AB9 Pro C1/2A problems

Hello everyone.

I just built a new computer:
AB9 Pro
Intel E6850 (DuoCore 3.0GHz)
2 x 1GB DDR2 800MHz
250GB SATA HD
20x SATA LiteScribe DVD+-RW
nVidia GeForce 8600GT (PCI-E)
No floppy

I'm having some serious problems getting the computer to start. I've read through the other posts in this forum regarding the C1 and 2A POST errors, but have been unable to resolve the issue.

Behaviour:

With CMOS memory cleared:
On first startup and after any number of resets breaks at C1 and stops.
On second startup (having powered down) loads up fine.
On any subsequent startup breaks at 2A and stops.

Having changed BIOS settings:
On first startup breaks at C1 and stops.
On second and subsequent startups breaks at 2A and stops.

I've currently got BIOS v15. I wanted to install the latest version, but I can't since once I change the BIOS to boot from USB first I get stuck at 2A and it won't actually load.

Regarding C1 - I have tried using just the one stick (either one of them) and changing the voltage but it hasn't made any difference. Since the problem only seems to appear on certain occasions, and since in the BIOS it seems to have no problem recognising them, I have to assume the sticks are fine. I can't actually check them since I can't get to boot up...

Additionally, the changes I make in the BIOS make no difference - whether I make no changes at all or change everything, it will fail to start up after the first successful start up.

The obvious solution is to get a floppy drive from somewhere so I can update the BIOS that one time it actually starts up, but I'd rather not have to buy one to use it once (seriously, who uses floppies these days?).

Has anyone come across this combination of problems before or can anyone help me with this?

I got similar problems when I first assembled mine.
I don't really remember what i did to fix it but it took me days of effort!
The problem I would see here is that you have a cpu with fsb 1333 which was not supported by bios 15. It may be the problem but I am not sure.
If you have a spare processor you could give it a shot.

Agh, if that's the issue I'm buggered - I don't have any other CPU I can use in this MB. I've managed to get hold of a floppy drive, so I'll try and update the BIOS that way tonight... Fingers crossed.

For future reference, I also tried to modify the RAM timings to match my memory (5-5-5-12) but I still get C1 errors every time.

I'm a little annoyed about this - the AB9 Pro was listed as supporting my processor, so I would have expected it to work out of the box. I've never had a situation where I immediately have to reflash the MB. Previously I've always used ASUS, but my (new) supplier deals only with abit, so this is my first abit MB and I have to say this situation hasn't inspired much confidence in abit for me.

I felt the same when I first got mine as it took me days to get around with it (I was an Asus addict).
But I have been very impressed since then although this board is a bit temperamental.
Anyway I am sure you will manage to make it work. The fact that you can access the bios is a good sign.
Also, is your processor recognised properly during startup? Can you see E6850 written?

The CPU was getting recognised correctly, but the HD wasn't. I finally managed to reflash the BIOS with a startup disk (or rather, a startup disk and a disk with the abit flasher - instructions for this aren't great since it says to copy the files to the startup disk, but the files won't fit). After that the HD gets recognised correctly as SATA and no problems starting up whatsoever.

Did have a bit of a problem with the HD sound until I realised I had to define the speakers I'd connected not as the 'Front' speakers but the 'Line out'. Don't know what that's about but I've got sound.

There might be another quirk here or there with the SATA DVD+/-RW - for the most part it worked fine, but when I tried to copy a large file (~675Mb) across to the HD it slowed down dramatically (Explorer was saying it would take 57 minutes to copy!). For some reason that only happened the first time I tried to copy it, but not subsequently. Weird. I wonder whether this has something to do with the RAID drivers? I've seen other posts which said they needed to install the RAID drivers to install Windows, even if they'd set the HD mode to IDE. Personally, I had no problems installing Windows.

Tonight I get to install my old ATA HD and copy (most) the content across to the new SATA HD - hopefully this won't have any issues.

Thanks for your help Nickaal.

You are welcome, I am glad you made it work.
I have a sata DVD and sata HDD but never noticed any slow speed.
Did you plug it to the intel sata ports or to the other controllers?
I run in IDE mode not AHCI so I didn't need to install any drivers.
With the IDE drive I still get an annoying error. When I put the computer to sleep, the JMicron is out.
Thus no IDE at all. I did not take the time to look for a fix but the new bios was suppose to fix that.
If you get other problems PM me as I may have experienced them too lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by patrick.gill

- instructions for this aren't great since it says to copy the files to the startup disk, but the files won't fit).

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They will fit if you remove the unnecessary hidden files that MS puts on the floppy.

My point is the instructions make no mention of the fact that the files won't fit without deleting some of the system files.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by patrick.gill

My point is the instructions make no mention of the fact that the files won't fit without deleting some of the system files.

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The instructions on the website are old, as most bios files are 512k but recently they have been increased to at least 1mb. I will notify the abit webmaster to get the info updated.