Well I can honestly say that since my last post at the start of the month I've had a lovely stable system. I've binned the Gigashyte board and am running my old AT7 MAX2 with all the things listed below and I've had not a single crash, BSoD or application freeze.

I firmly stand by my belief that Gigabyte have lost the plot!

Throughout this post, I have seen various post's where the 166 MHz FSB switch has been mentioned.

I have the GA-7VAXP v1.2, and my FSB switch only has 100MHz or Auto. In my case, with a XP1800, that meens 133MHz FSB.

Where is this switch to put it into 166MHz FSB mode? If this exists it would be fantastic....

Again on the Northbridge chipset fan... You don't need a fan. Just a heatsink. I mentioned one site http://www.endpcnoise.com that carries such a heatsink.

J.

Andy,

If you want to get your Gigabyte to 166MHz look here.


relevent page:
http://www.aouj17.dsl.pipex.com/disparity/Case/other_modifications.htm

Site

http://www.disparity.co.uk

jaymes.. you can download norton from kazaa. i got 2003 systemworks from there among other things. get the lite version or better still use bottler instead or winmx.

always scan files that you DL cos there are some wierd people about.

BTW i still like this mobo even though my 3x512/400DDR only works at 333mhz.. thats life.. it doesnt appear to be that much slower. i had some issues at first but it was due to the PSU now i run a 450w it is sweet and quiet. My probs now are all software related but im happy.

On Aug 28, 2002, a guy named Scott Moran started a thread with a seemingly innocent question "Howdy - Does anybody have the Gigabyte GA-7VAXP motherboard?"

Little did he know the size and scope of the CAN he was opening.

Andy,
Go reading above...you will find much about forcing 166 FSB.

Instead man i wanted to post about Overclocking XP 2200+ to 2400+ @166*12

My mobo found the cpu as 2400+ and it was fine but there are problems in handling bios calls and irq calls.My OS crashed totally with no way to rescue it, so i formatted and tryed to reinstall everything, but no installation went on...always crashing during plug and "pray" stuff.
also win2k installation crashed showing bad irq call etc etc.
The again i put Cpu multiplier to 11 (166*11=1836 Mhz not too far from XP2200+ 133*13.5=1800Mhz) and voilą every kind of error i got during installation desappeared.

I have F11 bios update...but is 2400+ a barton core?

Maybe taht forcing FSB and CPU Multiplier to a Burton ONE(like 2400+(???it is?) 2600+ etc etc)make Bios use some kind of different handling result in system crash when u are using an overclocked CPU(Not a barton one).

Anybody tryed to overclock cpu to theese values? Had you problem?(What kind of bios version do u use?)Tryed non barton settings?(166*12.5 or different)

The 2400xp is not a Barton core they start from 2600xp onwards.

Sorry that should onwards from 2400xp i think it goes to Barton i.e.2500xp etc

On the note of these bards crashing etc....i have the GA-7VAX and had all the problem that everyone else as had bar RAID support etc that does not come with my version. I have managed to cure this problem as it seemed to be related to not haveing a good enough HSF i repalced my stock piece of pooh HSF for a big mother Globalwin CAK4-88T which brought my 2400xp down to a more sensible temp. I set the dip switches to the proper setting i.e CPU Clock switch SW1 to auto as the 2400xp has a 266mhz FSB and the other dipps (CLK_RATIO) to 15x... now i am happy to say this board touch wood, has been as it should be..... rock solid. So please please check you CPU temp as this might be a issue to you problems.


Cheers.....

It's not a temp problem...I have thermaltake volcano 9 and it's keeping my cpu temp not over 40°C

if your 2200 is not stable at 2400 w/166 fsb, try it at 133, if you still have problems, try turning up the voltage to the chip. i overclocked my 1800 with 166, it gave me a few problems, but they went away with a voltage increase. (but a voltage increase can damage the chip, so be careful)

mmmm i don't think so.
In my opinion it's a bios problem....i would try later some other ways to tune up the cpu freq.

I think it's some kind of different handling of the CPU by mobo bios if it's a barton one. i would try an unknown freq and multiplier or at last to change again bios: my actual F11 to F10 (on gigabyte site F11 bios says:added support for barton cpu)

the F13 bios has proven very stable ... also remember to install the VIA 4-in-1 drivers and any other drivers on the CD-rom included with the MoBo (or go to Giga-byte.com and download them ...) I had massive problems running graphics apps now I can have them all running with no problem at all
specs:

AMD 2400+ (2.018Mhz)
512Meg DDR 333
nVidia 4x AGP
20GiG system
40GiG media
Onboard sound, network, IEEE-1394
Bios F13 rev

Hi all,

Firstly , these forum threads been really useful for me..so Thx everyone whos posted so far.

It was my 1st time with a gigabyte board and so difficult to get to find out how to o/c..This is really the only place to get good info

This is my proces to finally get my 2400 up to speed on a GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 m/b

1) - 1 stick of 512 DDR400 Kingston Value ram (its winbond so it is tested and authourised by gigabyte for the board). I'm sure others will work

2) - Do the link wire "trick" across the pins on the socket. Nice this one as the processor doesnt need the L3 mod and its simple to install. Set the dip switchs to >12.5 multiplier and the fsb dip switch to 166.

3) download the F13 Pro bios from http://www.lumberjacker.de (see prevoius post on this forum. Just download and install via the @bios utility.

4) Bios - Set Ram to Fast, Set FSB at 180Mhz, set Vcore to +5%, Set PCI/AGP to PLL/24....

The PLL settings option is a wierd one - so heres a tableto explain :-

Pll 16 = FSB/4
pll 20 = FSB/5
pll 24 = FSB/6
pll 32 = FSB/8
pll 40 = FSB/10

This is the best "new" bit in the hacked bios as it gets round the PCI/AGP going up when you o/c the FSB.

Save and exit... reboot and ......

[ WCPUID Version 3.1a (c) 1996-2002 By H.Oda! ]

Processor #1 : AMD Athlon XP (Model / 30913BDA
Platform : Socket A (Socket 462)
Vendor String : AuthenticAMD
CPU Type : Original OEM Processor (0)
Family : 6 (7)
Model : 8 (8)
Stepping ID : 1 (1)
Brand : ----
APIC : ----
HT Log.CPU Cnt : ----
Name String : AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2800+

Internal Clock : 2249.99 MHz
System Bus : 360.00 MHz DDR
System Clock : 180.00 MHz
Multiplier : 12.5

L1 I-Cache : 64K Byte
L1 D-Cache : 64K Byte
L1 T-Cache : ----
L1 Cache : ----
L2 Cache : 256K Byte
L2 Speed : 2249.99 MHz (Full)

MMX Unit : Supported
SSE Unit : Supported
SSE2 Unit : Not Supported
MMX2 Unit : Supported
3DNow! Unit : Supported
3DNow!+ Unit : Supported

Host Bridge : 1106:3189.00 [VIA Apollo KT400]
South Bridge : 1106:3177.00 [VIA VT8233A]
VGA Device : 1002:4966.01 [ATI RADEON 9000 Series]
Memory Size : 512M Byte
Memory Clock : ----

OS Version : Windows XP Version 5.01.2600 Service Pack 1
-------------- : -----------------------------------
Date 05/25/2003, Time 12:25:35

I'm sure you guys can do better, but its a start and proof that the Gigabyte board can be o/c with success.

Oh, BTW.... Idle temp is 41.1 degrees and load 46.3 degrees... a 2 degree change over standard. NOTE :- BUT cpu heatsink was designed for a 2800+ (and lapped) 1 input fan, 2 output fans..so you may have to increase cooling on your system.

Hope this helps someone


Toaster193

Oh, BTW...

In the above config, with this ram, Ram settings are (cntrl + F1)...new option inbios appears....

ULTRA and Fast set to ULTRA.... leave everting else.

And Dont load top performance option... as prevoius poster stated... screws up the board.

Not ;- this etting will load PCI above normal freq... I only use a 9000 Pro II in the AGP and so its ok....(unsed PCI clocks are set to off in bios)

Anyopne with cards in the PCI bus, may have probs due to timing above normal.

Toaster193

I've been having massive stability problems with my GA-7VAXP Ultra, which has only a few slight differences from the GA-7VAXP, including RAID support and serial ATA. thats about it though.

I'l just copy and pase what i've posted on other board maybe you guys can help me. I'm considering trashing this board or trying to get my money back as i just bought it.

----------------------------------

I just upgraded my processor and motherboard and when trying to install windows i get a crapload of errors:

-Errors Partitioning Drive as NTFS Sometimes
-Errors Installing Windows XP Files
-BSOD During Widnows Installation
-BSOD After Windows Installation
-Spontanteous Reboot And "Click" Sound When Windows Is Finally Installed.
-Maxtor Diagnostic Tool PowerMax Cannot Detect Drive
-Maxtor Diagnostic Tool PowerMax Gives Errors Determining the Partition Status of the drive
-ScanDisk Found NO ERRORS On All Tests

I've tried everything i can think of and even if i get windows to install, it just reboots out of nowhere. Theres no BSOD, just the screen goes black and it posts.

Here's my Setup:
-AMD Athlon XP 2500+ *Brand New*
-Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Ultra KT400 *Brand New*
-Chaintek GeForce 4 Ti4600
-Corsair CMX-512C2 Memory (333mhz DDR, CAS 2, 512mb)
-Allied 400W Power Supply w/dual fans


I thought the problem was origionally the hard drive, it's a Maxtor 40gb 7200rpm drive thats about a year old. After many fustrating hours trying to get windows to work, i tried installing it on another drive i have, a Samsung 40gb 5400rpm i had sitting around. The installation went PERFECTLY with the other drive but i still get the spontaneous rebooting. I have no idea what to do! and updating windows doesent seem to do anything about the rebooting.

My guess is that the Maxtor drive IS broken, at least a little bit. I think the partition tables are permenantly screwed up since windows installation sometimes gives errors when trying to partition and format. However, since it still does the
rebooting with the other drive, i'm thinking theres more to this than i can figure out.

please help

Update:

Got errors partitioning my samsung drive for windows installation, after windows
started rebooting again. WAnted to try a fresh install again.

I think my windows XP CD might be messed up... Thats unlikely however.

Still stumped on the problem....

---------------------------------

ok i've figured out all my problems, i'll post the solutions here in case someone else needs them someday.

A) the problems partitioning where due to a flakey KT400 chip. Someone posted on another board that they had the same problems partitioning. My hard drive is fine, since all of my hard drives where having problems partitioning.

B) the spontaneous rebooting was due to the fact that I had an auto-shutdown feature turned on for the SYSTEM FAN. there is NO fan plugged into that power lead on the motherboard so it always read 0 RPM, causing the computer to panic and reboot. It may also be due to a twitchey temp sensor on the processor that gives false readings from time to time. In bios it read the temp perfectly. I have turned off the auto-shut-off feature for the CPU temp and the rebooting stopped. it may still be due to the system fan thing, i havent tried turning it back on yet.

C) my problems installing my promise card drivers where just bad drivers, i could not get the correct drivers off of the gigabyte website, but i found a zip file containing more up-to-date drivers on my mobo CD, they where sorta hidden somewhere and i did not see them at first. these drivers fixed that problem.

my computer wont boot now, windows\system32\config\system file is corrupt, i'm reinstalling windows now to9 fix that.

Everything seems to be running alright now. thanks for all those who helped me with this problem.

everything is NOT running fine. I turned off the auto-shut-off stuff and that helped alot. but it still randomly reboots itself. not as often though.

I think the motherboard is just plain broke.

-------------------------------------

I've put my old XP1800 into the oard and it overheats like crazy. should be running at 37C but it runs more like 54C. Its still unstable, though not as bad.

I wrote a very nasty message to Giga-Byte who has ignored all of my other mesages so far. I'm gonna try and get my money back, this board is a POS!

here are a few things I ran into with the GA-7VAXP
and a few questions and solutions:

1) flash the bios with the latest version .... (F13 is the latest if you havent already doneso)

1a) do not (AS IN DONT USE) the "Top Performance" it should be TPIA (Top Pain In (the) Assinine area of (you get the picture))
if you are not using the raid ... dissable it in BIOS...

2) hard drive ... since you need to flash the bios with a Dos disk ( win9x works well too) make sure you have the old FDisk utility on there as well ... (best yet a low level format) re work the drive then reinstall winXP)
I had an instance where I got a message that I didnt have a Valid XP disk ... nothing that a little force feeding didnt hurt...

after installing XP before you get ANY updates or install ANY programs/games ... install the VIA 4-in-1 drivers from the Giga-byte website.... I think there is a newer version then there is on the accompaning CD-ROM install any audio drivers that comes with the board... the only thing that XP should install properly is the USB 2.0 drivers ... and what ever video drivers needed ...
after all that I have a stable system that has been running for 12 days and not a burp ... before ... I had crahses and reboots left and right ... as for the shutting down : it seems as if you have that solved ... go through the bois again with a fine tooth comb after re-flashing ( dont use the internet update its a P.I.T.A.)
hope this helps ...
muchPEACE

first off i have a GA-7VAXP Ultra, not the same motherboard.

There is only up to version F4 for this motherboard on the site.

this is NOT the same motherboard as the GA-7VAXP, its the new Ultra version. however from reading here i can see that people are having alot of the same problems.

the RAID promise thing is in ATA mode and i need it, i have 6 drives total, and i use them all, all the time.

I installed the 4-in-1 drivers off the site the first thing, i've done that. i'll try disabling the top proformance thing but i think i've tried that before and i got no results at all.

BTW - i've already put this thing through RMA to the peopel who sold it to me, i'm sending it in this afternoon. The processor might also be to blame since it runs better with my old one. Its a godo thing i bought my processor and motherboard from the same place too, they are going to test both of them for me.