Vista - Asus A7N8X and 3GB

Hello Lev
1- I agree with you in the case of AGP Apperature > 256MB.
XP will boot, but after chkdsk, it halts.
Setting to 256MB will solve the problem as you said.

2 - In the case of CPU-speed, I have no problems to use the default 200MHz,
but up to now I use 11x200=2200MHz. I tried also to increase the "CPU Frequency Multiple", but the system halts on startup, or changes the CPU external frequency to 100MHz.Therefore I prefer the "near" system defaults. XP runs very stable.

I didn't try Vista and Win7. But I think XP will be the very end of this system (Socket A + AMD Athlon XP 3200+)

Interesting so you did get 200Mhz to work with 3GB, just your difference form mine is the lower multiplier. I tried that and it did not work for me but maybe I should look at it again. Thanks for the reply.

I have also experienced the same problem with both Vista and Windows 7.

Today I found the answer.

Try the following in Windows 7:

* Find the "NVIDIA nForce2 AGP Host to PCI Bridge" in the device manager
* Right-click and choose "Update Driver..."
* Browse my computer etc.....
* Let me pick from a list etc....
* Select "PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge"
* You will now have 2 listings of "PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge" and no NVIDIA nForce 2 AGP Host etc....
* Click "Finish" and shutdown the computer.
* Now install your RAM upgrade and power on.

You now should have Windows 7 running 3gb memory.

Guess this also works for Vista.

Good Luck!

Board: A7N8X Deluxe 2.0 + A7N8xE-Deluxe
32 Bit
CPU: AMD AthlonXP 3000+ 400mhz versions
RAM: 3x Crucial PC3200 @400 + 3x Corsair TwinX
Graphic: Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 512MB

Hi greetings from UK!

I recently bought Vista Ultimate retail Box (with free Win7 Ultimate Box arriving in October 2009) & woz doing some background research for Win 7/Vista with 32bit boards etc

For years I couldn't get 3 GB or Dual channel working properly on both asus boards. (I also own an MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR that had same probs with 3gb/dual channel)
Did ALL the file farting around etc.

In the end it's pot luck whether your bios 'detects' the memory/dual channel properly.

So my WORKING solution for the A7N8X was to pull the battery/reset Cmos, install all 3 Crucial sticks and voila bios detected dual channel properly and 3GB worked!
I also found board was totally stable by upping the power of the memory one notch to .7v from .6v (done via the Bios menu for those who don't know)

The solution for A7n8xE (same with MSI board) was just to up the 3gb Corsair TWINX memory voltages by one notch to .07v

Totally stable syatems with XP-Pro and uber fast for with these boards!

Has anyone bought/tried on Win7/Vista/XP 32bit systems the Powercolor 1gb ATI 4670 Agp yet?

They are selling them for £65.00 in the UK!

I had the same 3GB issue with the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe mobo running the Barton core processor. I tried the recommendation suggested by Methuselah and I am in business! Windows 7 x32 with 3GB RAM. Thanks for the recommendation!

I too am deeply in gratitude for the 32bit? SocketA 3GB Solution for VISTA/WIN7!

As an experiment when I updated to WIN7 32bit yesterday (Oct 22 2009) I left 3GB RAM IN - Blue-Screen Crashes and restarts until I took out one of the ram sticks!
How the upgrade went >

I've been building/upgrading my own PC's since 1990(ish)and beyond > ye olde DOS 3.1 days!
32bit AMD 3000+ Socket A
MSI K7N2 DELTA ILSR(RAID)
3GB Corsair Twinx
Nvidia Geforce 6200 (512mb)

WinXP to WIN7 >

NO DRIVERS whatsoever need to be downloaded for initial install. Windows7 will find missing audio/chipset ones for you after initial install! (I wouldn't download those RUSSIAN WIN7 Driver packs if I were you!) After computer is stable, attach your peripherals such as printer/scanner etc let it find drivers or download full driver from manufacturer website eg Lexmark.

Using a SATA/SCSI disk still requires drivers to be loaded by the punter. WIN7 accepted the ancient Promise (year 2004) SATA/Raid drivers for XP!

WIN7 DVD refuses to load point blank on my Socket A with 3gb of Ram installed!
It will blue screen crash with all sorts of different errors - forcing restarts! Remove 3rd stick!

FOLLOW METHUSELAH's brilliant solution as posted 2 posts above!
In short After complete installation and stabilising - in Device Manager > System Devices > "Update Driver" "NVIDIA nForce2 AGP Host to PCI Bridge" to the standard Microsoft "PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge" driver (force it by selecting "load driver yourself")

You can then load 3rd GB of ram and Win7 runs perfect!
Note to Microsoft those Nvidia nforce AGP Host to PCI bridge drivers are not suitable for signing off!

Loads of WIN7 Raid/chipset/audio drivers were not loaded at first off the DVD! (Not on WIN7 DVD!)

By going online and using Win7 "Update" all the latest drivers were found for the motherboard/computer which stopped blue-screen crashing after these were installed!

Not all drivers/hardware installed properly/loaded and were only found "accidently" by prompting "find hardware" in "Device Manager" - a bug?

WIN7 then loaded all the latest drivers for a stable sytem - which I am posting from now!
Hope this helps!