A7N8X dead?

[genesound]

All of a sudden it wont load win2k pro, gets a blue screen stop message sayin : The ACPI BIOS in this system is not fully compliant with the ACPI spec... etc.

It had been running in the same config for the last several months, no changes.

Also I've noticed that now when changing bios settings, it doesn't always take. Changed the fsb to 166 and it still posts as 177 for instance, go back in bios and it still says it's set to 166. Hmmm.

I jumper-cleared the cmos, everything went back to lame defaults (still no windows), adjust back to proper settings, posts ok with new settings, but still no windows. Change settings, no change in post. Odd. Always same blue screen. Also it won't boot to cd now, with the appropriate bios settings of course.

For grins, I removed one stick of kingston value ram at a time, no change.

Then I re=loaded the bios from floppy ver 1004. It took it ok, but still no change.

It's always run cool and clean, Thermalright slk-800, antec power and case. It has a wd800jb drive. edit - it's got a Barton 2500+, and the mobo's 8 months old, it was bought like the first week or so they were out.

Just thought I'd ask to see if any of y'all had any ideas about this, I already got an rma from asus, gonna tear it down and ship it tomorrow.

Thanks fer lookin :t

[genesound]

No ideas, huh? Me either, really :D

I did receive an e-mail a while ago from asus ts in response to the one I sent them yesterday:

"Dear User:¡¡
¡¡¡¡Thank you for choosing ASUS, answer your question below..
please set the cpu and memory to lower frequency and try again.
this is because some hard device is error."

Which, of course I've already done. Kinda seems like the great Carnak holding an email to his head :x But I can't really complain about Asus' support. They already gave me an rma over the phone. :)

Hmm... maybe I'll stick a different cpu and ram in there just to check, maybe I fried that early Barton running seti 24/7 oc'd as far as it'd go given the Kingston pc2700 value-ram I have. :eek:

[ComPooTer]

i wish i could help ya genesound i just dont know what to say........


cheers you have an rma! :p

[BipolarBill]

Try updating your BIOS and clearing CMOS.

[genesound]

Umm... did that before ^ Bill, but thanks :)

However, I got up this morning and turned it on and guess what, it came up, no errors in event logs, device man is clean, and the boot from cd is back!

I put the other stick of ram back in, loads ok, but it now wont oc like it used to. I'm thinking maybe I have a ram problem, others on net have attributed this blue screen I was getting to bad ram. Been wanting some real ram anyhow :cool:

I'll slow it down for awhile and see how it goes :D

[kevrob1]

You mentioned working with everything else, did you change the battery?:t

[ComPooTer]

genesound u are right there u got some bad sticks. the asus a7n8x is really really picky about ram, only the best for it. im using kingston valueram 512 cant go 200fsb to overclock :rolleyes:

go get some good ram :D

[genesound]

Originally posted by kevrob1
You mentioned working with everything else, did you change the battery?:t Well, no, I kinda ruled that out, it being only 8 months old, and a brand new mobo series (at the time of purchase) and all, suppose I could get out the Fluke. It's running now, although at a about 100MHz less than before. :rolleyes:

Thanks everybody for the help :t

[$1500-P4 gamer]

If ya want 200fswb. Buy 200mhz mem. ddr400. Has nothing to do with kingston bard-has everything to do with expecting more than ya paid for.;)

genesound-
If the mem is acting funney now-then RMA it. Ya know Kingston has a lifetime warrenty and all. They wont give you one lick of trouble returning it. Tell them what mobo you have and the problem. They will make sure you get right mem this time from their lineup per your mobo.:t

[genesound]

That's good to know, P4, thanks. :t

Right now it's running fine at 171x12.5 - Not sure how much farther it'll now go, nor am I sure what has happened to cause the lower oc capability situation, and that other wierd blue screen thing that was goin on for a couple of days :x

It sat overnight with the psu swithch off and voila up it came, just had to back it down a bit. Hmm :x

edit - it's at 173x12.5, no probs yet :t

[ComPooTer]

well i do have Kingston DDR400 512 stick of ram
the model number is KVR400XC3/512 or something like that.

ive talked to bpb here is the link to the thread, check it out

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=143141

[causticVapor]

Could be that uber-hot vreg chip. But this trend of failure normally doesn't happen. If a chip is faulty, it'll normally die within 1 month (bucket curve.)

Perhaps those high temps caused the chip to electromigrate, perhaps it was just a really hot day. SS mentioned 'damage' when his AC went out and he could only do 200 afterwards whereas before he was doing 220+...

On my 8RDA+ with an A2 northbridge, I've only been able to hit 200 with the VDD at almost 1.9v; but no OC fallbacks, despite the ATX connector burning up...:confused:

[genesound]

My ac is ok, it stays under 80f in here, and I have a mobo fan on a bracket, been doin that since 486s (used to have to make them). Don't know my nb stepping, but it's an old one as a7n8xs go, if the hs on it is actually doin anything, it's cool. MB 26c, cpu 41c -asus probe (26/36 bios) just now, seti running... 2166MHz wcpuid. :t

edit asus probe sez Vcore is 1.888v, it's at 1.85 in bios :D
nb is A2 :rolleyes:

[ComPooTer]

my asus probe says 1.728
in bios its set to 1.65 :(

mines a tad off :D

[genesound]

It's back up to 2192.48MHz (wcpuid) 12.5x175, not too bad for an early barton and a7n8x on air, but it takes all the Vcore I can give it to do it :rolleyes:

[causticVapor]

Well, who knows. Could just be expansion, contraction, or that vreg chip overheating (heatsinking a 96C chip in my book is a good idea)

[genesound]

Originally posted by causticVapor
Well, who knows. Could just be expansion, contraction, or that vreg chip overheating (heatsinking a 96C chip in my book is a good idea) I would think so, too, but i'm more interested in keeping my 3 year warranty intact, so a big blast of cool air will have to do.

[genesound]

Originally posted by genesound
...it's at 173x12.5, no probs yet :t So now it's back at 177x12.5 which is where it was when the problem occured, and where it'd been for months. I'm thinkin something happened while I was vacuuming with the power connector or something. Oh well :t

[Dracas]

I started having problems with mine after about a month too, CMOS battery dropped to about 2.9 volts, and that seemed to confuse the **** out of the OS, at which point it died totally.

Got an Energizer CR2032 battery to replace it, rates at 3.2v, boards been running pretty stably (well, for an A1 NF rev A7N8X 2.0 anywho...)