EPOX 8RDA+ problems (FF error and Ram misery)

[C0deM0nkey]

Ok heres my problems. I recently picked up a new 8RDA+ with a new 2500+ Barton. along with that I got all my old gear:

Enermax 460watt PSU,
512 PC2700 DDR x 1
256 PC2100 DDR x 2
ASUS GeForce4 Ti4400 265mb DDR
SBLive player 5.1
80gb HDD, CDRW, DVD drives all on ATA133 round cables
All housed in a tall n cool maxi tower.

Now First up i noticed occationally it wont power up at all. I wont power up if i have loaded all my ram (2 x 256 in the dual bus, and the single 512 in the spare slot). It will power intermittantly with 2 x 256 or 1 x 512 in the dual bus slots.

When i do manage to get it to power up, once its fully loaded it shows FF in the LCD. When i then power down, my power light stays on, the Ethernet connection lights stay active, and the LCD continues to show FF. Thats until I remove all power from the PSU. then when i power back all stays off until I try to boot again.

Any clues to the root of this problem? Im a code guy, so im a bit fresh on the hardware side so any pointers to whats goin wrong be great thanks

C0deM0nkey

[Stang_Man]

if the machine powers up fine, and displays FF, that's good (as opposed to older epox boards where FF meant something bad i forget)

it's weird that your board isn't booting with all ram full, it's supposed to disable DC with all slots full and just work normally.. only thing i can think of is to trade the 2 sticks of pc2100 for a stick of 512 if you can, unless you feel like RMA'ing your board

what's the date on your bios? have you tried any different bios'?

[MiGGinZ]

you say you got a barton, they run 166mhz, maybe your 2100 ram is the cause.

[bad4u]

FF after successful boot is normal.
Power light on after shutdown is normal.
Ethernet light on after shutdown is normal.

The most likely problem of unreliable booting is a combination of your memory and BIOS settings for your memory/cpu combination.

If your BIOS uses default settings, it's very possible that BIOS assigns memory speed and memory timings that won't allow booting at the default FSB speed assigned for your CPU, particularly for XP2500+/PC2100 system combo.

You can test that by setting 'Memory Timings' to expert and relaxing memory timings. You can also test by setting 'Memory Frequency' to run asynchronously at a lower speed than FSB. Whatever it takes to get to reliable booting and diagnosing the problem.

8RDA+ is a good board, but complaints about 'memory compatability' abound.

I have no experience with either Enermax PS or the Geforce vid card, but I doubt either is your problem.

Hope this helps!

[C0deM0nkey]

Thanks alot guys, looks like 3/4 of my worries were unfounded (mainly worried about the mobo remaining powered after shutdown).

I see where you are comin from with the ram speeds, I suspected it already and that just confirms, ill get my hands on another PC2700 stick of 512 to compliment my other and see how that runs.

Thanks alot for the help guys

C0deM0nkey

[C0deM0nkey]

Hold up, just clarifation on whats "normal", im told by a friend that FF while running is normal... how about FF when off?

Cheers

C0deM0nkey

[bad4u]

Originally Posted by C0deM0nkey

Hold up, just clarifation on whats "normal", im told by a friend that FF while running is normal... how about FF when off?

Cheers

C0deM0nkey

It's an Epox vaguery that only they can explain.

FF is quite normal for good boot.

But, in some failure instances - such as a grounded motherboard - boot will fail and FF will be displayed. Only Epox can explain why the double meaning of FF.

Hope this helps!