Asus A7N8X-X - Any one have any issues with these before?

[Afta Image]

Hi all,

I am looking for some advice if anyone has experience this issue or something similar....

My borther's PC specs are:
ASUS A7N8X-X
G-Force 2 MX400
512MB Ram (1 Stick).
Athlon 2400 XP+ Processor.
Creative Labs SB live Platnium
Hollywood 98 PLUS DVD decoder Card
1 DVD-ROM
1 CD-RW
2x40 GB HDD's.
350 Watt A-Open PSU.

His PC has run fine for over a year then died the other week. Power to the Motherboard (LED on M/B confirmed this) but the machine will not power on. Firstly I disconnected all drives and removed all PCI cards (only video card left). No change. Reset bios, no change. Swapped PSU and then I was able to power on the machine. It started to post (Bios screen appeared), so I switched it off and took off the CPU fansink as I had forgotten the CPU speed (I built the board nearly 2 years ago). Got the details of the top of the CPU and reconnected the CPU Fansink. However the machine only powers on briefly and switches off (Please note, Drives and PCI cards still disconnected).

I have my own PC with the same board so I decided to try swapping parts Spec below of my machine.
Athlon 2700 XP +
Asus A7N8X-X
512 MB Ram
G-Force 4 4600.
1 x CD-RW
1 x 40 GB HDD
400 Watt PSU

Swapped PSU, no luck. tried my spare PSU, No luck. Tried memory swap, no luck, swapped Video card, no luck, swapped CPU, no luck. Looked like a systemboard. So I re-assembled my working machine and now it wont power on (ie. both machines now dont work).

I have tested all the components (Ram/CPU/Video cards/PSU's) of both faulty machines in one of my other PC's and they work fine. Both point towards faulty boards but it seems strange that both boards would go.

Though the boards are the same model, they were bought about 6 months apart. I have checked for leaking capacitors but they all seem fine (at least visually).

I do not think the issue lies with poor handling (1. this was my job for years and 2. all parts in the machine's check out except the motherboards which never left their case). So though it may just be shit boards (as the evidence point to) it seems really odd for both to go at the same time.

I would appreciate if anyone has had similar experiences or some suggestions to try. Your help is much appreciated.

Now I am off to see what I can find on the web about these boards.....

[Afta Image]

OK, After a bit of fucking around I have manage to get my brothers pc's. ButI can not remember the FSB speed and Clock ratio for an Athlon 2400+.

Any one have any ideas?

[BlueBoy]

Originally posted by Afta Image
OK, After a bit of fucking around I have manage to get my brothers pc's. ButI can not remember the FSB speed and Clock ratio for an Athlon 2400+.

Any one have any ideas?
Not sure of the clock ratio, I thought it was locked anyway. The FSB will be 266.

[Afta Image]

Thanks Blue boi...

OK, I breif, I got it going but it looks like it might be a cpu, it keeps loking unless it clocked uber slow. Put my Athlon 2700 XP + in and of it goes...

well let you know how I go ; )

[Asmodeus]

15X multiplier for a 2400+ chip it seems.

[Afta Image]

It is, thanks Asmodeus.

OK, the first machine (my brothers) is up and running, past my burn in tests. The only change, it has my 2700 XP Processor....

I still cannot get the second PC to run, no post, no beep code. even with out memory in it wont give the a beep code error I have got my 4th machine (not mention before and swapped cpu and Ram (please note my second machine now has the suspect 2400 XP instead of the 2700 XP +). No succes, clearing bios etc is having no luck and neither is changing the PSU. There is nothing else connected (including ide drives ) except the vid card which has test fine on 2 other pc's.

I put the suspect 2400 XP cpu and memory in my 4th machine and all is working fine. As I am a tad bit sus about the cpu, I am just running some burn in tests over night and monitoring it ; ).

So to me it sounds like my A7N8X-X on my PC is fucked..... Oh well, Time for a new one.

Does anyone have any recommendations on new Athlon boards? I am looking for one with intergrated audio and nic but not an intergrated video card.

Thanks all.....

[Asmodeus]

those boards sometimes have funky jumpers fo rhte output lights. disconnect all wires from teh leds to teh board, and have nothing in that block but the on/off switch and see what it does then.

also. unplug the machine, count to 10. look at teh processor fan and plug it back in (easiest to put the end of the cord into the p/s obviously)... does the processor fan spin a few revolutions, or does it kinda twitch, or not go at all? thats a good quick way to tell if theres enough juice going to teh machine anymore.

[Afta Image]

OK, I have clear bios over night with oput the batter, no change. I double checked the jumpers, no change.

I set the FSB to 200 instead of 266/333/400 setting. no change.

Thanks for tips Asmodeus, I removed all the connecter bar the power switch. no change....

I disconnect the psu and recoonected it. no change.

Just to let you know where I am:

PSU/CPU/RAM/Video Card - work in other machines. Nothing else connected. Motherboardha an internal Power light which shoiw the board has power which is on. If I attempt to switch on the machine, the an kicks on and all the drives spin up but nothing happens. no beep codes no display. The CPU does spin up and stay on.

If I boot with out memmory I get no change. Classic sign of either a faulty board or CPU, As I know the CPU ois good, must tbe the board.:swear:

So if any one has any m/b's they would suggest, let me know...

Spec's need 8X AGP, onboard sound and ethernet but no onboard video card.

[Asmodeus]

that is so wierd.

the reason i wanted you to disconnect all teh switched and leds is that sometimes i'll get stupid crap like the reset switch stuck or shorted and the computer will show the exact symptome you are telling me.

take off the reset CMOS jumper, pop the battery, wait a minute and try again.

and with teh power on, i meant more with teh p/s power on, making the ligh ton teh mobo light up.

you wouldn't happen to have an orange/red light on near your agp slot, would you?


really, the a7n8x line is one of the best ones out htere really right now. on my amd machine here and at work, I use the a7n8x-e deluxe board. its pretty spiffy.

[Truephoenix]

I have this board installed in one of the computers downstairs.

Very dodgy board, i would take it back and get a different one.
The sound doesn't work properly and you can see on the board where semiconductors are missing (it's a budget version of an a7n8x-dx).

I would say you should get an Abit AN7, 6 channel Dolby digital audio (that actually works:)), int LAN, SATA, Firewire, micro guru, based on an Nforce 2 ultra chipset.

Never had a problem with it, would highly recommend it. :)

[edit] Ok, i have had one minor issue with it, sometimes the monitoring software thinks the temperature inside my case is 117 degrees, the latest BIOS update was meant to fix this but it hasn't, but it isn't a major issue as it only happens on a really cold day and returns to normal after about 5 seconds.

And by the way, when you were fiddling around did you disconnect the power from the back of the case?
Bad stuff happens to computers when you start to fiddle around inside the case with the power plugged in.

[Afta Image]

Hi all,

The mobo has a LED on it (not the case one) which lights up when there is power to the board regardless of the PC's state (ie. will light up with the power cord in, even if the pc is on, off or in standby). That is always on when the machine is plugged into the back. I think it is a Power to the memmory sticks indicator.

I have reset its bios more times than I care to count. Including leaving the battery out and the clear cmos jumper on over night. I was even that thorough I got out the manual and followed it to the letter. no success....

As for A-Bit, I bought an A-Bit KR7A RAID 133 and it is one fucking impressive board (I use it in my main PC). No problems and seems to be able to handle anything you throw at it.... So I am a big supporter for A-Bit but they are pricey and my current budget causes me to look for a more ecomonical vendor.

With that in mind, the main diference between the A7N8X deuxe and the -X (budget version) is a few extra integrated devices like Fire Wire (which I dont need) and the fact the board does not support dual channel memmory.

It was a no real sacrifice for my needs and saved me some good dollars ; ). Still a big fan of that machine and for performance versus price, I am yet to see something better in it league.

Thanks for your help guys....

[Truephoenix]

The LED indicates there is standby power running through the machine, so there is a good chance of short circuiting it if you do anything with the board while this power is connected.

ABIT aren't that pricey, i picked up my AN7 for $145 from here.

www.fluidtek.com.au

They look dodgy at first but i have been in there and the guy's alright, he usually gives you a deal.