A7N8X-Deluxe Determining Board Version?

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happy Jack

How do you determine which version of the motherboard you have? I've
searched with a flashlight all over the installed board and can't find
a version number.
 
How do you determine which version of the motherboard you have? I've
searched with a flashlight all over the installed board and can't find
a version number.
Click to expand...

Most Asus-boards have the revision-numer right under the Asus-tekst or
the model-tekst. Is quite small letters. This often between some of
the PCi-slots or in "the center" of the board.
 
Clas Mehus mumbled his insignificant opinion in:
(e-mail address removed)
Most Asus-boards have the revision-numer right under the Asus-tekst or
the model-tekst. Is quite small letters. This often between some of
the PCi-slots or in "the center" of the board.
Click to expand...

He can also use this little neat tool:
http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-121.zip

Besides version/revision number, it provides info about fsb, memtype,
latency, cpu version etc. Its very small and compact, yet it still provides
usefull information. Often quicker than crawling on the floor with a
flashlight :)
 
"Sune said:
Clas Mehus mumbled his insignificant opinion in:
(e-mail address removed)


He can also use this little neat tool:
http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-121.zip

Besides version/revision number, it provides info about fsb, memtype,
latency, cpu version etc. Its very small and compact, yet it still provides
usefull information. Often quicker than crawling on the floor with a
flashlight :)
Click to expand...

The only reliable way, is to read the white lettering on the printed
circuit board. CPUZ relies on the BIOS, and we all know how good Asus
is at keeping versioning info straight inside the BIOS :-(

See figure 1 at the bottom of this page - it shows an example of
the text in white lettering:

http://www.asuscom.de/support/FAQ/faq077_Pentium_III_CU.htm

HTH,
Paul
 
Paul mumbled his insignificant opinion in:
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The only reliable way, is to read the white lettering on the printed
circuit board.
Click to expand...

There are no gurantee that the print is correct either ;-)
CPUZ relies on the BIOS, and we all know how good Asus
is at keeping versioning info straight inside the BIOS :-(

See figure 1 at the bottom of this page - it shows an example of
the text in white lettering:
Click to expand...

I cant rule out there are cases where it doesnt respond the actual correct
version, or it misreads it. Still i would rely on tools such as cpuz, unless
i had a reason to suspect anything else.
 
"Sune said:
Paul mumbled his insignificant opinion in:
[email protected]


There are no gurantee that the print is correct either ;-)


I cant rule out there are cases where it doesnt respond the actual correct
version, or it misreads it. Still i would rely on tools such as cpuz, unless
i had a reason to suspect anything else.
Click to expand...

When a board designer finishes a design, he has to make sure the
silk screen reflects the contents of the design properly. It would
be a pretty poor design process that lets an incorrect "white lettering"
through. I trust what the board designer has silk screened onto the
surface of the board way more than any other form of documentation -
this applies to DSW tables for frequencies and the like as well.
Multiple people check this information, and their performance is
graded on how sloppy they are.

The making of bare boards is a separate manufacturing process, and
putting the white lettering on is just one of many steps in that
process. The white lettering is not put on in the factory where the
assembly is done, so there is less chance of mistakes with keeping
the silk screen and board layers together. Notice that the PCBA
number is applied after the board is assembled, and that one could
be prone to mistakes - the PCBA keeps track of the "bill of materials",
which is the grocery list of parts used to stuff the board. So,
there are actually two parts to revision control - the white lettering
revision number is for the board blank (no parts stuffed on it),
while the PCBA keeps track of which version of the parts list was
used. Since the same BIOS file could be successfully run on several
different versions of the board, it is easy to see how the BIOS
ident info could diverge from reality (there is little incentive
for Asus to keep the BIOS info correct).

Also, my experience in the software world is, the people who maintain
and release upgrades to software, are seldom as careful in their craft
as the originators of the software. After you've release 16 different
versions of the BIOS, are you going to go through all those inventory
numbers again, to make sure they are correct ? I expect not. That
is why people report flashing their BIOS, only to find the BIOS
version number reported on the screen, doesn't match the file name
they used to program the flash.

HTH,
Paul
 
When a board designer finishes a design, he has to make sure the
silk screen reflects the contents of the design properly. It would
be a pretty poor design process that lets an incorrect "white lettering"
through. I trust what the board designer has silk screened onto the
surface of the board way more than any other form of documentation -
this applies to DSW tables for frequencies and the like as well.
Multiple people check this information, and their performance is
graded on how sloppy they are.

The making of bare boards is a separate manufacturing process, and
putting the white lettering on is just one of many steps in that
process. The white lettering is not put on in the factory where the
assembly is done, so there is less chance of mistakes with keeping
the silk screen and board layers together. Notice that the PCBA
number is applied after the board is assembled, and that one could
be prone to mistakes - the PCBA keeps track of the "bill of materials",
which is the grocery list of parts used to stuff the board. So,
there are actually two parts to revision control - the white lettering
revision number is for the board blank (no parts stuffed on it),
while the PCBA keeps track of which version of the parts list was
used. Since the same BIOS file could be successfully run on several
different versions of the board, it is easy to see how the BIOS
ident info could diverge from reality (there is little incentive
for Asus to keep the BIOS info correct).

Also, my experience in the software world is, the people who maintain
and release upgrades to software, are seldom as careful in their craft
as the originators of the software. After you've release 16 different
versions of the BIOS, are you going to go through all those inventory
numbers again, to make sure they are correct ? I expect not. That
is why people report flashing their BIOS, only to find the BIOS
version number reported on the screen, doesn't match the file name
they used to program the flash.

HTH,
Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for your help. I found the "white" lettering that said
it was REV2. CPUZ said it was a "A7N8X2.0" "REV1.xx" Everything else
seemed correct
 
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