Epox EP8-RDA vs EP8-RDA+

[Ruler2112]

OK guys, this is gonna be a strange one, but rest assured, it's all true.

I have 3 machines, A, B, and C. (Imaginatively named, I know. ) They are as follows:

Machine A has an EP8-RDA motherboard, 1 512 meg stick of PC2100 Crucial DDR, a standard NIC, AMD1700+ CPU, 300 watt PS, and an Evercool ND18 heatsink.

Machine B has an EP8-RDA+ motherboard, 1 256 meg stick of PC2100 Crucial DDR, AMD 1700+ CPU, 300 watt PS, and an Evercool ND18 heatsink.

Machine C is in a really cool looking case with a window and lighted fan on the side, although the fan currently isn't hooked up because the side of the case is sitting in the corner. It has an EP8-RDA+ motherboard, 1 512 meg stick of PC2700 Crucial DDR, AMD1700+ CPU, 350 watt PS, and an Evercool ND18 heatsink.


The problem comes with the video. I have 3 video cards, as such:

Video card 1 is a blue card with a GeForce2 MX400 chip on it. It has 64 megs of RAM and a 4x AGP interface.

Video card 2 is a red card with a GeForce2 MX400 chip on it. It also has 64 megs of RAM and a 4x AGP interface. It is made by Palit.

Video card 3 is a blood red card (looks really cool) with a GeForce4 440SE chip on it. It likewise has 64 megs of RAM, but also has a composite TV out jack.



Here's the weird parts, as well as why I put this in the MB forum.

Video card 1 works in Machine A perfectly- high color and high resolution. However, in Machine B and Machine C, it only works at 640x480@16 colors. I've tried more drivers than I knew existed for it, including the ones that work perfectly with Machine A, all with the same result. (Running 98SE.)

Video card 2 works in Machine B, but only at 640x480@16 colors, again trying multiple drivers. In Machine A and Machine C, there is no signal going to the monitor (amber light on the monitor). This is exceedingly strange to me.

Video card 3 works in Machine B and Machine C, but also only at 640x480@16 colors. I have not yet tried this card in Machine A because, quite frankly, I'm worried about screwing up Windoze on my work machine. I'll probably burn an image of the partition and give it a go tommorrow, as I've reached the limits of sanity where these cards are concerned.


Video Card 2 can be used in Machine B no problem; it's actually the machine I bought it for. I'm more than a little curious as to why it works only in one specific machine and not 2 others, both of which are virtually identical.

The problem with the decreased resolution is another matter entirely. 640x480@16 colors is not acceptable for either Machine B or Machine C, but I'm out of ideas. The only thing I can think of is that there is some difference in the motherboards between the EP8-RDA in Machine A and the EP8-RDA+ in Machine B and Machine C. Had anybody had anything like this happen to them, know of anybody that has had this happen to them, or most importantly, know how to fix it?

To be honest, I no longer know what to do. This doesn't happen to me very often where computers are concerned; most people I know turn to *me* when *they* have problems! I have only you guys to consult when I have problems and unfortunately, I've had far too many recently.

[Ruler2112]

BTW, I've already tried disabling the onboard sound (as the RDA+ has better sound than the RDA), the USB ports (as the + has 2 more), and the firewire ports (again, not on the RDA). The same problem with resolution/color depth exists.

[Ruler2112]

OK, new information. Video Card 3 works fine in Machine A. This almost proves it's the motherboard, does it not? What difference between these two boards would cause this type of problem???

[Ruler2112]

<sniff> nobody wants to post in my thread... maybe if I bump it up to the top? <insert hopeful looking smilie here>

[jerrygarcia]

Have you checked the what adapter is in the display settings? It's in the advanced. Try booting up with mobo vga driver, install the card again and change the adapter setting to default adapter first. I've had monitor seem to go to sleep on boot because the adapter setting was wrong. It gave me a lot of trouble until I figured that one out.

[poopeyhed2]

Someone had this problem in the Graphics and Display forum where an ATI card's drivers wouldn't install using the NForce2 chipset. I **think** it's the same problem, the problem is corrupted mobo drivers from NVidia, so try uninstalling it and reinstalling it.

[nurdonsite2]

have u tried updating the bios?

[Ruler2112]

Thank you to all who responded.

The video adapter is set to correctly identify the video card. I've tried the drivers that came with the card, the drivers I downloaded from their web site, and the generic GF drivers from nVidia. All have the same result.

I've tried both the mobo drivers that came on the CD and the ones downloaded from nVidia. I've re-installed windoze 3 times when doing so, just in case something was corrupted and didn't clear out completely. Excellent idea though.

I tried updating the BIOS. After that didn't work and I got a response from EPOX, I increased the AGP voltage by .1. This had the effect of killing one of the motherboards and had no effect on the other.


I think I'm going to RMA the lot and see if I can get another mobo to work. Anybody have any suggestions as to what a good mobo is? (I know it's hard, especially since I still haven't figured out what the problem is.)

[poopeyhed2]

Have you tried lowering the AGP mode from 4x to 2x? I know this may not have anything related to it, maybe a .1 extra to the ram might help..