As detailed in posts earlier I simply cannot get an os installed - it blue
screens everywhere
I have now tried installing both pc3200 dims in slots 1a , 2a - to force the
speed down to ddr333 to see if this helps still no joy
Have upgraded the bios to latest and still wont install - have I bought a
turkey or am I missing something
You are not alone.
http://groups.google.com/[email protected]
The thing is, the board has virtually no adjustments in the BIOS.
You cannot change the processor clock, memory speed, memory timings
(except for that stupid fast/slow option, and nobody knows what
that means anyway), any voltages etc. It is pretty hard to vary
control settings and figure out where the stability issue may be.
There are other -VM type boards that have had problems, like the
A7N8X-VM. Its problem was that the graphics core couldn't hack
running at the clock rate set by the use of DDR400 ram.
Everything was fine with DDR333 (PC2700) ram.
The funny thing is, other motherboard companies have used this ATI
chipset, so it cannot be all bad. I wonder if the problem is the
quality of the BIOS code. The BIOS code is the work of several
contributors, and not just Asus alone. AMI writes basic support
for the chipset, with help from ATI in getting the reference
board working. Asus will, at a minimum, edit the options showing
in the BIOS screens, and add or remove stuff. Any custom features
may simply be AMI modules renamed with Asus marketing terms, for
example. So, it is hard to point the finger and say that Asus
alone messed up the BIOS, although they are the ones who fund
the repairing of the BIOS and are ultimately responsible for the
mess. I see the last substantial update is 1003, where they were
still fixing serious things with the board.
As I'm a hardware guy, I would hack that sucker by playing with the
BSEL pins. BSEL is a two bit code coming from two pins on the
processor chip. Changing the code would force the FSB to something
other than FSB800. That would be one way to vary the setup of the
board. Another would be to investigate the clockgen, and see if
there is some way to modify it. Neither technique is useful for
someone who just wants the board to work.
If you have other P4 processors, other slower memory modules,
different hard drive and/or CDROM drive, you could try swapping
hardware to force a different set of conditions onto the problem.
If you could get some kind of OS to boot, then you could use
a utility like CPUZ or Everest or maybe even Sandra, to verify
the speed the memory and processor are running at. See whether
the memory timings are exceeding specs for the ram or not.
Oh, another thing to check, is whether the PSU is rated to
drive a P4 3.2GHz. Check the label on the PSU, to see if it
offers 12V @ 15A. If it only offers say, 10A on the 12V output,
that might not help. My experience is that the BIOS draws neither
the minimum nor the maximum current from the PSU, and so the fact
the BIOS runs OK, doesn't mean there is enough current for every
application. Maybe the +12V is crapping out when the processor has
short intervals of 100% load.
Rather than pay attention to any of the above,
just RMA that thing
You'll feel better.
If you have the ability to swap for another board with your
vendor, the P4P800-VM might be another choice.
Good luck,
Paul
