Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

[mockingbird]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

acstech:
I just finished my A8N-E (Recapped) nForce4 system today with Radeon 2900XT and so far it is absolutely rock solid.

If you want the drivers I'll be using, visit this thread:
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/xp-o...ks-t70968.html

Go to B. "Modded Driverpacks for Windows XP (32/64bit)" and get the non-AHCI version because nForce4 does not support AHCI (Though they claim it somehow supports NCQ without this).

I'm about to install the drivers, and will let you know how it goes.

[mockingbird]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

Ok, update:

I was getting BSOD with the file "ATI2DVAG", I thought it could either be the performance pack, or the Catalyst drivers.

So, first I tried installing the WHQL, and it took a little longer but eventually crashed. So I remember Catalyst crashing for a customer, so eventhough the latest one works fine for what I'm using now (HD3xxx), I tried the 10.8 for the 2900XT.

So far it hasn't crash. but Team Fortress 2 is updating, so when it finishes I'll throw at it a few "tests"

[pfrcom]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

I just finished my A8N-E (Recapped) nForce4 system today

Why did you recap the A8N-E ?

I'm just upgrading to an A8N-E - all except the tiny caps on mine are Panasonic FJs

Will try the drivers you've suggested

[mockingbird]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

Mine had UCC KZGs by the VRM and a few elsewhere. Everything else was Panasonic and some tiny Teapos on the top left corner which I didn't concern myself with. Replaced with Nichicon HM.

It is stable for now, TF2 is still downloading, but the crash I got was very similar to a new build on an 880G motherboard, so I'm pretty sure it was indeed the new Catalyst driver. Funny, the driver works solid on my Intel based system.

If everything is ok, I will go back to the performance pack from the WHQL.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

How about soldering the balls by hand

That sounds like it would hurt.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

Just trust me that I narrowed it down to the board in each instance. It did not happen on just the one board either.

"What has been seen cannot be unseen."

Remain skeptical if you want. I really don't care, nor do I have any point to prove here on the internet. I don't get anything for it. You asked, I shared. Period.

I didn't see it, there for it's unseen, and so I ask questions.

Shall we call you "Grumpy Mod" in the future?
.

[mockingbird]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

I didn't see it, there for it's unseen, and so I ask questions.

Shall we call you "Grumpy Mod" in the future?
.

Well my system is 100% stable, I'm going to go back to the performance nForce from whql. The problem was indeed the latest Catalyst drivers which seem to have issues with non-Intel chipsets (Including their own 8xx chipset).

I played Team Fortress 2 for a bit and the performance of this old Socket 939 + 2900XT system gave a Core i3 with a Radeon 5650 a run for its money.

Also a correction, my A8N-E doesn't have small Teapos in the top left corner, I was confusing it with the Foxconn... Indeed, everything on it besides the KZG was Panasonic.

[acstech]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

Shall we call you "Grumpy Mod" in the future?

Yes, please!

The reason it was unseen was that it would take more time, and space, than it's worth to explain my entire testing methodology on this forum. I can't be sitting on here all day; I've got work to do!

[Scenic]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

as far as i can tell, everything flip-chip & post-RoHS -> trash.
i've had GeForce 6800's and 7800/7900's fail with the very same symtoms like the G84/G86 GPUs (GF8400-8600). Plus a bunch of dead 8800/9800GT's and GTX's.

As for the chipsets..

- Gigabyte 73PVM-S2H Socket 775 (GeForce 7100 / nForce 630i) - doesn't wanna run stable whatever i do. added a fan to the NB heatsink as it was smoking hot (70°C).. made no difference anymore.. dead
- half a dozen Asus A8N series Socket 939 boards (nForce 4) - almost never POSTs, locks up if it does POST.
- 4 Foxconn GF6xxx series socket 939 boards - they don't always POST. if they do, they just lock up some time afterwards
- Biostar GF7025-M2 TE AM2 board (GeForce 7025 / nForce 630a) - random HDD glitches, sometimes lockups with corrupted graphics (onboard), no POST every 15 or so power ups..

everything older (up to nForce 3 and the GeForce FX5xxx graphics cards) doesn't seem to have those problems..
which is kinda interesting.. since those were pre-RoHS.. go figure..

[mockingbird]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

half a dozen Asus A8N series Socket 939 boards (nForce 4) - almost never POSTs, locks up if it does POST.

A8N boards are fine and nForce4 is fine after you change the KZG caps. I have one running 100% stable. Tested with BF1942, Jedi Outcast, Academy and soon Movie Battles 2.

I also use it to run Desert Combat dedicated server for when I have 4 way lan games with like 100 bots and 25% CPU.

[hardwareguy]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

Most NVIDIA chipset issues are in small laptops that run hot, this aggravates the RoHS issues they had.

nForce 1...the original socket A nForce. Meh....NF2 was way faster due to a dual channel memory interface, but it did work reasonably well. It's not common, I've seen exactly ONE board in the wild. You were better of with a KT400 and a GeForce 2MX....it didn't cost much more either.

nForce 2 was rock solid for the Athlon XP, its probably the best all round socket A chipset. Integrated video didn't suck too badly either.

nForce 3.... avoid. NF4 is much better and in my experience, much more reliable.

nForce 4 / nForce Professional 2200 is solid, just AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE the Forceware Network Access Manager. That bit of software has more bugs than a roach motel. It has caused BSODs on just about any nForce 4 system I've put it on.

nForce 5xx: A minor update to nForce 4. Nothing huge to write home about. Was not produced for very long, 6xx series followed shortly.

nForce 6xx....good except for no 45nm LGA775 support. (7xx fixed that). AMD variants are uncommon due to chipset competition from AMD.

6150 on laptops is troublesome sometimes, in desktops its usually OK. 7150 has a similar feature set. Two southbridges are available, thee 410 and the 430. The 430 is the one to get, it has gigabit Ethernet. The 6100 and 7100 versions are a slightly reduced feature set version of the 6150 and 7150 respectively. These cheap chipsets are usually paired with the 410 southbridge.

G84 is fine on desktops in my experience, laptops occasionally had heating issues. All the other chips are basically solid.

[pfrcom]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

nForce 1...the original socket A nForce. Meh....NF2 was way faster due to a dual channel memory interface, but it did work reasonably well. It's not common, I've seen exactly ONE board in the wild. You were better of with a KT400 and a GeForce 2MX....it didn't cost much more either.

Here's one, using the nForce 420D chipset - given to me because of bad caps

Also has "Twinbank Memory Architecture/128-bit DDR memory controller"

[gixie]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

@mockingbird
Hi,
I'm about to do the same with an identical board. I am pretty sure that that's the problem with my board too.
Could you send me a pic with the locations of the caps that you changed (and if possible with the specs of the caps)?
Thanks in advance!

acstech:
I just finished my A8N-E (Recapped) nForce4 system today with Radeon 2900XT and so far it is absolutely rock solid.

If you want the drivers I'll be using, visit this thread:
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/xp-o...ks-t70968.html

Go to B. "Modded Driverpacks for Windows XP (32/64bit)" and get the non-AHCI version because nForce4 does not support AHCI (Though they claim it somehow supports NCQ without this).

I'm about to install the drivers, and will let you know how it goes.

[mockingbird]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

Sure, my board is working great, I played hours of Movie Battles 2 on it with a Radeon 2900XT without a hitch. Very fast, though not fast enough to keep me over 20fps with all settings maxxed out. I'm debating whther it's a CPU or GPU bottleneck.

I cans end you a pic, but keep in mind that all A8N-Es are different. The board has a mix of UCC and was it Rubycon I think, but Asus interchanged them.

Essentially, you want to replace all the brown capacitors with the honeycomb vents on top. If you can post a picture of the board, as well as a list of the caps with their location indicated, I would be glad to show you what you need.

[gixie]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

Here's the image:



Uploaded with *************
Now, the caps are as follows:
1 - KZG 1500uf, 6.3V, the red rectangle
2 - KZG 1000uf, 16V, the blue rectangle
3 - looks like KZG too, 100uf, 16v, the green rectangles
4 - no clue about the manufacturer, 820uf, 8.3V, the yellow rectangles
5 - no clue about the manufacturer, looks like #4, but different specs, like #1, 1500uf, 6.3V, the purple rectangle.

Let me know if you can understand everything properly. And also, which ones I have to change...Looks like, from what I've read, the culprits are the #1's.
...And thanks for your support!

[yyonline]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

Your unknown capacitors appear to be Panasonic, which are very reliable.

Replace all your KZG capacitors and your board should be good. As for the KZG-like capacitors, only KZG and KZJ are bad. KZE and the other series by the same manufacturer are reliable.

I'd also check the small fan while you have the board out of the case. They like to seize up. Replacing it while its apart would be pretty easy.

[Scenic]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

^ those stupid fans killed a lot of those A8N series boards.
i've seen tons of them where the fan was seized solid or just barely moved..

chipset runs at 90+°C if the fan fails.. kills the chip pretty quickly

[delaware74b]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

I had an A8N-E board (still in use) where the fan started to scream when the so-called bearings dried up. Put a drop of 3-in-1 oil in it until the replacement fan arrived. I also have an A8N-SLI Deluxe, which is actually older and the fan started to fail last August. I also did the 3-in-1 trick until I got the new fan.

I've rescued a couple of 120mm fans the same way and they're still in use.

[gixie]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

I had an A8N-E board (still in use) where the fan started to scream when the so-called bearings dried up. Put a drop of 3-in-1 oil in it until the replacement fan arrived. I also have an A8N-SLI Deluxe, which is actually older and the fan started to fail last August. I also did the 3-in-1 trick until I got the new fan.

I've rescued a couple of 120mm fans the same way and they're still in use.

Thanks for the tip...BTW what is 3-in-1 oil? Will jig-a-loo work?
Thanks

[mockingbird]

Re: Which nVidia mobo chipsets are bad?

I indicated with an arrow what needs to be replaced. Please confirm that they are all 8mm in width. They should be either 16V 1000uF or 6.3V 1500uF.

For the 16V 1000uF:
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...E4E2mSMph7c%3d

For the 6.3V 1500uF:
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...LJ%252bKVJk%3d