A7N8X-X Post Problem

[Darkhound]

Hey,

I just bought an ASUS A7N8X-X yesterday. I installed it, and it went through post, but I got some errors and it wouldn't go on into windows. The CPU was recognised without trouble, as was PART of the ram, it only said I had 256Mb when in truth I have 1Gig; and the IDE devices were recognised. The other errors I got were something along the lines of:

Primary IDE no 80 pin conductor cable installed
Secondary IDE no 80 pin conductor cable installed


It also went on to give me a 'Floppy Disk Fail (40)'



I can tell you for a fact that it isnt my hardware, such as HDD/floppy/etc because I reinstalled my old motherboard and as you can see its working fine. I think it might be something to with the IDE cables though, since I read something here about the error im getting that was similiar. I have a HDD and a DVD on the primary and a HDD and a CDRW on the secondary. I have a suspicion that its something to do with the fact that I use rounded IDE/floppy cables, and not the ones that came with the motherboard; could this be the case? They were fine on my old motherboard which is an Elitegroup ECS K7S5A but maybe this is just because its an older motherboard?

I would really appreciate any help, and quickly if possible since I'm thinking of taking it back tommorow if it turns out that its probably faulty and not because im using the wrong IDE cables.


Thanks

[metallicat666]

Primary IDE no 80 pin conductor cable installed

it looks like your using 40 wire IDE cables instead of 80 wire cables. that shouldnot stop the comp from booting but will slow down the drives to about ATA 33.
cant help with the rest though

[Wiggo]

OK first up ya should have both hard drives on the primary IDE channel and the burner as the master of the secondary IDE channel with the DVD as the slave, have ya tried the cables that came with the mobo? Secondly I take it that ya have 2 x 512MB memory modules (1024MB modules are not supported) and do ya have them installed in DIMMs 1 and 3 plus are they listed as supported (bottom of the page)? Now did ya install the floppy cable the right way (does the floppy drive LED flash or does it come on and stay on)? :?:

[Darkhound]

I used the cables in the mobo box and it seems to have sorted the 80 conductor error. I'm still getting a floppy disk fail though, the green light stays on, is that whats meant to happen?

As far as the RAM goes I do have 2x512, but one is some no name crap and the other is Crucial. So i took out the no name stuff and stuck just the crucial in and it recognised the full 512Mb.

So thanks for your help, im pretty sure the mobo isn't faulty there are just some things different on it than my old motherboard.

I would appreciate some more help on the floppy problem though.

[minibubba]

I used the cables in the mobo box and it seems to have sorted the 80 conductor error. I'm still getting a floppy disk fail though, the green light stays on, is that whats meant to happen?

you've probably got the data cable inserted backwards :)

[Darkhound]

Ok thanks, I'm gonna have another go at installing it tommorow, I hate switching mothboards its so tedious hehe.

I feel like an idiot, I've been building my own PC for about 2 years now and this is the first time I've encountered these problems :/

[Wiggo]

I'm still getting a floppy disk fail though, the green light stays on, is that whats meant to happen?

Yes ya have the floopy cable connected backwards as that the sign of the LED stayin' on, it should only flash on when the floppy is bein' checked or used.

[b]As far as the RAM goes I do have 2x512, but one is some no name crap and the other is Crucial. So i took out the no name stuff and stuck just the crucial in and it recognised the full 512Mb.

Only modules of the same make, model and size should be used in dual channel setups.

[Darkhound]

Cheers you've helped a lot, and also saved me the embaressment of taking the motherboard back as faulty like an idiot :S

[dawizza]

Originally posted by Wiggo
Only modules of the same make, model and size should be used in dual channel setups.

his mobo doesnt support dual channel mem ;)

BTW...was the problem with the mem solved? or is still only 1 seen by system? just curious :)

[Demon Keeler]

very strange! his m/b doesn't support dual channel but the slots are in the dual channel configuration.

[Wiggo]

very strange! his m/b doesn't support dual channel but the slots are in the dual channel configuration.

Yes but I just noticed that they're only black instead of 1 black and 2 blue plus it is only an nForce2 400 not the Ultra version (I should've checked the site out 1st).

[Thoric]

Yes but I just noticed that they're only black instead of 1 black and 2 blue plus it is only an nForce2 400 not the Ultra version (I should've checked the site out 1st).

I thought all nForce2-based motherboards supported Dual Channel? a mate has a 8RDA+ and it runs it fine (had it for about 10months):confused:

[Darkhound]

I think its a single channel board, but at the post screen when it states memory frequency it sais "Single Channel Mode" ?

I managed to get it to recognise the 2nd stick of RAM, but it wouldnt boot properly, it kept freezing just before the WinXP load screen, so I just took it out again.

[Wiggo]

I thought all nForce2-based motherboards supported Dual Channel? a mate has a 8RDA+ and it runs it fine (had it for about 10months):confused:

All the original nForce2 chipsets do (8RDA+ is the early chipset and I have 2 of them) but when the nForce2 400 series chipsets were released ya got the single channel only nForce2 400 and the dual channel nForce2 400 Ultra.

[Thoric]

All the original nForce2 chipsets do (8RDA+ is the early chipset and I have 2 of them) but when the nForce2 400 series chipsets were released ya got the single channel only nForce2 400 and the dual channel nForce2 400 Ultra.

ah i see.
seems kinda weird that with the newer chipset nForce2 400, they didnt continue the DC feature that was with the previous 'generation' (8RDA+ etc), seems like going back a step? And making a m-board that is DC capable isnt too expensive surely? :confused: why not have all nForce2 chipsets have DC? (nForce2/400/400 Ultra)