Have been fighting this for over 6 months and am going to try this one last time. The mobo is revision 1.10 and I have upgraded the BIOS to 1012 per ASUS recommendations. The CPU is a Thoroughbreed Model 8 Rev. 80. Can NOT get my system to boot when I set the FSB to 133 and the multiplier to 16 per AMD specifications. Will boot at 133 and 15X, will even boot at 132 and 18x. Has ANYBODY been able to get this mobo and cpu to play together the way they are suppossed to

Your 2600 XP is unlocked?

YO

I guess you are using jumper mode. Is that correct?

YO

Are you sure your multiplier is actually changing? I'd be willing to bet your CPU is "multiplier-locked".

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8 x 210MHz
512MB PC3200
Asus Ti4800SE 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro

they need to set the jen jumpers to jumper free mode Jam. I thought the bios update only took the mobo up to a 2100xp. hmmm???

YO

According to ASUS this mobo should accept the 2600+. I am running in jumper free mode. With the BIOS upgrade there is no way of telling the correct jumper positions to obtain a 16x multiplier. To the best of my knowledge this chip is NOT locked.

"With the BIOS upgrade there is no way of telling the correct jumper positions to obtain a 16x multiplier"

EXACTLY! Your board settings only go as high as 12.5x...any higher is either autodetect, or a BIOS setting. I still doubt that you have an unlocked CPU, unless it's almost 2 yrs old.

I just had a look at your manual. It looks pretty straight-forward to me. In the Advanced Menu:

CPU Internal Frequency = MANUAL
CPU Frequency Multiple = 16.0x
System/SDRAM/PCI = 133/133/33
CPU Vcore = 1.65v

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8 x 210MHz
512MB PC3200
Asus Ti4800SE 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro

Cane,

If you have dip switches, I'm talkin about the ones down and to the right, they should all be switched to the left. The jen an vid pin jumpers just above the switches should both be jumpered on pins 2 & 3. Is that how you got it set up?

YO

The manual is useless when you upgrade the BIOS to 1012. Some of the old settings are no longer there and there are several new settings. For example the System/SDRAM/PCI settings now read 133/33, 132/32, etc. (undoubtedly there is now no way to set SDRAM settings) and the multiplier settings go as high as 18 whereas they used to stop at 12.5.

As to the dip switch settings I am set jumperless as I stated earlier. By the way YO the jen is set to 2-3 and the vid to 1-2 as stated in the manual

Sorry, I set my vid jumpers to 2 & 3 so I could up the CPU voltage if needed. So when you go into bios, does the FSB show 133 and the multiplier 16?

YO

I can set the FSB to 133/33 and the multiplier to 16 but the #$%@ thing won't boot at these settings. That is why I am asking if anyone out there has been able to get this mobo and chip to work because I haven't.

By the way YO, I think that you can still change the cpu core voltage in the BIOS in jumperless mode if you set the vid jumper to 1-2 as I am doing.

Cane,

Could you show me a link to where it says that the 1012 bios update for an A7A266 mobo will support a 2600XP? The last time I read it said up to 2100XP, I think. I have two of these mobos. And one is updated. I think that where I saw it, but not sure.

YO

YO,
Try the following. If you go to the ASUS web sight then click on support then select motherboard then a7a266 it should take you there.

http:/www.asus.com/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx

Yep! It's in there. Athlon XP 2600+(266FSB)(Model 8)(Thoroughbred).

L@@Ks like I need the 1008 for my 2100 Palomino. Hm!

Thanks!

YO

Cane,

Don't know what to tell you but try downloading again from a different site if possible. Could have been a bad download.

Good Luck!

YO

As far as I know the only place the BIOS upgrade is available from is ASUS. If you know of another location please let me know. By the way I also tried the 1013 beta bios and have the same problem with it.

If anyone else out there has any ideas I look forward to hearing them.

This article was probably written before the 2600XP, don't know though.

http://www.search.com/click?sl,marin.1.118.1436.1.7.a7a266.0,http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Edansdata%2Ecom%2Fa7ahack%2Ehtm

YO

I updated the bios with all the versions mentioned before, but the A7A266 does not except CPU higher than 2100XP.
I have a 2000XP, 2100XP and 2200XP, I tried them all but only the 2200XP didn't work very well. The jumperfree or other mode didn't make any sense. I bought an Asrock K7S41 MB for the 2200XP and that works great.