The A7N8X is just a pice of JUNK

The A7N8X is just a pike of JUNK!!! I don't know why people like it that
much. Really.

I had the Version 1.4 and had constant data corruption when copying large
video files. First they said it could be fixed with a BIOS update, but it
was a no-go. Finally ASUS sent me a new one (friggin 2 weeks). I still have
to test the 'repaired' MB. Btw. they send me another version 1.4 instead of
a 2.0. Ass-holes.

The new one A7N8X 2.0 has the problem with the sound noise - no fix; a
defective MB design. Sound comes through the speaker during scrolling and
also gets distorted when you crank it up a little. I even bought new
speakers to rule them out. I use 2 channels only and tried disabling the
second NIC, no cure (I need it for ICS anyway).

I also wanted a TV card, but it doesn't work on this board either - now I
have a Leadtek WinTV 2000XP on the shelf and if I have to put in a SB Live
to fix the sound, I have to take my fax modem out. No more slots left!!!
That was not the idea.

If somebody wants to do a class action law suit - count me in!!!

After living with the shortcomings for a while, it gives me a stuttering
cursor with 1 GB of RAM now. So I had to downgrade to 512MB. The dual
channel is a joke too. No speed improvement. Tried different RAM - but it
had to be Corsair.

I run an NVidia 5900 8x 128 with two 19" BenQ LCDs in portrait mode. 2 WD
ATAs 80GB in RAID0 with a 120GB Seagate as a backup drive, DVD burner, DVD
ROM, Equalizer, card reader, ATAzip100 etc. XP PRO etc...

NEVER, EVER WILL I BUY AN ASUS BOARD AGAIN!!!

I run a computer consulting business and sold and built a lot of computers
during the years. Most still work today. Heck, even the cheap Biostar MBs
are giving me no grief. Only my personal ASUS A7N8X does.

I will move to a dual CPU system shortly and take a hammer and destroy the
ASUS A7N8X boards. I had it, screwing around with them all the time, instead
of getting it all working. Better kiss the money goodbye and move on. I will
NOT CALL those idiots in tech support again for repairs or replacement -
USELESS!!!
FS

Dale wrote:
The A7N8X is just a pike of JUNK!!! I don't know why people like it
that much. Really.

It's an EXCELLENT board. I've had my v1.04 for about 18 months now - if it
died tomorrow, I'd replace it with the same again.
EASILY the best booard I've ever used - and I've used *plenty*.

I had the Version 1.4 and had constant data corruption when copying
large video files. First they said it could be fixed with a BIOS
update, but it was a no-go.

Er, it was fixed *long* ago in the 1004 BIOS for the v1.x boards.
Current BIOS is 1007 - are you uptodate ?
If you still get corruption after this, then your setup it to blame - not
the board. As with all boards, remove excess hardware, back off the timings
in the BIOS, raise all the voltages slightly - once you have it stable, then
you can begin to reintroduce things to find the source of the problem. I'm
assuming you've already done the Prime95/MemTest dance, so you know your
setup is 100% stable.

Finally ASUS sent me a new one (friggin 2
weeks).

You could have downloaded it from the website in friggin 2 minutes.

I still have to test the 'repaired' MB. Btw. they send me
another version 1.4 instead of a 2.0. Ass-holes.

Why would they give you a free upgrade ?

The new one A7N8X 2.0 has the problem with the sound noise - no fix; a
defective MB design. Sound comes through the speaker during scrolling
and also gets distorted when you crank it up a little. I even bought
new speakers to rule them out. I use 2 channels only and tried
disabling the second NIC, no cure (I need it for ICS anyway).

You really need to look at *your* setup - most people use the A7N8X's sound
with no problem. A few things you can do :
Put *ALL* your computer equipment on the same power outlet. Common ground
can reduce interference issues.
Spread out your computer equipment so it's plugged into different power
outlets. Seperate ground can reduce interference issues.
Unplug everything from your PC (bar mouse and keyboard, obviously) and then
put things back one at a time. It's likely that some other part of your
system is causing the problem.
Try mounting the motherboard with or without the insulating rings on the
brass standoffs.

Bear in mind that this is an issue inherent in analogue connections. Use the
S/PDIF into a pair of digital speakers, and all your problems will vanish.

I also wanted a TV card, but it doesn't work on this board either -

It works just fine. I've used two different Hauppage cards in mine.

now I have a Leadtek WinTV 2000XP on the shelf and if I have to put
in a SB Live to fix the sound,

No, you need to sort your grounding issues.

I have to take my fax modem out. No
more slots left!!! That was not the idea.

There are 5/6 PCI slots - what have you got in there ?

If somebody wants to do a class action law suit - count me in!!!

Take your litigation ideas elsewhere. You folks in the USA can keep your
lawsuit culture to yourselves.

After living with the shortcomings for a while, it gives me a
stuttering cursor with 1 GB of RAM now.

In which case you have it setup wrongly. Just like stacks of other people, I
use a pair of 512MB sticks in mine, and it's just fine.

So I had to downgrade to
512MB.

No, you needed to fix your setup !

The dual channel is a joke too. No speed improvement.

Why would there be ?
Your Athlon CPU accepts data from the memory, at your FSB rate (x2) - either
133MHz, 166MHz, or 200MHz.
If you double the memory speed to 266MHz, 333MHz, or 400MHz then quite
obviously it's gonna make no difference - you've still got exactly the same
133MHz, 166MHz, or 200MHz entrance into the CPU !

Tried
different RAM - but it had to be Corsair.

Of course. Cheap memory simply doesn't work.
Stick to Corsair/Mushkin/Crucial. If you're really tight, then TwinMOS is
usually ok.

I run an NVidia 5900 8x 128 with two 19" BenQ LCDs in portrait mode.
2 WD ATAs 80GB in RAID0 with a 120GB Seagate as a backup drive, DVD
burner, DVD ROM, Equalizer, card reader, ATAzip100 etc. XP PRO etc...

w00pee for you

NEVER, EVER WILL I BUY AN ASUS BOARD AGAIN!!!

I intend to use them exclusively, until I get a good reason not to. As
above, my A7N8X Deluxe is *easily* the best board I've ever used.

I run a computer consulting business and sold and built a lot of
computers during the years. I will NOT CALL those idiots in tech
support again for repairs or replacement - USELESS!!!


Eh ? As someone who runs a computer consulting business, you know full-well
that manufacturer tech-support is a joke.
Have you actively tried to find the solutions to your problems ? Check out
this newsgroup, http://www.amdforums.com and
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/ - and there are stacks more.

Dale mumbled his insignificant opinion in:


The new one A7N8X 2.0 has the problem with the sound noise - no fix; a
defective MB design. Sound comes through the speaker during scrolling
and also gets distorted when you crank it up a little. I even bought
new speakers to rule them out. I use 2 channels only and tried
disabling the second NIC, no cure (I need it for ICS anyway).

I had that issue on my x-x board aswell, fixed it by changing output
settings in the latest audio driver from nvidia (not the one in unified
package).Its a common problem, but as consultant you must be aware of that
allready. Then you can yank out your SB card and plug in the fax card
instead.

All you need then is a biscuit and a kleenex to dry your eyes with and
everyone is happy
#include std.whine/violin.wav"

I have had my A7N8X rev2 dlx for a while now and I would get another.
If you take care when setting up there should be no real problems.
Cheap ram is a risk and so are under powered PSU's.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
"Dale" wrote in message
om...
The A7N8X is just a pike of JUNK!!! I don't know why people like it that
much. Really.

I had the Version 1.4 and had constant data corruption when copying large
video files. First they said it could be fixed with a BIOS update, but it
was a no-go. Finally ASUS sent me a new one (friggin 2 weeks). I still
have
to test the 'repaired' MB. Btw. they send me another version 1.4 instead
of
a 2.0. Ass-holes.

The new one A7N8X 2.0 has the problem with the sound noise - no fix; a
defective MB design. Sound comes through the speaker during scrolling and
also gets distorted when you crank it up a little. I even bought new
speakers to rule them out. I use 2 channels only and tried disabling the
second NIC, no cure (I need it for ICS anyway).

I also wanted a TV card, but it doesn't work on this board either - now I
have a Leadtek WinTV 2000XP on the shelf and if I have to put in a SB Live
to fix the sound, I have to take my fax modem out. No more slots left!!!
That was not the idea.

If somebody wants to do a class action law suit - count me in!!!

After living with the shortcomings for a while, it gives me a stuttering
cursor with 1 GB of RAM now. So I had to downgrade to 512MB. The dual
channel is a joke too. No speed improvement. Tried different RAM - but it
had to be Corsair.

I run an NVidia 5900 8x 128 with two 19" BenQ LCDs in portrait mode. 2 WD
ATAs 80GB in RAID0 with a 120GB Seagate as a backup drive, DVD burner, DVD
ROM, Equalizer, card reader, ATAzip100 etc. XP PRO etc...

NEVER, EVER WILL I BUY AN ASUS BOARD AGAIN!!!

I run a computer consulting business and sold and built a lot of computers
during the years. Most still work today. Heck, even the cheap Biostar MBs
are giving me no grief. Only my personal ASUS A7N8X does.

I will move to a dual CPU system shortly and take a hammer and destroy the
ASUS A7N8X boards. I had it, screwing around with them all the time,
instead
of getting it all working. Better kiss the money goodbye and move on. I
will
NOT CALL those idiots in tech support again for repairs or replacement -
USELESS!!!
FS

I have had my A7N8X rev2 dlx for a while now and I would get another.
If you take care when setting up there should be no real problems.
Cheap ram is a risk and so are under powered PSU's.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Both of mine run perfect. The second one was rebuilt, $59 from newegg.
Has a 200W emachine generic PSU. Running an M-Barton 2500+ at 2.4Ghz.
Both run gereic RAM with no problems.

I'd have to agree solidly with everyone here. The A7N8X-X is the perfect
mobo. I had those sound stuttering problems ONLY but that was fixed 2
minutes later by going to Nvidia an dgrabbing their Nforce2 drivers. 1 click
of the mouse and hey presto, fixed.
Sounds like your a pretty ****rty system consultant No offence.
The boards solid, great features and great bios.

"Dale" wrote in message
om...
The A7N8X is just a pike of JUNK!!! I don't know why people like it that
much. Really.

I had the Version 1.4 and had constant data corruption when copying large
video files. First they said it could be fixed with a BIOS update, but it
was a no-go. Finally ASUS sent me a new one (friggin 2 weeks). I still
have
to test the 'repaired' MB. Btw. they send me another version 1.4 instead
of
a 2.0. Ass-holes.

The new one A7N8X 2.0 has the problem with the sound noise - no fix; a
defective MB design. Sound comes through the speaker during scrolling and
also gets distorted when you crank it up a little. I even bought new
speakers to rule them out. I use 2 channels only and tried disabling the
second NIC, no cure (I need it for ICS anyway).

I also wanted a TV card, but it doesn't work on this board either - now I
have a Leadtek WinTV 2000XP on the shelf and if I have to put in a SB Live
to fix the sound, I have to take my fax modem out. No more slots left!!!
That was not the idea.

If somebody wants to do a class action law suit - count me in!!!

After living with the shortcomings for a while, it gives me a stuttering
cursor with 1 GB of RAM now. So I had to downgrade to 512MB. The dual
channel is a joke too. No speed improvement. Tried different RAM - but it
had to be Corsair.

I run an NVidia 5900 8x 128 with two 19" BenQ LCDs in portrait mode. 2 WD
ATAs 80GB in RAID0 with a 120GB Seagate as a backup drive, DVD burner, DVD
ROM, Equalizer, card reader, ATAzip100 etc. XP PRO etc...

NEVER, EVER WILL I BUY AN ASUS BOARD AGAIN!!!

I run a computer consulting business and sold and built a lot of computers
during the years. Most still work today. Heck, even the cheap Biostar MBs
are giving me no grief. Only my personal ASUS A7N8X does.

I will move to a dual CPU system shortly and take a hammer and destroy the
ASUS A7N8X boards. I had it, screwing around with them all the time,
instead
of getting it all working. Better kiss the money goodbye and move on. I
will
NOT CALL those idiots in tech support again for repairs or replacement -
USELESS!!!
FS

I have the A7N8X-X best motherboard I have ever had.
Athlon 2500 xp barton overclocked to 3200 fsb of 210 mhz.
Ati Radeon 9600 pro xt video.
Wd 120 gig 7200 rpm hd.
512 megs of elixer ddr 400 ram

windows 2000 os with sp4

Have had many athlon mbs and this one runs just great.
Later Tony

In article , "Dale"
wrote:

The A7N8X is just a pike of JUNK!!! I don't know why people like it that
much. Really.

I don't own one, so have nothing to defend. As an impartial observer,
the issues I see with the board are - the "BIOS - Save - Death" bug,
which requires reflashing the BIOS chip to fix, and the difficulties
in figuring out what drivers to install. Visit this page, to get
the latest advice on drivers:

"Which drivers should I install?"
http://www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html

I recommend purchasing a BIOS Savior from ioss.com.tw, as at $25,
it is inexpensive insurance against having to RMA the board due to
a flashing error or the "Death" bug.


I had the Version 1.4 and had constant data corruption when copying large
video files. First they said it could be fixed with a BIOS update, but it
was a no-go. Finally ASUS sent me a new one (friggin 2 weeks). I still have
to test the 'repaired' MB. Btw. they send me another version 1.4 instead of
a 2.0. Ass-holes.

There was a thread about that a while back. I think a different
SATA module installed in the BIOS should fix it. I seem to remember
a BIOS upgrade fixing the problem for some people. Try Googling for
other motherboards using the Silicon Image part, to see if they are
having problems or not. Ben's page above gives instructions for
someone with your skills to be able to change modules if you want.
(Using CBROM.) I recommend buying and installing the BIOS Savior
before attempting this, as it makes backing out of the experiment
a bit easier.


The new one A7N8X 2.0 has the problem with the sound noise - no fix; a
defective MB design. Sound comes through the speaker during scrolling and
also gets distorted when you crank it up a little. I even bought new
speakers to rule them out. I use 2 channels only and tried disabling the
second NIC, no cure (I need it for ICS anyway).

Onboard sound solutions generally never have good noise floors.
However, you can help the situation, by muting sound sources and
enabling them one at a time. For example, some people find that
the CDROM cable functions as an antenna, picking up noise
from the motherboard. CDROM cables use a "difference" method to
reject noise, and if the common mode rejection on the sound
chip is not good enough, then antenna noise can infect the CD
signal. Enabling digital extraction of sound samples from the
CDROM, instead of using an analog sound cable, can fix that.

I would never plan on the onboard sound being satisfactory.
Always have a backup plan.


I also wanted a TV card, but it doesn't work on this board either - now I
have a Leadtek WinTV 2000XP on the shelf and if I have to put in a SB Live
to fix the sound, I have to take my fax modem out. No more slots left!!!
That was not the idea.

Dump the fax modem and buy an external. That takes a load off the
processor and frees up a slot at the same time. Then you can use
your SB Live.

As for TV cards, there have been problems in the past with
the design of some TV cards. Something to do with the hold
time spec on the PCI interface. I've never had problems with
the Hauppauge card I bought with a BT878 on it.


If somebody wants to do a class action law suit - count me in!!!

After living with the shortcomings for a while, it gives me a stuttering
cursor with 1 GB of RAM now. So I had to downgrade to 512MB. The dual
channel is a joke too. No speed improvement. Tried different RAM - but it
had to be Corsair.

If you have been modifying RAM timings manually, you may have
forced the memory controller into "abort burst" mode, which will
really hammer your memory bandwidth. Try the auto settings and
use a Windows utility to see what RAM timings the BIOS is using.
Use the memtest86 program, to monitor the health of your RAM and
examine the bandwidth number on the memtest86 display while you
make any manual adjustments to the RAM timings.

As a consultant, you'll know that the bandwidth balance of the
Athlon is such, that a single DDR DIMM running at the same clock
speed as the FSB, matches the available bandwidth of the Athlon.
What the dual channel memory is mainly intended for, is assisting
a board with built-in graphics, like the A7N8X-VM, to supply memory
cycles to run the graphics. Otherwise, the dual channel config
only helps to fill in the unused cycles on the memory bus, giving
a 5% improvement to some utilities. The memory controller on the
Nforce does a pretty good job even in single channel mode, so
dual channel isn't a requirement for a well run board.


I run an NVidia 5900 8x 128 with two 19" BenQ LCDs in portrait mode. 2 WD
ATAs 80GB in RAID0 with a 120GB Seagate as a backup drive, DVD burner, DVD
ROM, Equalizer, card reader, ATAzip100 etc. XP PRO etc...

What speed is the AGP currently running at ? With that setup,
you'll need a decent power supply, with plenty of current on
+5V. A high end video card draws and 5V@10A.


NEVER, EVER WILL I BUY AN ASUS BOARD AGAIN!!!

I run a computer consulting business and sold and built a lot of computers
during the years. Most still work today. Heck, even the cheap Biostar MBs
are giving me no grief. Only my personal ASUS A7N8X does.

It doesn't matter how many belt loops you fill out on your pants,
you have to do your homework to make any computer run at top
efficiency. And, anyone who builds computers for a living will
realize which motherboards are trouble free and which ones
result in return visits - it doesn't take long to figure out
what to stock for inventory and what boards to leave behind. The
guys who built my first computer had that down to a science, and
ran a booming business.


I will move to a dual CPU system shortly and take a hammer and destroy the
ASUS A7N8X boards. I had it, screwing around with them all the time, instead
of getting it all working. Better kiss the money goodbye and move on. I will
NOT CALL those idiots in tech support again for repairs or replacement -
USELESS!!!
FS

Why not sell the board to someone who'll appreciate it ?
I'm sure someone will buy it.

HTH,
Paul

I have been computing since Tandy introduced it's first affordable
computer for sale to the public [Tandy 64 I think]. The only thing it
was good for was to play hangman. Over the years I have had many
computers. Packard Bell, HP, and many others. They were all good
computers, but all had their faults [Mainly the nut behind the
keyboard].

Now, I am the proud owner of the best PC I have ever used, and it has
an ASUS A7N8X-E Dx motherboard. I can watch TV, Capture video,Or play
realistic flight simulator games, and listen to 5.1 Surround Sound
while I am surfing the net.

I am not saying that I have not had some problems, as some in this
group will tell you, because they helped me get them fixed.

In summary, the A7N8X-E Dx is THE BEST!!!

Wildbill



On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 12:36:34 GMT, "tony" wrote:

I have the A7N8X-X best motherboard I have ever had.
Athlon 2500 xp barton overclocked to 3200 fsb of 210 mhz.
Ati Radeon 9600 pro xt video.
Wd 120 gig 7200 rpm hd.
512 megs of elixer ddr 400 ram

windows 2000 os with sp4

Have had many athlon mbs and this one runs just great.
Later Tony




A7N8X-E Deluxe Revision 2.xx BIOS 1008
AMD Athalon XP 2800+ Barton Core
2 X- Xerox (512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
Geforce FX 5200 128MB
Windows XP Home SP1
3Dvision TV/FM/Video Capture
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8 40GB Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar WD1600JB 160GB Hard Drive
........and the list goes on.........

Dale wrote:

The A7N8X is just a pike of JUNK!!! I don't know why people like it that
much. Really.

I had the Version 1.4 and had constant data corruption when copying large
video files. First they said it could be fixed with a BIOS update, but it
was a no-go. Finally ASUS sent me a new one (friggin 2 weeks). I still have
to test the 'repaired' MB. Btw. they send me another version 1.4 instead of
a 2.0. Ass-holes.

The new one A7N8X 2.0 has the problem with the sound noise - no fix; a
defective MB design. Sound comes through the speaker during scrolling and
also gets distorted when you crank it up a little. I even bought new
speakers to rule them out. I use 2 channels only and tried disabling the
second NIC, no cure (I need it for ICS anyway).

I also wanted a TV card, but it doesn't work on this board either - now I
have a Leadtek WinTV 2000XP on the shelf and if I have to put in a SB Live
to fix the sound, I have to take my fax modem out. No more slots left!!!
That was not the idea.

If somebody wants to do a class action law suit - count me in!!!

After living with the shortcomings for a while, it gives me a stuttering
cursor with 1 GB of RAM now. So I had to downgrade to 512MB. The dual
channel is a joke too. No speed improvement. Tried different RAM - but it
had to be Corsair.

I run an NVidia 5900 8x 128 with two 19" BenQ LCDs in portrait mode. 2 WD
ATAs 80GB in RAID0 with a 120GB Seagate as a backup drive, DVD burner, DVD
ROM, Equalizer, card reader, ATAzip100 etc. XP PRO etc...

NEVER, EVER WILL I BUY AN ASUS BOARD AGAIN!!!

I run a computer consulting business and sold and built a lot of computers
during the years. Most still work today. Heck, even the cheap Biostar MBs
are giving me no grief. Only my personal ASUS A7N8X does.

I will move to a dual CPU system shortly and take a hammer and destroy the
ASUS A7N8X boards. I had it, screwing around with them all the time, instead
of getting it all working. Better kiss the money goodbye and move on. I will
NOT CALL those idiots in tech support again for repairs or replacement -
USELESS!!!
FS


Dale,
Having owned 4 or 5 ASUS boards, including an A7N8X currently, I never
had this many problems, with their problems combined altogether. I'm
just an Army Dog who home builds my own PC's and I'm not sure what a
Computer Consultant does for a living but "Dude, ya should a got a Dell".
Oh, BTW I like my BenQ 19" too but wouldn't try to do heavy video work
on it!
Rob