NF7-S V2.0 - nForce2 Ultra 400 - Windows XP (SP1) drivers/set-up. . .advice sought!

[Wayne Youngman]

Dear NF7-S users,

I am just waiting for the last parts of my new system to arrive then I can begin my build. In the meantime I have been reading up/researching all the various different driver packages for this mobo, both from ABIT and also Nvidia, and I am a little bit confused, not sure whether to use the ABIt or nVidia driver packs (my gut tells me to run with nVidia).

I belive that I should update the BIOS (NF7_21) straight away and I am wanting to use 2 x SATA drives running RAID-0.

 

[colinco]

In article <biqrdm$svl$>,
says...

I belive that I should update the BIOS (NF7_21) straight away and I am wanting to use 2 x SATA drives running RAID-0.

Look twice before you update NF7 bioses. NF7_21 is for Ver 1.0-1.2 If you have a ver2 the bios will always be NF7d_xx, in this case the latest is NF7d_18.

 

[Alan]

I agree with colinco. I am using NF7d_18. My board came with NF7D-15. Use drivers from the disk that came with your board. You can upgrade to the
2.45 drivers when it is running correctly. The upgrade will select those that require updating. Check the versions once everything is together.

Install you video drivers last, some graphic card companies even suggest to re-install the video drivers if you perform other system driver updates.

Let us know how it turns out.

Alan

"colinco" wrote:

In article <biqrdm$svl$>,
says...
I belive that I should update the BIOS (NF7_21) straight away and I am
wanting to use 2 x SATA drives running RAID-0.

Look twice before you update NF7 bioses. NF7_21 is for Ver 1.0-1.2 If you have a ver2 the bios will always be NF7d_xx, in this case the latest is NF7d_18.

 

[Wayne Youngman]

"colinco" wrote

Look twice before you update NF7 bioses. NF7_21 is for Ver 1.0-1.2 If you have a ver2 the bios will always be NF7d_xx, in this case the latest is NF7d_18.

"Alan" wrote

I agree with colinco. I am using NF7d_18. My board came with NF7D-15. Use drivers from the disk that came with your board. You can upgrade to the 2.45 drivers when it is running correctly. The upgrade will select those that require updating. Check the versions once everything is together.

Install you video drivers last, some graphic card companies even suggest to re-install the video drivers if you perform other system driver updates.

Let us know how it turns out.

Hi,
Holy cr*p I don't believe that, you guys just saved me a headache there, cheers!

O.k I have just downloaded nf7d18.exe for my brand new NF7-S (v2.0), I hope to build this Monday (some parts still in mail). Are you suggesting that the drivers on the supplied CD will be ok to get me running, I heard that they were all old, maybe ABIT revised the CD. Anyway what's the difference between the ABIT drivers and the nVidia drivers? couldn't I just go right ahead and install the nForce2 XP-2000 Unified Driver v2.45?.

Well thanks again for the heads up on that wrong BIOS I had prepared. .

Wayne ][

 

[Wookie]

Some people are having problems with the 2.45's with some people ther eis no problem. I had sound problems with them. You can go to http://www.nforcershq.com/ and look in their forum section (drivers & aaabit sections) .... and excellent Nvidia board site. .... I would first start with the Nvidia 2.03 drivers as they have some minor issues but they run all right.

"Wayne Youngman" wrote:

"colinco" wrote
Look twice before you update NF7 bioses. NF7_21 is for Ver 1.0-1.2
If you have a ver2 the bios will always be NF7d_xx, in this case the
latest is NF7d_18.

"Alan" wrote
I agree with colinco. I am using NF7d_18. My board came with NF7D-15.
Use drivers from the disk that came with your board. You can upgrade to the
2.45 drivers when it is running correctly. The upgrade will select those that require updating. Check the versions once everything is together.

Install you video drivers last, some graphic card companies even suggest to
re-install the video drivers if you perform other system driver updates.

Let us know how it turns out.

Hi,
Holy cr*p I don't believe that, you guys just saved me a headache there, cheers! ... hope to build this Monday (some parts still in mail). Are you suggesting that the drivers on the supplied CD will be ok to get me running, I heard that they were all old, maybe ABIT revised the CD. Anyway what's the difference between the ABIT drivers and the nVidia drivers? couldn't I just go right ahead and install the nForce2 XP-2000 Unified Driver v2.45?.

Well thanks again for the heads up on that wrong BIOS I had prepared. .

Wayne ][

 

[Wayne Youngman]

"Wookie" wrote

Some people are having problems with the 2.45's with some people ther eis no problem. I had sound problems with them. You can go to http://www.nforcershq.com/ and look in their forum section (drivers & aaabit sections) .... and excellent Nvidia board site.
.... I would first start with the Nvidia 2.03 drivers as they have some minor issues but they run all right.

Hi Wookie (where's Han?. . .lol!),

thanks for your comments. It was getting a bit complicated, you know how it goes. The last build I did was my current PIII550e @733MHz (about 3-4 years old now) so I am having to take a whole heap of new technologies onboard (DDR, Dual-DDR, Sound-Storm, Fire-wire, SATA, etc) that my brain in getting maxed out with *theory* and I just need to put some of it into practice!. Two points you may be able to clear up for me are:

1) What's the deal with SATA drivers, I thought that was all taken care of at Windows Set-up (F6) with the floppy disk drivers.

2) How about regular IDE drivers, do I need the NVIDIA ones or just roll with what XP/SP1 gives me?

Thanks all

Wayne ][

 

[Mark H]

Wayne Youngman wrote:

1) What's the deal with SATA drivers, I thought that was all taken care of at Windows Set-up (F6) with the floppy disk drivers.

What I've done is deleted the orginal sata drivers on the floppy and loaded the raid 10032's from http://12.24.47.40/, there were some issues with the orginal drivers. make sure you download the windows raid driver.

2) How about regular IDE drivers, do I need the NVIDIA ones or just roll with what XP/SP1 gives me?

No you dont need the nvidia ide, some are claiming success, and some are claiming disaster, I'd start with the microsoft version, and try the nvidia later.

Thanks all

Wayne ][

 

[colinco]

In article ,
says...

No you dont need the nvidia ide, some are claiming success, and some are claiming disaster, I'd start with the microsoft version, and try the nvidia later.

I think the IDE in the 2.45 is a renamed Microsoft version anyway.