A7N8X Motherboard and Power Supply

[Andrew S]

Hello, I am kind of worried.  A while back, i was having restart problems - Still am.  I use Asus Probe to kinda monitor voltages, temps, and stuff, and i have a 13.2 volts for what i think should be 12 volts.  Is this bad?  Asus probe seems to think so.  Would that be a faulty power supply causing that?

Thanks
Andrew

[Chandler]

Voltage monitoring via the motherboard is not reliable.

[Andrew S]

i don't really "rely" on it, If 13.2 volts is what it really is, is that bad?  Could a power supply that is sending to much current/voltage cuase a restart?

[Carskick]

Yes it could. It may be a good idea to test the Power Supply more accurately with a volt meter if you know how. Otherwise, have a pro do it. A computer shop may do it for a small charge. The other choice is to use another Power Supply and see if it helps correct the voltages.

[Andrew S]

I started to test the power supply but... didnt feel like it. Instead i bought an Antec NeoPower 480 Watt power supply.  Seems pretty  nice, no complaints so far

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=24480

[slaxorz]

That is actually the best power supply on the market right now when it comes to price/performance ratio.  The only psu's that beat it are pc power and cooling and they are atleast $100 more.

[Carskick]

While it is probably overkill now, it should provide more than enough power for many upgrades to come. It will last a long time, I have no doubt in that. If the system still dares to give problems, you definitely know it is not the PSU with this thing in it.

[Andrew S]

AHHGHAHHGHGHHGHGHGHGHGHHGHGHGHG

>:(
MY PC RESTARTED AGAIN, I'M OUT OF IDEAS AND I'M TIRED OF WASTING MONEY

if i replaced my mother board a version 2 A7N8X Deluxe, with a The A7N8X-E Deluxe , would that require me to reinstall everything on my hard drive? - Will it give me any driver problems other then the new features on the -E version?

I'm really getting tired of reinstalling everything.....  Will windows give me a hard time reactivating? - I've installed it so many times already (on this ONE AND ONLY SYSTEM)......

I have replaced everything, and I now am blaming the motherboard, cpu, AND memory.  I am saying BLA (enter in your own choice words) and replacing the motherboard. I have already replaced everthing.  And because this restarts before anything is installed and before its connected to the internet, i'm convinced its hardware related.

Please state your comments.

[scuzzy]

I would take a close look at the RAM. Give it a good workout using Memtest86+, which is available from our download page.

[Whizbang]

You might find that you need to set the RAM to BIOS SPD setting that will use the speed control on the RAM module instead of the mainboard.  I ran into that problem when I checked with memtest x86 and generated errors.  When I reset the BIOS to SPD module control, all errors ceased.

[Andrew S]

I ran memtest a couple weeks ago for along time and found nothing after mutliple testings.

and My memory frequency is by SPD by default.   :-\

I changed it to Auto once and ran memtest and found errors, but nothing when i left it at SPD

[Andrew S]

any  ideas? or should i just take the dive and buy the main stuff?

Is it possible software is causing this? - I would really be angry if i replaced every piece of hardware to have the problem remain.

[Chandler]

Turn off automatic reboots to determine whether it's a hardware issue (e.g. loss of power) or BSOD-related automatic reboot.

[Andrew S]

I turned off automatic restart and got a blue screen
*****

The Problem was caused by win32k.sys
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

STOP: 0x00000050 ( 0x8281EEE8, 0x00000000, 0xBF851166, 0x00000000)
win32.sys - Address BF851166 base at BF800000, Datestamp 4225181e

***8

Whats all that mean?

[Chandler]

Do you have any CD writing software installed?
What drivers do you have installed?  (any old ones etc.)

There's a lot of things that can upset Windows like this, but tracking it down will be by process of elimination.  I'd suspect a software issue, either driver or something which directly works with hardware rather than am actual hardware issue.

[Whizbang]

Microsoft says that an error with win32k.sys involved can be a driver issue in both Win2000 and XP that probably will require yet another SP package.  They do offer a hotfix to those systems exhibiting this particular problem.  Don't stake your life on this one.

Bigboys.com

Annoyances.org also has this post:
Annoyances.org

Whether this is the same culprit that you describe is still in question.

[Andrew S]

i dont want to install SP2 for Xp home... i've heard bad things about it.... I hope thats not the only solution

[Andrew S]

*****

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

it has a long stop thing ......

ctoss2k.sys - Address F81E3DCE base at F81DD000, Datestamp 3d377de3


*****
whats this one mean????

[Whizbang]

That is a Creative Labs Sound Card driver conflict.

[Andrew S]

Could that explain why the win32k.sys has a "driver" issue?  Its conflicting with my sound card stuff?

How do i fix that - I went to creatives website, and they have an updated driver, but its for XP SP2 (i'm assuming its home edition), but i dont have SP2.  I dont want SP2.  I hear alot of bad thigns about it.  
I THINK i have an SB Live 24 Bit.... nothing fancy....

[Whizbang]

Wait until you get some advice from others here that have had to update.  My daughter has the integrated HP Home with XP-2, but I am aware that there have been restart issues.  I would start by doing a Google search on problems with SP-2.  I had no problem with XP Pro in updating.  Download free Belarc Advisor, and it should tell you what you have.

[Neon]

The problems with XP SP2 affected a very small percentage of installs. Patch your OS, and see if that solves the problem.

[Andrew S]

Is it true that SP2 will greatly slow down my pc?

[slaxorz]

I havent had any slowdown issues with service pack 2.  It helps immensly with wireless setups and such as well.

[scuzzy]

I have installed SP2 on several systems already (at least 5). I have only had one problem, in that my system would not accept a clean installation of SP2. For some reason I had to clean install without SP2, and then upgrade to SP2 afterward.

I too was initially cautious with installing SP2. However, I have not had a single SP2 induced problem on any of my systems. They all work fine, including the one I built for my daughter. I've installed SP2 over WinXP Pro and Home, with the same results on both versions.

Yes, a few people have had problems with installing SP2. If you also have issues with it, you can always uninstall it if you feel the need.

[Carskick]

I too have upgraded to or installed SP2 on on all 5 of our XP computers, as well as some other people's computers with no problems except certain programs reccomending patches, ie Nero. In fact, when I did the upgrade on my old AXP2600+, I swore it booted about 5-10seconds faster. The computer I am running now is XP Pro SP2, as well is another one of my computers, the other 3 are home.

[Andrew S]

Just blue screened again with a
NDIS.SYS   problem.  Driver not less then or equal thing

Whats that file do?

[Andrew S]

tcpip.sys.......

[Andrew S]

How is it possible that when i boot up fresh for the day i can get so many dll errors and other non sense, and then boot up fresh the next day and get nothing?  Would this have to be hardware failing to be so inconsistant?   If it was software related wouldnt it happen for every boot?

[Andrew S]

PCIIDEX.sys.........