31 doesn't support ECC DDR does it? (from what I read in the manual, it doesn't, but the manual is a bit vague on this point)

The MSI manual doesn't mention this at all. (at least, that I can find).

I'm still waiting on this Folding WU to finish...gonna try swapping either the 8KHA+ into the rig the Shuttle is in, or the PSU from that rig into the one I'm trying to set the 8KHA+ in.

Damn 5 point monster WU...taking forever...

I've tried all three sticks of DDR that I have on the 8KHA+...so I don't think that's it, but I'm not 100% sure. If the AK31 does support ECC (and the MSI as well), that might be it...maybe???)

I thought that Sandra listed that bit of info on memory, but I can't seem to find it....*sigh*

 

[up2Tim]

I would lean towards the PSU as being the problem.

I am not sure but I think that ECC memory will work, you just don't get the benefit of error correction.

 

[Mr B]

Well, I've swapped the Shuttle and EPoX boards from case to case. The 8KHA+ fired up. YAY!

BUT.....I'm having some serious problems trying to get it to run. I'm thinking definitely PSU on this one. 5v line shows 4.75ish in the BIOS (300W generic, from my "intel days").

The Shuttle is running fine with the PSU and ram I was trying to use with the 8KHA+....reinstalled WinME, and is now Folding at 1533 (1.4 T-Bird) again, no problem.

I've been trying to re-install WinME on the 8KHA+, but it keeps locking up at the beginning of the install, giving me "SUWIN" errors (?).... SUWWIN, Kernal, and some other one....can't remember. I thought it might be the boot floppy, so I tried to boot from the CD...got the same errors.

Bad CD?? I don't see how...I had used it moments before on the AK31....

Looks like I might need to upgrade PSU's.... These 300W wonders from my P/// days just don't have the beans to run AMD's....

But, I got it to boot....now I know it's not the board. *whew*

Might have to put an ad in the Classifieds...

 

[AarontheJC]

I just switched from a low-level antec 300W PSU to the 400W pp403x. My 5V previously were 4.74-4.78. I suffered numerous drops and restarts due to variation in my PSU. The new one has a 5V of 4.97-5.00. Once, I saw it drop all the way to 4.94, but just for a second, and I was running everything up, so...

So far, I haven't dropped but once, and that was because of the stupid nut behind the keyboard.

If you have a better PSU, give it a try.

"The dreaded yellow snow where the huskies go" -FZ

 

[FRANK]

Glad to hear that your on your way to success.

If your're looking for an inexpensive power supply, I've been using a couple of generic 400W units from CompUSA and am quite pleased wioth them to this point, less than $60ea. 5.05v on this one right now while watching TV, writing this with a couple of other windows open while running SETI with a 100% CPU load.

Good Luck!

 

[up2Tim]

I also had problems at first and it ended up being the Enermax PSU I was using.

I tried the CompUSA 400W and 500W because they were so convenient to pick up and the price was right, but I had problems with both of them. That's why I tried both. Got hard drive corruption and couldn't reinstall Windows because of errors.

I yanked the 250W Sparkle out of my other system and it worked great. It ran a little warm, though, so I got a 350W Sparkle at a computer show, here in northern VA., and I haven't had a problem since.

Now I am both an Epox and Sparkle fan

 

[Mr B]

Progress, but certainly not perfection.....

The cd-rom I had in that box was starting to act up. I had a 1 year warranty/replacement plan thing thru CompUSA, so I got that exchanged today, to rule out a bad cd-rom (it wasn't)...

I swapped the 8KHA+ into my main rig for a good chunk of the day, without success... This has a 400W CompUSA PSU in it. The 5v line was running right at 4.99v, but I'm still having problems.

I rolled the dice and tried to swap without formatting....didn't matter, I never got into Windows at all... As soon as the splash screen comes up, the machine reboots. Every time. If I try "safe mode", it hangs. ""FF" showing while hanging, too.

Now at this point, I've used with this board;

2 PSU's
2 IDE cables
2 hard drives
3 cd-roms
2 floppies
3 cpu's
3 sticks of DDR (only one gets past "C3")
2 vid cards
God knows what else.....

I've run out of ideas.... I've got to be missing something in the BIOS. Although up2Tim has me wondering about that 400W CompUSA PSU, too. I've used that with both the MSI and Shuttle with no ill effects.... Why would the 8KHA+ reject it if the other one didn't??

I can play in the BIOS all day, but as soon as I try to access Windows...whump! Re-boot.

I tried the "optimal defaults" and "fail-safe defaults", and neither helped....Tried every which way of setting the HDD up in the BIOS....Large, LBA, CHS, auto, UDMA100, bla, bla, bla... Still cannot install Windows, or access a previous install of Windows.

Hard drives are know good, IDE cables are known good...

PSU??? Why would I be able to futz around in the BIOS and not get into Windows?? That's the part that I don't understand.

 

[FRANK]

I'm sorry to hear of these lingering problems.

As far as the power supply goes, I'm using the CompUSA 400W units on both of my 8KHA+ boards with very good results, running one at 207MHz FSB and the other at 151MHz FSB. If you're getting 4.99V and it's a stable reading I don't think that is your problem

Can you boot with a start up disk into DOS?

I think that a reformat and reinstallation of Windows is in order. Although sometimes you can swap a motherboard out from under a system, most cases require a reformat for successful results.

By the way, the "FF" code indicates that all is well and the board is going through a normal boot. Once running the "FF" code will be displayed constantly. Some have said that FF stands for "fully functional"


Good Luck!

 

[Mr B]

Oh, I've tried the Windows boot disk, and formatted a few times now....set up starts and locks when it his the "Searching for installed components" part...That's when I get the "SUWIN" error...

I just flashed the BIOS to the newest...no help there, either....

 

[Mr B]

BUMP

 

[tlemaste]

The nearest I have come to something like your symptoms was right after flashing my bios to 2116. I forgot to clear my cmos before setting up bios. Evidently something get hosed up when flashing. I've also heard that sometimes it's necessary to reset and set up optimized defaults several times before everything starts working. FWIW, you might want to check on the AOA forum for additional clues. The EPoX forum has an EPox Tech that hangs around and helps.

 

[Christoph]

Man, this sounds like a problem I had a while back (see thread titled A7M666). I also got those stupid SUWIN erors and a plethora of others. I used two different sticks of RAM in my testing, so I assumed that both of them couldn't be bad. At the time I didn't have any other DDR systems, so I couldn't test the RAM in another metnerboard. You know what happens when you assume.
After I'd gotten a new everything (except RAM) and I still couldn't do anything, I made a RAM test boot disk and never got through more than two burn-in loops.
It seems unlikely that your RAM is bad, but it can't hurt to test it anyway. At least you'll have something to do (and if it pukes, you've found your problem).
Good luck with your perplexion.

 

[FRANK]

Mr B, would you like to elaborate on how it came about that your board is now working?

Please share your experience with us, it would add to our "personal knowledge base". Those of us with a couple of these boards could possibly use your trials to our advantage down the road.

Thanks in advance!

I'm expecting a full report on this project!

Good Luck!

 

[Mr B]

Thanks IM!

That particular file didn't do the trick, but searching around bootdisk.com led me to an answer...a link to M$'s site, where I hit paydirt (so to speak...it's running, and Folding, so I guess that's paydirt, right? )

In part, from M$'s site....:

"SUWIN General Protection Fault" Error Messages During Windows 95 or Windows 98 Setup (Q224836)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:


Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
When you try to install Windows 95 or Windows 98 in a new folder or a clean hard disk, you may receive one or more of the following error messages:

SUWIN caused a general protection fault in module KRNL386.EXE

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CAUSE
This behavior can occur when any of the following conditions exist:

There are incorrect basic input/output system (BIOS) settings for a built-in peripheral device on your motherboard (for example, cache settings, CPU timing, hard disks, and so on).


Your computer has bad or mismatched random access memory (RAM) or cache (for example, if you are using EDO and non-EDO RAM, or you are using different RAM speeds).


The motherboard in your computer is not working properly.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESOLUTION
To work around this behavior, try to slow down your computer by changing the BIOS settings. For information about how to change these settings, consult the documentation that came with your computer or contact the hardware manufacturer.

WARNING : If you change the BIOS settings for your computer incorrectly, serious problems can occur.

NOTE : Make the following changes, one at a time. After each change, save the setting, quit the BIOS, and then try to run Setup. If one step does not resolve the problem, try the next step, and so on.

Modify the bus mastering setting.


Modify the externalor internal cache setting.


Modify your RAM setting.


Modify other settings that are specific to your BIOS and that contribute to the speed at which your computer runs.


Disable the Level 1 and Level 2 cache from the BIOS Setup tool for the duration of Setup.


Disable the Ultra DMA setting (if applicable) for the hard disk or CD-ROM drive. For information about how to change these settings, consult the documentation that is included with your computer.


If the error message still occurs after you perform these steps, the hardware may be damaged. Contact your hardware manufacturer for assistance

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those points in bold, are what I did. I backed off on all the settings, even from the "fail-safe" in the BIOS.... I disabled the L1 and L2, backed the ram off to 100MHz/PC1600 speed, disabled UDMA support for all drives, etc...

I then tried to install Windows again....I got past that point at which I was hanging, and getting the "SUWIN" error. Windows setup showed an approxamate setup time of 147 minutes though....lol.

I shut down, and enabled the L1 and L2....started the install again, fresh format and everything. Installed. In 30 minutes. =)

Gotta be the DDR ram. It's running like a champ at the moment, with the ram underclocked... I'm gonna let it run for a while, and try to enable UDMA support to the drives first. If it flies, that narrows it conclusively to the ram.

Which runs fine on my MSI, and Shuttle. Curious

Gotta be that damn generic DDR.... At least it's running.... Thanks to those who helped with their thoughts and suggestions...esp. IM, for sending me to bootdisk....that was the key that unlocked this 8KHA+.