A7N8X Deluxe and PC3200 memory

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M.MacFarlane

I have the above board, along with 1 gb (512 x 2- matching set) of Crucial
PC3200, and the XP Athlon 3000+.

For some reason, no matter what settings I use in BIOS, the memory will not
allow a boot, and sometimes not even POST at 400Mhz. Putting them on SPD
setting will not let me POST either.
The FSB is at AUTO (333Mhz) currently, and the machine runs perfectly fine.
But if I adjust the memory timings, or the clock speed, then no go.
Aggresive or user-defined.
I'm not adjusting the CPU clock or multiplier, either.
Anyone have an idea, or perhaps know of a website to solve this problem?
Paid the extra money for the high end memory...sure would like to use it the
way it was meant.
Thanks,
Michael
 
Well let me see, my other machine is A7N8X deluxe with 3000 and two cosair
twinx 512 sticks slot 1-3. not near it right now but it is set at 208 FSB
CPU aggresive, memory agressive at 100% multiplier @ 11 running at 2370mhz.
Try starting at 166 fsb manuel select maybe 11.5 multiplier, then up fsb 5
at a time, then lower multiplier to 11x200 should run nice. this one is same
board with 2100 unlocked 11x200@ 2204mhz stable will run @ 2400 but likes to
lock up every now and then. Baby steps, have fun
 
Hi Michael,
Interestingly I am having the same trouble with an XP 2000+ which is rated
at 266 MHz FSB. The A7N8X deluxe can only be set to a maximum of 222 MHz in
my case. I have asked a similar question regarding mine. Not good news for
you I know.
Lindsay
 
Could it be that just one of the two DIMMs just can't sustain that high
speed? Have you tried running each of the two as a single DIMM in
RAM slot 1?

Apologies for asking this, no offense meant, but are you clocking the
_memory_ at 200 MHz, or are you overclocking the Front Side Bus (FSB) to
200?

If it's the latter - I am under the impression that the Barton 3000 is
designed for FSB 166, and not for 200. If this is the case, and you don't
reduce the multiplier considerably when setting the FSB to 200, you'd be
dramatically overclocking the CPU, and the CPU might be the actual 'culprit'
because it won't run that far out of spec?

Apologies if this isn't what you're doing, it just crossed my mind as an
additional possibility, and I thought I'd simply mention it.

Achim


....
 
Also look ASUS website Crucial may not be tested to be used on this board,
Corsair works well
 
I'm running a similar setup to you, namely the A7N8X Deluxe (V2.0 Bios 1004)
with 2 x 512 PC3200 Crucial memory and a Barton 2800+

I'm tweaking tentatively and so far have established that it will run at 200
x 11.0 with no stability problems. Have tried 200 x 11.5 and whilst it will
run OK at this setting I get occasional slow downs, for example when
retrieving email via Outlook.

So far however I havn't touched memory or voltage settings.
 
Did you raise the vcore at all?

I have a (week 7) Barton 2800+, it does,
2200 @ 1.675
2300 @ 1.725v
2388 @ 1.80v

happy tweak'n,
Ed
 
I have the above board, along with 1 gb (512 x 2- matching set) of Crucial
PC3200, and the XP Athlon 3000+.

For some reason, no matter what settings I use in BIOS, the memory will not
allow a boot, and sometimes not even POST at 400Mhz. Putting them on SPD
setting will not let me POST either.
The FSB is at AUTO (333Mhz) currently, and the machine runs perfectly fine.
But if I adjust the memory timings, or the clock speed, then no go.
Aggresive or user-defined.
I'm not adjusting the CPU clock or multiplier, either.
Anyone have an idea, or perhaps know of a website to solve this problem?
Paid the extra money for the high end memory...sure would like to use itthe
way it was meant.
Thanks,
Michael
Click to expand...
We have almost identical setups then. I cannot POST at 400mhz memory if
the FSB is 333mhz. Period. I tried lifting the FSB to 400mhz & dropping
the multiplier to 10.5x, memory on 'auto'. (So RAM and FSB are in sync
at 400mhz). System runs and seems stable - as long as I don't try and
use any kind of 3D graphic (as far as I can discern the problem). In
other words, I cannot get any kind of stability with Crucial RAM at
400mhz cos even when I can boot something goes pear-shaped when
graphical demands are made.. Oh and when I set the CPU settings to
'aggressive' (without actually altering any settings anywhere) I
couldn't even get to the BIOS til I started up holding down the Ins key.

I'd love to know if this is a problem with Crucial RAM or what - I've
heard everyone say systems are unstable if the FSB and RAM are at
different speeds but you're the first poster I've read who, like me,
can't start the system at all on those settings.

My graphics card is a Radeon 9800, BTW.

Caroline


Caroline Picking, (e-mail address removed)
Milton Keynes, England.
 
The XP200+ really only runs at 133 fsb. It's called 266 because the ddr ram
carries data on the up clock and down clock. Thus 133 x 2=266. It's a
marketing thing. It makes it sound alot faster than it really is.

Bob
 
My apologies for not being more specific in my first post.
Board revision is 2.0, BIOS is 1005.
If I try some of the suggestions posted here, almost all failed to POST with
the exception of one:
CPU freq: 200Mhz
Multiplier: 10
Memory: 200Mhz
CPU voltage: 1.75

These settings will POST and boot into XP Pro, but like Caroline mentioned,
any attempt to run a 3D benchmark or game causes either a system lock-up
(requiring a hot boot) or crash back to desktop.

Getting pretty frustrated about this...
The CPU is supposed to only run at 333Mhz, but the memory was MADE to run at
400Mhz.
A lot of 3000+ XP owners are very successful at getting to that 400Mhz
"ceiling"...why can't I?
System is absolutely rock solid when both memory and CPU are at 166/333Mhz,
and running at 13.0 multiplier (2.17Ghz), but I should be able to much more.

Further specs are:
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (retail)
Enermax 465 dual fan PS
Volcano 9 heatsink/fan

Any ideas if it's the memory and not the CPU, or vice versa?
Is it the board itself?
grrrrrrrrr......
Thanks everyone for the suggestions...keep 'em coming :-)
 
M.MacFarlane said:
I have the above board, along with 1 gb (512 x 2- matching set) of Crucial
PC3200, and the XP Athlon 3000+.

For some reason, no matter what settings I use in BIOS, the memory will not
allow a boot, and sometimes not even POST at 400Mhz. Putting them on SPD
setting will not let me POST either.
The FSB is at AUTO (333Mhz) currently, and the machine runs perfectly fine.
But if I adjust the memory timings, or the clock speed, then no go.
Aggresive or user-defined.
Click to expand...

This sounds vaguely similar to what I'm running into with an A7N8X
Deluxe and Barton 2500+. It runs solidly when set at 11X/200 with
memory timing set to "AUTO." If If I change memory timing to "100%" (=
200 MHz) it won't even POST. What I don't understand is the POST
message when it is working that says "Memory at 133 MHz, Dual channel
mode" along with the CPU ID as 3200+. Sandra figures show CPU
benchmark as 8150/3356 (about what might be expected) and memory
bandwidth as 2185/2049 (well below what it probably should be).
There's something strange going on here. Can anyone explain what is
happening?

KF
 
Michael, when you just run the Memory at 200 MHz in asynchronous mode to the
FSB (i.e. FSB at 166, RAM set to 200 MHz in asynch mode), does that work? If
yes, the RAM is fine and it's something different that causes the prob. If
the RAM _doesn't_ run at 200 MHz in asynch mode, then it's really the RAM,
IMHO.

Achim



....
Actually, I reduced the multiplier down to 9, 10. and 10.5 respectively, and
that also made no difference.
I'm starting to belive that perhaps the memory was mislabeled or just
faulty.
Click to expand...
....
 
| Could it be that just one of the two DIMMs just can't sustain that high
| speed? Have you tried running each of the two as a single DIMM in
| RAM slot 1?

Thank you for suggesting that...I didn't even think of it.
Unfortunately, no difference with either stick.


| I am under the impression that the Barton 3000 is
| designed for FSB 166, and not for 200. If this is the case, and you don't
| reduce the multiplier considerably when setting the FSB to 200, you'd be
| dramatically overclocking the CPU, and the CPU might be the actual
'culprit'

Actually, I reduced the multiplier down to 9, 10. and 10.5 respectively,and
that also made no difference.
I'm starting to belive that perhaps the memory was mislabeled or just
faulty.

Thanks,
Michael
Click to expand...

Nah - don't believe it's simply faulty memory. Unless all their 400mhz
memory if faulty and I reckon we'd have heard about that! But it seems
to me the chance is small that you and I both, with very very similar
systems and essentially identical problems *both* managed to get a
faulty memory stick - and which misbehaved in the same way!

I don't know about you, but another poster asked about memory settings
and I never changed them at all - just set them to 'auto' and when the
board was at 400mhz, so was the memory. Ditto when the board is 333mhz.
Couldn't swear, but I think the default settings were something like
7-3-3-3-2.5 (or 3). Anyway, my point is I haven't changed them and you
don't say you did either.

Regards

Caroline


Caroline Picking, (e-mail address removed)
Milton Keynes, England.
 
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