They fixed the DDR 400+ problem on the F9 BIOS update, and they also sorted out performance with the latest VIA drivers 4.45.

Newbie settings help.
Can anyone help explain to me all the settings I need to do to make my system run:
Gigabyte GA-7VAXP
256Meg PC2100 RAM
AMD 2400 XP CPU with Volcano 9 cooler

I don't understand how to get all the FSB settings and the implications of using the slower/faster memory modules. Not sure what swtich settings to use, as well as whether I should upgrade to 400 speed RAM.

any help appreciated

I just ordered one and it should arrive tommorrow.

After reading this massive thread, I'm a bit worried, but pretty confident I won't have the same problems.

I guess those that are experiencing problems have now updated all thier drivers to the latest versions ?

Latest Hyperion 4in1 drivers. :-
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2

Install all the other latest drivers from Gigabyte and read the FAQ :-

http://www.giga-byte.com/products/7vaxp.htm

Installing your CPU information (yes - may sound stupid, but some people do odd things ...)

Cleaning thermal paste off heatsink :-
http://139.95.253.214/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=100,E=0000...e=obj(2510)

Installing processor :-
http://139.95.253.214/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=100,E=0000...e=obj(2502)

I just hope I'm getting a revision 2.0 board and I'm also hoping I don't bust my CPU, having installed it 3 times - some of the CPU die has already crumbled off the edges from the last time I installed

I've had lotsa problems with all sorts of different types of motherboards in the past - Intel and AMD based.
9 times out of 10 it's always been my fault that I'm having those problems :-

1. Didn't read the install instructions correctly
2. PSU not powerful enough
3. Didn't get the latest drivers
4. Thermal Paste not applied correctly
5. Cheap heatsink/fan combo
6. Loose connectors
7. Hardware conflicts

Dave: You shouldn't have to worry about any of those settings. And, if you're looking to upgrade your RAM I'd go with PC2700 (333mhz DDR) because if you ever upgrade to a CPU with a 333mhz fsb you'll get a performance boost. (because they'd be running in sync) and I haven't really read anything positive about the 400mhz (PC3200) ddr ram. If you have any problems just look at your manual, by default the FSB should be set to auto or 133, I don't remember which. If the computer doesn't start I'd check that first. It should be set to 133 or auto with your processor.

I installed my GA-7VAXP last night and ran into problems, just like a lot of people.

I got the latest via drivers and updated the bios to .f9, but the CPU is overheating - getting up to 72c - we're having a heatwave here right now which doesn't help much.

The machine hangs when doing a benchmark demo in Quake3, but it only seems to hang when the CPU gets over 60c.

I got an evercool cpu fan and heatsink that had a thermal pad on it for my old motherboard and the CPU was running between 52c and 57c (depending on the ambient room temperature) - but of course, I had to clean the pad off the heatsink when I installed the GA-7VAXP and all the gumpf of the processor. I know that even 52c is fairly hot, but acceptable - in winter time, it's around 47c

I only had some cheap Thermal Paste so I'm hoping that's the problem - will see if I can get some decent Thermal Paste today

The thing is, the machine shouldn't hang if the processor is just over 60c, should it ? - Unless of course it's actually hitting much higher temperatures when under stress ?

I've got an athlon 1333 and 512meg 266DDR.

The other thing could be my PSU - it's 300w - is that enough to power this motherboard - considering I've got 2 HD's, GF4ti4200, Audigy1 ?

Here's an interesting one....
IDE 1: 2x 60gb ata133 7200rpm Maxtor hdd's
IDE 2: Pioneer 106 dvdrom & pioneer A04 dvd/rw
IDE 3: 120gb ata133 7200rpm Maxtor hdd (installed tonight)

All are recognized in cmos and in WinXP but I don't have access to the 120gb hdd at all. It shows as working fine with good drivers. When I installed XP I used the ATA 133 drivers instead of the RAID ones because I didn't have the 120gb at the time.

The RAID is set to ATA in the cmos and I tried using the Max BLast II floppy, no dice.
I tried the 'find new hardware' thing....nothing is wrong with the drive and since XP sees it doesn't try to do anything with it.

How do I get access to this drive w/o having to repair XP or reinstall?

I don't want to run RAID but if I have to I guess I will.

I have 70+ gb's of video (vhs to dvd business) on the two 60's and can't exactly afford to lose it.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Outside of this issue I have no problems with my system:
GA-7VAXP (F9)
Ath XP 2000+
2x 512 Kingston pc2700
2x Maxtor 60gb hdd's
Pioneer 106 dvdrom & A04 dvd/rw
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (bios 1.3) (catalyst 3.0)
SB Audigy
Linksys WMP11
Enermax 350w DF whisper
Volocano 7+
JVC HR-DVS3U dual deck

Thanks!

bushboy bushboy

If you haven't already, turn the sound card accelleration OFF in the direct x diagnostic. that sound card and this via chipset have issues.

I have a bunch of gear (not listed) hooked up to my rig and don't have any power issues. You should be okay with the 300w.

Thanks Spence, I'll give that a try !

I just popped home from work to re-install the heat-sink and fan with some new thermal compound, but the cpu is still hitting 70c

I noticed, as someone posted here, that if I enable 'Spread Spectrum' things are a lot more stable, but there's a performance 'hit'

I'm really p**sed of now - I got the motherboard because my old ASUS mobo with an Ali Magik 1 chipset was causing a bottleneck with my ti4200 video card - I should be getting over 200fps in q3 1.17 demo0001, but could only manage 142fps with my old mobo.
I can now get 167fps, but it's still far short of what I should get.

Is it the 1333 CPU that is now causing the problem ?

I can't see why the cpu itself would be the problem.

My first instinct would be the heat sink & fan, what model is it? IMHO, Athlon xp cpu's run hot and needs something equivalent or better than a volcano 7+. In another system I have an XP 1600+ and there was an 8 degree C drop in temp when I switched from AMD packaged hs/fan to the volcano 7+ with the copper core.

Note: I got the 120gb hdd to work; format on ide 2, then move to ide 3.
Recognized and operational.

Running XP2000+ + Volcano 7 at 50 °C

=> used : Artic Silver III thermal paste and Enermax tower with 2 Fans :
One that pushes the air into the box, the other extracts it.

Be care of :
apply thermal paste only on core; adjust the CPU-fan (let the AMD CPU-Fan, if any, in the box, get one with at least 2800 RPM constant ! 3 000 is a good way).
make a large space around the CPU and make sure air circuit is possible enought.
Sometimes you need to remove a part of the tower to permit air circulation. (I saw that, one day, a guy had made a hole just in front of the FAN, cutting the metal, => decreasing 10 degrees ! )

A+

Man I got a Athlon 2100+ on this mb and it has a volcano 7+ and arctic silver on it and it's overheating. I don't know wtf is going on.

I have 256 DDR333. What do I set the CPU Clock to?

Well if it's below an XP2600+ CPU then it should be set to 133.

Thanks. I tried the 133 and it seems to work.

XP - 2600+ (I hope)
512 PC2700
Radeon 9700 AIW
Santa Barbara Sound

I just bought the 7vaxp board and assume it is the 2.0 version as it has a ratio block with 6 dips. (???) Does anyone have a link to the v2.0 manual as the Gig site only offers the manual at the 1.1 level... The manual is at my friends house !?!

BUT ANYWAY....

I bought this processor from Global who had it drop shipped direct from AMD. There was no paperwork or fan/heatsink in the AMD box no nothin except fpr the cpu sitting in the last slot of a storage tray. I asked Global for and payed for the Retail 2600+ to include HS/Fan. I'll be calling them tomorrow....Sooo.. The processor is assumed to be a 2600+ (266). Well I had a hard time to get it to even post. Fans and all but no video, I set it to 133 fsb (SW1 off) and auto'd everything else. Then it posted, but as an XP 1600+. What are the correct settings for the 2600 (266). The AMD site said set as 13x.......Help Please, Just beginning the adventure.....

All I can say is this is the worst motherboard I've ever had.
I've had endless trouble like most people here.

I can get the board stable, but with a performance decrease which defeats the object of upgrading to the board in the first place !

Were all the reviewers of this board smoking crack or something ?
I guess they didn't have thier test rigs running long enough to have problems !

I also have experienced problems while trying to install redhat 8.0 on a machine with the ga-7vaxp (rev 1.1, F6 bios). Problems thus far have been:

1) Radeon VE7000 doesn't work at all (suspect this is the dodgy dealer I bought the system off not testing it - I was explicit that he should test the card works but he seems to have ignored me). Probably doesn't support 1.5v operation - can't confirm as I can't find a spec sheet anywhere on the net.
2) Random corruptions in the OS install - always happened early on in the install (corrupted file/kernel panic)
3) STUPIDLY set the 'max performance' setting in the BIOS (while trying all the different settings) - had to remove the CMOS battery and wait 5 minutes to recover from THAT faux-pas. What makes manufacturers think shipping a product you can render useless acceptable? Should have read this thread first (I wouldn't have bought the board if I had read this thread two days ago)

I tried pushing the bios to the fail-safe mode - corruption still happened. I then tuned the memory to its most conservative settings (not sure what impact this will have on my perception of system performance as I'm moving up from a P200MMX - things are working now - haven't seriously pushed the machine yet, but since the previous problems were apparent so soon after reboot, I'm hoping the problem is sorted. I'll have to put in an AGP VC now and see if that stuffs things up.

The memory I have is a 512m 'elixir' stick - bloody cheap arse dealer sold me crap. He's going to get some earache this morning on the card and the RAM he dumped on me. Lesson learned - don't buy cheap memory - It'll bite you.

hi,all

Thanks for all you have done.


I had a black screen. The DPMI Post test was not complete => I disabled the "top performance" setting and it goes on.
I had a system corrupt files and so on => bad memory tested with ramtest 3. A must, the memory stick pass the tests on other cards but not on Gigabyte's one => buy some good memory (i baught Samsung TCC4D 333 Mhz) Look to the manual and ask for those who are recommanded in DDR400. Should work also for DDR 333Mhz.

Updating BIOS to F9 may cause Checksum error with Fash384.exe.
Used the windows utility and it works. (download it on giga website).

Concerning load bios default => do it by removing CMOS Cell (20 minutes, not a few secondes... so long). before updating BIOS ;-))

Concerning Video Crad (mine is AGP 4x (or 8x) ATI RADEON 9000 PRO), beware of voltage. Should work on 1.7v.
Brand new cards have not the same voltage !

For XP CPU after XP 2200+, look to the manual for DIP switchs

By the way, I have saw that GA-VRXP (yes with "R") exists in Release V2.0, Not the VAXP (I still saw Rel 1.1) . Has anybody saw 2.0 VAXP ?
If so this card isnot available in France yet !

For all those how write "if I had know, i would not have baught the card". I just want to tell them. "you won't regret it" when all will go !

I actually have some problem installing Pinnacle PCTV Pro tuner card. It seems this way that the new release of the driver is in cause. ;-)

Hope this helps the VAXP community ! Once again Thanks to all the people that have help me when I was in trouble with the card.

Bye and Nice day from Paris !

i have the GA-7VAXP m/b and when i boot up i get an error that says "bios cannot be installed because there are no drivers attached"
=[

Don't think there is a rev 2.0 version of the board out, and I haven't had any problems updating the BIOS to F9. The top performance setting is not a good idea for 90% of the people out there as it seems to hate that setting with virtually everyone who has tried it and it killed my ATI 9700 so I can vouch for that option being useless.

The easiest way of getting around the top performance setting is to pull out the power lead and wait for a few seconds for the board power to cut off, and then plug the power back in and power the system up and ten quickly set the BIOS back to default.