Yet another PC (CPU?) Problem...

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-CrackKing-

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Jun 8, 2001
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Seems that 1/10 PCs i build now have a major fault :mad: This time it's a weird one...


Hardware:

AMD Athlon XP 2600+
abit kd7a motherboard
512 DDR 266
The person im building it for is using their own 3dfx Voodoo 3 and their own hard disk (running WinXP now)

The Problem:

After putting all the hardware together and resetting the CMOS before powering on, the motherboard reports the CPU as 1140 Mhz. I reset CMOS again, but it still reports as 1140 Mhz. I go into the BIOS and load fail safe defaults, and reboot. It now reports as 1150 Mhz. I now go into SoftMenu and see what the CPU is being found as, but it is showing as a 2500+ XP. Weird?? So I select 2600+ and save and exit. The computer does not reboot, and will not start. The only way to start it, is to reset CMOS (again).

When it restarts it give exactly the same error. So i go into bios and set 200 fsb x 11. Same thing happens.. computer dies and won't reboot unless i reset CMOS. (after each reset it always reports as 1140)

So I load fail safes in the BIOS, ignore all the cmos checksum errors and proceed to load WinXP. Which is fine, and it loads. We try to install Office cos my m8 has to do a Uni English essay for Monday, but the computer shuts off dead, for no reason whatsoever, and will not reboot without a CMOS reset. This happens after 2-5 minutes after loading Windows.

The CPU temp is around 45 degrees using a coolermaster fan, and the systemp lower. Nothing hardware is too hot in the case.

Any ideas why it's doing this shit? Faulty CPU? Faulty mobo?
 
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Sound more like a bad PSU to me. Looking at your memory..
FSB speed.. is it even a 200mhz fsb cpu? i'd guess its a 166mhz
Its pretty usual for AMD mobos to reset to 100mhz FSB or likewise when you reset the CMOS btw..
266DDR(133mhz) for a 166 or 200mhz fsb cpu? did you take that into account in the BIOS ?
 
now as the AMD rating system is totally shitte, and you saying its an XP2600, i did some math, and i cant find any XP2600 that runs on a multiplier of 11, or 11.5 as suggested by the speed of 1150mhz at default (usually 100mhz fsb).
Sure its even a XP2600 that?
 
to mix up some more numbers: an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (CPU frequency: 1917 MHz ->> FBS of 166MHz * Multiplier of 11.5) has an Front Side Bus of 166MHz, so it would be cool to have DDR333 (PC2700) memory, but you have DDR266 (PC2100) memory.

last but not least, the manual:

Abit manual said:
page 3-2, chapter 3, 3-1. SoftMenu Setup: Warning: The wrong settings of the multiplier and external clock in certain circumstances may cause CPU damage. Setting the working frequency higher than the PCI chipset or processor specs, may cause abnormal memory module functioning, system hangs, hard drive data lose, abnormal functioning of the VGA card, or abnormal funtioning with other add-on cards. Using non-specification settings for your CPU is not the intention of this explanation. These should be for engineering testing, not for normal applications.

There will be no guaranty for the settings beyond specification, any damage of any component on this motherboard or peripherals result therein is not our responsibility.

* CPU FSB Clock (Mhz):
This item sets the CPU Front Side Bus speed from 100 to 250. Due to the specification limit of the CPU you installed, the speed you set over its standard bus is supported, but not guaranteed.

* Ratio (FBS: AGP: PCI):
This item sets the ratio among the clock of FSB, AGP and PCI. Take the 4:2:1 ratio for instance, if the FBS clock is 133MHz (133 x 4/4), the AGP clock will be 66MHz (133 x 2/4) and the PCI clock will be 33MHz (133 x 1/4).

so better take another look into the manual ;) and take all that ^^ into consideration.


:bah:
 
duh wtf am i talking about

i already set it to 166 x 11.5, but it died as soon as i tried it.

when it reboos (and after i have reset CMOS) it resets to 1140 Mhz
 
Not sure how or why you are using a Voodoo3 card in that system, newer motherboards (KT400's, nforce2's, intel 8xx ) should only support 1.5/0.8v gfx cards, the voodoo3 is a 3.3V Card. Its possible that the card has damaged the motherboard and that could be the source of your other faults.
 
F*** SAKE!!!! I was absolutely oblivious to the fact that different gfx cards had different Vs :\ Never even heard that said from anybody i know :\ I have only ever known that if it has a PCI slot it will work :(

Ok I tried it with my GF4 Ti4200 AGP, but the same problem happens. CPU is auto detected at 1140, and if i load failsafes and boot windows, it dies after about or around 5 minutes. If i try ANY other CPU settings, it dies.

Could it be cpu/motherboard? :(

I'm clueless now unless it's faulty hardware.
 
PC freeze, crashes, wrong MHz rates?
It seems that the CPU or the mobo is damaged.

I've got similar problem, but thx to god i fixed it.
My working PC (with it i write this lines atm) got a brocken CPU-Die(where the cooler touch the CPU) edge.
When i reset the Cmos or it get cleared, my PC don't want boot anymore.
The first time it happended i tried to boot, but the Bios showed only wrong MHz-rates and the PC freezed everytime while windows load. The last thing that helped: I took the CPU out of the motherboard and then i put it back.
After this weird action my PC wanted to run again. Dunno why, but everytime i had this problem, this helped.

edit: gl ;)
 
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i remember on my mobo there was a jumper that was stopping it being seen as what it really was, however i set it up in the bios this jumper over rode it, might be worth looking to see if there is a jumper that changes the fsb as this might be doing the same. (though only guessing)
 
If the system is freezing/crashing when running the cpu at 1150MHz (cpu+mem at 100FSB) then it looks like you have faulty hardware, either memory, PSU or more likely CPU or MB.


The different voltages for graphics cards applies to the AGP port only, AGP1 (2x) is 3.3V, AGP2 (4x) and AGP3 (8x) are 1.5/0.8V. PCI graphics cards should be all the same voltage (just before some smartass points it out, there are two different voltages for pci slots 3.3V and 5V although they are usually keyed differently so to avoid fitting incorrect cards)
 
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Wicked so I havent damaged the mobo from using the Voodoo.

I have from what Bart describes the exact problem, except it doesnt go away with a re-fitting of the CPU. I've just tested the RAM (@ 133) in a friend's computer and it runs fine.

Couldn't see any kind of jumper on the mobo which could be limiting the FSB.. neither could i see any other setting in the BIOS which could be fucking stuff up.

I'll take the mobo and CPU back to the shop. They can decide what the problem is and replace appropriately :p:

Thank you once again to everyone for posting :) You lot get me out of trouble so many times.
 
Just back from my m8s house..

We got NEW motherboard (with onboard GF4) - NEW CPU and NEW RAM (DDR 2700 i believe)

But erm, we get the exact same problem???????

CMOS checksum error, and the CPU loads at 1150Mhz

The only remaining survivors from the old PC were the PSU/Case and the HDD (a 20gb WD drive). Could these be causing the problems?
 
I would guess ur mobo has a jumper that is by default on 100fsb as I had on my epox mobo.. so 100x11.5=1150.. check in the manual after the fsb jumper and switch it.. I guess why it doesnt even let it self 2 be overclocked is becouse amd after week 39 has locked their cpus.. and if the mem isnt pc2700 or over it might be not able 2 take the overclocking so the mobo automaticly resets to lower settings to boot..
 
Edit: Crack didn't you look whether there is a FSB-jumper? If you didn't, then i bet, that this is the failure :smash:.

mayby it's a PSU-damaging virus? ;)

The PSU can't supply enough electricity, so the CPU get underclocked automaticlly, so he can run?
When GeforceFX cards can't get enough electricity they decrease the clock speeds automaticlly. Dunno if this could happend to CPUs too.
Well guess you need to try a new PSU.
Problem ain't fixed?
->new harddrive

and if the failure is still there, throw this PC from hell out of the next window....but wait !! send me the RAM first :rolleyes:
 
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Back again, lucky the shop was open until 9pm :o

After replacing the CPU one more time, it works perfectly. Fucking annoying :\

Thanks for everyones advice and help again. :party: :clap: Couldn't do it without u

Now all i gotta do is reinstall XP, without an xp disk :\ lol