Asus A7N266-VM

[Slitelyused]

Anyone contemplating buying this board, must take note,, The Jumper settings for the CPU/DIMM on page 19 of the manual are wrong,,Defaults for 133/133 should be 1 and 2,,,not 2 and 3 as shown in the diagram,,, Asus will not replace burnt CPU's either, just because they wrote the book wrong,,Hoping this might help one other poor soul,, besides me,,:t

[LABachlr]

Originally posted by Slitelyused
Anyone contemplating buying this board, must take note,, The Jumper settings for the CPU/DIMM on page 19 of the manual are wrong,,Defaults for 133/133 should be 1 and 2,,,not 2 and 3 as shown in the diagram,,, Asus will not replace burnt CPU's either, just because they wrote the book wrong,,Hoping this might help one other poor soul,, besides me,,:t

Thank you, sir! You just confirmed my suspicions. :cool:

For some reason, in the manual, only for the settings for the CPU/DIMM, it states that the jumper prongs are 3,2,1 in order (left to right). With all of the other jumper settings, the jumpers go 1, 2, 3 in order (left to right). So, in the manual, it does say the default jumper setting should be 1, 2, but with the numbers backwards, you end up putting the jumpers on 2, 3.

So, for anyone using this mobo, just know that all of the jumpers are 1, 2, 3 (from right to left).

[Beeblequix]

In my A7N266-C manual they don't even have the correct path for the drivers on the disc, much less functioning instructions....

:rolleyes:

ß.Qµix

[Swordfish]

thanx for the info...i thought the board had some problem with the FSB thing since mine shows 100 not 133.



BTW, has anybody out here installed a 2000+ on this mobo since the internal clock is showing at 1250 in the BIOS.

it was 1200 b'fore i updated the BIOS with the beta provided at the Asus's Website

Thanx again

I think it should be above 1600 i suppose...isn't it supposed to show little more than 1600?

[Beeblequix]

I'm using a 2200+, but I'm not sure if my response matters. My mobo is the A7N266-C with the 415D non-video but otherwise nicely featured chipset. The A7N266-VM seems to lack a few things.

http://usa.asus.com/mb/socketa/a7n266-vm/overview.htm
http://usa.asus.com/mb/socketa/a7n266-c/overview.htm

Looks like yours is microATX. 220D chipset.

Here's your driver download page. You can use a 2400+ in that board provided your BIOS is revision 1004 or later.
http://download.asus.com.tw/mb_dl_menu.asp?l1=1&l2=10&l3=16&mid=4

ß.Qµix

[Swordfish]

Beeble, Can you tell me what values does the bios(under Advanced Menu) report for "Current CPU Speed" on your system.?

Correct me if i am wrong here, it should be showing the actual freq that the xp is runnin at not the PR thing, right?

[Beeblequix]

Yes. It's a function of Front Side Bus times multiplier, and it shows itself right in there

edit: okay, called home and had the wifey look at it for me.

Under the Advanced tab:

current cpu speed............1800Mhz
cpu speed..........................manual
cpu frequency multiple....13.5
cpu/pci frequency.............133

I've noticed that by setting the cpu speed to 'manual' that because of the natural Asus slight overclock that you'll get just a *tad* higher cpu speed doing it this way. Mine actually gives me 1804Mhz. This has been a standard thing with all my Asus mobos.

[Swordfish]

thanx a bunch(for the info)...buddy. Its time for tweakin the bios :D

[Rugor]

My roomie has this board, running a 2400+ (recognized by bios as a 1933MHz CPU).

The good news is that they put in a correction page for the manual regarding the jumper settings.

[Swordfish]

Ok for everybody's info...i found an update to the wrong BIOS settings for A7N266-vm...i suppose this was posted much earlier but asus hasn't got any links for it at their downloads/website.

http://ftp.cizgi.com.tr/ASUS/mb/socka/nforce220/a7n266-vm/ie1014_a7n266-vm.zip

its a zip file containing a pdf showing the correct JUMPER settings.:t

[Slitelyused]

This board is one of those that never should have been released to the public. It has more problems than could be mentioned here in one day, The biggest problem is that obtaining an RMA only entitles you to a replacement of the same piece of junk. What I need is a refund so that I can buy a decent board. Asus Tech support is non-existent,, They have had so many complaints on this board they no longer reply to questions. This is my last,, very last, absolutely very last Asus product. I saved about $15 bucks when I bought this board,, and lost 2 CPU's in the process, because they cant write a **** manual correctly. I cant blame Newegg,, they just sell them, they dont build them, and Newegg's service was outstanding. I just wish they're RMA polcies allowed you to switch to a different board,, but I can also understand why it doesnt. Now that I got that off my chest, I feel better !! Time to go Mobo shopping,,, again !!

[Slitelyused]

By the way,,one thing I forgot to mention,, dont expect to run multiple monitors with this board either. Refer to a little line on page 89 of the manual, under Troubleshooting. " This motherboard does not support PCI VGA cards due to an nVidia chipset limitation". I have been trying all day to get my second monitor set up with Windows 98SE. I finally looked thru the Asus manual and discovered I cant do it. So much for Asus boards and nVidia chipsets.:mad:

[Spiny]

Hardware revision 1.05 of the ASUS A7N266-VM motherboard includes some extra pins, including something labeled CHASSIS that sits between the SMBus connector and the PANEL pins. CHASSIS is a 4 pin set. If you don't put a jumper over the two pins at the edge of the board, then the BIOS interrupts the boot sequence and throws up a message stating something like "Case is open or cover has been removed."

There's nothing in the BIOS to control this ... Can't tell you what version of the BIOS I'm running, though, they might have updated it since they made my board.

The new pins and the BIOS behavior are not documented in the manual that comes with the board, or the manual on the ASUS web site, E1014A.

Additional stuff:

CHA_FAN pins, for powering and monitoring a chassis fan. Pinout is the same as the CPU_FAN pins. This is a good thing.

There's something different about the front panel audio connector pins (AAPANEL1). My motherboard had jumpers across some of those pins, which I removed, because the manual says nothing about putting jumpers there. Interestingly enough, the audio coming out of the back panel didn't work after I did that ...

To enable the rear audio output ...
On AAPANEL1, ASUS Front Panel Audio Connector,
jumper LineOut_FR to LineOutRR
and LineOut_FL to LineOut_RL

Again, I'm running ASUS A7N266-VM hardware revision 1.05.

Spiny

[Doomer]

I'm spooked after reading this thread. I just got a A7N266-VM to replace a Biostar M7VIG Pro that arrived DOA. It came correctly configure for the XP1700+. It also came with the insert correcting the manual. So far it's worked flawlessly but since this is the first AMD system I've built in 10 years and the fact that I got off to a bad start with the Biostar board, :( maybe I should have stuck with Intel. :(

[Rugor]

You do know this board is AMD Assured don't you.

It works, it runs fine. My roomie's system with a 2400+ on this board has had no problems because of it. The only issues the system ever had came when she tried to run it on the 250W Deer PSU that came in her case while waiting for the 400W to arrive.

As to the no PCI video cards, that's a function of the HyperTransport Link between the Northbridge and Southbridge. Video needs access to the Northbridge, that's what the CPU and memory talk to. Nvidia's PCI bus is coupled only to the Southbridge, and they didn't include the capacity to piggyback PCI data across the HT link for video.

You can expect fewer and fewer boards to support PCI video as new chipsets are introduced.

[Spazzy]

I was JUST going to order that board this morning. I stopped by here to check a thread and low and behold. My board has people talkin bout it already and I aint even bout it. Im getting it for $69 buck at Newegg.com. I am goin to use the AMD Athlon XP 1800+ Thoroughbred /266 FSB Processor CPU 1800+/ 1.53GHz -0.13 micro OEM, AXDA1800DLT3C The Ultimate Digital Media Experience in an x86 Platform.Tailored for Microsoft® Windows® XP. Featuring QuantiSpeed Architecture for Rapid Execution of Applications. Tomorrow’s Technology Today.The Power of a Reliable Partner.
Specifications:
CPU: 1.53 GHz
Type: 1800 XP Thoroughbred
Cache: 256K
BUS: 266MHz
Socket A (PGA)
OEM - CPU Only

Should I NOT by this board now? What are ur suggestions? My other choice was the Asus VIA A7V333-X/L KT333 chipset ATX w/Lan. Supports up to 3 gig of DDR (pc1600,pc2100, and pc 2700. Would this be a better choice? Thanks for the tips I appreciate this site alot now that Im really tryin to make some right decisions on my next new system.

[Spazzy]

Would this board NOT be a good buy? I was gonna order on this morning when i came across this post... ??? Now I aint sure what to do.. how bout the Asus VIA A7V333-X/L KT-333 chipset board? would it be a better buy for $15 bucks more? Now Im uptight again over tryin to find a decent board that runs DDR, ATA/133 with a 266 FSB and stablel.. Epox RDA? Help

[Rugor]

We have one. It runs very well, very stably. There's only two caveats I'm aware of.

It only really likes WinXP, the drivers aren't as good for any other OS, and it cannot use a PCI based video card. But since it has both decent onboard Vid and an AGP slot that's not a problem.

Based on my experiences, I'd order another.

[maximus02143]

It only really likes WinXP
Rugor did you load wk2 on it and have many issues? I was thinking about getting this board for my girl for internet use- mp3 ect…with xp as her os and have one partion with w2k server for me to practice, study and learn on my home network. I was going to get a ecs k7s5a but hear so many issue with that board here at sysopt . The price is great with onboard everything. Please if you can tell me any issue I may encounter with w2k on the Asus A7N266-VM. Thanks in advance…

[Rugor]

I didn't do much with Win2K, but it really hated Win98.

I just went straight to XP from there with it and it's much happier. It will probably be fine with 2K though, since XP's very much a derivative.

[cucuk]

hi all,
i a rookie, planning to buy a PC wif this board, recommended by the salesman, Asus A7N266VM
i was told that this board come wif graphic card, so i dun need to get one, i surf thru the Asus website n found that it intergrated wif NVIDIA GeForce 2 card, i m wundering whether i can play C&C Generals which req. 32mb of graphic card memory wif this intergrated graphic card? do i need to add in another 3d accelerator card (hopefully not)
thanks for replying

[Rugor]

If you dedicate 32mb of RAM to video you "should" be able to play that game, though a new game usually wants a more recent graphics core than that.

[cucuk]

hi rugor
how do i dedicate 32mb of ram to video? fyi, the PC i m gonna buy comes wif 256mb of kingston ram (another kinda memory required on the mobo), does that mean i hv more than enuf?
thanks 4 ur reply

[Rugor]

You go into the BIOS and set up how much RAM you want to dedicate to video. I can't remember exactly where it is, but it's there.

Sorry but our A7N266-VM system is up right now and someone would get irritated if I shut it down to check the BIOS.

As to RAM, just get good quality DDR and you'll be fine.

[slam]

what did win98 and this board do? I was going to build a system with this board and win98... what kind of trouble am I looking at.

[Rugor]

Part of it is that nvidia's drivers are optimised for WinXP, the Win98 ones aren't as good for the nforce chipset.

The other problem was that the system clock kept speeding up, and sometimes applications, especially web-based ones, would start speeding up. It always seemed to be timing issues, mIRC would start flashing repeatedly or the mouse would start flying around the screen. Java and Flash based games went too fast for anyone to interact with them.

However, this may have been because I put a 2400+ on it and Win98's networking stack isn't that happy with 2GHz processors and faster.

[slam]

Hopefully all will go well with fresh install of 98

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Originally posted by Rugor
Part of it is that nvidia's drivers are optimised for WinXP, the Win98 ones aren't as good for the nforce chipset.

The other problem was that the system clock kept speeding up, and sometimes applications, especially web-based ones, would start speeding up. It always seemed to be timing issues, mIRC would start flashing repeatedly or the mouse would start flying around the screen. Java and Flash based games went too fast for anyone to interact with them.

However, this may have been because I put a 2400+ on it and Win98's networking stack isn't that happy with 2GHz processors and faster.

Hey rugor I think I can conferm those suspicions. Its true. On a P4 2.4gig I built a buddy windows 98 wont even install. You get a stack file error upon "windows is starting for the first time" message. I looked up at M$ and they said win 98 doesnt run on anything higher than 2gig as it cant sync the networking proto with it. HOWEVER there is a fix. but they wont tell ya without sending them $. BUT Windows 98SE and higher is not effected.:t

[Rugor]

I dunno about Win98SE not being affected, since that's what I was using. I get lazy and generally mean Win98SE when I say Win98.

I do know it was a pain, and I have heard about it elsewhere.

But thanks for the confirmation from MS.

[Dan Mac]

I'm just bought and installed an A7N266-VM with an Athon XP 1800+ on Win 98, but am having problems with setting up the Audio driver on the system. I manually installed some of the other drivers on the system which didn't install automatically, but can't seem to get the supplied audio driver to work with it. No sound, not even a sound icon in the bottom right-hand corner.

Has anyone else encountered this problem and found a fix?

Cheers
Dan

[maximus02143]

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=nforce_udp_win98se_2.03


try the drivers there. The ones on the cd are older I think

[Dan Mac]

Thanks Maximus,

but unfortunately I've already been down that route....I think it has something to do with me using Win 98 original rather than 98SE. I've trawled the message boards and think a few people have gotten Win98 original to work, but don't know the details how. Hopefully I can avoid forking out on a new OS, what started out as a defective hard-drive on my last system is turning into a major spending binge....

New HDD needed new CPU,
New CPU needed new motherboard,
New motherboard needed new Ram,
New motherboard needed new keyboard,
New motherboard needed new modem,
New motherboard needed new ATX case,
New motherboard needs new OS???!!! Arg!!!

I just hope the new HDD works...;-)

Dan

[maximus02143]

http://www.amdforums.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=8
or http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=
look around there. This weekend I will be puting togher mine, but with XP.. Your system is up to par your next upgrade should be the os .. GL.. Dan you have a PM

[pepito]

sir, where can i find an ASUS A7N266C (or any nforce model that isn't a microATX form factor)?

thanks!

[maximus02143]

Built the new system the other I just noticed the the case fans and the cpu fan and the light on the mb it self never shut off even when I power off the box. The only to get them to stop is shutting the master switch on the psu….. any suggestions what it could be.. the case is an ANTEC SOLUTION SERIES Model# SLK2600AMB w/ANTEC SMART POWER.. Thanks in advance.. You have to hold the power botton for more than 4 sec is what I just read. If thats true how can you disable it

[jayabee]

I recently purchased this board and received an update sheet in the manual with the correct jumper settings. So far I have had no problems with the board and am more than satisfied with the performance at such a sensible price.:)

[Izdaari]

I built a cheapy system based on the A7N266-VM AA board for a friend about a month ago and he's happy with it so far, no problems at all. He's running Win98SE so I had to install the drivers by hand but that wasn't so bad - except that one wasn't where the manual said it was and I had to figure out where it really was. Good board though for a basic system. I would have liked to have kept it and maybe I'll build another one for me later.

Pepito,

If you don't want a MicroATX, just get an nForce2 board. For just basic features, the Soltek SL-75MRN-L for $99 at New Egg (http://www.newegg.com/) might be the best deal. Or if you don't want the integrated graphics, the Soltek SL-75FRN2 for $102. Odd that the one without costs more since I don't see any difference in features. For a more deluxe board, loaded with juicy features, I'd suggest the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe for $143, which is what my main system is built on.

[Rugor]

I just built a guy a basic gaming system on this board, a 2200+ and a 9500 Pro.

It's the second system I've built on this board and I like it.

[jayabee]

I agree about finding the drivers as I am running Win98se but once loaded I have not had any problems with the board. I also like the fact that there is provision for six USB ports and an additional serial connector is provided with the board

[ichorid]

lol, if u need a new os try kazaa ;)

i got xp pro 4 free :r only probs is i cant install sp1, sez i hav invalid license number

[Beeblequix]

ichorid,

lol, if u need a new os try kazaa ;p
i got xp pro 4 free :r only probs is i cant install sp1, sez i hav invalid license number

Unacceptable. These threads are NOT to promote piracy. It's people like you who are inciting the RIAA et al with neo fascist laws against the rest of us.

No lol's about it.

ßeeßlesoft

[Beeblequix]

Dan Mac,

I was also having issues setting up the audio (A7N266-C) and Windows 98 SE.

Solution: get a Soundblaster Live! 5.1. They're cheap, and even when I tried discerning the difference between nforce and soundblaster (while on my XP partition) I could not tell any bit of difference at all. Came out to be marketing hype, or those people just have better ears than me.

Nforce was never intended to be used with 98. ME was supposed to be the oldest OS supported.

This site may lead to some great info for nforce users:
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/

ß

[maximus02143]

UUUGGGHHH I cannot get my box to shut down. It goes to sleep-suspend mode every time I shut down. I changed ever option disable and enable every thing I could think of… anyone has any ideas. Could it have any thing to do with the hdd came from another system and instead of installing a fresh copy of XP pro I just did a repair…. Was it a jumper I missed…….
Asus A7N266-VM
XP pro
xp1800

[Beeblequix]

maximus02143

It sounds like your Power Management settings are set to sleep-suspend.

Get into start-->settings-->control panel -->Power Management and look into it from there. If not here, look in your power options in the BIOS.

ß

[run_to_the_max]

Problem solvered

[maximus02143]

Thanks for the reply. Here is the way it is setup in the bios acpi suspend to ram support disabled cpu s2kdisconnect for s1 disable video off option suspend->off video off dpms off hdd power down disable pwr button soft off. In XP power options power schemes home office turn monitor off after 20 min turn hard disk off never system standby never when I press the power button shut down

[Beeblequix]

maximus, I'm stumped.

But maybe you should back up your data and do a fresh install of XP. I always recommend doing it that way (at least I've had much better luck with fresh installs).

[maximus02143]

Thanks. I was thinking that may be a last choice.. That will be this weekend's fun. I will let you know if it fixes it...

[lost-and-found]

hey peeps, I bought this board for a new system I built for a customer. I put in XP home on it and an Athlon 2400+ CPU. I noticed that sometimes, usually not the first time the PC is fired up, the windows xp start up screen has 2 artifacts running across the screen. Each artifact is a line, about a pixel wide, but running horizontally all the way across the screen, it appears about 2 seconds into win XP loading. I reformatted and tried to reinstall XP and same thing. However, when XP loads, no problems with video afterwards. ANy ideas? (I'm running 256 MB Crucial RAM w/ 32MB shared video)

edit- I should probably add that the temps on teh system are 43*C for the CPU and 37-39*C Mobo

[Beeblequix]

lost-and-found,

it may be something as simple as a glitchy video cable (like not perfectly fitted or a bad wire). I at first thought you were experiencing a cracked core(GPU), but probably not at this point (however watch for it). Were I you I'd try playing a DirectX 7 era game and see what you can/can't see.

ß

[lost-and-found]

hey, thanks for the reply, I'm running the setup on the standard onboard video. I've tried running it on several different monitors and with no luck. I'll see about the game, probably Fifa 2001 should do it, right?

[Beeblequix]

Sure, that'll work. Really any game that uses Transform & Lighting will work. I suggest this because if you want to test the video subsystem you need to stress it with something relevant.

And just like anything else you find the problem via the process of elimination. You stated that you've used several different monitors with no luck. Provided you know all those other monitors to work it begins to sound like the motherboard. It may be a piece of debris in the VGA plug. Who knows?

GL

ß

[lost-and-found]

ok, ran Fifa 2001 w/o any video problems, ran, AOE II conquerors, ran UT on it and none of the games showed any video problems.

[Beeblequix]

I'm about to say send it back, but then I have one more question:
which BIOS are you using? It may be a voltage irregularity that a fresh new BIOS may fix.

And if that don't work send it back.

[Beeblequix]

Sound Issues with nforce 1 boards & windows 98 SE:

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19705

This gent had sound performance issues with 98SE and an nforce1 based board. The FIX ends up being a M$ WDM Audio Hotfix from Microsoft, case # Q242937), found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;242937

edit: from Nvidia's site:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_win98se_udf.html
They too advise installing this Hotfix for 98se users.

I'm going to do a little study on my a7n266-c to see that this hotfix actually solves the stuttering issues I had (yanked out the Asus card quick and dropped in 'Ole Faithful'). If it does the SB Live 5.1 will just go into a future second computer and I'll find contentment finally with the free 6 channel sound so far neglected by me.

edit2: I've yanked out the SB and installed my 6-ch nforce audio card. After bumbling a bit with the 'ease' of P&P I've got the audio functioning basely. I've yet to patch the WDM audio, and have had to resort to lowering sound acceleration so NFSHP2 and Morrowind sound decent. Tonight I'll apply the fix and report on it.

[Hengy]

lostnfound - did you ever sort out your video issues
i get the same thing here with an a7n266-vm using onboard vid running xp sp1, 256 ram - two 1 pixel lines across the xp startup screen

but there again i also get bursts of bsod after bsod which seem to be linked to enabling the mcp mac controller and connecting up to a lan, with a speed touch usb adsl modem also connected.

disabling the mac seems to lead to a more stable system
although to be honest it seems to go ****-up if i do anything other than web browse - think i should probably do a full reinstall

btw - i ran a pretty comprehensive memory tester (one that runs off a floppy boot and takes all day) - any idea if this is a good enough indication that i don't have a dodgy memory chip - which would certainly explain the almost random and comprehensice nature of the crashes i get - been through almost all stop codes known to man
oh and yes i've updated all drivers

[deadkenny]

Are we talking aperature grill monitors here? Anyway, doesn't the system use default video until after Window is up and running? Does it really matter what it looks like using default video? It's going to generally look crappy in any case, although I don't know what the specific problem is.

[shutupgeek]

Originally posted by Rugor
The other problem was that the system clock kept speeding up, and sometimes applications, especially web-based ones, would start speeding up. However, this may have been because I put a 2400+ on it and Win98's networking stack isn't that happy with 2GHz processors and faster. [/B]
Glad to know I'm not the only one whose clock intermittently runs at 3x speed. Though it's doing it on my 1800+, so I don't know if that's the case, unless I configured the jumpers wrong & just haven't burned out my proc yet. :D

[LocUF]

I just got an A7N266-VM/AA, and a 2000+ ... mounted proc/heatsink .. stuck in ram stuck on a HD ... booted it up and the fan on the proc ran but nothing else (no beeps) ... Looked in the 'excellent' user's manual and set the jumpers to what I think are default ... now the fan on the mobo doesn't come on, I tried to set the jumpers back to how there were, still nothing ... I don't know if the jumpers were wrong and I melted my chip or if I still have the jumpers wrong ... the memory in it is from Crucial CT3264Z335 ... The jumpers I changed were the CPU/DRAM ones and the "USBPWR45" pair which is at the bottom of the motherboard, sort of between two white jumper rows and above a capacitor ... I changed these b/c they were set like:
OXX
XXO
which wasn't the default
The reason I'm saying where the jumpers are is because the CLRTC jumper is not where it's indicated in my manual .. or anywhere else near the battery ... is this Manual the wrong one or was it supposed to be appended? it's A7N266-VM (without an AA) ... I have another chip I can use for testing (also a 2000+) But I'd rather not burn it out (if that's what happened to the first one) .. so please if you know the correct setup let me know .. and the first few posts deal w/ how they are 1 2 3 and not 3 2 1 for jumpers .. please specify in your post if you can ... Thank you a ton

Jon

[slam]

the book that came with the mb that I setup had an extra loose page that showed the correct pin /jumper settings.. I don't have it anymore since I built it for someone else but does your manual have the extra sheet?

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Yea it updates the manual. I got it too. Manual version 2.0 has it. The jumpers on MOBO are labeled back wards and so is diagram in pic. Pin 3 is really 1 for CPU fsb setting.:t

[LocUF]

I found the updated manual online and it's working now ..
Thanks

[Beeblequix]

not that I want this old thread revived, but thought I'd post regarding the Hotfix I mentioned.

It works.

I yanked my SB Live!5.1 card and dropped in the nforce ACR card. XP has no issues, but 98se does -- I was getting stuttering jittering **** sound. JK2 was fine, but Morrowind and NFSHP2 just sucked.

I grabbed the 331KB q242937 hotfix, installed, reran my tests, and I'm quite happy. I'm certain your sibling -VM boards will benefit from this hotfix if you use 98se with an nforce chipset & use their audio.

ß