Re: ASUS K8N-E Deluxe ( Deluxe problem)

BC wrote:
StoneyStude wrote:
rjohnsto wrote:

I've never used an ASUS Board, but ordered one to build a new system
last Dec. Asus K8N-E Deluxe, AMD 1.8Ghz, lotsa Ram, MSI 128Mb
video(FX5200), 400Watt PS, yada yada yada

Dear RJ,

power supply is the "heart" of any system, "400W" sort of like saying "I have a car": can be a beat up 1977 Ford Pinto, or a new Lexus LS 400--both cars, big difference. Hope it is a name brand power supply: PC Power/Cooling, Antec, Enermax, Seasonic, etc....

When loading WinXP pro, the system will reboot at the point where
it's "Loading FAT file system" ... and proceed to the same
point and reboot, ad infinitum...

1) hard drive failure?
2) Corrupt file system? (And, by the way, NTFS better than FAT32 for a variety of reasons....)

I found that by removing one of the 512MB ram sticks, the system would
proceed as expected. If you install more than 512 MB it will repeat
the above.

Sounds like a bad stick of RAM. I have gotten more of these lately than I have in many years of working with PCs: not sure why. Did you run MEMTEST on each individual stick? Memory problems can be hard to diagnose at times....

>>The system has 3 DIMM slots,but I can only use one and
for no more than 512 MB

Lotsa Ram: sounds like you have 512 x 3? Not to sound like a brand snob, but, name brand like Corsair, Micron, Kingston?

Thinking there was a DIMM slot problem, I returned the board to
Compuvest.com (a,renegade company...) in January, which is a story in
itself.... They returned another (different?) board, which as of
today, I find, does the exact same thing, as above.

Board may not be the problem....as above, might be RAM (MEMTEST will isolate this, since hard drive not required), hard drive (diagnostics? and, dare I say it, good name brand hard drive? You didn't buy a used IBM Deathstar, did you?)

Now, I know how to build a system. Maybe I haven't kept up with the
latest tech edges, but this problem seems to be odd enough to have
happened to others. Yet, I can't find a soul who has the slightest
idea why it's doing what it does.

1) suspect bad RAM module
2) Bad RAM module might have hosed files on your hard drive....making it look flaky
3) Bad RAM more likely than bad DIMM slot....RAM has literally millions of possible failure points...DIMM slot much more low tech....

I'd venture to say now, that the BIOS should be flashed, but again,
can't find a word of advise on how to do it. ASUS .com does a good
job of insulating themselves by requiring reams of information, to
the point you give up.

Wouldn't flash BIOS unless you know it will fix the problem....

How to upgrade BIOS:

http://support.asus.com/technicaldocuments/technicaldocuments.aspx?root=198&SLanguage=en-us


Latest versions:

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

But, as I said, I would *NOT* flash BIOS unless you know all other components are working well--flashing BIOS with a bad stick of RAM? Not a good idea....

HTH, please let us know how it goes,

BC

Thanks for your reply,
Hopefully, I didn't come across as a smartass, but last night "there was a little wine doing some talking". This has been really frustrating. Here are a few more specifics....

Case/ power supply is an Antec -

Hard drive is a 60Gb Seagate, in fine shape, previously used, never had an OS, except for command.com to get to it in an emergency. Can boot from CDrom and go to C: and read write ok, etc.

I also installed a brand new, Seagate 160Gb SATA drive with the same results.---

RAM - first bought 2X512Mb PC3200 V-data and first experienced the problem. Then found the ASUS recommended list, so I tried 2X512Mb Kingston (PC2700), thinking iot was a frequency issue(no help). Then 1Gb Kingston with no change... You can only use one 512 of anything to make it load correctly... (It's getting a bit costly to build this system now!)

The boot load actually gets to 'Loading NTFS file system" before it craps out and reboots.... All this stuff is loaded into a RAMDISK anyway (memory) on initial load, isn't it? (Don't forget, it will load the entire OS fine with only one 512 stick, but as soon as you go beyond, it craters...)

I even tried a Win2K load and it goes to the point where you have to respond aout loading, fixing, etc. Pressing the 'enter' key to load the OS returns a "Checking system" and stays there ( at least 24 hours...)

The only other thing on the board is the video card ( MSI FX5200) and it was on the ASUS approvd list... No way to plug a monitor in without a video card, so I can't remove it..

So where do you go from here. You don't have to tell me not to touch the BIOS, except as a last resort (Ask me why I know that) and would think that if it were required, it would be in big bold notation on the box...

So, now two different motherboards, with the same problem and no one ever heard of this..

See where I'm coming from?

I sense you're a Windows fan, because of the NTFS remark. I can't say I am, to any great degree, as I retired a couple years ago after being a Unix type for 30 years. PC's with Windows were mandated as office equipment and I had some exposure to building and troubleshooting...)
( Yes I can go to Linux, but am not interested in another learning curve, right now.. believe it or not, retirement doesn't give you any free time.)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Also, about RAM
    ... We can't help unless you tell us WHICH mobo. ... Try reading the manual while you wait for an answer - Asus always documents ... there are 3 RAM slots on this MOBO. ... > 2 or 3 the computer doesn't load. ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: ASUS K8N-E Deluxe ( Deluxe problem)
    ... video, 400Watt PS, yada yada yada ... it's "Loading FAT file system" ... ... I found that by removing one of the 512MB ram sticks, ... The best position for your two memory sticks, ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: Test my current RAM clock?
    ... Thinking about going to the Intel D865GLC or back to the Asus ... I hope it supports dual channel for the Kingston Value RAM. ... I have a collection of downloaded manuals, ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)
  • Re: Lightwave hardware & question about cache
    ... and I'm still hoping Dark Science can recommend a MoBo for me to replace this ASUS board with? ... I can't handle this wasting that extra 2gigs of ram just sitting on the shelf. ... Don't plan to overclock your dual-core AMD. ... 4600+ up to the settings of the 4800+, but these chips are alrady pushed ...
    (comp.graphics.apps.lightwave)
  • Re: Faster Marshaling?
    ... and 2 seconds to load a 9MB sized Marshal ... there's a way around this without extensive modification to ruby. ... loaded into RAM. ... entire data set in RAM all at once, because any one final data table ...
    (comp.lang.ruby)
Loading