HELP !!! Is the Athlon unstable or is my machine Jinxed ?

[vinayag]

Guys, Im in a mess. I got this new setup last week. If I try to install XP, the machine either reboots halfway through install or it just hangs sometimes during the install. When XP did install once, I started getting cold reboots suddenly when copying files with Explorer or doing something really simple.

WinME does install, but it seems to crash/rebott at will. Sometimes a device fails just like that during bootup and then it restarts.

Athlon 1800+ XP
Gigabyte VTXE+ Dual Bios
256 MB PC2100 DDR
Seagate 80GB Baracauda ATA IV
Creative LIVE !
Radeon 64MB VIVO

My Gigagyte tools/MB shows a CPU temperature hovering around 57-60 C. Since I live in India, temp is a issue and so my first thought was that maybe the temp is the problem. But then if I play NFS-IV for 1/2 hours the temp hovers around 64C and still does not crash. I startup Delta Force II and boom, it reboots halfway though the game.

PLEASE HELP with any suggestions. Is the Athlon or the Gigabyte MB basically unstable or what ?

 

[Siddhartha]

This sounds like a memory problem. Reset the stick of RAM and if that does not work get it checked.

 

[vinayag]

Could u tell me how to reset the RAM ?

 

[Markfw]

I think he meant re-seat the ram. Also, I would change the memory timing to CAS 3. If the problem goes away, then you could try CAS 2.5. Then you might try 2, but my guess is that it is set to 2 right now, and that is your problem. I had a gigabyte mb one time, had problems like that, and took it back and got an ASUS. Abit has also been good to me, I am typing on one now.

 

[vinayag]

>> Then you might try 2, but my guess is that it is set to 2 right >> now, and that is your problem.

Hey Prophet, you are bang on !!! It is set to 2 right now. However, I do not have the option of 3 at all. Either I set it to 2.5 or 2. I will try 2.5. However, could you be kind enought to educate me on what cas 2 and cas 2.5 means ?

>> I had a gigabyte mb one time, had problems like that, and took
>> it back and got an ASUS. Abit has also been good to me, I am
>> typing on one now.

Lot of people told me it very stable and that is why I went the Gigabyte way. Can't return the MB back to the shop as he won't take it. So Im stuck with it for now !!!

 

[Markfw]

The CAS setting has to do with how fast you can write/read to/from your memory. CAS 2.5 is a common setting for DDR memory, and it is hard to find good quality CAS 2 memory. Just try the 2.5 and see what happens. Please reply to let me know if that works. As far the the motherboard, I do acknowledge that it comes highly recommended, and I loved the dual bios, but my experience was not good. Just thought I would throw that in since you were having problems, if this doesn't fix it.

Let me know how it works.

 

[vinayag]

Unfortunately, Im stuck at office all day today (Its the start of the day here in India). Will try this out and let you know tomoroow same time. So basically, if I understood right, you are saying that if the machine tries to run the ram at a speed it cannot handle, it will just cold reboot from Windoes XP or anywhere else ?

BTW, how much of a performance do I lose by going to Cas 2.5 or Cas 3 from Cas 2 ?

 

[Markfw]

2 to 2.5 isn't too bad, but 2 to 3 is bad. If you want the performance back (assuming this is your problem), you need to find GOOD quality CAS 2 memory. I am not sure the best, but read around the site or maybe someone will read this and reply. I seem to hear a lot about crutial, but I can't personally endorse any of them. The shop down the street from me sells both kinds, and if it doesn't work, I just go back (5 minute drive) and get another one or better stuff. I live across the street from the one of the Intel fabs here in Oregon, and it is really cut-throat at the little hardware shops around here. (I am actually an AMD fan, but not fanatical.)

 

[vinayag]

Thnaks a lot, Markfw900. I moved from cas 2 to cas 2.5 along with changing the bios setting to enable "Configure SDRAM by SPD". Rebooted.

Lo and behold, XP decides to install normally and the machine is up since then. Thanks again for solving this.