K8N-E Deluxe: new beta bios version 1008.

[mbf]

Hey mbf,

Have you tried the latest beta version of the NForce driver set? the one that comes with IDE Driver version 2.6, build number 475 or something? a lot of people claim the "NAM" on that one works fine -- maybe you should give it a shot!

check www.nforcershq.com for driver links

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm currently using the 6.39 standalone driverset (supposedly for NF4 only, but who are they kidding) directly off nVidia's WWW/FTP site. It's different (more up-to-date) than e.g. the MSI NF4 driverset, although the overall component versions seem to be the same. I'm not aware of any newer version?

Alas, the bugs remain the same. High volume traffic like Bit Torrent makes the connection die within minutes if anything else than the "Off" setting is chosen for the firewall (even a removal of *all* rules, i.e. a total blank firewall setting will kill traffic). Also, and this is probably even more serious, all custom rules are more or less "forgotten" by the chipset (or the drivers?) unless they've been applied twice in a row. By "forgotten" I mean that your system is uncloaked/unstealthed with random ports open. You might want to check that with ShieldsUp. Select the All Ports Scan for that. At least one bug has been fixed in the NAM, or rather in the "Intelligent Application Manager". I've previously had a weird bug with namely Valve's Steam, which would leave an unclosable taskbar button upon launch. That bug's gone now. Apart from that everything else seems the same.

As for CnQ and games, ChrispyCrunch, it works perfectly here. I've not had a single crash because of it with this rig. Actually, the only real crash(es) I've have been due to Explorer (as in the Windows shell) not responding, but I lay that one on Microsoft since I've had that from time to time on my old P4 rig as well. That said, I'm not overclocking either which might figure into it. Also, I'm using a reasonably well-built PSU, namely the Antec TruePower 430.

By the way, if anyone wants or needs it, I'd gladly write down all my BIOS settings for reference.

Best regards,
mbf

[gechu]

Todays discoverys:

I knew it was posible to use clockgen to manually downclock your system, but to revert it back was impossible (before). The trick (or just basic thinking) was to change the vcore before the multi (pretty logic hey! ;P, but I didnt think of it the first time I tried it).

So now I have two shortcuts on my desktop, one named HOT, and one named COOL. Both point to glockgen, but execute different .ini files which contains settings for glockgen.

I used Cool and Quiet before, and was actually pretty satesfied with it, but the limitation of only allowing me to use a HTT of 200 pissed me off.
But now when I´ve got used to the reduces fan noise and realised that I dont need my full cpu speed 75% of the time that Im using my comp, this configuration
suites my needs perfectly! The only drawback with this is that I have to change "state" manually by clicking on the "HOT" named icon whenever I want to play games (now use mutli 6 in BIOS)

So to my conclution:
I believe the combo of using glockgen and Speedfan can be a good alternative for troubleing "cool and quiet" and Q-fan setups.

Anyone else than me that cant use the nvidia ide driver? (tried alot of versions, even the one in drv pack 6.39)
Tried both windows XP and 2003 server.

[locutusx]

it's disappointing that even the new NAM releases are buggy with NF3-250gb chipset mobo's.

still, i think i would like to try it one last time before i formally conclude that the hardware firewall on the NForce3 is a complete and total gimmick.

[locutusx]

gechu: the IDE driver which is build 475 (from november 2004?) works fine on all my standard parallel IDE (ATA-100) devices. 2 ide hard drives and 2 atapi optical drives on primary/secondary controllers. NO Sata in use.

but this will soon change, i'll let you know how it goes when i replace one of my ide's with sata.

WinXP SP2.

[chrispycrunch]

locutusx: I may have already posted this but the IDE drivers didn't work on my system (it would crash while booting if the registry were changed). The fact you have ATA may explain why it worked for you. I don't know if those drivers actually improve performance? Anyone? Try running HDTACH and let us know what speeds you're getting.

http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public...request=HdTach

My scores were the same whether or not the drivers were there.

[locutusx]

as far as i know, the nvidia drivers will never improve performance, they just improve compatibility and MAY add new features.

for example, if you want the new "NCQ" feature of SATA to work (on NF4), I believe you need to use the nvidia drivers to enable it. in which case you get performance improvement, but that's because the driver has SUPPORT for NCQ, it doesn't actually "do anything" other than allowing NCQ to happen.

the also improve compatibility in the sense that it can contain "patches" to allow certain devices to function correctly in the event they don't function correctly with microsoft's drivers.

[gechu]

okey locutusx, i think its only the later versions of the ide drv that gives me a "loop" windows loadingbar. The 5.10 ide works alllright, but not the newer ones.

I´ve had alot of problems with the nvidia IDE driver. But when I installed the nforce 4 driver by mistake (and it actually worked to boot into windows atleast once). I did also notice the support for Native Command Queueing setting.
A benchmark feature was also added. I´ve tried that benchmark feature before and it gave me 80 (some unit), but with the nforce 4 drv it gave me 96! And NCQ was enabled by default which is pretty funny because my HDD does NOT have support for that (sent a e-mail to Hitachi to confirm it).

[Aheska]

I've had this problem with Q-Fan and the fan error for ages, more precisely since day 1. Then suddenly it disappeared. I'm not sure exactly why it's gone, but I may have set some of the BIOS options differently this time around. What I've done this time is set the "start fan temperature" to the lowest setting (35C I believe) and the "full fan temperature" to 50C. This is pretty much what I've done always. What's different this time is that I've set the start voltage to the lowest value (4V I believe). Now, whenever I boot or reboot the CPU fan spins up for a second and I have no more trouble with Q-Fan.

Hey mbf,

Thanks for the trick but unfortunately CPU fan error message didn't disappear when I do a cold boot.

When you look at user guide (E1582 first edition june 2004), in page 4.30, it indicates that CPU fan start speed temp goes from 25°C to 75°C. BIOS on my moherboard allows me a higher range: from 35°C to 75°C. There is difference between user guide and the value I can set.
I really wonder why Asus increased temp range... Eh! Is-there anyone frome Asus here who can answer?

Thanks again for your help!

/aheska

[paul1288]

Does the 1008 bios have nvidia raid function.? Does anyone use the nvidia raid on this board?. If yo do its ide cause the sata raid doesnt work. And if you flash the bios to 1006 you dont have any nvidis raid at all.

[chrispycrunch]

CnQ update: The advice (i think from locutusx) to get the AMD drivers directly from the site did the trick! I left the system on overnight and it seems now to be locked at the full speed however [Windows Task Manager reports 100% usage from 'bit torrent' ].

Here's the warning prior to install:
KNOWN LIMITATIONS:
1) The processor performance state may not be restored to the maximum state
if the CPU runs at 100 percent. This problem occurs if the computer is
100 percent busywhen the power policy changes.

For more information and support options, please refer to the following website:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=330512

2) "System Properties" reports wrong processor speed.

For more information, please refer to the following website:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;303602

3) The Processor speed may be reported incorrectly in Windows XP.

For more information, please refer to the following website:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;316965

[svet-am]

does anyone know if the new BIOS (1008.1004) fixes the problem with the Plextor PX-71x SATA DVD drives? I have a PX-712SA and cannot get it to boot properly from the optical media.

I just noticed that there are some firmware updates for the drive on the Plextor site and i'll probably try them tomorrow night, but i wanted to follow up on the ASUS BIOS in the meantime.

[JohnnyBlaze]

Does the 1008 bios have nvidia raid function.? Does anyone use the nvidia raid on this board?. If yo do its ide cause the sata raid doesnt work. And if you flash the bios to 1006 you dont have any nvidis raid at all.

I just bought this board and a 3200+ a64 and the nvraid worked fine on the original bios and the 1006 version. Not sure what your problem is but if you can elaborate maybe I can help out.

I am set up as follows.
Plextor 716A on ide 1
TDK 440n on ide 2

Seagate 7200.7 120g Sata on Nvidia Sata (Third Master)
Seagate 7200.7 120g Sata on Nvidia Sata (Fourth Master)

To use NVRAID do the following and yes you can span the IDe and the 2 sata ports by your agp slot

In Bios set Raid option ROm to enabled

For each drive you want to include set it as Raid...

Third Master as raid = Enabled same for fourth master.

Save settings then exit bios.

When the nv raid option shows on screen hit f10 then setup your array. ( note you are not in windows yet and this is before the silicon image raid setup.

Now that you are setup exit and it will continue booting into windows. Dont know if its just me but on my board if you go to my computer both raid drives show as seperate drives even though I chose the stripe option. The will not yet function in raid. To get that going go into nvraid and create your array. Exit NVraid. Do not go to Computer management and format just yet and do not reboot. Took about 30 seconds then notification popped up saying that NVRaid is updating my array. After it completed I was able to use my raid array.

I could not get xp installed on my NV array however I am pretty sure it would be a pretty simple setup to do.

[chrispycrunch]

it's disappointing that even the new NAM releases are buggy with NF3-250gb chipset mobo's.

still, i think i would like to try it one last time before i formally conclude that the hardware firewall on the NForce3 is a complete and total gimmick.

Could we bring this topic back? The only thing I'd want from a firewall is to prevent specific folders from being accessed (barring accidental sharing in a P2P program). Is it possible (or even beneficial) to prevent access to 'my documents' with NV firewall or WIN XP firewall?

[locutusx]

it is possible to do this through NTFS security.

1. run your p2p filesharing program as a limited user - i.e. create a user with (perhaps) Power User rights *only*. Use that account to run your p2p program (use the "RunAs" service)

2. set up your Special Directories permissions to only allow full control to Administrators and BLOCK everyone else

3. now, your p2p program should not be able to access your special directory.

Note: this is the method many people use to secure their Internet Explorer. It is actually possible to prevent 90% of the IE browser exploits and spyware/malware by running IEXPLORE.EXE under a low privilege account.

If you already know this stuff, apologies for sounding like a "teacher"


With regards to your actual question -- I don't think any of the firewalls are "file system aware". They are only aware of processes, since it is the processes that initiate network activity through Winsock. so you can block iexplore.exe from access to 192.168.0.* on port 666, and something similar... thats how it works.

[upgrd]

To avoid "CPU fan failed" error message at cold boot, I just ignored CPU fan speed. But the day my CPU fan will not work anymore, the bios will never warm me. That's my this solution is not the best one.

I disabled "require F1 on error" within the bios. Now on cold boot I get a quick series of beeps but no boot interuption.