I don't think this this problem has been covered so far in this forum:

I have recently put together a pc based around the GA-7VAXP - full spec is -

Athlon XP2000+
Zalman flower HSF
512MB PC2700 CL2.5 generic RAM
2x Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 8 HDDs in RAID 1 array
Gainward graphics card (GeForce 4 MX4440SE)
miscellaneous: fsb @133 MHz; W98 SE installed

This has run ok with the exception of a few random hangs and lock-ups for about a month. I have now added another DIMM (identical to the first) - now on powering up the machine appears to boot ok, performing all the normal POST stuff, but is unable to load Windows properly and crashes out initiating a new boot sequence followed by the Windows 'problem start' screen offering 'safe mode' etc..

Since the machine was working ok what has now changed? I have had problems in the past mixing RAM (different manufacturers) but here the DIMMs are identical. Have I missed a BIOS setting (p12 of mobo manual states that memory is automatically detected) or something?.

Any help gratefully received.

Have you tried putting the RAM in the third slot?

I had this problem on my old system where the ram had to be in the first and last slot and have ECC timing enabled in order to work.

>Have you tried putting the RAM in the third slot?

Yes but did not make any changes to timing - where (if at all) in the BIOS can these tweaks be made?

Just in case anyone missed it, in bios hit :-

CRTL+F1

This will give you an advanced chipset menu where you can set your AGP Apeture, Mode and other things.

I have no idea why the hell it was hidden in the first place.

I'm really hoping that the next bios update will resolve the issues I'm having - I'm going to upgrade my CPU in the hope that things will improve.

The thing is, this could be such a damn fine motherboard if it wasn't for the instability when trying to run your hardware at the rated settings - I'm now running at 100mhz FSB just for stability until I upgrade my CPU.

Ok I just spent about an hour reading everyone's headaches with the GA7VAXP motherboard. I actually went to a local computer store this afternoon in search of a killer motherboard for a reasonable price, but as God would have it I didn't have the $125 it cost so I decided to wait and read up on this board to see if it's too good for it's price. The thing that caught my attention with this board was all it's benefits... DDR333/400, on board LAN, 6 channel audio, and 8x AGP, and most of all RAID.

Now that I'm done rambling, my question to everyone that has the 1.1 version of this board is simply... is it worth it?
I'm planning on putting DDR333 on it cause I read somewhere that DDR400 hasn't been certified to work on this board.
I'm also planning on using XP2100 and I'm not planning on over clocking it.
I also read how you all had intensive gaming problems... I already bought an nVidia GForce4 MX 420 so I'm kind of scared I'll have the same problems.

Anyway as you can see I'm no expert and I'm just looking for some honest opinions from ppl who have the 1.1 version with similar specs to mine so I can get an idea of whether to buy it or not.
Again the specs are:
XP2100 not over clocked
512 DDR333
nVidia GForce4

All the benefits it offers are too good to pass up for $125 when an ASUS or Soyo version would be well over $200. Or should I just get an ASUS

I just got the GA-7VAXP and set it up last night. I ran into the same problems some people have with the BSOD when setting up Win2k. During the installation, after the drive format and during the setup files copy, it would always BSOD on the drivers.cab file (being a large file). So, after reading most of this thread, I started checking some stuff out. I tested my memory, which tested out fine using DocMem20 (but not so well with memtest86). I spent a lot of time configuring the BIOS too, playing with different settings. I finally got it to work; here are the important settings I changed from default:

Spread Spectrum: Enabled
AGP: 8x
DRAM Clock: 133 (DDR266)
And, here's what I think made the difference (use CTRL+F1 to access "advanced" BIOS settings):
IDE1 UDMA: Auto (default was Disabled)
IDE4 UDMA: Auto (default was Disabled)

I've got a 40GB HD on IDE1 and a DVD/CD-RW combo on IDE4 (which I was booting from to run the Win2K install). The rest of the setup ran flawlessly and I'm running full-steam ahead now. If it was indeed a problem with large file transfers (Win2K vs. expected UDMA enabled controller) then the BIOS writer should be shot dead.

My setup:
AMD XP 2000
Micron 256MB PC2100 memory stick
WinFast AGP 8x w/64MB DDR
Maxtor 40GB ATA133
BIOS v. F9
SW1 set to OFF
Clock Jumpers all set to OFF (Auto)

Good luck.

Jason - I honestly would recommend not buying this board.

It's features are great, but the stability issues are a big killer.

I regret getting the board, but I have to live with it - I got it shipped over, so I can't really send it back anymore.

I have revision 1.1 and at present, can only run it 100% stable at 100mhz.

I can bet it more or less stable at 133mhz (same methods as the post above) - but I still get random 'hangs' in 3D games - sometimes nothing for 5 hours, sometimes after 10 minutes.
I've been told it's either problems with my Nvidia card and the VIA chipset, or problems with my Audigy card.

But I can tell you exactly what it is - it's problems with the VIA chipset fullstop - you can't blame creative and nvidia for these problems.

All I can hope is another BIOS or driver update will resolve the problems in future.

Rather go for an nforce2 based chipset board - you can get a board with similar features, although it'll be a bit more pricy.

athlon xp 1700+
cpu fan : aqua 690
power supplyer: enermax 350w
2x hd maxtor 80go ata 133
dvdrom panasonic 16x
cdr liteon 40x
modem adsl eci
philips to ucam pro
-------------------------------------------------
hi to all
i bought the gygabyte 7vaxp 2 days ago...
but i noticed that the system is running very slowly...
fist point, win the cd boot, it took me nearly 20 mn to format the hd which is connected on ide 1and
it took me almost 1 hour to install on hd win xp pro!!!!
once win xp installed and running, it looks that the system is not using the right specifications of the bus system and of the ata 133...
what can i do...
the temp of the cpu is about 40 degres celsius
and i was unable to install the usb 2.0 drivers!!!

ASUS here I come. I knew this board was too good to be true.

Wish I'd read this forum before buying this piece of .....

I've had no end of trouble trying to install either Windows 2K or XP. Keep getting BSOD / lockups / or file copy errors during installation. Its not the CD's 'cos i've copied them to HD and run the install from their with the same results. I can successfully install Windows 98 !!!! which may run fine for hours or be unstable after 10mins - whats going on ? If I try and upgrade to 2K/XP from 98 it also falls over.

Have changed hard disks, tried PCI video card instead of AGP, removed CPU+Fan and refitted with new heat paste (yes the heatsinks making good contact), changed IDE cables to ATA 100/133 'round' ones and checked/tried every BIOS option I could think off (inc. 'hidden' ones).....

Next step its return to DABS... wait weeks for me money and go buy something else. Recommendations anyone ? ASUS ?

The Specs...
MB: Gigabyte GA-7VAX (Bios F9...... have also tried F6)
RAM: Kingston Value 256MB PC2700 (DDR333)
AGP: Gigabyte ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
CPU: Athlon XP 2100+ (133 FSB)... runs at steady 46degC
HD: Weston Digital 20GB ATA100

**** H*E*L*P ****

I have Just bough a VAXP rev 1.1,

XP 1700+
3 HDD
1 FDD
1 DVD
1 CDR

NVIDIA GF4 Ti4200 128MB
350W PS no name

I had no problems none so ever to install all this component, I did pay attention though to the thermal compound, I did aplly it to the GPU also.
The case is still open... From my experience most of the problems are due to overheating or bad power. So you people pay attention to those things.

I did not mess with the bios setting. I did install all the latest drivers after downloading from the net. The CD that came with the board was defected.

The games are quite stable I'm able to play for 4 to 5 hours constantly with no problem.

I was wondering if any one has seen a REV 2.0 ?

and If yes when did he bought it?

I forgot Samsung 512MB 266 mem

As a follow-up to my success in getting Win2k installed I would like to add the following. 30 minutes after it was running it BSOD'd and wouldn't reboot. It would repeatedly give the ACPI error at boot-up (i.e. your MB BIOS is not fully ACPI compliant). So, I wiped the HD and tried to reinstall, using the exact same settings I used before. No good. Kept getting the IRQ_NOT_LESS error. So, I sent the board back after two days of frustration. I don't know if it was "my" board in particular but I'm not sure I really care at this point. I just bought the Asus A7N8X. Screw Gigabyte. As a side-note; didn't have any heat problems as noted by other posts so I don't think that was the problem.

My setup:
AMD XP 2000
Micron 256MB PC2100 memory stick
WinFast AGP 8x w/64MB DDR
Maxtor 40GB ATA133
BIOS v. F9
Rev 1.2 board
SW1 set to OFF
Clock Jumpers all set to OFF (Auto)

Gary

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to ask around before buying that board. After being discouraged not to get this board I spent hours looking for a board with similar features for about the same price. Personally I'd have gone with ASUS or the Soyo Dragon but they're too expensive and similar features can be found from other proven manufacturers. Check out this board I think you'll like it. I've looked around for criticism about this board but I've yet to find any. This board's DDR400 is certified so don't be scared

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-detai...=F451-2015

Follow up on my problems:

I exchanged the elixir pc2700 stick for a kingston pc2700 stick, and the radeon 7000 card now seems to work. I have installed and used redhat 8.0 with great success - even doing some dv work via the builtin firewire interface with no problems (except initial configuration). Ethernet works, sound works, haven't tested usb, but I don't think it'll give any problems.

I may have been lucky (in that I had bad ram) considering all the other problems vented in this forum, but I am not trying to build a system that can be overclocked or anything like that - just something that will be current for at least 6 months (weeks), and can do some video editing

Anyway, my advice to people with problems is get good ram - spend the extra few dollars for a lot less frustration.

Current spec:
Athlon 2000+ with AMD fan
GA-7VAXP with all the onboard functions (bar memory stick etc) turned on
512mb Kingston value ram pc2700
ASUS CDRW
Sapphire Radeon VE 7000 2x/4x AGP card
Redhat 8.0

Good luck to everyone with problems.

My, my, my. I must be blessed.

I got my GA-7VAXP Ultra Monday evening, and had it assembled and working before bedtime. No lockups, no BSOD's.

My only issue is that my DDR400 is running at 333Mhz, but then, it's not on the "approved" list either (corsair).

Athlon XP 2700+
512M (256M x 2) DDR400 Corsair RAM
Dual Maxtor ATA133 40GB drives, striped
Sapphire Atlantis 9700 Video

As for me, I'm going back to playing UT2003, where I've been getting 85+ fps for hours and hours....

Oh, and I forgot to add, that's running WinXP Pro, SP1.

Hey - here's a good luck story
I have built around 20 systems, started with a Pent 133 then O/Clocked my next build MX200 @233 etc etc.
My last sys B4 this one was Asus A7V333 XP2100 but found stability was crappy and had all sorts of probs, even had board replaced. Anyway this is my new system, runs like a top, O/Clocks well, Mem running at CAS2 all the way and graphics card O/Clocked. All this and a rock solid stability !!!!!

GA-7VAXP Ultra Rev 1.2 Bios F3
XP2600+ 333FSB
Leadtek A280T AGP8X Ti4200 128 @ 300/550
Muhkin Lvl2 PC 2700 256MB
WD 80GB 8MB special HD master
Seagate Cuda 80GB slave
CDRW & DVD
Vantec 370 PSU

This thing is the ducks nuts, no complaints. It O/clocks up to 180FSB before crapping and that is with no voltage mods and aggressive mem settings.

All motherboards if you search the net have probs, some are caused by noobs not knowing, some are caused by 2 many beers while building sys (that's me last time) and some just get lemon boards.

I hesitated as I wanted an Nforce2, but this was available, was cheaper and was heavily spec'd with SATA drives F/W etc.

I love this board, it has been real good for me.
Temps have been around 40-45c CPU cooled by Thermaltake Volcano 9
Case temps around 38-40
Have played many 3D games for hours with no stability issues.

Luv it
AJ

I've finally allieviated my problems.

I removed the heatsink and fan and replaced it, swapped my memory around a bit and did some BIOS hacking and it runs stable finally.

AJ, your OC'n your 2600+, running 2 HD's and 2 ROMS and I'm assuming case fans all on a 370 w PSU??? :-p I'd replace that PSU after a bit cuz as they get older they supply less and less power. You don't want to lose any hardware from a psu.

Casanova
Happy Gaming