ASUS motherboard issues again

[nightheart]

In Dec. of last year, I RMA'd a motherboard to ASUS and it was replaced, now the replacement is giving all the same signs of it dying. I'm checking everthing, RAM, vid card etc, hoping it is one of them, but I have my doubts. I'm getting IRQ driver errors at boot and trap cause unknown errors again. These are the EXACT same errors I was getting before. The only way to boot the system into windows is to underclock the CPU's from 1600 to 1200.

My question is, I always hear great things about ASUS, yet I'm working on my second board in under 6 months? Could it be something I'm doing to these boards?

Full system specs when everything is working are:

Windows 200 + winXP dual boot
ASUS 27m266-d
dual AMD Athlon 1900 MP's
pioneer 105 burner
Toshiba DVD drive
Generic CD-RW drive
80 gig maxtor drives x2
160 gig Maxtor drive
4 sticks of crucial RAM @256 each
generic ethernet card
ATI AIW 7500 card
Game Theater XP sound Card
Promise ATA controller card
400 watt Antec PSU

So far I've eliminated all optical and hard drives, and am working on the memory and have replaced the vid card with a known working back-up.

I have plenty of case fans and the temp's never go over 55 under load. The only other thing I can thing of is that the PSU might be underpowered.
Any ideas, why I'm killing these mobo's?

Right now I'm switching RAM sticks in and out with the clock speed set at 1600. If history repeats itself, this will only solve the problem for a few days, then I'll have to underclock it, no matter how many sticks are in.

Any help is appreciated.

PS. Safe mode booting on both OS's gives the same errors, and mobo has been flashed with latest bios.


Oh yeah, ASUS turn around times on RMA's are complete sh!t, like 2 months.

[Lazza]

No m8 don't think it's you.

A friend of mine who is in hardware sales and sells pretty much every brand there is no longer even sells Asus boards because the return rate was getting almost as high as the sell rate. Personally I've not had any problems but I've not used any of the newer boards myself really in the last 12 months or so and now definately lean towards MSI for trouble-free systems.

You could maybe have a few more watts on the old PSU though running what you are though 400 should not cause any problems 500/550 would be wiser with those specs.

[hollie.weimeraner]

I bought an ASUS A7N8S deluxe last year and put Crucial RAM in it. I encountered all sorts of boot problems and sent the RAM back to Crucial. They stated there was nothing wrong with the RAM but gave me a full refund, I went and bought Kingston Value and not looked back since.

[nightheart]

It's working temporarly now, but i figure my time is short. I'm going to RMA the board, and take the replacement to ebay. Kind of a noob question, but can you run an MP CPU in an XP board? I'm going to replace the mobo with a different brand, but was going to run ONE MP CPU till I get around to getting a faster one. Will an XP board support an MP?
FYI I saw quite a few of these boards selling on Ebay as "new replacement from ASUS after my other one died." Not a good sign for ASUS for sure.

[Neo]

I've gotton that error when overclocking too much... Which may mean that it is your RAM... Might even be your CPU.... Or PSU.

Abit #1

[TuckPR]

I would tell you to take your RAM and through it in the trash and get something that's decent like Corsair...


I have never heard of hardly any problems with ASUS MBs.. I would try different RAM first.

[hollie.weimeraner]

Check out the ASUS website - they give a list of reccomended RAM for each mobo.

[nightheart]

I've removed all sticks of RAM, and replaced them with a known working stick of corsair. It's still fuked up. I have a replacement mobo coming and when it arriveds, I'm RMAing this one to ASUS, and selling the "new" Asus board. Many companies don't test RMA'd products, but ASUS actually does, hence the long turn around time on replacement boards (that and they send it the cheapest way possible). They replaced the other board because it was defective, and if they replace this one (I'm sure they will), I'll know it was defective. ASUS also charges 40 dollars for an RMA, if the board is not found to be defective, and you get your old board back. Everything has been changed out, PSU, CPU's, vid card, optical drives, HD's, and RAM. If Asus is still making "quality" boards, then I'm just getting screwed over I guess. The board is underclocked to 1.2 running a 100 FSB, and that is the only way it will boot. AND IT REALLY SUCKS RIPPING A DVD AT THAT SPEED, not to mention I CAN'T GAME.

[Neo]

Overclocking and DVD RIP times are more affected by other factors like your DVD Drive, CPU, Hard drive, and etc..

[nightheart]

Overclocking and DVD RIP times are more affected by other factors like your DVD Drive, CPU, Hard drive, and etc..
Well yeah, but underclocking the CPU to 100 FSB, and running it as a 1.2 opposed to running it at 166 and running at 1.6 (1900MP), makes a difference. I've also reduced the RAM to 256, just to get by. Trust me a gig of RAM to 256, and 1.6 to 1.2 w/an FSB of 100 makes a difference in ripping. I've doubled the time it takes to shrink a DVD, and tripled the encoding time on vid. conversions. Replacement mobo shipped yestorday, so a few more days then I can transfer over to another system, while I RMA this board, and get money for an AMD64 system.

[Neo]

Since it seems to be affected by your CPU... Are you applying tha artic silver properly?

[nightheart]

yes

[nightheart]

Not bad, 5 weeks and ASUS has finally returned my motherboard, but I think the cheap ba$tards shipped pony express. The board was bad, as they replaced it AGAIN with another board, just an update for anyone that cares. I think I'll just sell it and go for a 64 bit set-up.