AOpen AX4C Max: unstable - blue screen / lan unreliable

A week ago, I switched from an Intel D850EMVRL (i850/RDRAM) to an
AOpen AX4C Max motherboard. I reinstalled Windows XP (format). My
other hardware stayed the same as before (Adaptec 2400A and Audigy2).

Since the switch to the AOpen AX4C, I suffer some big problems:
1) The Broadcom LAN connection disappears after some (short) time. A
complete reboot is necessary to get back the lan connection. I had to
install a PCI 3Com card to be able to have a reliable internet
connection.

2) Another and bigger problem is my XP is totally unstable. XP crashes
(blue screen) after some time. It makes it almost impossible to work
with it. I'm thinking about a memory issue. I'm using 2x Kingston
KVR400X64C3/512 (2x512Mb) memory. I already tried to remove one module
or to change a module, but nothing seem to solve the problem.
Upgrading BIOS to the latest release (1.10) doesn't solve it either.

Anyone a similar problem or a solution?

Thanks!

 

You might want to see if you can borrow a stick of memory from someone and
try it. I'm not bad mouthing Kingston memory, because I have used it before.
However, there are different grades of memory. Most, but not all, companies
do this. The KVR in your memory stands for Kingston Value Ram. This is their
economy grade memory. Some systems work fine with it and some don't. I think
a lot of it depends on the motherboard chipset. Some are just more finicky
than others. I don't know much about the Canterwood chipset that this board
has, mainly because I build mostly Athlon systems for my customers. The
other thing I would do is try to update the motherboard drivers with the
ones from Intel. You can find them here:

ftp://aiedownload.intel.com/df-support/5811/eng/infinst_enu.exe

I've used this driver on other Intel chipset boards and it seems to clear up
a lot of issues over the native Windows drivers. One last note, for future
reference. All AOpen motherboard web pages have a link to a page with
recommended memory modules for the particular board you are looking at.
Yours is here:

http://club.aopen.com.tw/testreport/mb/ListTestItem.asp?TestFunction=519&Model=735

I will admit that I don't always follow these because I only use a couple
brands of memory these days, but if you are up in the air about which memory
to use, it is a good starting point. Crucial Memory also has a configurator
that will tell you which memory to use on a motherboard. I use their memory
as well as Mushkin. There are a lot of other good ones out there, but these
are my preferences. One last note that I thought of while I was typing, is
to check all of the memory settings in the BIOS. Maybe some of the timings
are too aggressive for the memory chips you are using. This is a trial and
error thing.

HTH

Chris