ASUS A8N-SLI :: Work Arounds:Expensive Bugs:Tweaking:Info

[LoneWolf121188]

I had the "SLI not selectable" problem with my two eVGA 6600 GT cards. Contacted their support, they emailed me the latest bios, removed second card and flashed each one at a time, put them both back in and SLI was enabled. Been working fine.

Thats what I did with my XFXs too, though I had to go get the tools and BIOS myself.

 

[jasovanni]

OK,

So now that my system is up and running I'm looking at about 2.2 ghz out of my 3000+ winchester. At about 40c with 1.39 vcore. (have yet to stress test, but play hl2 and battlefield 2 no prob.) Thats at 240fsb...not bad.....my memory is crap value brand 1 gig 2x512 and timings are crap. SO, my theory here is its time for some corsair.....

Question:

Would you reccomend low latency 2-2-2-5 pc3200, or 3-4-4-8 pc4400????



J

 

[///M3]

Problems with Chipset v.6.65 and BIOS 1013?

Since I updated the chipset to v6.65 and then installed BIOS v1013 (vice 1011) I will get a crash in Battlefield 2 and on reboot my SATA Raptor boot drive appears to have lost ability to boot. So I run the WDC diag floppy and it checks out fine, no errors, and on reboot it boots up just fine. This is strange and I wanted to know if anyone else was having similar issues since installing the the new chipset and BIOS software. There have been no other hardware or software changes in the machine.

 

[number 138]

I have had problems with the newer BIOS's. Anything after 1008 causes BSOD after POST. I updated to the 6.66 chipset drivers before trying a BIOS update. I tried 10 or 11 and 12 a few weeks ago, and last night I tried 13 and all had the same problem. I tried awdflash 1.1 and Asus update.

 

[ckiraly]

RAID Service U.S. Crashes

All,

I had the same crash and found that it's a problem between Creative drivers, anti-virus software and the raidservice app. I downloaded DELAYRUN and used it to delay the startup of raidservice. Voila! No more problems. It seems that a combination of those 3 things loading at or near the same time crash raidservice. Try DELAYRUN, just Google for it.

ck

 

[///M3]

Well, I went back to Chipset ver. 6.31 and BIOS 1011. So far BF2 runs with no crashes. Go figure.

 

[xfxlover]

i have my asus a8n-sli, and i msut say i am impressed but, and it a big but, i have ocz bh-5 and i know that the ram wobnt shine unless huge amounts of voltage is running thru its pcb, so do i a) volt mod it to 3.3volts or do i b)buy a dfi sli-dr ,

if i do the vdimm volt mod, do i connect a wire from teh atx 3.3v to the vdimm cap? as the linkj didnt explain much only showed pics (i have posted in teh forum)

atm i know my cpu can do 2.922 ghz but and its a big but, my clawhammer i had before wouldnt be stable over 2.640ghz no matter hgow much voltage i pumped thru it, and it was dd tdx wc aswell, would not become stable past 2.640ghz, i have noticed this with my san deigo aswell but i can get the cpu upto 2.922ghz prime it for an hour and it will pass super pi 32m, but an hour prime isnt good enough for me, also since updating to bios 1010 i can only supply 1.550v-core to my cpu but i could supply 1.650 with my clawhammer, and before you say revert back to a previous bios i refuse, as 1)it becomes unstable when overclocking even at low frequencys 2)i cant run my ram at 2-2-2-5at ddr400 with a divider

but if i get a dfi ski dr mobo, will my cpu become more stable at higher freqencys as ill be able to supply more vcore 1.7 i think and i know ill be able to make my ocz gold bh-5 shine because it supplys alot of voltage and it has the option to supply 4vdimm+

any advice would help alot

 

[GPCOLA]

I have had problems with the newer BIOS's. Anything after 1008 causes BSOD after POST. I updated to the 6.66 chipset drivers before trying a BIOS update. I tried 10 or 11 and 12 a few weeks ago, and last night I tried 13 and all had the same problem. I tried awdflash 1.1 and Asus update.

Had the same problem with my a8n-sli premium - turns out the firmware for my DVD burner needed updating. I think this is a common problem.

 

[number 138]

Had the same problem with my a8n-sli premium - turns out the firmware for my DVD burner needed updating. I think this is a common problem.

No go. I updated firware for CD-R and DVD+/-R, flashed BIOS 1013, couldn't boot into windows.

 

[Pyr0]

i've just noticed that with the 1013 bios, the voltage selection has been handicapped again

i'm not sure if it's just for the X2 chips, but the options available only go up to 1.45v but the highest voltage i can get on the chip is 1.376v
(as reported by the bios, CPU-z, and Ai booster)

@ LoneWolf - are you still using 1012.001 ?

edit:
also, can anyone advise me how i could be able to run the memory 1:1 with the fsb?
i have DDR500 memory, but at 1:1 i can only reach 209MHz.

previously, i couldn't boot with the memory at DDR333, but now i can
so i'm running @2454 with the fsb at 245.4 and a cpu multi of 10 @1.376v (45ºC after 12 hours of 2x folding@home)
but my memory is only running at 204.5MHz, 2.0-4-4-7, 2T, 2.8v

 

[Pyr0]

one last thing...

Straight from AMD Spec sheet;

Winchester/NewCastle CPUs while having all four dimm slots populated can handle an average maximum of 333MHz 2T. Some Winchesters have more stable memory controllers than others so some people may hit 400MHz with 2T and have stability.

To achieve 1T timings with stock 400MHz DDR400 speeds and all four dimms populated, you need to have a Venice/Sandiago, Manchester or Toledo CPU to do the job. This is why AMD improved the memory controller in the Venice stepping CPUs.


OC-Master

then on the same page:

Thats due to the on-die memory controller in your CPU that just doesnt like having 1T timings with all four dimms being controlled. The Venice, Toledo and Manschester cores made it possible for people to be able to garantee all four dimm slots to be filled with DDR400+ while using 2T timings. Next generation CPUs will again improve on the memory controller making 1T timings a reality with all four dimms being populated.


OC-Master

this second one was a reply to my question about running my X2 with 4 dimms

so do you think that it could just be the motherboard again, (after the failing to go beyond 250MHz at 1T) since the AMD spec sheet states that the new cores will run 4 dimms at DDR400 and 1T
i'm sure i've seen people using all 4 dimms at 1T
and people with other brands are able to run their memory 1:1 while overclocking their X2's

 

[LoneWolf121188]

i've just noticed that with the 1013 bios, the voltage selection has been handicapped again

i'm not sure if it's just for the X2 chips, but the options available only go up to 1.45v but the highest voltage i can get on the chip is 1.376v
(as reported by the bios, CPU-z, and Ai booster)

@ LoneWolf - are you still using 1012.001 ?

I am indeed. I was actually just about to flash to 1013 final, until I read this. With 1.55 cvore in BIOS, CPUz is reporting ~1.5 vcore. not the best, but its better than 1.376! I think I'll stay with this BIOS for a bit longer until Asus gets this bug sorted out.

 

[Pyr0]

is there any chance some kind person could post a 1012.001 bin file on rapidshare (or somewhere )pleeeeease

i tried downloading the 1012sd01.zip from here:
http://www.lejabeach.com/ASUS/A8N-SLI_D/a8nslidbios.html
and extracting the binfile to put on a cd/rw, but when i came to flash, it told me
"the file size does not match."
so i opted not to flash
it was after this that i noticed this bin file is only 128KB, whereas the bin files are usually 512KB

i've been searching (and still am searching) for a real version, so can someone please give me a link to a working copy
thanks in advance
-P

EDIT: Thank You to Theo and MarkyC

MarkyC gave me this link:
http://www.winks.ca/files/drivers/

and Theo emailed me the bios image

thanks guys

 

[OC-Master]

one last thing...


then on the same page:

this second one was a reply to my question about running my X2 with 4 dimms

so do you think that it could just be the motherboard again, (after the failing to go beyond 250MHz at 1T) since the AMD spec sheet states that the new cores will run 4 dimms at DDR400 and 1T
i'm sure i've seen people using all 4 dimms at 1T
and people with other brands are able to run their memory 1:1 while overclocking their X2's

Possibly but I also know people who just could not get the 1T working at all with 4 dimms installed at once. Its something to do with the on-die memory controller that is causing the instability. If you do luck out and get all 4 dimms working with 1T timings, the motherboard will most likely be your next bottleneck capping somewhere around 240~250.


OC-Master

 

[dangel]

Enabling 1T on my system results in a pass in memtest but crashes/lockups in games after a few minutes. 2T seems fine... dispair.
I haven't even overclocked this thing yet and i can't get it to run at stock

 

[zippyg]

1t is just simply out of the question on this board no matter how good the memory is. with that said. do like i am doing and get rid of this mobo asap. im doing a system build for a friend that does not overclock,so it will be fine for him. just my 2 pennies.out

 

[Chief_Drunk]

OK i know this is all about overclocking etc but I cant believe some of the effort you guys go to to get a few% increase in benchmark results. Mine will clock to about 2.7Ghz from 2.2 standard which aint bad in my book. I dont know about X2s but in general ive read they aint good for overclocking but no doubt ya could get another 10% overclock/2fps with a DFI. Maybe ya should just look at yaself in the first place and thought instead of binning one mobo only to buy another you should have purchased a faster cpu in the first place.

Edit: sorry to the guy running at stock didnt notice that.

 

[LoneWolf121188]

1t is just simply out of the question on this board no matter how good the memory is. with that said. do like i am doing and get rid of this mobo asap. im doing a system build for a friend that does not overclock,so it will be fine for him. just my 2 pennies.out

1T is not out of the question. 1T at high speed with over 1GB or more than 2 sticks is out of the question. I have my ram running at just under 200MHz and 2-3-2-7 and can run 1T just fine.

Cheif_Drunk: The cost difference between the A8N-SLI and the DFI is far less than the difference between a 3000/3200/3500 and an FX .

And the X2s are not bad for OCing at all. Any CPU that can do 2.4GHz with 1.3 volts is a good OCer, and remember, I basically have two FX55s in my rig for only $600, vs $1800. Sounds like a good OC to me!

 

[Chief_Drunk]

Cheif_Drunk: The cost difference between the A8N-SLI and the DFI is far less than the difference between a 3000/3200/3500 and an FX

I wasnt really refering to cost. More performance. Go play ya latest high end game and tell me the amazing difference. Or go rip ya latest dvd and tell me the difference. It just aint worth the effort to replace a mobo for a few % difference....

Edit : i was refering to the cost difference of trashing/reselling the asus then buying the DFI. Think they cost about a tenner difference new anyway...

 

[LoneWolf121188]

What effort? Don't tell me you dont think opening new hardware, installing it, etc isn't fun!