Athlon XP keeps downclocking itself!

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
You said stock vcore is 1.5V... if that's true, then you have a T-bred B and should easily pass 1.8 GHz so it's more likely not the CPU that's the problem.

Not necessarily, I have a TBred-A 1800+ here, default vcore 1.5v, that won't do much more than 166Mhz x 10.0. I give it an additonal 0.25v for stability, but even bumping it up to 1.6v leaves it at the razor's edge of stability at 166Mhz x 10.5. An 11x multi is no-go for certain. Unfortunately, my MSI KT4V-L 1.0 mobo won't let me bump vcore to 1.65v, which is the default voltage for many XP2200+ TBred-A or TBred-B chips. But the fact that I had to bump vcore from 1.5v to 1.6v just to get a stable OC from 166Mhz x 10.0 to x 10.5, tells me that the chip is already at its limits.

So I think it's probably just the CPU in this case. Time to dump the TBred-A and get something a little more OC'able, like a mobile Barton XP2500+. (Which I also plan to do at some point, haven't bothered yet.)

Edit: I know it sounds silly, but to the OP - did you perchance leave the "Clear CMOS" jumper in the wrong position? I know that sounds unlikely, but it could cause your symptoms, maybe. (I've not personally used that mobo.)

 

[masshass81]

Thanks for the suggestions. No, I didnt leave the CMOS jumper on clear I did purchase a new duracell coin cell battery and replaced the old one and cleared CMOS, but the same thing happens. Downclocks and I forgot to mention before that it has a 'check sum error' which is consistent with a weak CMOS battery, but I just frikkin replaced it with a new one. Its ok though, I've decided to just add some RAM to get a performance boost. Thanks for the help.