This board just doesn't like me...
Written: Sep 03 '00 (Updated Oct 04 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great manuals, easy to configure
Cons: BIOS flashing is an iffy proposition
|
|
|
| kurt_h's Full Review: Asus K7V |
I love Asus products! Really!! I love the Asus P-65UP5-CPKND dual PII processor board that I purchased a number of years ago and it is still doing very useful duty as my backup machine. And when the time came to upgrade to a new machine I went directly to Asus and the K7V. What's not to like about this board? It supports the fastest CPU on the market, a ton of SDRAM, ATA/66 and even has extended boards with good audio and other features built right in. And it was one of those boards that I purchased.
The installation and instructions were easy to follow and I was quickly putting this board with an Athlon 800 and 256 MB of 100 MHz SDRAM from Corsair into my SC-750A case. Room to spare! Hooked up a new ATA/66 hard disk, scsi card, network card, a brand new Asus6800 deluxe graphics card and all of my other peripherals. Started it up and was getting the bios up to snuff, no problem. Attempted to install Windows2000Pro and the system crashed with a hardware error. Not good at all!
A couple of install attempts and still came up with the same error. A quick check at the Asus web site and found that the latest bios fixed some of the install errors on Win2k. Format a floppy on another system, put in the bios utility and the bios image, go back to the new system flash the bios and re-boot. Goes through the POST (Power On Self Test) and hangs without an error. Very Bad! Talk to the reseller a bit and return the board after trying out a new BIOS chip.
Decided to try out the plain version of the board as I now have spare parts galore. Different case, slightly different configuration due to the addition of sound card. Boot up, tweak BIOS (nothing fancy, just the standard what to boot from and such like menus). Attempt to install Win2k and get the same hardware hang on the latest BIOS. Check the web site and yet another version of the BIOS is out... read the above and find out why I returned the board. Yup, bad flash of the BIOS (new disk, new downloads). Exchange board for new one and...
Well, after all of this I am bound and determined to get this board to work somehow! At this point I'm looking to make it a light duty print and file server on my home network. I finally ended up with the latest board from Abit for my main computer and it works like a charm! If you can get the Asus board to work for you on the BIOS it ships with, then you'll be fine. But beware of the flashing program from Asus! It has made two boards un-bootable and this last one will not get flashed at all.
UPDATE: This board is finally working! Although the add-on cards are not great (with a SB Live! card, an old Matrox Millenium and a USB ethernet adapter) it will now serve as my machine to run "Livin' Large!" the add-on to "The Sims". But it wasn't worth the headache of trying to get maximum performance from this motherboard. I still like Asus products, but will also add Abit to the short list of those makers I'll consider for my next system upgrade as their KA7-100 board is superior (in my case) to the Asus K7V.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 136
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
kurt_h
|
 - Top 1000 |
|
Location: Sterling, VA
Reviews written: 967
Trusted by: 169 members
About Me:
A reader of SF and fantasy, and an enjoyer of liquid refreshment now and again.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.