Asus AV8-Deluxe & MIA

[JonFairhurst]

I'm trying to build an A64 machine using an Asus Av8-Deluxe motherboard. Everything is fine - until I enable the driver of my Echo MIA. Crash, bam, boom.

Is anybody here using the A8V? What soundcard are you using?

Here's what I get...

MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION

STOP: 0x0000009C etc...

I've disabled everything on-board, and tweaked nearly everything there is to tweak.

There are two options: the products are incompatible, or I have a bum motherboard. The address above is in the region of the PCI to IDE motherboard resources. It may be that with the card enabled that part of the motherboard gets exercised, and crash...

If others have had success, then I just need to trade this in for a good board. If no one else has had success, then maybe these puppies don't play well together.

Please let me know your experiences with the A8V.

-JF

[kitekrazy]

I'd give Echo a call. Don't they have to develope a driver for the AMD 64 bit?

[JonFairhurst]

Thanks kitekrazy,

I called them, and they confirmed that the driver has been tested with that VIA chipset. I've got some evidence that my motherboard has some problems. I hope that Asus can get me a replacement quickly.

-JF

[kitekrazy]

Keep us posted on your progress with the AMD 64. I've heard mixed things as far as software working.

[Bill]

There's a thread on Sonic Control about the A64. Someone who was having trouble solved it by un-installing Outlook Express, but he didn't say what sound card was involved.

[JonFairhurst]

Thanks for the tip on the Sonic Control thread. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to solve my problem. My system fails when the MIA driver loads. GS3 isn't even on the PC!

-JF

[Alewis]

Jon, from your past posts (I've been here before under a previous login) I definitely get a sense of your expertise. So please forgive if this seems like a primitive suggestion...

I've found that I could resolve unexplained sound card driver issues by switching the soundcard to a different PCI slot. Also I've come to learn that sound cards like being in the middle slots, but in any case, by rearranging the PCI cards in the box that causes re-enumeration of the hardware and interrupts which has fixed some tough problems for me in the past.

As an aside I'm about to buy a new box just for Giga 3 but am a bit worried about AMD compatibility issues. Not sure if I'm falling prey to Intel marketing or what....

[JonFairhurst]

Hi Alewis,

Your suggestion about swapping the soundcard to another slot is spot on. That's the only way to avoid IRQ sharing on some motherbaords. Unfortunately, I've already done this. Slot number 3 is independent of everything else. But I still get the hardware fault.

I got an e-mail from Asus today. The tech said that my error generally comes from 1) poor power, 2) poor cooling, or 3) poor RAM. I'm rock solid on 1 and 2. I'll try some different RAM tonight for kicks, but I'm all but certain that this won't fix the problem.

Option number 4 is that the board is bad. If my RAM test fails, I'll send the board back to ZipZoomFly tomorrow. I've already got the RMA number.

Regarding AMD, I felt confident going this route because of the post that one of the A8V-Deluxe systems with an ATI video card worked with Giga in the Systems that WORK thread. I'm pretty confident that the same combination will work for me - after I get a healthy motherboard.

-JF

[JonFairhurst]

I've got some good news on my system. I was able to get GS3 working in Rewire mode using Sonar3 and the on-board soundcard.

For review, the system is...

Asus A8V-Deluxe
Athlon64 3000+
OCZ PC3200 512Mx2 Platinum Rev2 2-2-2-5
Diamond S80 (ATI Radeon 9200 SE 128 MB - no fan)
Seasonic Super Silencer 400W PS
Thermalright XP-120 with Vantec Stealth fan
3 Seagate 7200 drives (system, audio, gigs)
Generic DVD+RW

I was able to load 5 instances of GigaPulse, all in default configuration at a CPU load of 52%. The system is set at standard clock rates (1.8 GHz) and "auto" memory settings. Some overclockers have gotten this combination of processor/MB/RAM up to 2.6 GHz. I probably won't be that agressive, but I expect to be in GigaPulse heaven once I get everything right.

I'll send the motherboard in for a replacement tomorrow. I'm convinced that the PCI-ISA bridge is blown. Hopefully, I'll have the MIA singing merrily next week...

-JF

[kitekrazy]

Hi Alewis,

Regarding AMD, I felt confident going this route because of the post that one of the A8V-Deluxe systems with an ATI video card worked with Giga in the Systems that WORK thread. I'm pretty confident that the same combination will work for me - after I get a healthy motherboard.

-JF

I have all AMD systems with a different chipset manufacturer in each-Sis, VIA, nForce2, with Athlon XPs and I have no problems.