Which Motherboard Do You Prefer???

M

micky_d01

New Member
Hey all,

PLEASE HELP!!!

I bought a PC about 2.5yrs ago that came with the "ASUS P4S800-MX SE Socket 478 Motherboard". After working fine for a while (under an Intel 3.2GHz with HT technology processor) and supporting games like GTA:ViceCity (which I think is an awsome game :D), the computer randomly self destructed (not actually blew up but you get the idea). After visiting the PC tech guy and watching him replace the ASUS motherboard with the "ASRock P4i65GV Socket 478 DDR400" motherboard, the computer was up and running again. Ever since that day, when I try to play GTA:ViceCity - after about one minute of gaming (even at the lowest Audio/Visual settings), the screen goes blue with an error message saying its "beginning to dump all the memory" or somthing like that followed by "this may be due to newly installed hardware, etc. The PC will automatically restart in 30 sec... 29... 28... 27... etc". So now I can't play the games anymore :(. Does anyone know anything about these two motherboards? Is the ASrock no good? Or was it just installed incorrectly? What should I check / look for?
Other (older) games like GTA3 and even C&C:Generals work on the ASrock board, while games like GTA:ViceCity and GTA:SanAndreas always send the system into malfunction.

PLEASE HELP!!! Thanks.
 
oscaryu1 ur a posting machine! Thanks champ!

He only charged me for the cost of the new motherboard cos it was the same dude who I bought the PC from initially.
No I don't remember reformating the computer when he did it.
How do I reformat my computer?
Does that mean I lose all HDD data?
The HDD that was in the PC at the time he switched motherboards has since been changed to a brand new one (I don't think I formated the HDD then either, just plug n played n it's working now).
If I install the game now do you think it will work?
Thanks heaps!
 
Asus has held a good rep for a good number of years for gaming builds while Asrock is on the lllowww end of the list of makes as far as quality is concerned. Gigabyte, MSI, DFI, Abit are some of the other names to consider when swapping boards out. But even then oscaryu1 has a good point on the need to see a clean install of Windows since that's a major hardware change needing that board's drivers/softwares installed.
 
You really need to do a fresh install of windows. Like was said, when you change a motherboard to one that has different chip sets, you need to reformat.
 
I see, I will do a reformat of the drive and reinstallation of Window. But then what array of drivers do you suggest I Install / Download?
 
One thing right off would be the driver set for that make and model board. That will include drivers for the memory controllers, anything onboard if it has video while most have sound. Those you find at the board manufacturer's support site when looking up the model you have there. That would be Asrock's site for you unless that just happens to be a discontinued model. The driver, bios update, and support link lead to a page cannot be found screen when tried at http://www.asrockamerica.com/Products/P4i65gv.htm Try the contact us link for archived driver sets. They may email you a link.
 
Hey thanks PC eye. Using your link I found the drivers. They must not sell these motherboards worldwide, so when going to the Australian site, I got this page which looks right. Sorry for not specifying that I'm an Aussie before.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?Model=P4i65G&s=
I see a warning for updating the BIOS on the page. Can anyone shed some light on what tricks to use or what to look out for when updating the BIOS?
Any other drivers I should look into? Do I need to DL drivers off the motherboard CD ASWELL as from the site? I'm thinking I should DL directX, correct?
 
First Direct X comes directly from Microsoft only. That's simply a set of 3D as well as FX effects type drivers for both video and sound allowing hardwares namely your video and sound to use those for things like visual and audio effects seen in games. I'm glad you were still able to locate the updates for everything.

The older versions of the bios on most boards requires preparation of a boot floppy in order to use a dos type flash tool. The post screen when you first start will shpw the current version that bios is programmed with. If it's a lower number then seen at the support page you may want to review the board's manual and any online instruction seen for backing the current and updating with a newer version. The new file usually needs a copy at the root of the hard drive as well as on the floppy used in order to enter the old then new in one line of text.

With Asus that would be "REN" old bios number - one digit blank space - then new bios version number and a simple press of the enter key to see the indicator show the process. Then you simply restart the system and see if the flash was good and the new version listed at post. But it's vital to follow the Asrock instructions to the letter to see a good flash with their own utility for this.

Newer boards have things like EZ-Flash as a feature or you could see if there's a Windows download instead of the floppy method to make things easier there. On many older boards you didn't see that as an option. Hopefully Asrock has this available. The driver sets you download usually are in cip or exe form for self extracting an installer to see the entire set installed. That would include all drivers needed for the board. The disk will also have utilities seen there maybe even the bios update tool.
 
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