several AN7 bios behaviour questions

I got a cheap AN7 as a return - no drivers; manual; cables; etc. Downloaded
what I could off the abit web site and the board is currently processing
video data with a Barton 2500+ at 230mhz x 10 @ CAS 2.0 on some GEIL Golden
Dragon.

Being in a hurry I did a repair install of windows XP (on a previous KT
chipset), and I got the error message of a non ACPI compliant board, so I
clicked OK and did the repair install, (realising I would not be able to
auto switch it off).
However I find that I can not get any monitoring software to tell me the
temperature/etc, the bios can read it, but nothing in the OS [hence my being
nice to it - that and a Volcano 7 is the only hsf I had that would fit due
to the proximity of the psu]. Is this lack of sensor data due to the ACPI
not installing? Am planning on doing a fresh install soon to see if that
clears it up.

Then I noticed that the bios does not update the fsb settings, sometimes it
puts them in the top area as the detected cpu type, but invariably boots
with an fsb of 166, no matter what I do - I have to adjust the fsb from
within windows using the Abit OC Guru (a SoftFSB type program). A minor
niggle, but how do I get it to keep the settings for fsb - the literature I
have seems to say nothing about this. Or is this a 'feature' of the board -
is the "microguru" doing its thing and saving me from myself?
Everything else seems to be ok at bios level - apart from it would not boot
from cd even though other boot devices were disabled it still tried to boot
off IDE0 and still keeps finding the sata raid even though it is disabled.
Anyway thought I would try a bios flash, though it was on the latest - 15.
Tried boot floppy method and got error message of "bios is write protected
please remove write protect jumpers" - to which I can find no reference. F2
method states that bios files (tried previous and current) are not the right
ones, even though they are according to abit website.

So not being familiar with the board (nor it's history - but I like a
challenge - hence the AN7), and a bios that does its own thing anyway, I am
a bit confused. Google has not pulled up much info, but I was wondering if
anyone recognises the symptoms and knows a solution - or if I should RMA it
(not simply because it is an AN7) as I am wondering if the bios may be iffy
or if this is normal behaviour. I mean at the moment it works ok, and it
might just be my ignorance, but it is this not being able to flash the bios
that I do not like - everything else I can live with, it is just that I only
got a few days left to send it back in if I am going to.

Suggestions, comments appreciated

Mine works fine and no niggles, save fsb in uguru and bios.


send it back, and get a retail version.

doughnut




"Hippy Paul" wrote in message
...
I got a cheap AN7 as a return - no drivers; manual; cables; etc.
Downloaded
what I could off the abit web site and the board is currently processing
video data with a Barton 2500+ at 230mhz x 10 @ CAS 2.0 on some GEIL
Golden
Dragon.

Being in a hurry I did a repair install of windows XP (on a previous KT
chipset), and I got the error message of a non ACPI compliant board, so I
clicked OK and did the repair install, (realising I would not be able to
auto switch it off).
However I find that I can not get any monitoring software to tell me the
temperature/etc, the bios can read it, but nothing in the OS [hence my
being
nice to it - that and a Volcano 7 is the only hsf I had that would fit
due
to the proximity of the psu]. Is this lack of sensor data due to the ACPI
not installing? Am planning on doing a fresh install soon to see if that
clears it up.

Then I noticed that the bios does not update the fsb settings, sometimes
it
puts them in the top area as the detected cpu type, but invariably boots
with an fsb of 166, no matter what I do - I have to adjust the fsb from
within windows using the Abit OC Guru (a SoftFSB type program). A minor
niggle, but how do I get it to keep the settings for fsb - the literature
I
have seems to say nothing about this. Or is this a 'feature' of the
board -
is the "microguru" doing its thing and saving me from myself?
Everything else seems to be ok at bios level - apart from it would not
boot
from cd even though other boot devices were disabled it still tried to
boot
off IDE0 and still keeps finding the sata raid even though it is disabled.
Anyway thought I would try a bios flash, though it was on the latest -
15.
Tried boot floppy method and got error message of "bios is write protected
please remove write protect jumpers" - to which I can find no reference.
F2
method states that bios files (tried previous and current) are not the
right
ones, even though they are according to abit website.

So not being familiar with the board (nor it's history - but I like a
challenge - hence the AN7), and a bios that does its own thing anyway, I
am
a bit confused. Google has not pulled up much info, but I was wondering
if
anyone recognises the symptoms and knows a solution - or if I should RMA
it
(not simply because it is an AN7) as I am wondering if the bios may be
iffy
or if this is normal behaviour. I mean at the moment it works ok, and it
might just be my ignorance, but it is this not being able to flash the
bios
that I do not like - everything else I can live with, it is just that I
only
got a few days left to send it back in if I am going to.

Suggestions, comments appreciated

Hippy Paul, did you happen to receive/purchase your board from NewEgg?
I have reason to believe that I have YOUR board right now, I have
the EXACT same problems and have had no luck with finding help on
Google.

As of right now, I am trying to flash the BIOS with no luck (Flash ROM
Write Protect). I CANNOT BOOT FROM CD, which has rendered my new
setup useless as I cannot install Windows XP.

I purchased the AN7 refurbished from Newegg, received a lemon, RMA'ed
it, and got YOUR board (in the chance that you took the advice of the
poster above and RMA'ed it). Anyway, if you could contact me, that
would be great. Thank you.

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