Joined
·
179 Posts
http://www.amdmb.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=116775
_________________________________________________
SOYO DRAGON + SETUP GUIDE: Revised 4/20/2002
IF YOU ARE A NEWBIE THEN PLEASE PAY ATTENTION AND SAVE YOURSELF A LOT OF GRIEF. THIS GUIDE COVERS THE MOST COMMON PROBLEMS YOU WILL ENCOUNTER.
I have gleamed these from others and my own experience in setting up the dragon +. Hope these help getting you started. The manual RAM timings are something you can play with but are a good starting point for stability.
PRELIMS:
Start with a minimum of hardware, one hard drive, CD, video and floppy. After you are up and running stable, add your other stuff. In order to boot up you MUST have your CPU fan plugged into CPUFAN1 on the motherboard. If you do not you can hold the INSERT key down while booting and this will bypass FOC (fan off control). It can then be disabled in BIOS if need be. Certain fans spin up too slowly to be detected by FOC and therefore a no boot situation might occur. In this case either replace the fan with a one that has a higher CFM or again use the INSERT key to boot up.
Many ask why it takes so long to boot and what do all those beeps mean?
First beep: CPU = FSB & Multiplier set + FOC rotation detected
Second beep: RAM = Detected + SPD checksum correct
Third beep: AGP Card = Detected + AGP Mode Selected (2X, 4X, etc.)
The MOBO is doing a lot of these extra diagnostics as it boots up.
Setup guide:
1) BIOS
If your board comes with the BA2 BIOS leave it...don't flash UNLESS you encounter problems later on you cannot trace to the OS setup. The newer BA3 BIOS promises to fix RAM instability when you have 3 sticks of RAM. So...if your at BA1 flash to either BA2 or BA3. Remember that all mircocode fixes in the flash are usually cumulative. Also, there is ALWAYS the risk that flashing may damage your BIOS, so be careful out there !
2) IDE
Don't put a CDRW or DVD on ID3/4. I did this with a Plextor and was told by there support that the Promise controller has weak SCSI support for ALL burners. In windows xp I could not always packet write files for instance without OS errors. So put these drives on the VIA side. Make sure you have RAID enabled in BIOS even if you use the Ultra drivers. Also make sure the board RAID jumper is set properly, look at your manual for Ultra or RAID. If you don't have these these ALL setup one way or another neither will work....that is your drives will not be recognized. YES, you can boot from IDE2, ID3 or ID4 in Ultra mode just make sure your have the boot sequence setup.
3) OS
Setup your OS using "default" BIOS setting. These are the most conservative and should get you through any OS install. Lot's of newbies set it to "optimize" then try the install and they wonder why they get BSOD. Optimize mode is very, very aggressive for an OS install. DON'T GO THERE ! If your using Win XP the VIA 4 in 1 drivers are installed automatically. You can upgrade them to the latest, but the only advantage is that you gain one .INF file.
4) ULTRA OR RAID
When loading either winxp or win2000 make sure your have the proper drivers for RAID or Ultra Family on a floppy disk. Press F6 when it asks you, and follow the prompts
for loading these at setup time. The Soyo CDROM contains the drivers you need or get the latest from there website.
It's been reported that Win XP does has these drivers already in the OS at install time, still it would be wise to make the floppy disk and make sure you have them ready.
5) SOUND
There seems to be a bug in the CMEDIA sound with latency. It is recommended that you you use the latest drivers off the CMEDIA website which are presently version .635 instead of the ones supplied by Soyo (.636 are available from windows update). They work much better. While your there get the latest audiorack software. Most people have said that on board sound is at least as good as the SB Live !. If your a complete audiophile, then get a better sound card.
Sound Drivers Here:
http://www.cmedia.com.tw/e_download_01.htm
6) MEMORY
_________________________________________________
SOYO DRAGON + SETUP GUIDE: Revised 4/20/2002
IF YOU ARE A NEWBIE THEN PLEASE PAY ATTENTION AND SAVE YOURSELF A LOT OF GRIEF. THIS GUIDE COVERS THE MOST COMMON PROBLEMS YOU WILL ENCOUNTER.
I have gleamed these from others and my own experience in setting up the dragon +. Hope these help getting you started. The manual RAM timings are something you can play with but are a good starting point for stability.
PRELIMS:
Start with a minimum of hardware, one hard drive, CD, video and floppy. After you are up and running stable, add your other stuff. In order to boot up you MUST have your CPU fan plugged into CPUFAN1 on the motherboard. If you do not you can hold the INSERT key down while booting and this will bypass FOC (fan off control). It can then be disabled in BIOS if need be. Certain fans spin up too slowly to be detected by FOC and therefore a no boot situation might occur. In this case either replace the fan with a one that has a higher CFM or again use the INSERT key to boot up.
Many ask why it takes so long to boot and what do all those beeps mean?
First beep: CPU = FSB & Multiplier set + FOC rotation detected
Second beep: RAM = Detected + SPD checksum correct
Third beep: AGP Card = Detected + AGP Mode Selected (2X, 4X, etc.)
The MOBO is doing a lot of these extra diagnostics as it boots up.
Setup guide:
1) BIOS
If your board comes with the BA2 BIOS leave it...don't flash UNLESS you encounter problems later on you cannot trace to the OS setup. The newer BA3 BIOS promises to fix RAM instability when you have 3 sticks of RAM. So...if your at BA1 flash to either BA2 or BA3. Remember that all mircocode fixes in the flash are usually cumulative. Also, there is ALWAYS the risk that flashing may damage your BIOS, so be careful out there !
2) IDE
Don't put a CDRW or DVD on ID3/4. I did this with a Plextor and was told by there support that the Promise controller has weak SCSI support for ALL burners. In windows xp I could not always packet write files for instance without OS errors. So put these drives on the VIA side. Make sure you have RAID enabled in BIOS even if you use the Ultra drivers. Also make sure the board RAID jumper is set properly, look at your manual for Ultra or RAID. If you don't have these these ALL setup one way or another neither will work....that is your drives will not be recognized. YES, you can boot from IDE2, ID3 or ID4 in Ultra mode just make sure your have the boot sequence setup.
3) OS
Setup your OS using "default" BIOS setting. These are the most conservative and should get you through any OS install. Lot's of newbies set it to "optimize" then try the install and they wonder why they get BSOD. Optimize mode is very, very aggressive for an OS install. DON'T GO THERE ! If your using Win XP the VIA 4 in 1 drivers are installed automatically. You can upgrade them to the latest, but the only advantage is that you gain one .INF file.
4) ULTRA OR RAID
When loading either winxp or win2000 make sure your have the proper drivers for RAID or Ultra Family on a floppy disk. Press F6 when it asks you, and follow the prompts
for loading these at setup time. The Soyo CDROM contains the drivers you need or get the latest from there website.
It's been reported that Win XP does has these drivers already in the OS at install time, still it would be wise to make the floppy disk and make sure you have them ready.
5) SOUND
There seems to be a bug in the CMEDIA sound with latency. It is recommended that you you use the latest drivers off the CMEDIA website which are presently version .635 instead of the ones supplied by Soyo (.636 are available from windows update). They work much better. While your there get the latest audiorack software. Most people have said that on board sound is at least as good as the SB Live !. If your a complete audiophile, then get a better sound card.
Sound Drivers Here:
http://www.cmedia.com.tw/e_download_01.htm
6) MEMORY
