Multiple Restarts, PSU Problem?

[PC eye]

Memtest.org has a version of memtest that can be burned to cd-rs if you have a cd writer available. I forgot to mention that item earlier unfortunately. Your friend has apparently come to same or similar conclusion with basically the same bad news on the board. Asus does have a fast response on things like ordering a new bios chipset for about $25- plus S+H. In order to have them install and test that you will need an RMA. The following was received direct from Asus regarding the A7N8X2.0 Deluxe model board here.
"Thank you for your support for our products!

Here is the BIOS pricing guide, along with the procedure to obtain a new/reflashed BIOS chip.


Pricing Guide for Continental United States Orders:

REFLASHED CHIP - Customer mails in their BIOS chip.

Flash sent UPS Ground (roughly 2-10 days)...$5.00 (this price covers S&H…the flash is free)

Flash sent UPS Overnight (next day)...$20.00 (this price covers S&H! …the flash is free)

NEW CHIP

New chip sent UPS Ground (roughly 2-10 days)...$25.00 (this price covers the chip and S&H)

New chip sent UPS Overnight (next day)...$40.00 (this price covers the chip and S&H)

Pricing Guide for Hawaii and Puerto Rico Orders:

REFLASHED CHIP (Customer's original BIOS chip)

Flash sent UPS 2nd Day (2 days)...$20.00 (this price covers S&H…the flash is free)

Flash sent UPS Overnight (next day)...$30.00 (this price covers S&H…the flash is free)

NEW CHIP

New chip sent UPS 2nd Day (2 days)...$35.00 (this price covers the chip and S&H)

New chip sent UPS Overnight (next day)...$55.00 (this price covers the chip and S&H)

We can only ship UPS 2nd Day Air, or Overnight, to Hawaii.

Pricing Guide for Canadian Orders:

FLASHED OR NEW CHIP - Via FEDEX Ground Delivery

$35.00 (standard price for Canada)

We cannot ship Overnight to Ca! nada due to customs.

Sending Bios Chips Through the Mail

Make sure to include the BIOS chip, your name, mailing address, daytime phone number, motherboard model number, version of the BIOS you would like flashed and payment to the address below.

***************************IMPORTANT NOTICE*************************

When you send a chip to be flashed, you must put the chip in a hard, protective container. If not, the chip could possibly arrive damaged.

We DO NOT accept entire motherboards, only BIOS chips. Also, we do not accept damaged BIOS chips, so please package your BIOS securely (see the notice above). We can only send BIOS chips within the Continental United States, Hawaii and Canada.

********************************************************************

Please note that the following boards have BIOS chips that may be non-removable:
CUSL2-C
CUSL2
P4T
P4T-E
P4B
CUR-DLS
CUSI-FX

If the BIOS chip is not in a socket, and is instead soldered d! irectly to the motherboard, you must contact our RMA department for BIOS repairs. You may contact them by telephone @ 510-739-3777 option 3, or e-mail them at:

[email protected]

Please provide your case number and your motherboard's serial number when contacting them.


Methods of Payment

To place an order over the phone, we accept MasterCard or Visa. If you choose to send payment through the mail, we accept personal checks (but not starter checks), company checks, and money orders. WE DO NOT HAVE A BILLING OPTION. If you wish to purchase a chip through the mail and want to pay with a credit card:

DO NOT SEND CREDIT CARD INFORMATION THROUGH THE MAIL. Please attach a letter advising us to contact you for payment information.

Please send BIOS chips to:

ASUS Technology
Attn: BIOS Dept
7100 Intermodal Drive
Suite A
Louisville, KY 40258


Please do not respond to this email. If you need further assistance please contact our BIOS department at 502-995-0883 x690 7, or 502-271-6907 (direct line)."

Hopefully you have the pullout type of chip there on that model. The old Socket A board is most likely soldered in. But the new AMD64 3500+ awaits the arrival of a new Asus A8N SLI board with an MSI Radeon X1300 Pro to replace the headaches seen here lately. Remember to download a good iso image from http://www.memtest.org to test the memory anyways. I was looking at MSI boards for the next planned build. But as you can see from the active support offered by Asus... it's worth a few bucks for shipping to have them go through the setup and testing of the new chipset.

 

[SFG99]

Thanks again, actually now I am 99.9% positive that Asus was right about it being a faulty memory stick. I am only running 512 MB now, however, the computer runs like she used to. I guess I learned a lesson to not buy the cheapest ram that I can find. Games are running fine now, 3dMark went without stalling, (though it ran at 1 FPS at some points lol,) The boot process is flawless, and I can multitask without my system crashing. All is well here in my home away from home. Thanks.

 

[PC eye]

I've been pushing the mark a little with Kingston Value Ram(2x1gb) for several months now on the older Socket A board here. I got a price break on those after memtest reported some 4 errors seen on a pair of Corsair xms series performance dimms. The Kingstons lately saw 573? No errors seen when tested separately. I'll be testing the Corsairs on the new board to see if there were any actual flaws or it was due to a now failing bios chipset.

Installing a good brand and no generic whatevers along with no mismatches of memory types will see a good running system. Good brands of memory do cost for a reason though. You don't have to replace them often like you would buying the generic crap. Corsair Value Select along with other name brands do get good reviews at times.