Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
About a year ago I bought a ASUS P4C800E-Deluxe motherboard. This thing came with all the bells and whistles plus a large price tag.
Problems started with the memory. Using memory from the ASUS recommended list the board wouldn't boot. I returned that memoryand tried some Crucial. I installed 2-512MB sticks and only one was recognized. Talking with someone at Newegg, I was informed this happens a lot, and it was suggested I try some Corsair ($$$$) memory before I return the board. The Corsair worked and is still working.
Then there is the BIOS. Usually I watch the web site of a MB manufacturer to see how many BIOS updates have been released for a potential MB purchase.
If there appears to be a lot of releases, to me that indicates that they are having problems or they don't know what they are doing or both. Some manutacturers seem to have the "BIOS of the month" contest. This MB only had two listed at that time. My MB shipped with BIOS #1014, now they are up to #1022 in about a year. ("BIOS of the month!").
The first BIOS problem I had was trying to disable the onboard SATA controllers and the sound. The settings would stay the way I set them, but eventually would return to default settings after a cold boot.
I upgraded the CPU and checked the ASUS site and found a BIOS update for the new CPUs. #1018. I also install a SATA hard drive. With this BIOS update everything was working.
I decided to try a little overclocking. (this is supposed to be an overclockers MB) I raised the FSB from 200 to 210. Now the onboard sound came back on and so did the 'speech' setting and game controller. (This MB is supposed to talk to you if there is a problem.) Returing the FSB to 200 made everthing fine again.
I added more SATA hard drives and turned on the onboard Promise SATA controller. Everything has been fine for about 6 months.
Now, the BIOS won't turn on the Promise SATA controller. The BIOS says it's on, but it's not. I've tried every setting in the BIOS that even remotely looked like it would have something to do with the Promise controller. I've tried every BIOS from #1014 to #1022 with no help. The computer wouldn't boot with some of these BIOS 'upgrades'. I'm now back to BIOS #1018 and only have the Intel SATA controller available, but it boots up and runs.
I guess I should try to RMA this thing, but I'll just get another of the same if I do. (I don't have much hair left to pull out)
I'm sticking with Intel MBs......
End of rant, bitching and crying.
Bozo :mrgrn:
Problems started with the memory. Using memory from the ASUS recommended list the board wouldn't boot. I returned that memoryand tried some Crucial. I installed 2-512MB sticks and only one was recognized. Talking with someone at Newegg, I was informed this happens a lot, and it was suggested I try some Corsair ($$$$) memory before I return the board. The Corsair worked and is still working.
Then there is the BIOS. Usually I watch the web site of a MB manufacturer to see how many BIOS updates have been released for a potential MB purchase.
If there appears to be a lot of releases, to me that indicates that they are having problems or they don't know what they are doing or both. Some manutacturers seem to have the "BIOS of the month" contest. This MB only had two listed at that time. My MB shipped with BIOS #1014, now they are up to #1022 in about a year. ("BIOS of the month!").
The first BIOS problem I had was trying to disable the onboard SATA controllers and the sound. The settings would stay the way I set them, but eventually would return to default settings after a cold boot.
I upgraded the CPU and checked the ASUS site and found a BIOS update for the new CPUs. #1018. I also install a SATA hard drive. With this BIOS update everything was working.
I decided to try a little overclocking. (this is supposed to be an overclockers MB) I raised the FSB from 200 to 210. Now the onboard sound came back on and so did the 'speech' setting and game controller. (This MB is supposed to talk to you if there is a problem.) Returing the FSB to 200 made everthing fine again.
I added more SATA hard drives and turned on the onboard Promise SATA controller. Everything has been fine for about 6 months.
Now, the BIOS won't turn on the Promise SATA controller. The BIOS says it's on, but it's not. I've tried every setting in the BIOS that even remotely looked like it would have something to do with the Promise controller. I've tried every BIOS from #1014 to #1022 with no help. The computer wouldn't boot with some of these BIOS 'upgrades'. I'm now back to BIOS #1018 and only have the Intel SATA controller available, but it boots up and runs.
I guess I should try to RMA this thing, but I'll just get another of the same if I do. (I don't have much hair left to pull out)
I'm sticking with Intel MBs......
End of rant, bitching and crying.
Bozo :mrgrn:
