A computer components & hardware forum. HardwareBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » HardwareBanter forum » Motherboards » Asus Motherboards
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

A7N8X Deluxe -- False Memory Failure Reports?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old December 20th 03, 03:30 AM
alan buckley
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I was going to psot the same message today, mine does the identical problem
as you describe

"jim evans" wrote in message
...

I initially configured with a 512 stick of Kingston memory. As soon
as I fired up my new A7N8X Deluxe motherboard the woman's voice
started reporting memory had failed the self-test. She gives this
failure report only once about every 5-10 restarts.

I have seen no behavior to suggest the memory is bad, so I ran
MemTest-86 version 3 off-and-on for about 25 hours. It reported no
errors. I bought a second 512 Kingston stick and replaced the first
one. The woman continues to report bad memory the same way. Again,
about 10 continuous hours of MemTest reported no errors.

Does this motherboard give false memory failure reports?

jim



  #2  
Old December 20th 03, 03:32 AM
Tocapet
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default A7N8X Deluxe -- False Memory Failure Reports?

I was getting that message too until I reset it back to AUTO in bios. I had
it set at 200 and 120% and would get that message. So far no more msg after
putting it back on the default.

Why don't you try those 2 sticks in dual-channel mode
put 1 in slot 1 and the other in slot 3

You can run Winbond voice editor and delete that message if you're sure
everything else is OK. You can find it on your CD that came with the
motherboard. You find the msg, delete it, then burn it to the chip.

My memory is Samsung PC3200 DDR running in dual-channel mode.

Tocapet

"jim evans" wrote in message
...

I initially configured with a 512 stick of Kingston memory. As soon
as I fired up my new A7N8X Deluxe motherboard the woman's voice
started reporting memory had failed the self-test. She gives this
failure report only once about every 5-10 restarts.

I have seen no behavior to suggest the memory is bad, so I ran
MemTest-86 version 3 off-and-on for about 25 hours. It reported no
errors. I bought a second 512 Kingston stick and replaced the first
one. The woman continues to report bad memory the same way. Again,
about 10 continuous hours of MemTest reported no errors.

Does this motherboard give false memory failure reports?

jim



  #3  
Old December 20th 03, 03:41 AM
alan buckley
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I had mine in auto and it reported failed mem test, and now in user select
it still does the same, just every now and then
"Tocapet" wrote in message
...
I was getting that message too until I reset it back to AUTO in bios. I

had
it set at 200 and 120% and would get that message. So far no more msg

after
putting it back on the default.

Why don't you try those 2 sticks in dual-channel mode
put 1 in slot 1 and the other in slot 3

You can run Winbond voice editor and delete that message if you're sure
everything else is OK. You can find it on your CD that came with the
motherboard. You find the msg, delete it, then burn it to the chip.

My memory is Samsung PC3200 DDR running in dual-channel mode.

Tocapet

"jim evans" wrote in message
...

I initially configured with a 512 stick of Kingston memory. As soon
as I fired up my new A7N8X Deluxe motherboard the woman's voice
started reporting memory had failed the self-test. She gives this
failure report only once about every 5-10 restarts.

I have seen no behavior to suggest the memory is bad, so I ran
MemTest-86 version 3 off-and-on for about 25 hours. It reported no
errors. I bought a second 512 Kingston stick and replaced the first
one. The woman continues to report bad memory the same way. Again,
about 10 continuous hours of MemTest reported no errors.

Does this motherboard give false memory failure reports?

jim





  #4  
Old December 20th 03, 03:51 AM
Pete Zafian
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Jim: Just turn off the the voice. I found it rather annoying and it
did indeed give some erroneous reports once
in a while. Besides, you shouldn't always believe what a woman tells
you anyway...(oh, here comes the flood).

Pete

jim evans wrote:

I initially configured with a 512 stick of Kingston memory. As soon
as I fired up my new A7N8X Deluxe motherboard the woman's voice
started reporting memory had failed the self-test. She gives this
failure report only once about every 5-10 restarts.

I have seen no behavior to suggest the memory is bad, so I ran
MemTest-86 version 3 off-and-on for about 25 hours. It reported no
errors. I bought a second 512 Kingston stick and replaced the first
one. The woman continues to report bad memory the same way. Again,
about 10 continuous hours of MemTest reported no errors.

Does this motherboard give false memory failure reports?

jim


  #5  
Old December 20th 03, 05:42 AM
Dale Cohen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I have exactly the same problem. 512Mb Kingston PC3200 memory and the voice
reporter would give me an occassional memory error at startup. I switched on
the full memory test at POST in the BIOS and have never had an error
reported during that test. The machine is stable (enough) in day to day
operation to rule out a bad stick so I turned the voice reporter off. I'd
love to know if there's a bios revision planned to fix this!


  #6  
Old December 20th 03, 06:10 AM
Jim
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Its been happening for a long time now. My rev 1.06 has the same problem.
To me it seemed to happen when I changed the configuration in some way that
effected the boot timing. Now I just use STR and never have to reboot.

"Dale Cohen" wrote in message
u...
I have exactly the same problem. 512Mb Kingston PC3200 memory and the

voice
reporter would give me an occassional memory error at startup. I switched

on
the full memory test at POST in the BIOS and have never had an error
reported during that test. The machine is stable (enough) in day to day
operation to rule out a bad stick so I turned the voice reporter off. I'd
love to know if there's a bios revision planned to fix this!




  #7  
Old December 20th 03, 03:40 PM
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article sRQEb.436694$ao4.1392921@attbi_s51, "Jim"
wrote:

Its been happening for a long time now. My rev 1.06 has the same problem.
To me it seemed to happen when I changed the configuration in some way that
effected the boot timing. Now I just use STR and never have to reboot.

"Dale Cohen" wrote in message
u...
I have exactly the same problem. 512Mb Kingston PC3200 memory and the

voice
reporter would give me an occassional memory error at startup. I switched

on
the full memory test at POST in the BIOS and have never had an error
reported during that test. The machine is stable (enough) in day to day
operation to rule out a bad stick so I turned the voice reporter off. I'd
love to know if there's a bios revision planned to fix this!



That is an astute observation and points to the source of the problem.

The Voice POST Reporter is an autonomous subsystem. It doesn't need
a processor or memory to run. As long as it has voltage to run on,
and an event to kick it off, it is happy.

The Reporter consists of two chips. One is the Winbond monitoring chip
and the other chip is a socketed 8 pin DIP EEPROM. The EEPROM is what
gets programmed by the Voice Editor software.

Inside the EEPROM are stored two things (that I know of). One is
compressed voice samples (i.e. the quality is variable, so you can
have long, crappy quality messages or short, higher quality messages).
The other thing stored in there is the script for the monitoring chip.
This is a program the chip executes, and it links which voice sample
to play, in response to some external stimulus or error condition.

The monitoring chip has a timer in it, and for some of the error messages,
the message is triggered if the timer runs down, before the CPU gets
to the chip and clears the timer. A lack of response from the CPU would
be a good reason for issuing a "No CPU present" voice message, for example.

So, if you install that Voice Editor software and can find that script
file I looked at a while back, the answer to your problem might lie in
there. I don't know if the script file is editable by the Voice Editor
software, or even if it can be extracted from the EEPROM, but that is
where I would start, to fix it. Presumably, simply increasing a time
constant would fix it.

About the only thing I don't understand, is how it is possible for
the BIOS to enable or disable this feature. I mean, if the CPU is
dead, how can the BIOS "gate off" the Voice POST? Maybe the BIOS
actually writes something into the Voice EEPROM when the setting is
changed, but somehow I doubt it.

HTH,
Paul
  #8  
Old December 20th 03, 07:44 PM
Gino Zantafio
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

It appears you have a good knowledge of the voice reporter mechanisms.
May be you'll be able to give help.

Winbond voice editor doesn't work on my system (A7N8X Dlx/Athlon 2400+) and
98SE albeit installed in two partitions. It sends the following message when
I attempt to run it: "Load Driver failed!! ".
I don't use Asus Probe and MBM5 wasn't yet installed when I got the first
message.
Any idea ? Thanks


"Paul" a écrit dans le message news:
...
In article sRQEb.436694$ao4.1392921@attbi_s51, "Jim"
wrote:

Its been happening for a long time now. My rev 1.06 has the same

problem.
To me it seemed to happen when I changed the configuration in some way

that
effected the boot timing. Now I just use STR and never have to reboot.

"Dale Cohen" wrote in message
u...
I have exactly the same problem. 512Mb Kingston PC3200 memory and the

voice
reporter would give me an occassional memory error at startup. I

switched
on
the full memory test at POST in the BIOS and have never had an error
reported during that test. The machine is stable (enough) in day to

day
operation to rule out a bad stick so I turned the voice reporter off.

I'd
love to know if there's a bios revision planned to fix this!



That is an astute observation and points to the source of the problem.

The Voice POST Reporter is an autonomous subsystem. It doesn't need
a processor or memory to run. As long as it has voltage to run on,
and an event to kick it off, it is happy.

The Reporter consists of two chips. One is the Winbond monitoring chip
and the other chip is a socketed 8 pin DIP EEPROM. The EEPROM is what
gets programmed by the Voice Editor software.

Inside the EEPROM are stored two things (that I know of). One is
compressed voice samples (i.e. the quality is variable, so you can
have long, crappy quality messages or short, higher quality messages).
The other thing stored in there is the script for the monitoring chip.
This is a program the chip executes, and it links which voice sample
to play, in response to some external stimulus or error condition.

The monitoring chip has a timer in it, and for some of the error messages,
the message is triggered if the timer runs down, before the CPU gets
to the chip and clears the timer. A lack of response from the CPU would
be a good reason for issuing a "No CPU present" voice message, for

example.

So, if you install that Voice Editor software and can find that script
file I looked at a while back, the answer to your problem might lie in
there. I don't know if the script file is editable by the Voice Editor
software, or even if it can be extracted from the EEPROM, but that is
where I would start, to fix it. Presumably, simply increasing a time
constant would fix it.

About the only thing I don't understand, is how it is possible for
the BIOS to enable or disable this feature. I mean, if the CPU is
dead, how can the BIOS "gate off" the Voice POST? Maybe the BIOS
actually writes something into the Voice EEPROM when the setting is
changed, but somehow I doubt it.

HTH,
Paul



  #9  
Old December 22nd 03, 10:27 AM
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article , "Gino Zantafio"
wrote:

It appears you have a good knowledge of the voice reporter mechanisms.
May be you'll be able to give help.

Winbond voice editor doesn't work on my system (A7N8X Dlx/Athlon 2400+) and
98SE albeit installed in two partitions. It sends the following message when
I attempt to run it: "Load Driver failed!! ".
I don't use Asus Probe and MBM5 wasn't yet installed when I got the first
message.
Any idea ? Thanks


I have two versions on disk here. They a

http://www.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/Voice_10.zip
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/misc/...ditor_M316.zip

After installing both versions, and using a hex editor, I can see
the main executable "speecher" contains the "Load Driver failed" message.
When the uninstaller runs, there are two files that were installed in the
system32 directory. They are WBHWDOCT.sys and Wbhwdoct.vxd. The .vxd
has a text section listing the chipsets supported, and the M316 version
has support for the A7N8X and P4C/P4P800 boards. Here is the text section
from M316's .vxd

*********** Begin Sludge Version 316 ***********
write sucess
CX=%X
CAH=%x offset=%x data = %x
VendorID=%x DeviceID=%x CAH=%x
get smbus address Address =%8x FunNo=%4x ,DevNo=%4x, BusNo=%4x
DeviceVendor=%8x
Error:getSMBusBaseAddr() fail: %d
Check nVIDIA MCP2 Result = %d
Check nVIDIA MCP2 Chipsets
Check ALI_1535D Result = %d
Check ALI_1535D ChipSets
Check AMD_756 Result = %d
Check AMD_756 ChipSets
Check SIS_961a2 Result = %d
Check SIS_961a2 Chipsets
Check SIS_961 Result = %d
Check SIS_961 Chipsets
Check SIS_730 Result = %d
Check SIS_730 Chipsets
Check SIS_630 Result = %d
Check SIS_630 Chipsets
Check VIA_VT8233A Result = %d
Check VIA_VT8233A Chipsets
Check VIA_VT8233 Result = %d
Check VIA_VT8233 Chipsets
Check VIA_VT8235 Result = %d
Check VIA_VT8235 Chipsets
Check VIA_VT82C596 A B Result = %d
Check VIA_VT82C596 A B Chipsets
Check VIA_VT82C596B Old Result = %d
Check VIA_VT82C596B Old Chipsets
Check VIA_VT82C686A Result = %d
Check VIA_VT82C686A Chipsets
Check Intel_ICH3 Chipsets
Check Intel_ICH3 Result = %d address = %x
this is test for lyc
Check Intel_ICH2 Chipsets
Check Intel_ICH Result = %d
Check Intel_ICH Chipsets
Check Intel_ICH5 Chipsets
Check Intel_ICH4 Result = %d
Check Intel_ICH4 Chipsets
Check Intel_ICH0 Result = %d
Check Intel_ICH0 Chipsets
Check Severworks CSB5 = %d
Check Severworks CSB5 Chipsets
Check Severworks ROSB4 Result = %d
Check Severworks ROSB4 Chipsets
Check Intel_440MX Result = %d
Check Intel_440MX Chipsets
Check Intel_PIIX4 Result = %d
Check Intel_PIIX4 Chipsets
bad format characterfloat format not supported0X0x0 +
*********** End Sludge ***********

There are two possibilities. Either the SMBUS path to the Winbond
chip is more twisted than the driver can understand, or you need to
run the Voice Editor with Administrator permissions. Since both
versions of the editor have some strange .flh files, it looks like
Winbond at least considered different localizations, so
localization probably isn't the problem. Make sure you are using the
M316 version, as that knows what an MCP is - uninstall whatever other
version you are running first.

HTH,
Paul



"Paul" a écrit dans le message news:
...
In article sRQEb.436694$ao4.1392921@attbi_s51, "Jim"
wrote:

Its been happening for a long time now. My rev 1.06 has the same

problem.
To me it seemed to happen when I changed the configuration in some way

that
effected the boot timing. Now I just use STR and never have to reboot.

"Dale Cohen" wrote in message
u...
I have exactly the same problem. 512Mb Kingston PC3200 memory and the
voice
reporter would give me an occassional memory error at startup. I

switched
on
the full memory test at POST in the BIOS and have never had an error
reported during that test. The machine is stable (enough) in day to

day
operation to rule out a bad stick so I turned the voice reporter off.

I'd
love to know if there's a bios revision planned to fix this!



That is an astute observation and points to the source of the problem.

The Voice POST Reporter is an autonomous subsystem. It doesn't need
a processor or memory to run. As long as it has voltage to run on,
and an event to kick it off, it is happy.

The Reporter consists of two chips. One is the Winbond monitoring chip
and the other chip is a socketed 8 pin DIP EEPROM. The EEPROM is what
gets programmed by the Voice Editor software.

Inside the EEPROM are stored two things (that I know of). One is
compressed voice samples (i.e. the quality is variable, so you can
have long, crappy quality messages or short, higher quality messages).
The other thing stored in there is the script for the monitoring chip.
This is a program the chip executes, and it links which voice sample
to play, in response to some external stimulus or error condition.

The monitoring chip has a timer in it, and for some of the error messages,
the message is triggered if the timer runs down, before the CPU gets
to the chip and clears the timer. A lack of response from the CPU would
be a good reason for issuing a "No CPU present" voice message, for

example.

So, if you install that Voice Editor software and can find that script
file I looked at a while back, the answer to your problem might lie in
there. I don't know if the script file is editable by the Voice Editor
software, or even if it can be extracted from the EEPROM, but that is
where I would start, to fix it. Presumably, simply increasing a time
constant would fix it.

About the only thing I don't understand, is how it is possible for
the BIOS to enable or disable this feature. I mean, if the CPU is
dead, how can the BIOS "gate off" the Voice POST? Maybe the BIOS
actually writes something into the Voice EEPROM when the setting is
changed, but somehow I doubt it.

HTH,
Paul

  #10  
Old December 22nd 03, 06:19 PM
Vince
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Dale Cohen" wrote in message . au...
I have exactly the same problem. 512Mb Kingston PC3200 memory and the voice
reporter would give me an occassional memory error at startup. I switched on
the full memory test at POST in the BIOS and have never had an error
reported during that test. The machine is stable (enough) in day to day
operation to rule out a bad stick so I turned the voice reporter off. I'd
love to know if there's a bios revision planned to fix this!



Exact same experience here with OCZ PC3200 512MB sticks(2 sticks).
Every 3rd boot or so, the voice would say memory test failed and then
it would bootup XP anyways. I've had a stable system right from Day 1
so there is obviously something wrong with the POST memory test OR
whatever it is that is causing the failure is insignificant enough to
ignore.

Vince
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
I still don't completly understand FSB.... legion Homebuilt PC's 7 October 28th 04 03:20 AM
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe and 2GB of matched memory Derek Hawkins Asus Motherboards 12 December 6th 03 10:04 PM
A7N8X Deluxe: Rock sold for months, yet occasional vocal "memory test failed" at POST...memtest86 3.0 finds nothing.. John Q. Public Asus Motherboards 6 December 1st 03 05:54 PM
AIW 9700 pro and ASUS A7n8x deluxe Video problem on boot Aaron Asus Motherboards 3 August 2nd 03 05:51 PM
What RAm for A7V8X-X? Devast8or Asus Motherboards 9 August 2nd 03 02:05 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:55 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 HardwareBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.