AN9 PCIE problem

[O.G]

I purchased an Abit AN9 32X Fatal1ty, as it was going cheap in Aria's bargain section, and I'm running it with an Inno3d 8800GT OC. I realised there was a problem somewhere when I was only pulling sub 7k with 3d mark '06. After some head scratching and some gooling, I found that the PCIE bus link width was only at 2x rather than the max supported 16x which it should be running. Now I've updated the BIOS, and I'm using the latest graphics driver from nvidia and the latest chipset drivers downloaded from abit. Ive tried setting the bus width manualy in BIOS and even upping the bus speed to 101 or 110 as suggested on a couple of forums and still, the damn thing is only at 2x.

Does anyone have any experience with this board or with this problem? Or am I going to have to RMA the board back to Aria and find another one? Suggestions please.

[marsey99]

i dont know that board but i do know of sombody who had a tiny peice of plastic in their pcie slot and that made their asrock board run x8. he used a needle to remove it and it worked fine after that.

might sound daft but have you tried the other pcie slot?

[O.G]

Yeah, wont POST if I put it in the other slot, even though according to the manual either slot should suffice for a single card. I know its not the card because I have a KN8 Sli and it runs at 16x on that, likewise the 7300GS used on that board, which also runs at 16x also only runs at 2x on the AN9. Ive even reinstalled XP Pro incase it was Vista SP1 causing the problem, alas, its still 2x. I've posted this problem over at Abit's own forums and so far the only real answer is to send the board back.

[marsey99]

i think that theres your answer then, sry bro it could of been a bargin.