Hlp Pls Epox Tech - 8k7a bios update issue

[compunut]

I cannot update the bios on my 8k7a+ passed the 7-01 bios rev.

Everytime I flash to a newer bios, I have an issue where winXP will boot to the desktop and then either freeze, boot into a black screen, or will reboot. I have an Enermax 465w PSU, and the power runs solid.

The strange thing is that when i originally bought the board, I flashed the bios to the 10-01 rev. upon initial installation, and everything worked fine. Then, about three weeks later I went to boot up and it hung on the desktop for the first time.

Everything runs fine on the 7-11 bios. Any bios after that (all bios revs. after AMD-XP support) causes this boot issue.

I ahve tried all settings, and have tried all Voltage combos. If you reset the PC, after about five times it will eventually boot sucessfully. After it boots, it runs great. I am not OCing, nor was I doing so before the issue first happened.

I have an XP 1900+ chip, with Samsung 512 x2 sticks of NON-ECC DDR ram. tried loading with only one stick of ram at a time, same issue.

It runs great on the 7-11 bios, but the bios does not properly recognize or provide the additional support for my XP chip. Nor does it have the additional DDR support.

Any ideas and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-A

[K6-III]

Pull one of your sticks of RAM and lower memory timings. This may isolate the problem.

[S_Wilson]

I ran into a similar situation when I first got an XP chip. Try this when you update your bios.

In your bios go to Advance Configuration
Then look for MP Bit Identify and make sure it is Disabled.

Cleared up my boot and hang issues, maybe it will help yours.

[compunut]

Thge MP Identify setting has been disabled everytime.

Thanks anyway for the reply.

-A

[S_Wilson]

I have not had any experience with your type of memory, but as K6-III eluded to, I would look at the memory. You might try a different brand if you have any, and look at your timings in the bios. With the changes in the bios, that is the only thing that I can think of.

I have two 8K7A based systems, one with XP1800 winxp and one with XP1600 winme. Both use 2X256Mb Crucial DDR (8-8-6-2-4-2-2) at 150 fsb, Linksys nic's and maxtor 30G hard drives.

[compunut]

I am convined at this point that it has something to do with a setting in the new bios as oppose to the old one.

Just have not been able to figure it out yet. The ram runs great on the old bios. New bios has the same default timmings.

Hmmm.

[compunut]

I have heard from a few other people having the same issue that there is belived to be a compatability problem with the early rev 8k7a+ boards and XP SSE functionality.

Anyone have further insight into this?

[K6-III]

My rev1.0 works fantastic with my 8K7A with the 2108 bios.

[EPoX Tech]

8K7A rev 1.0 is fine with XP processor - full compatibilty - please do ensure to clear the CMOS and load the optimized defaults. If system is configured correctly there should be no problems. Please ensure that the correct Highpoint drivers were installed during setup for the Highpoint device.

[compunut]

I was under the impression that Windows XP already has all of the drivers that I need..... Do I need to load the highpoint drivers anyway?

Also, I am not using the RAID IDEs at all. I am only using the main IDE ports. Do I still need to load the drivers?

I just do not understand why I cannot get the new bios revs that support the XP chip to run correctly when the 7-11 bios runs great. When I originally set up the board, I flashed it with the 10-17 bios and it worked ok for two weeks. Then It started to lock up in WinXP right before it got to the desk top, and I have only been able to get it to run with the 7-11 bios since then.

Any further info you can give will be GREATLY appreciated.

Thx!