Asus Crosshair AM2 Motherboard

[MikeVictor]

Thanks a bunch, I'll do all that this evening and post the results tommorrow.

Have a nice day,
Mike

[MikeVictor]

Unhooked all power cables from the wall socket to the MB and fans.

Pressed and held the power button on the MB for a few seconds.

Stood the PC upright (it was on its side, thought that might matter to the PSU)

Made sure the MB LED switch on the back panel was turned off.

Reconnected all power cables.

Checked that all connectors were connected properly.

Turned on the PSU power on back of the PC.

CPU fan, MB LED's, case fans, all came on and stayed on this time....sucess...

Before, the CPU fan would turn off after a few seconds, stays on now...

So pleased, didn't check to see if CPU INIT was still posted on the back panel.

Will install the video card, mouse, keyboard, and a monitor this evening and do another power test. Will let you know how it goes.

Did not move CMOS jumpers or try pushing that button this time.

Not sure what the root cause was, but it seems sorted out at the moment. Will know this evening if I have a CPU problem or not, I hope.

Regards, and thanks a lot,

Mike

[techiedude39]

If you have the extra cash then the motherboard is okay. Personally, I'd rather put the money into a faster processor or a bigger hard drive. The lights on the board are neat, the LCD panel on the back is useless. I mean, really useless. It would have been better to put it on the motherboard some where. The only things added to the board that I are useful are the power button, reset button and BIOS reset. Those are EXTREMLY useful when you're working on the board.
When I was testing with the board I had BFG 7900 GTX OC installed which butted right up next to the only IDE connector on the board. The connector is jammed right next to the 2x12 power block which means when you have a bigger graphics card installed, it's sandwiched so tight that it's almost impossible to install/remove without removing the graphics card first.
My final opinion, neat idea but mostly just a gimmick.

[MikeVictor]

I'll be installing a 7950 GX2 on it and will be using the IDE connector to hook up to a DVD/CD combo drive.

Will let you know how it fits.

Mike

[techiedude39]

I'll be installing a 7950 GX2 on it and will be using the IDE connector to hook up to a DVD/CD combo drive.

Will let you know how it fits.

Mike

It'll fit. It'll just be REALLY tight.

[MikeVictor]

Perhaps I should move this to another thread? Which one?

Update to my CROSSHAIR build efforts last evening:

All tasks are undertaken on linoleum floor, after washing hands and using the static elec protective wrist band clamped to the PC Case metal.

Unhooked all power cables.

Uninstalled 1 GIG of Ram and left 1 GIG in the A1 slot (furthest one from the CPU) on the MB.

Enabled the CMOS clear button (moved the jumper over to pos 2&3).

Pressed the CMOS clear button. (could help?)

Installed Asus EN7950 GX2 graphics card & plugged in PCI-E power connector from the PSU. Placed the card in the blue PCI-E slot closest to the CPU.

Connected a mouse, keyboard, and monitor.

Plugged in all power connectors.

Turned on the switch on the back of the PC.

Same result, fans came on, LED's came on, PC did not boot as indicated by the constant "CPU INIT" message displayed on the back panel, also, the monitor screen remained black.

Gave up, called ASUS tech support.

First call was told someone would call me back. After 40 minutes or so, I called them again.

Started to talk to the tech rep, lost communications with him, dial tone. Maybe a cell phone connection issue. Whatever, called them back again.

Tech rep told me many things could be the cause, the most likely was that the MB BIOS needed to be updated with version # 0121 that was released on Aug 22, 2006.

Was passed over to another person's voice mail to leave a message to send me the new BIOS chip to replace the one that came with the CROSSHAIr MB. She is supposed to call me today to arrange for the shipment (do I have to pay for it?, How soon will I get it, we'll see).


Note: the GX2 came with a harness as follows: A six pin power connector with 2 4 pin power connectors wired into it. I guess that is a back up connector if one has a PSU without a 6 pin PCI-E connector?? (I assume this is to connect 2 4pin PSU power cable to the single 6 pin connector on the GX2 card? No directions were provided on paper or on the CD's provided!?)

Can anyone tell me which power connector of the above I'm supposed to use with the GX2? I have a thermaltake 750 watt PSU with 3 ea. 6 pin PCI-E power cables (pins 1-3 are 12 volts, pins 4-6 are COM (Ground apparently?).

Thanks again, will keep those interested posted, here or in another recommended thread.

Mike

[techiedude39]

The manual says the system won't boot unless the six pin power connector is plugged in. I question this because not many people have power supplies with mutliple six pin connectors. (Or any at all) I had the same problem when I first setup the motherboard I was testing. All the lights were on but the system wouldn't fire up. So I removed the cap from the 2x3 power connector (the cap covers two of the pins making it a standard 2x2 power connector) and plugged in a 2x3 power connector.
And for some reason I hit the button on the back panel under the LCD screen.
The system fired up.

[MikeVictor]

I think you are talking about one of the 2 cables that powers the MB, rather than the GX2 graphics card I mentioned above.

I also removed the rubber cover plug from the 12volt power (8 pins I think...I forgot)connector on the MB (the upper left cornor of the MB) and then plugged in the power cable marked for that purpose on the Thermaltake PSU (nice cable managment approach on the PSU).

My problem may be solved by replacing the BIOS chip, via ASUS tech support which I hope to get in the next couple days..

Mike

[Miless]

Mike did you get my PM back to you today?I stepped out just about every thing to get you up and going but I didnt get a copy for myself to see if you got it.

[OCZSpeedJunky]

I had a few of the same issues you are having Mike, fortunately mine just went away once the system was booted up a couple times. I noticed that many times with brand new hardware that things don't wanna detect and work right off the bat until you power on the system a couple times, then all seems fine. Though I have seen my system hang twice with nothing but a blank screen. Once I got everything updated in Windows though, it seems to have stabalized fine, kinda odd. At any rate, let us know how it works updating the BIOS chip. I am still using the 0119 BIOS with no real issues, but going to update to the 0121 tomorrow.
And as someone else was asking earlier, with the blue led's on the board, you MUST turn them off with the switch near the lcd poster otherwise the system will not boot. Seems like they put in a fail safe protection there so you can't work on the board using the led's and power it up. So if you're using the led's to work on the board, you need to turn them off first to boot up. Seems kinda odd though 'cuz as one other guy said above, normally whenever you work inside your case, doing whatever, one of the first things you normally do is shut down the PSU and unhooked it, so why have this little "fail safe" feature with the blue led's?? I love the board, just has some odd designs.
Same goes with the single IDE connector. Yes, it does make for a damn tight fit with a big graphics card. I run the 7900GTX and the IDE cable is right there against the back end of the card. But atleast all 6 SATA connections are usable. That was a big issue on alot of boards, before and now with newer ones.
Anyways, I'll drop in and let ya'll know how things work with the 0121 BIOS once I get everything tweaked & clocked good. Just installed the MB/RAM/CPU this past weekend, so after I am done with the burn-in I'll clock the snot out of'r with my 3800+ with the OCZ Plat. EPP DDR900. Got lotsa settings to tweak that's for sure. Anyway, have fun all. Later

[AMDAthlonguy]

I also removed the rubber cover plug from the 12volt power (8 pins I think...I forgot)connector on the MB (the upper left cornor of the MB) and then plugged in the power cable marked for that purpose on the Thermaltake PSU (nice cable managment approach on the PSU).

Mike

Are you saying you didn't have the AUX 4 pin ATX connector hooked up to the motherboard all this time?

[MusicNutt]

From what I've read of the M2V so far its sounding like a pretty nice debut for it. Some 'usual' glitches or tweaks but overall pretty stable with minimal frustrations especially for an early bios.

Maybe Asus has finally put out a new board I'd upgrade too? Like I have much choice with my K7M and 98SE finally hitting a brick wall as support drops off the end of the planet?

Ah well, time to spend some money soon after watching this thread awhile longer. Hoping the M2V works out as well as first impressions imply it will.

Nutt <><

[CMB]

Just checking... this thread is about the crosshair not M2V. Did you mean crosshair or M2V ?

[Miless]

And as someone else was asking earlier, with the blue led's on the board, you MUST turn them off with the switch near the lcd poster otherwise the system will not boot

I have been running my Crosshair now about 3 weeks and it doesent matter what setting the back switch is in for mine to boot up.I know that in the bios that there is a selection for activating it or not,mines activated on.

[MusicNutt]

cmb,

my oops. I'm just starting to reeducate myself about this stuff. Somehow I confused the M2V with the Crosshair. So much to learn, so few brain cells left to do it with at my age . . . *lol*

Maybe I should just delete that post?

Nutt <><