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8GB of DDR1 in a socket 939 system

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Reply 81 of 128, by shamino

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kithylin wrote:
shamino wrote:

one other finding: On the A8N-SLI, I can't get it to POST with 8GB installed. It will only POST with 1 or 2 of the 2GB modules, but not with 4 of them. I tried reseating them 3 times. All are identical and confirmed working as singles/pairs.
Still need to try the beta bios though. It's still running the final release BIOS.

There's no "Memory Hole" for your bios? I think we have different motherboards. Mine's the "Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe" that has the two 16x SLI pci express SLI slots.

Yes, we have different motherboards and BIOSes. The settings described by you and videod by agentx07 for the A8N32-SLI are wildly different from the A8N-SLI, unfortunately. The A8N-SLI memory settings screen is a lot more dumbed down and I haven't found a "memory hole" setting anywhere.
From what I've been finding, the A8N-SLI doesn't seem to support registered memory as well, and doesn't even seem to support 4GB under any circumstances despite Asus advertising that it did (people with the recommended 4x 1GB unbuffered modules have complained of the same "3GB usable" BIOS message). But I'll try the beta BIOS before concluding that it's as broken as I think it is.

Reply 82 of 128, by seaFs

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There is the possibility to flash the Deluxe or even premium BIOS on the A8N-SLI.
http://www.ngohq.com/?page=articles&go=read&arc_id=111

For the maximum amount of RAM: 16GB is working with UCCC Double-stacked DIMMs.

Reply 83 of 128, by shamino

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seaFs wrote:

There is the possibility to flash the Deluxe or even premium BIOS on the A8N-SLI.
http://www.ngohq.com/?page=articles&go=read&arc_id=111

For the maximum amount of RAM: 16GB is working with UCCC Double-stacked DIMMs.

Interesting, I will give it a try. Maybe it finally adds the missing "memory hole" option. Is there any known reason to choose the "Deluxe" BIOS over the "Premium", or vice versa?

I noticed that article refers to the last A8N-SLI BIOS being from 2005. That's true for the final release BIOS, but there is also a beta BIOS dated from 2007 (that article is from 2006 so maybe no such betas existed at the time).
I tried the 2007 beta version but I don't know what it did. It might have changed some overclocking options but I never paid much attention to that screen so I'm not sure. I do think it changed the default setting of "Master ECC enable" to enabled instead of disabled, because it came up as still enabled after I cleared the CMOS.
In any case, the "memory hole" option is still missing and the quirky behavior with registered memory didn't change.

I finally got the board to semi-POST a couple times with 4x 2GB registered memory installed. It displayed an Award BootBlock error message saying that the BIOS ROM was corrupt. Most times with 8GB installed it won't POST at all. If I take that error at face value, then It seems that having 8GB RAM installed on an A8N-SLI destabilizes it's ability to read the BIOS Flash ROM for some reason - and thus the no POST condition. Basic voltages were normal as measured with a multimeter, and the PSU is overkill with all possible power connectors connected. This error does not occur with lesser RAM configurations.

This board had a serious breakdown of it's sanity last night, such that I feared for it's life, but then I realized I was suffering from a faulty SATA drive cable. Bad cable fresh out of the package. I bought a bunch of cheap SATA cables from newegg a year ago. I swear I need to just gather them all up and throw them in a fire. Not the first time they've given me trouble.

Reply 84 of 128, by Billtm

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Hi all! I did install memory 2x2GB Kingston KTS7602/4G (2x2 kit) ECC Reg. on my old system just now and it's working successful:
Asus A8N-SLi BIOS v1604 moded (add NV RAID ROM 10.0.0.35)
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice, E6)
40GB SSD Intel X25-V Value (setup in RAID0, driver v10.3.0.42) Legacy Driver
2x2GB Kingston KTS7602/4G (2x2 kit) ECC Reg
512MB GF 9800GT Zotac
OS Windows 7 Pro x32
C'n'Q enabled
I need try to test with OS x64.

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Reply 86 of 128, by Billtm

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[Guide] Award/Phoenix BIOS Modding
I use 1604 Latest beta BIOS from ASUS site and only add Especially modified NVIDIA RAID ROM v10.0.0.35 for NF4 AMD systems for use SSD in RAID0 + Optimized nForce Driverpacks for Vista/Win7-10

Reply 88 of 128, by Billtm

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PS. I was wrong, i read this topic
for work trim the SSD-disk does not need RAID 0 mode and the modified driver, just use standard IDE mode and standard driver MS. SSD-disk must be connected to the port SATA3\4 (SATA rev. 2.0 (3 Gbit/s, 300 MB/s)) and to use MS IDE-driver (ATA Device), when the nVidia driver is installed, the SATA3\4 port uses SATA-driver (SCSI Device) and Trim doesn't work. The SATA1\2 port (SATA rev. 1.0 (1.5 Gbit/s, 150 MB/s))
You do not need to modify the BIOS, use original 1604 from Asus site.

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Last edited by Billtm on 2016-04-22, 20:12. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 89 of 128, by Billtm

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I installed 64-bit OS and memory works correctly. Memory timings work CL3 (3-3-3-8), CR1 (T1) and on speed 400MHz.

PS. options "memory hole" = S/W & H/W DRAM Over 4G Remapping in A8N-SLI v1604 BIOS

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Reply 91 of 128, by shamino

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Billtm wrote:

I installed 64-bit OS and memory works correctly. Memory timings work CL3 (3-3-3-8), CR1 (T1) and on speed 400MHz.

PS. options "memory hole" = S/W & H/W DRAM Over 4G Remapping in A8N-SLI v1604 BIOS

Thanks for the detailed posts. I'm not sure what's going on with my setup but you've shown it is possible to make it work.

Strangely, my BIOS only shows the S/W remapping option but not the H/W remapping. The S/W option alone only gets me to 3GB usable(*). It was the same with the last release BIOS (which came with the board) and the unmodified v1604 Beta BIOS (which is on the board now). I reset the CMOS after flashing to v1604.
I had the "S/W remapping" option in both BIOSes but the "H/W" option has never appeared, regardless of which memory modules were installed. I should probably read up on the BIOS modification info to see if there's some way to make that "H/W remapping" option appear. But if it's supposed to be there on the unmodified version then I have no idea why it's not showing up. I need to also try using the "Premium" BIOS as was mentioned earlier, maybe it will fix something.

You mentioned you have Cool'nQuiet enabled. Do you have it actually working in the operating system? On my board, I can enable CnQ in the BIOS but if an operating system actually tries to change power states, and registered memory is installed, then it locks up (same result in both linux and WinXP). Under WinXP(*), CnQ is only functional if a driver is installed and I select one of the alternate profiles in power management like "laptop", or I use a 3rd party program like RMClock. I don't know how WIndows 7 handles it.

* = The 3GB issue I'm having is showing up at the BIOS POST screen and BIOS setup, and is reflected under Linux and WinXP64. It's not an XP32 issue.

for work trim the SSD-disk does not need RAID 0 mode and the modified driver, just use standard IDE mode and standard driver MS. SSD-disk must be connected to the port SATA3\4 (SATA rev. 2.0 (3 Gbit/s, 300 MB/s)) and to use MS IDE-driver (ATA Device), when the nVidia driver is installed, the SATA3\4 port uses SATA-driver (SCSI Device) and Trim doesn't work. The SATA1\2 port (SATA rev. 1.0 (1.5 Gbit/s, 150 MB/s))
You do not need to modify the BIOS, use original 1604 from Asus site.

I have an SSD (Micron C400, equivalent of Crucial m4) on the board right now but haven't tried to use TRIM yet. I have it plugged into port SATA1. It's encouraging to know that the Microsoft IDE driver will pass the TRIM command, so I guess it won't be any problem. If it didn't work I figured I could TRIM periodically through linux instead (recent versions of the linux NTFS driver are supposed to support it), but it's a lot more convenient if I can do it in WinXP.
I downloaded some AData utility for WinXP that's supposed to send TRIM commands to any brand of SSD, but I haven't tried installing it yet.

I was getting read transfer rates of about 260MB/sec in a linux benchmark, but I don't remember for sure if it was plugged into port SATA1 when I did that. I've swapped things around a lot so I guess I should retest it to be sure it runs that speed on the current port.

Reply 92 of 128, by Billtm

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Hmm, the options "H/W remapping" are present initially in BIOS v1604. Perhaps depends on the stepping of the CPU?
Cool'n'Quiet works for me steadily only at the option "Overclock Profile" - "AUTO", if to select "MANUAL" - the system falls in BSOD =\ . C'n'Q works at Windows 7 initially and also to fall in BSOD if to select "MANUAL".
Yes, C'n'Q works in the Windows XP only when the "laptop" profile is selected and also on other processors decreases the CPU frequency. When used overclocking processor, I switched off C'n'Q. The system strongly depends on the high-quality power supply unit and stable loading on the line + 12V.
"The 3GB issue I'm having is showing up at the BIOS POST screen and BIOS setup" yes, 4GB is displayed only when the option "H/W DRAM Over 4G remapping" is Enabled.

PS.I have read this topic about support of instructions the processor. Processors under the socket 939 doesn't support the instruction of CMPXCHG16b and it won't be possible to install the Windows 8.1 or 10 x64, only x32 (memory limit 3GB). =( and Windows 8.0 x64 works without problems.
But I nevertheless have installed Windows Server 2012 Std x64 (core Windows 8.0) which is available for me, as it takes half as much space (10GB), than Windows 7 (20GB), for a small SSD (40GB) is a big plus! =)
PSS. I expect more modules of memory for the test when I get express parcel.
My eyes lit up when I saw it 0_0
and four rank (4RX4) not work on CPU socket939 =(

Last edited by Billtm on 2016-06-04, 21:32. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 93 of 128, by Billtm

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I have found in what a problem, you were right - CPU Stepping D0 =( , my CPU stepping E6 and it's working.

The first thing you listed isn't relevant because of your cpu. Because you have a cpu with E0 or higher (yours should be E4 or E6), you would want to Enable the Hardware remapping if your system is using 4 gb of memory or above. For systems without an E0 cpu or higher, they'd have to Enable the Software remapping. Doing so moves the memory block above 4 gb and will allow your OS to use all 4 gb. If you don't enable it, some of those memory addresses are saved for PCI slots. Bottomline, disable both with your current ram.

Reply 94 of 128, by shamino

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Billtm wrote:

I have found in what a problem, you were right - CPU Stepping D0 =( , my CPU stepping E6 and it's working.

Interesting. Well I think that's good news - this explains what's going on and at least I know that if I get a different CPU then it can be solved. I'd rather it be a CPU problem than a board problem.

For systems without an E0 cpu or higher, they'd have to Enable the Software remapping. Doing so moves the memory block above 4 gb and will allow your OS to use all 4 gb.

This part of what the person posted in that thread doesn't seem to be quite right. For whatever reason, the SW remapping option still leaves it limited to 3GB when 4GB are installed. I wonder if this is an official memory limitation from AMD on the older CPUs, affecting all motherboards, or if Asus did anything wrong with how they implemented the SW remapping option. But it's academic today as long as it can be solved with an E0 or later.
Thanks for your feedback about this board, it's been helpful.

Reply 95 of 128, by agent_x007

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I checked Memory Remap features with even older CPU (130nm FX-55 [rev. CG]), and it could use 3,25GB [3327MB to be exact)] while in 32-bit Windows (with software memory remapping off), and all 4GB [4095MB] in 64-bit Windows (with software memory remapping on).
BUT I was testing it with A8N32 board, not A8N.

Check what will happen with usable RAM, when U switch off software memory remapping in 32-bit.

PS. Is "msconfig/Boot/advanced options" set properly (maximum memory unchecked) ?

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Reply 96 of 128, by Billtm

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ASUS A8N Sli
4x2GB Kingston KTS7602\4G (2x2 kit) PC2100R ECC Registered 266MHz CL2.5 2.5V (K4H510438D-ZCCC) 5th Gen. chip CC: DDR400 (200MHz @ CL=3, tRCD=3, tRP=3)
Memory timings work CL3 (3-3-3-8), CR1 (T1), 2.6V and on speed 400MHz.
analog Samsung M312L5720CZ3-CCC 2GB PC3200R CL3 ECC (K4H510438C-ZCCC) 4th Gen. chip

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Reply 99 of 128, by Billtm

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somebody tested new VGA card PCI-E v3.0 on Asus A8N Sli PCI-E v1.1? I tried video cards GTX660 (+6-pin power PCI-E) and GTX750Ti (without auxiliary power), but they haven't earned - the black screen after loading =(
it may be necessary to connect the 4-pin MOLEX connector on the motherboard?