A7M266-D, 2800+MP, Radeon 9800 Pro

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heitkamp

I have been using a A7M266-D for several years and it has been
working fine. I recently tried to get a couple more years out of
the old girl by upgrading the processors to 2800+MP from the 1600+MP.
I also decided to upgrade the video card to a Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro
256 from a ATI Radeon 8500LE. I installed the Sapphire card and could
only get the computer to run a few minutes before it shut itself down
or froze up. I guessed that my 400 watt PS was not up to the task so
I replaced it with a 510 watt. I installed the 2800+MPs and found that
I needed to upgrade to the 1011 beta 3 bios before they were recognized.

I also have linux on the machine and the only way Linux boots is by
disabling the MP in the Advanced bios. Windows XP seemed to work OK,
even with SP2.

I checked the AMD website and they have not certified the A7N266-D to work
with 2800+.

I am beginning to suspect that the Sapphire card may be bad but before I
send it back I want to know if any other folks have the same or similar
combo and whether it is working for them.

--

Fred

Error Loading Explorer.exe
You must reinstall Windows.
 
I have been using a A7M266-D for several years and it has been
working fine. I recently tried to get a couple more years out of
the old girl by upgrading the processors to 2800+MP from the 1600+MP.
I also decided to upgrade the video card to a Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro
256 from a ATI Radeon 8500LE. I installed the Sapphire card and could
only get the computer to run a few minutes before it shut itself down
or froze up. I guessed that my 400 watt PS was not up to the task so
I replaced it with a 510 watt. I installed the 2800+MPs and found that
I needed to upgrade to the 1011 beta 3 bios before they were recognized.

I also have linux on the machine and the only way Linux boots is by
disabling the MP in the Advanced bios. Windows XP seemed to work OK,
even with SP2.
Click to expand...

What version of linux you running? How much memory?
I checked the AMD website and they have not certified the A7N266-D to work
with 2800+.

I am beginning to suspect that the Sapphire card may be bad but before I
send it back I want to know if any other folks have the same or similar
combo and whether it is working for them.
Click to expand...

I have about the same system, with 2100+ (i modded the XP to MP) and thought
about upgradeing to 2800. However, I found that I would be better off with
hyperthreaded P4 or zeon (there are some discounted zeon motherboards
available at various places). Where I work, we have some dual zeon running
either linux RH9 smp or XP. I tested seti and was able to run 4 instances
of seti under linux but only two under XP or win2k. With XP Home you can
also run 2. To run 4 you need the advanced license as PRO is only 1-2 cpu.
 
What version of linux you running? How much memory?
Click to expand...

It's sort of Debian unstable. I am using kernel 2.6.8.1 presently. The
machine has 1GB of memory.

I have about the same system, with 2100+ (i modded the XP to MP) and thought
about upgradeing to 2800. However, I found that I would be better off with
hyperthreaded P4 or zeon (there are some discounted zeon motherboards
available at various places). Where I work, we have some dual zeon running
either linux RH9 smp or XP. I tested seti and was able to run 4 instances
of seti under linux but only two under XP or win2k. With XP Home you can
also run 2. To run 4 you need the advanced license as PRO is only 1-2 cpu.
Click to expand...

I never tried seti, but have thought about it. Having a dual Xeon would be
nice. I've got about $815 in my upgrade so far. The video card and the PS are
something that could migrate to a new system so I don't necessary want to
count them in the cost which would then become about $375 for the new CPUs.
I suppose one could get a nice new Dell for the total cost of my upgrade,
but probably not a dual Xeon.

I see that dual Xeon MB combos can be had for around $500 but I am not sure
they are the hyperthreading models. I don't think hyperthreading is equivalent
to having two processors. I read it offers about a 10% boost in performance
though I haven't followed benchmarks closely.

One could argue whether I have done the smart thing in regards to my upgrades.
I guess I didn't want to go the whole swap-out-the-MB route.

I have also heard stories that ASUS does not offer any sympathy (if you will)
for Linux with their products.

What video card are you using with the dual athlon system? I hate to force
the subject back to ASUS A7M266-D but I have cross-posted this message to
the ASUS mainboard group.
 
I also have linux on the machine and the only way Linux boots is by
disabling the MP in the Advanced bios. Windows XP seemed to work OK,
even with SP2.
Click to expand...

Try, for fun, disabling ACPI (not APIC), and setting your MPS revision in
the BIOS to 1.1. See if that makes Linux happy.

steve
 
In message said:
Try, for fun, disabling ACPI (not APIC), and setting your MPS revision in
the BIOS to 1.1. See if that makes Linux happy.
Click to expand...

I tried all the permutations I could find. Linux only boots with MP detect
disabled in the BIOS. It is working fine that way so all is well (I guess).

I have installed the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Atlantis 256M in a Pentuim IV
computer with the D865GBF Intel motherboard and it has been working OK for
over 24 hours. I guess the A7M266-D is just too old now to support such a
new card. It doesn't look like there will be decent Linux drivers from ATI
for the 9800's chipset and kernel 2.6 anytime soon anyway <sigh>.

Fred
 
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