# Asus K8V SE Deluxe Nightmare!



## jorey (Jul 10, 2004)

Hello,

I am having troubles getting my computer to load up. At first I had the message saying:

No drive attached to FastTrak controller, The BIOS is not installed.

I changed the setting from RAID to IDE mode but I recieved the message:

No device is found!
BIOS is not installed.

I continued to disable the Onboard Promise Controller but when I reboot my system it flashes through some screens and comes up to a blue screen that says:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage on your computer.

If this is the first time, etc....


I just got the Asus K8V SE Deluxe Motherboard and a Athlon64 3000+ chip, before I installed these new items I formatted my hard Drive.

What do I do so I can reinstall windows and get my computer running properly?? I'm stuck and could use some help, any input is much appreciated!! Thanks in advance.


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## clintfan (Sep 4, 2003)

Hi jorey, and welcome to the forum!



> At first I had the message saying: No drive attached to FastTrak controller, The BIOS is not installed.
> I changed the setting from RAID to IDE mode but I recieved the message: No device is found! BIOS is not installed.


Depending on your connections, this may be normal. Please see the thread, Promise POST: "No drive attached to FastTrak controller, The BIOS is not installed.", which in the future may also be found by using the blue Search button at the top of this page.



> when I reboot my system it flashes through some screens and comes up to a blue screen that says: A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage on your computer. If this is the first time, etc....


This sometimes occurs if the controller mode was changed between RAID/IDE --and no such driver exists-- after an OS installation had already occurred. I see you have the VIA chipset besides the Promise, but I don't know what your setup plan is.

Please tell us where you are trying to attach your hard drive(s), how many and what type, where your OS will be, whether you want RAID, and other storage details you think we might need to know to help you with your installation.

-clintfan


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## smithwick (Sep 16, 2004)

*Problem (<- appropriately named eh?)*

"No drive attached to FastTrak controller, The BIOS is not installed"

I get this same message. I've got an:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Ausus K8V Motherboard
WD 40GB Hard Drive (used from old computer that has files and OS (XP) already on it)

All of my drives are hooked up correctly. What am I doing wrong. Does the promise controller need to be disabled. Also, does the hard drive need to be formatted for it to work? I just took it to a computer store to get a diagnostics check (seems like a complete rip for $35). Would appreciate any help. Thanks. My AIM is StephenCizek.


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## xcrappy (Aug 27, 2004)

smithwick said:


> "No drive attached to FastTrak controller, The BIOS is not installed"
> 
> I get this same message. I've got an:
> AMD Athlon 64 3200+
> ...


You are doing nothing wrong. That message is completely normal and your system should be fine. Dont worry about it.


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## smithwick (Sep 16, 2004)

xcrappy said:


> You are doing nothing wrong. That message is completely normal and your system should be fine. Dont worry about it.


But thats only the first half of the problem. The second is that it keeps rebooting after that 'fast track...bios not installed' screen shows and then it takes me to a screen that says how would you like Windows to boot: safe, normal, command prompt, or last configuration. I've tried all choices, but then it just reboots again and the same cycle continues. There is an XP CD in the cdwr, but it doesnt seem to spin.


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## BleepyF (Oct 7, 2004)

_No drive attached to FastTrak controller, The BIOS is not installed"__I get this same message. I've got an:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Ausus K8V Motherboard
WD 40GB Hard Drive (used from old computer that has files and OS (XP) already on it)_


Hi.

I'm new here (from the UK if any are interested) and here because of the same damn issue - I'm trying to rebuild my 400MHz K6-III machine and turn it into a speedy K8V/Athlon 64 3200+ but have come across that same "No drive... BIOS not installed" thing. I've had to rebuild the old one to get back on the net and am open to suggestions... I've read that disabling the RAID Promise controller can cause problems. :sad:


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## BleepyF (Oct 7, 2004)

re: K8V motherboard/AThlon 64 3200+ combination

_Due to my wish to use the same gfx card and monitor, I have to swap between old (working) and new (not working) systems which is a pain._
Right ho - I have the guidebook in front of me and what I'm going to try is:

As the on-board Promise controller is enabled by default, and if so, then the operating mode is RAID (and not IDE Operate mde), I'm going to disable that. Maybe even disable the OnChip SATA boot ROM, as I didn't want a RAID in the first place! I'll post a result, in case other non-techheads tune in with the same stupid problem...

_*crosses fingers*_


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## vjtod (Oct 8, 2004)

*ASUS K8V Stopped working after 2 days*

Having similar problems. Just built my first PC:

Asus K8V
AMD 64 3000
Samsung PC3200 512Mb RAM
ATI RAEDON 9200 Saphire
Pri IDE Master: Seagate 80Gb HDD
Pri IDE Slave: Seagate 120 Gb HDD
400W PSU

Ok, so put all the bits together (except the 120Gb HDD for now) and it worked fine. Installed XP pro fine. Disabled RAID & Promise controller in BIOS to get rid of start up messages. Put in 120Gb HDD, a few probs because I used the wrong IDE cable, but then fine. Then...started getting blue screen 'Windows is shutting down to protect your PC. If this is the first time, reset...'

Then kept restarting during boot.

Played around with the RAM (tried some old stuff (PC133 128Mb) - was this bad?)

Now will not boot AT ALL. CPU & PSU fans spin up, but that's it. HDD noes not spin up, nothing on screen, no lights on CD & FDD. Checked power to all plugs, seems OK.

Tried removing BIOS battery for a while. Same problem. 

Is my Motherboard shafted?

Why won't it work?!

Any comments/advice welcome.

Thanks


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## TDFelth (Oct 19, 2004)

*Same problem here!*

I'm building an almost new PC, only wanting to keep the WD 40GB that has stuff installed on it. Am trying to use Maxtor 8GB just to get the system up and running now, though, so I can look online for help!
AMD 64 3000
512MB ram
Radeon 9600 SE (Asus)
Pri IDE Master 8GB Maxtor (or 40GB WD hopefully)
400W psu

The CPU and fans spin up, the hard disk spins up for a short while and the floppy drive does nothing. The fan on the graphics card works, but there is no signal getting to the monitor. 

Will try disabling Promise & SATA and see what happens there. Any help appreciated!


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## adunbar (Oct 20, 2004)

*Some Help*

I think I can offer some help to those experiencing this nightmare problem..

As for those experiencing the Windoes Blue Screen error on Boot up, have you tried repairing your copy of Windows? This is a multi-step process which includes getting a half-dozen floppies from the Microsoft support site that will enable you to boot from a CD at Start-up. I don't think the k8v automatically gives you the option to boot from CD, unfortunately. 
Once you can boot to CD, run the OS disk and perform a reinstall of Windows (not _repair console_ unless you're a guru) making sure to select the options that only effect files in the Windows folder. Now you can boot up, but many programs will have to be updated/reinstalled.

To the people getting no boot up: I think this might be a PSU issue because I am experiencing this on my machine (plus some other drive errors). My system boots to BIOS 1 of every 20 times I power-on. The CMOS on the board is self-clearing and the BIOS chip on my board seems good, so no reason for that to be screwing up. 

I'm beginning to think this board is a piece; I have not gone a single week without a major problem.

-A


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## TDFelth (Oct 19, 2004)

*Yippie!!*

Well, I have removed all but 4 of the supports/screws fixing the motherboard to the case, and used the insulating washers on the topside of the motherboard. I removed everything apart from the processor, atx power & case switches/speaker & restarted. I got beeps!!
I plugged in the RAM (not listed on ASUS website) and it recognised it!
Thereonafter I have been able to plug everything in and get the system up and running! I had to reformat my IDE drive, so at least I know my software is all legit at last! 
The only time I tripped the mains was with plugging in the floppy drive the wrong way around.
I will upgrade to XP pro at the weekend, hopefully.

The only concern is that the boot up time is about 100 sec. (Shut down is 2 or 3 secs.)

I have disabled SATA, Promise and other things I'm not using, but it still seems SO slow. Any ideas?


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## jasaiyajin (Nov 4, 2004)

*vjtod's problem*

If you tried pc 133 Ram somehow in a mobo using DDR, then you most likely fried your system. I don't know how you got it in there, but I had a friend did a similar thing. I remember finding burn marks on a few connectors on the Ram and board; he actually had some horrid Ram clamps that locked in the Ram backwards, boy was he pissed after he installed it for someone else. :grin:

My asus a7v333 promise raid stopped working all of a sudden, saying that there is no raid built. I went into the Raid bios and it could not locate the 2 hard drives I had working on the controller. I am checking the consistency of the driver soon, but would like to have advice if the promise mb133fasttrack is a faulty design onboard the asus.


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## scooter5111 (Nov 14, 2004)

*K8V piece of ?*

Hi all,

First off: if anyone has some pointers about my proposed system; I'd appreciate any help you can offer. Thanx.

Below you will find the text of an e-mail I sent to ASUS and TigerDirect (my vendor) about the problems I've been having with my ASUS K8V MOBO:

I see a lot of problems cited with this particular MOBO. I've had all the problems cited here; and then some!

ASUS still has not answered my e-mail. Some "Tech support" huh?

TigerDirect answered and offered to replace the MOBO with another ASUS board; or one of my choosing. I decided to go with the ABIT KV8 MOBO (same price range): it has all of the features the ASUS board has.

After a barebones assembly; the POST never beeped. I even reversed the polarity of the system speaker connection at the FPC.....still no beep. That was only the first indicator of things to come.

Ayways: the ASUS piece of you know what is back in the box with an RMA number to TigerDirect. Great service there: my replacement was shipped yesterday!

I've been looking high and low about the ASUS K8V and no one has anything good to say about it but the ASUS sales force!

My barebones configuration:

1. MOBO = ASUS K8V
2. CPU = AMD Athlon 64 2800+
3. MEM = 512MB DDR400 CAS 3 by PQI
4. AGP = ATI Radeon 9550 8X AGP W/256MB DDR
5. CDROM= Philips CDRW 1208
6. FDD = Generic
7. HDD = 2 Maxtor 80GB SATA w/8MB buffer in a striped array
8. PS = Generic case w/450W PS
9. UPS = Belkin 1000W @120VAC. Enough reserve and +/- power protection to run a system like this for about an hour.

E-mail follows:

The motherboard I received with this order has failed.

I had intended on building a dual boot system with Windows 98SE and Windows XP Professional with the Maxtor drives in this order in a striped raid array.

After several attempts while installing Windows XP. I kept getting a memory error in a blue screen which made Windows 98SE unstable and forced me to do an "FDISK" and a clean install.

I did that 3 times with the exact same results all 3 times.

I made the decision to "flash" the "BIOS" with the latest file from the ASUS website.

I followed the instructions from the ASUS user guide for their "ASUS EZ Flash" to upgrade the "BIOS".

As the flashing process proceeded it went from the expected "Erasing flash" to "Flash failed" and stopped there.

Now: the system does not boot.

I have e-mailed the manufacturer about this issue, and am waiting for a response.

Any non technical assistance that you can offer me will be greatly appreciated.


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## 82412 (Jan 4, 2005)

*Good news and bad news*

I had the same problem (without the rebooting) and was able to cure it completely by disabling the Promise Controller in the BIOS. I know it's not what some of you want to hear, but if you are still having trouble after disabling the Promise Controller, your system may have more than one fault.

My system:

Athlon 64 3000, Asus K8V Deluxe, 512 MB PC 3200 RAM, 550W PSU, Win XP Pro (clean install). System now boots up and runs VERY fast.


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## ihringert (Jan 4, 2005)

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie and just couldn't pass this thread by. I highly doubt I can help with any of the above drive problems because that's about the only part of my system that worked like it should. However, I also have disabled my promise raid controller but only because I got tired of watching it scan for devices in bios.

I have to say, I really like my system now but it's been a painful experience getting here. Forever etched in my head are the words 'System failed CPU test' or 'System failed due to CPU overclocking'. Good thing there wasn't a gun close by.

Anyway, I'd like to share a couple things that helped me. 

1. Get the latest bios. I'm running 1005-006 beta and I believe that release is now out.

2. Make sure your DIMMs are certified for the Mobo. Yup, it makes a difference.

3. Make sure your DIMMs are good (2 month process to figure that one out...and it was bran new). 

4. If any of you are playing in the 64 bit OS stuff or running AMD 64 bit processors, I found another forum that was of great help to me.

I wish the above the best in luck in figuring out what's going on. I feel the pain.

Oh, one more thing....heat baaaaad


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## IonicGhost (Jan 5, 2005)

*More Problem*

I am new at this so please bear with me.
I have went to many many forums and email many many people, and this is the closest thread that had the answers to my problems.

I have a K8V Deluxe with v1008 BIOS. I had a single Maxtor 120GB SATA drive connected to VIA controller (OS is installed on it). However due to the fact it seem like this hard drive was breaking down, I decided to get a second SATA drive (Seagate 200GB). 
I had orginally intended to installed this drive just as a secondary drive so I can copy all the files I wanted to backup into it then unplug the orginally drive to send it back. Then all I have to do is to intall OS on to the new drive and the way I go...
But, when I connected Seagate onto SATA2 on the VIA controller, Windows hangs after boot screen. Then I read somewhere that I cannot connect 2 standalone drives onto the same controller unless I am creating a RAID array, but I can't create a RAID for obvious reasons. Therefore, I tried to connect Seagate drive onto Promise FastTrak 378 controller (PRI_SATA). This time, Windows booted successfully, but I cannot find the drive. It's not under Device Manager or Disk Management. Furthermore, in Device Manager, WinXP Promise FastTrak 378 controller had the "informative" yellow exclamation mark, indicating it's not working. I tried updating the driver (378ata). No dice.
In BIOS, I made sure that Onboard Promise Controller is Enabled and Operating Mode is Onboard IDE Operate Mode. Still no dice.
I tried uninstall Promise Controller but I just can't get rid of that yellow exclamation mark.

I am all out of ideas and ASUS won't email me back, and my programming assignment deadline is looming on the horizon... any assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks.


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