Abit KT7A

[samuknow]

Ok,
Helping my boss put together a machine. He bought a KT7A mobo and a 900 T-Bird. After a few probs he decided to go with all new HW. 3DFX 5-5500 AGP card, SB live, 3com 56K modem. The prob is that the USB ports will not see his digital camera. If he plugs the camera into his laptop it works fine. The USB irq on the Abit mobo is 10 with the SB and the modem. Is this the prob? Been at this for a bout a week or so. Please help.....

 

[samuknow]

Latest news....

He tried to install win 2k thinking that this would fix the irq prob.....NOT.
Still having lots of stability problems. Again here is my config.
Abit KT7A
Tbird 900
Voodoo 5 5500
SB live
3Com V90 Modem
15 Gig WD HD
256 PC133
I know you guys can help. Thanks

 

[rugby]

http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/kt7faq.htm

Here's an excellent place to begin troubleshooting. I have win2k running on a kt7-raid motherboard just fine, but that doesn't mean others have the same luck. It's hard to diagnose "stability" problems without more details. Can you be more specific and we'll do the best we can. Good luck and let us know any more info.

 

[Ridenow]

Did you install the USB driver from the CD that came with the mobo?

 

[samuknow]

Lets see,

There is a prob with the cd device locking sometime. It is a DVD rom and I think there is an issue if UDMA is enabled. I am going to try disabling that tonight. Also Everything seems to be on IRQ 11.
According to win2k that is. I'm pretty sure this has no effect on PCI devices but not sure about USB and the AGP card. I am going to remove the hardware and boot up one at a time and try to lock the irqs in the bios. Is this a common prob with this board?
Thanks for your help.....Any and all input here will be great.

 

[samuknow]

Ridenow (May 10, 2001 10:25 a.m.):
Did you install the USB driver from the CD that came with the mobo?

I installed the 4 in 1 drivers. I have heard there may be some bugs with it. Could that be it?

 

[Ridenow]

Mine came with a note that said do not install the Via IDE drivers under W2K.

 

[samuknow]

I will prob format the drive and start over tonight. I will try it without the via drivers. and go from there.

Is this board normally this hard to set up? I am looking at getting a better board after I finish a few other projects. The probs with this thing are making me look at other boards for my own machine. I've never had this many probs with a mobo before.

 

[dolemitecomputer]

So your main problem is stability or the camera + USB? You could disable the SB legacy device to free up a IRQ. That might switch things around give you more to work with. If you plug the camera in does it show up device manager as an unknown device? Installing the 4 in 1 drivers would help. I have had a KT7A board for a few weeks and I like it a lot. I haven't had hardly any problems.

 

[dolemitecomputer]

So your main problem is stability or the camera + USB? You could disable the SB legacy device to free up a IRQ. That might switch things around and give you more to work with. If you plug the camera in does it show up device manager as an unknown device? Installing the 4 in 1 drivers would help. I have had a KT7A board for a few weeks and I like it a lot. I haven't had hardly any problems.

 

[dolemitecomputer]

Sorry about the poor grammar and double post....ugh.

 

[UnseenMenace]

i take the USB controller is enabled in the bios ? its under intergrated peripherals and i also run a dual boot WinMe, Win2k with out any problems, complete with USB keyboard
------------------
Duron 800 @ 1050 with Global Win FOP-32 (140 x 7.5)
Abit KT7A-Raid Mobo
512 mb (133 mhz Crucial Stuff)
Hard Drive Cooler
Elsa Gforce with Blue Orb (modified to display as a Quadro and overclocked http://www.tweakhardware.com/guide/quadro/ )
Sound Blaster Live
Full Tower with 5 (120 mm) case fans with seperate PSU

 

[n2]

Sam (May 10, 2001 07:35 a.m.):

a KT7A mobo and a 900 T-Bird. 3DFX 5-5500 AGP card, SB live, 3com 56K modem. USB ports will not see his digital camera. If he plugs the camera into his laptop it works fine. The USB irq on the Abit mobo is 10 with the SB and the modem. Is this the prob? Been at this for a bout a week or so. Please help.....

my 2cents from experience, tho limited.
what i would do, first off... remove all cards, and leave just the vid card.
check ram seated, just because.
boot, and go into bios. look for "reset configuration data/table"
otherwise, just clear cmos. this is important from my exp.

now, i would check and double check every bios setting, if any are unclear, post here...
second, fdisk and reinstall windows.
i like a clean start personally.
now i'd add the drivers for the board. read any release notes, re: win2000
does your board have onboard audio?
disable that. check for jumpers, if it has any... make sure they're not enabling a possible conflict.
then once thats done, and the drivers are set, i'd setup the video and drivers for it.
(Note: i had a voodoo 5500 AGP w/ Win_ME nightmare, i returned it)
after thats setup, add the modem... get it setup and make sure it'll go online.
try USB next. and i'd install the sound card last, after everything else was said and done.
another note: i have a cam and under Win_Me i have to install it just right.
its a kensington web cam. seems to work only with its supplied program, not anything else. sometimes USB would not detect it.
find the manual for that cam, and see if it's weird like mine.. lol

 

[samuknow]

Thanks for the input guys....

Starting from scratch seems like a good go to me.
To clarify my prob,
The camera sees the USB when plugged in but windoze doesn't see it.

I will try what was suggested here.

Other prob is when trying to load a prog the install hangs about half way through. Plus the auto run on the dvd rom only works some of the time.

I know this board is a screamer but this setup is driving me mad.

Can I assign irqs manually in the bios?
does ultra DMA mess up the dvd?
What driver should I use for the USB?
can anyone list their setup so I can try it.
Slot positions, irq, bios settings.
Also is a 200W PS enough?

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[Ridenow]

I have the KT7A-RAID running W2K server and I like it alot. I did have a few hicups, but most were my fault, like plugging into the wrong fan header.

Can I assign irqs manually in the bios?
No, you can do that in the Windows device manager.

does ultra DMA mess up the dvd?
It should not.

What driver should I use for the USB?
First try what ever W2K has, if it does not work then install just the usb driver from the Via CD.

can anyone list their setup so I can try it.
Slot positions, irq, bios settings.
If I remember when I get home, I am on my work computer. I currently have installed:
Abit Siluro GTS w/ 64 DDR
SB Live! Value
Rockwell modem
Phobe TV/FM tuner
Of course, you realize that I fiddle with my settings all the time.


Also is a 200W PS enough?
Maybe. I do not recommend anything smaller than a 250 for most computers.

 

[samuknow]

Thanks..
my bad, it is a 250 W ps.

 

[JEFF]

yes u can set irq's manualy in the bios.also enable pnp and escd.do a search here for kt7a and irq check the box for replies as well.i have seen this before in other post and other sites(to much on irq 11)there is a bug fix for it,it may be a new bios or a patch but its not an uncommon problem with this board.as far as the cd not starting the disc,i have that myself,at times.not to knock abit but they should have fixed all this crapt by now.i have programs changing windows files all the time.must run file checker and restore files every week.not to mention the fan on the northbridge runs even when system is off.oh there is somthing mentioned in the main articles about this entitled daniel yuo slut(or somthing like that)anyway good luck

 

[samuknow]

I am in the process of going back to win 98se. The USB prob is fixed. I disabled USB irq in the bios. I think my stability prob was the 3dfx win 2k drivers. I will update as I progress.......

 

[tester]

I have the V5 and the Kt raid. 3dfx does have excellent drivers (MS signed released at 3dfx.com) for w2k. They have all OS covered. I have no problems and have used this card, the beta and most recent drivers-nov 2000-without any problems, with w2k in both tyan 400 and abit with p3 and athlon.

The probs u have could be that u need to dl the new via 4in1 drivers v29 and discard the ones w the purchase, these are stable and u need them.

(You may need to fresh instal w2k 1st? or not=try without 1st) Install the new drivers,all 4 via and v5. In that order. When u reboot w2k should pick up your usb controller, then go and plug out and in your usb into the prev empty port, not same one pluged out from.
I am assuming that u have allready enabled in bios|integrated peripherals the USB CONTROLLER:switch.
I use USB and all above w/ OC avia 1.2 at 1.7vcore @1405. Still burning in and stable.

 

[samuknow]

I will try the new VIA drivers. Where did you find them? I didn't see them on Abit's site.....

Thanks guys.....