Help with AMD Athlon 1800....

[salz]

I posted about this before, but then ran into a bunch of problems. I had asked before how to get the processor speed from 1.16 GHz to 1.53 GHz. I was told to flip the bus frequency switch on my motherboard. That worked and after I flipped the switch the processor was running at 1.53 GHz. However | ), soon after I flipped the switch my computer would lock up for no apparent reason. At this point I flipped the switch back and set the BIOS on fail-safe settings (with a few changes) and after playing counter-strike for two hours and using other programs, the computer is yet to lock up. But I just built this system and I was not planning on running my Athlon 1800 at 1.16 GHz for the rest of its life. Can anyone help me?

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

What board?
What RAM?
What CPU temps?
What PSU rating?

 

[salz]

Board : Gigabyte GA-7VRXP RAID
CPU Temps. : 48 degrees celsius (no load)
PSU : Antec 430W
RAM : Samsung 512MB PC2700

 

[Adul]

what kind of cooling, what kind of additional components you have?

 

[salz]

I have two intakes, a rear exhaust and a top exhaust on a Lian-Li PC-65 case. I have a Maxtor 40GB Quiet Drive, a Gainward GeForce4 Ti4200, a Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer and a Toshiba DVD. Nothing is overclocked.

 

[splice]

Does the BIOS have any options for configuring the FSB speed?

 

[salz]

I think this is what you're talking about. There's an option in the Hardware Monitor & MISC Setup section called CPU Host Clock. You can set your own host clock (100, 133, and I think anything inbetween and to 161) or you can choose By Hw (which I'm guessing means By the Hardware). I know that when I had the processor set on 1.53 GHz, I know I loaded the fail-safe defaults to try to prevent the lockups and the fail-safe defaults sets the CPU Host clock to By Hw. Does that help?

 

[splice]

so, at some point you tried the 133MHz jumper setting on the MB and setting the BIOS option for 133MHz?

 

[Adul]

what os are you using?
DId you install the 4-1 drivers?
whsat temps are you getting?
tried it without the audig installed yet?

 

[Adul]

reading your other thread you have already(try to keep things to one), I would like to know how is your cooling for the cpu, and if you tried it with out the audigy.

 

[salz]

I just switched the FSB switch again and set my CPU Host clock on the BIOS to 133 to see if it would work again, but it locked up twice. It's now set back to the way it was. I have Windows XP Pro and no, I haven't tried it without the Audigy. But the computer works fine at 1.16 GHz, why would the sound card cause problems if the system was working faster? (I'm not challenging your thought, I really don't know). I have installed the 4-1 drivers (I'll check them again to make sure I didn't miss anything). I don't know what the temps. are like with a decent load on the CPU, but I know it's usually around 46-48 without a load. I have the stock heatsink and fan with Arctic Silver III. Thanks for helping me out so far guys, hopefully this will be over with soon.

 

[jar5tyle]

May seem like a temperature problem? Not sure though... Since you have frequent lock ups... your PSU shouldn't be the problem, it's more than enough... I guess we don't know the exact load temps for your CPU, you should really know what they are, download motherboard monitor and check em out, I'm curious.

 

[salz]

Could it be my video card drivers? I know I read a post on this forum about someone with the Gainward GeForce4 Ti4200 downloading the latest drivers and he had problems. BUT, in his situation he only had problems with running games, so people thought he had a malfunctioning video card. In my case, the lockup can happen at any time. I installed the drivers that came with the Gainward CD, but I didn't download any updated ones from their site (I saw some new Detonator XP thing, should I get that and see what happens?). That still wouldn't make sense to me thought because I was playing counter-strike with no problems when my Athlon was running at 1.16 GHz.

 

[salz]

Ok, I installed motherboard monitor, but I don't know what each sensor is sensing. I did select some part of my computer that it says my temp. is 82, but I don't know what that is (I'll edit this in a minute and find out). If you could tell me what I should set each sensor for that would be very helpful.

Edit
I don't know if the motherboard monitor is configured correctly or not, but I set up the options according to the sensor number. When looking at spots that were diodes, I found my case and CPU temps. of 34 and 43, then the third temp. said -55 (I don't know what that is). Then I switched the sensors to diodes and the case and CPU temps. went to -96 and -17 (ummmm, what is going on?) and the third temp went to 82. If this makes any sense whatsoever to anyone, please tell me, but I'm lost.

 

[xynder]

It has nothing to do with your cooling solution. Remember, the retail HSF/thermal pad is made by AMD... obviously it has to be sufficient.

Look at this, from AMD's website:

. Typically, the maximum operating temperatures for Socket A AMD Athlon? and AMD Duron? desktop processors are 90 degrees Celsius for processors operating up to 1GHz, and 95 degrees Celsius for processors operating above 1GHz.

I'm sure it isn't running that hot, ESPECIALLY since you're underclocked. Your mobo is simply not configured right.

 

[splice]

82C! If that's the CPU temperature you need to turn off your computer now and recheck how you installed your heatsink... is the fan spinning?

 

[salz]

That's not my CPU. I repeatedly checked it in the BIOS and it's mid 40's. I couldn't understand the motherboard monitor thing (I guess it's setup wrong), but I think I found the CPU temp. on it because it said 43. Look at the edited reply above and you'll see a lot of the things I read on the motherboard monitor make no sense.

 

[BD231]

Your memory settings are likely to aggressive. Your temps are great and so is your cooling solution. Make sure your memory is running at cas 2.5 and nothing lower for now so you can trouble shoot. If you motherboard allows it, set your memory to "Normal". Most memory cant handle the "fast" and "turbo" modes and as a result the computer will freeze.

 

[jar5tyle]

Originally posted by: xynder
It has nothing to do with your cooling solution. Remember, the retail HSF/thermal pad is made by AMD... obviously it has to be sufficient.

Look at this, from AMD's website:

. Typically, the maximum operating temperatures for Socket A AMD Athlon? and AMD Duron? desktop processors are 90 degrees Celsius for processors operating up to 1GHz, and 95 degrees Celsius for processors operating above 1GHz.

I'm sure it isn't running that hot, ESPECIALLY since you're underclocked. Your mobo is simply not configured right.

True, AMD's can handle some heat but remember with the retail HS/F it is the minimum. I'm not one to say oh you need an after market HS/F for sure, but then again, his processor isn't fried, his computer is locking up. Temps still could be a problem, RAM sounds like a good candidate too. It runs fine with 100 mhz fsb.

 

[salz]

I found an SDRAM CAS# latency section, but my BIOS won't let me change it (it's set on 2).

 

[BD231]

Originally posted by: salz
I found an SDRAM CAS# latency section, but my BIOS won't let me change it (it's set on 2).

I'm sure it lets you change it somehow, and I'm almost positive it's your problem, look in your manual.

edt: You should be able to set mem timings to "User" insted of "SPD" or "HCLK", once you do this you can change the settings.

 

[salz]

Thank you, I found out how to change the CAS and I switched it to 2.5. I'm gonna go to sleep and play with it more in the morning, but so far I'm typing this message and it hasn't locked up yet. If this works, thanks for the help. Hopefully I'll be able to install my CDRW and Floppy now. And get my second hard drive formatted. Thanks again (I hope this is it).

 

[Adul]

we hope so has well.

 

[salz]

NOPE!!! I thought about starting a new thread, but figured that everyone else will be able to understand this more if I kept it on here. So, I went to sleep last night thinking everything was fine and dandy until I woke up and started my computer again. First, it locked up on the startup of windows. I gave it another shot and the second time it locked up right after windows finished loading. So, I spent the entire morning with my friend trying to diagnose the problem and basically got nowhere. So the RAM settings didn't work and I'm lost. Does anyone have ANY other ideas!? Adul, do you think I should try it without the sound card to see if it will work? Do I need to take the sound card out or can I just enable the onboard sound on the motherboard?

 

[Adul]

just remove the sound card. Remove any modems you have and any nics. Test your system with only one extra component at a time.

nic/modem
sound card
whatever else you have

be sure to keep only one item at a time beyond the basics