Problems with xp2000+ and k7s5a

[Raraku]

Hey all. I'm having some serious problems with my newly bought xp2000+. No matter what I do I can't get it to run at 133 FSB(1667 mhz) I can run it at 133/133, but as soon as I do anything(like play a heavy duty game) my computer freezes. I can run it at 100/100 fine(1250 mhz) but what's the point of that.

Here are my computer specs

Windows 98se
XP2000+
K7s5a mobo
512 sdram
Geforce 2 ti
320 volt no name power supply (could this be the problem?)

I have no clue what the problem is, i've tried updating bios and everything you can imagine. Can one of you computer experts possibly help me and tell me what's wrong, and what I need to do to fix it?

P.S. It could possibly be a heatsink problem too, but I have no clue.

Any help is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! :(

[tranka32]

Rakatu,, first off welcome to sysopt... I didn't even read your post because it was posted at least 3 times.. here at sysopt we don't double, triple or quadruple post,, I'm sure it was a browser error or something,,, I recommend going back and deleting a few of them. I will go back and read your post now,,, :t

[PacNW CE]

I have this board, and I can tell you that it is VERY picky about the power supply it uses. That isn't a sure fire solution, but it worked for me.

Also, check to make sure you have flashed the latest version of the bios from the SIS website.

Win98se has a hard time dealing with that much memory too. I don't know the ammount, but I think 384 is the most it can effectively handle.

[Peter M]

300something watt noname PSUs might very well not be up to the task. You wouldn't be the first. Look at the fine print - what's the total budget on 3.3V and 5V combined?

Besides, check your RAM. www.memtest86.com.

[Raraku]

Thanks for the welcome tranka, I went back and deleted one of the posts.

PacNW, i've heard that a couple times as well. Which power supply are you using, and how many volts is it at, and how many volts are you running at?

Also, I upgraded my bios at the ECS website, should i do so with the sis website as well, or are they they same thing?

Peter:

What do you mean by look at the fine print, what's the total budget? Do you mean how much did it cost me? If so, i'm not exactly sure, I bought my computer with everything in it the way it is now. If that's not what you mean, could you please explain?

[Greg Harper]

I couldn't run at 133/133 either till I flashed the cheepo bios and set to 138/138. At this rate I got total system stability. Sytem after months at 138 will now run at 133 (go figure???) I have a wintech 400 watt psu so power should be there but did take the trouble to redo the heatsink to get temps down.
Peter is right about memory. I've got an extra stick ddr2100 to prove it. Used every bit of one hour.
Good luck
G. Harper:t

[Raraku]

Greg, thanks for the reply. Are you runnin on the k7s5a with an XP2000 as well?

If so, you're saying it didn't work for you either? To fix it you had to upgrade to a better heat sink and flash a new bios? As i've allready stated, i've updated to the latest most up to date bios from the ECS website. Is there another bios somewhere that i'm unaware of that I should be using? Also.. the only options in my bios are 100/133, 133/133 and 100/100. I can't switch to 138. I'm not exactly illiterate when it comes to computers, but i'm not a genius either, you guys are gonna have to explain stuff to this simpleton a little better :)

[Greg Harper]

I'm running an xp1800+ with geforce 2 vid card and 768mb ddr2100, cdrw, basically the same system you have. Check out
www.ocworkbench.com for the site to the k7s5a official bios and cheepo overclocking bios. The settings are available in the cheepo bios. If that doesn't work for you then I'd suspect the psu or memory. Run the mem86 test first and make sure the memory is not at fault as suggested by Peter and then proceed.:t

[j.m@talk]

Cheepo man Bios is a "Third Party" Bios based on the original AMI product. This bios makes a few extra tweaks available....... However all that to one side the bios available from the ECS site should be all you need just to make the thing run.........

I have this board & at first I had no end of trouble getting it to run @ 133/133 & I must admit bios flashing did nothing for me :(
I replaced the memory & all was well after that......

So I decided to upgrade my CPU to a 2000+ (just to see if I could cause myself more grief) & I did..... it kept freezing....... So I went out & bought the heavyest 300W PSU I could find {it was twice the price of the others} & all is well...................

So it can be done! You just gotta frig about a bit!


Check out the PSU :t

[Raraku]

Once again, thanks for the replies, they are greatly appreciated. Anyone else with any other options is more then welcome as well, hehe :)

Ok, well i went to that site that greg linked me too. And opened the k7s5a guide. I went to the FAQ, and I found this question there:

13. Why does my system works perfectly with 100/100 FSB but then will not boot when placed at 133/133 FSB?

And here was the answer:

This is a very common problem with the ECS K7S5A, so far there are two known fixes for this problem but it’s still not 100%. The problem could be PSU related or overheating of the Sis 735 chipset. Others who have upgraded their PSU’s reported to have fix this problem while other reported a fix by replacing the thermal tape off the chipset heat sink with Artic Silver or even regular silicon thermal paste.

The only problem is that my computer does boot, and runs too. But as soon as I do something like opening a game, it will only run for a few minutes then freeze again.

So, I think i've limited the problem down to one of three things:
A memory(RAM) problem
A PSU problem
A heatsink problem.

Because my computer starts, and even runs, i'm thinking it's probably a heatsink problem, it's likely my computer is overheating. The FAQ recommends replacing the thermal tape with arctic silver or regular silicon thermal paste. So should I upgrade my entire sink, or just get that arctic silver stuff, and how much does that stuff(on average) cost?

Or, do you really think it is a problem with memory or PSU?

I tried going to that www.memtest86.com site to dl the thing, but the link isn't working. Will that proggy tell me if my ram is poor?

Anyways I know this response is pretty incoherent and all over the place, but i'm just trying to speculate all over the place, because this is really annoying, I had the same problem with my XP 1600+, and the reason I got the 2000 was because I thought it would fix my problem, apparently not... ;)

[j.m@talk]

I replaced the HS on the chipset, with a Vantec Iceberq Chipset Cooler, secured in place with arctic silver thermal adhesive
My only reason for doing that was for aesthetic purposes (its a nice copper colour) ;)

As thermal adhesive $14:00 (Pair of tubes)
Vantec small chip cooling kit $15:00

All prices plus shipping :p

www.1coolpc.com

[omega31]

Here's a mirror for memtest86:
http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/memtest86/

When Peter Missel asked "what's the total budget on 3.3V and 5V combined" he meant what does the power supply show as the max output on 3.3V and 5V combined. If it doesn't say, tell what rating your power supply gives for the 3.3V, 5V, and 12V lines.

The below Antec power supply shows 230W combined on 3.3V and 5V. 3.3V output is 28A, 5V is 35A, 12V is 16A.

http://images2.newegg.com/productimage/17-103-921-03.JPG

[tranka32]

I agree with the memory,, but was just wondering have you made any adjustments to your vid card???? Have you run any stress test's or benchmarks for your vid and or your ram????

[Greg Harper]

After reading further I vote with Tranka. Have you checked out the vid card. Since it's only freezing when under game load maybe you need to update or maybe the games are to demanding. I do very little gaming so my geforce 2 is not stressed to much.:)

[Raraku]

Well, I know it's not my video card because when I play in 100/133 or 100/100(1250 mhz) I can play and run the games as long as I want without freezing.

About the memtest thing. I installed it and copied the files to floppy and left the floppy in my drive and restarted, but nothing happened, my computer just started up like normal. I noticed that, for some reason, my computer doesn't seem to be booting up appropriately with boot disks in the drive, meaning it still boots up normally even when a boot disk is in the drive. I'm pretty sure I have it enabled too check the floppy for boot disks too. I don't know what's wrong :(

[Greg Harper]

Go into setup in the bios and change the boot order to floppy 1st:) ide-o 2nd then cdrom

[Raraku]

Thanks Greg, will do :)

[omega31]

You can also hit F8 to get a list of boot devices before the OS starts loading. Hit it before POST ends. Select floppy.

[Mr Miyagi]

I had this exact issue before...a long time ago when I ran 2 256MB PC133 sticks. Peter Missel suggested this and it worked:

Go int ADVANCED in BIOS and set DRIVER SLEW RATING to FAST.

Hope that does it. Oh, and if it does, thank Peter. It was his idea.

[Raraku]

Thanks alot Miyago, i'll try that.

I've also got my case open and a pretty heavy duty fan blowing right into it, so i'll see if that helps at all.

BTW, about that memtest thing. I got it too work and was sitting there for almost three hours letting it do test after test. It was at 4 when I pressed escape and it had passed all of them. Was it doing the same test over and over again or did I stop it prematurely? :D

[Raraku]

I have some good news, the only problem is that i'm not exactly sure how I managed it. It's either because of Miyagi's suggestion(thanks miyagi and peter) or because I have my computer open, and am blowing a big ran right into it. I'm not sure. I suppose i'll find out tommorow when I move the fan and put the case back where it's suppose to be, but it's good news either way. I'm hoping that it's the driver slew rating that fixed it, that way i won't have to have my case out of place and a huge fan blowing at all times to run my computer at 133/133 (BTW, just so you know it was called Dram driver slew rating)

Thanks for the help, to anyone who made a suggestion, i'll keep ya updated :)

[Raraku]

oh BTW, I forgot to add that sisoft Sandra says my computer is currently running at 29 celcius(84.2 Farenheit) compared to 37 celcius earlier when I wasn't using the fan. Is that low or what? I think the huge fan has something to do with it, and this also leads me to believe that it's the fan that is the reason it's working, but like I said i'll find out tommorow :D

[nsignific]

With all this talk of K7s5a, and PSUs... I've got two crappy PSUs, could I use them both at once? Like one for disk/cd drives, and the other for the mobo? Sorry if that's a stupid question.

Also, on a k7s5a with pc133 memory and athlonxp1600+, is it stupid to run it at fsb 150/150Mhz? Again, sorry if it's a stupid question, but I need to know these things :)

Thank you.

[Greg Harper]

Just out of curiosity how could a crappy psu run a xp1600+ at a 150/150 rate? Sounds to me like it's doing pretty good. What are the specs on these crappy psu's?:t

[nsignific]

Hmm, i'm pretty sure it's a POS PSU, but here are the specs:

250W,
+3.3V - 14A
+5V - 25A
+12V - 8A
-5V - 0.5A
-12V - 0.8A

And i'm at 150/150 Mhz for two days now, playing games nonstop, no problems. Is this just trouble waiting to happen?

I went from 1600+/R8500 to 1900+/R9100 with just two flashes, and I'm hoping I can leave it like this.

[Greg Harper]

Specs are at the low end........but.........if it ain't broke:don't fix it:) :t

[nsignific]

You're right. I did use to get lockups in games, and a lot of people told me to blame the crappy PSU. The lockups aren't as frequent since Catalyst 3.0 drivers for my Radeon8500, but they still occur.

That's why i'm wondering about dual PSU usage. I've never seen or heard of anyone do this before.

[All4Babiedoll]

Raraku,

If you find the fan to be your "FIX" ,...then you might add to your "Reason List of Possabilities" (what may be causing your system issues.) The fan working may indicate poor circulation, as well as the possability for the need for an additional case fan.

How-ever PSU's are also a big cause of problems with this board. But PSU do so much more then just cool your system.


"What You See,....Is Not Always What You THINK You Are Getting." Alot of PSU's don't put out the current/voltage that is required for a system to function properly. And the more you have in your system,...the more power (current/voltage) needed. Price does not always mean quality, ...and whether the number labeled on the PSU be 300W, 350W 400W, 450W etc.... , doesn't mean that it puts out accurrate current/voltage. Always check your bios for proper readings,...manually test for the most accurrate readings. And as a rule of thumb,...look on your PSU label,...look for a section that says "TOTAL COMBINED OUTPUT" If you see those words (or something similar), on your PSU,...look to the right of those words,...if they state the actual specs,...this is a Sign of a good PSU. If those words appear,...but then the spaces to the right are blank,...Well...lets just say,...one should be cautious of those manufactures that don't want to disclose those numbers. After all...what do they have to hide. ;)

* One more note, .....Peter is right,.....often the issue turns out to be bad ram. But if this turns out not to be the case,....you can try alittle experiment that won't cost you a cent,...but maybe some of your time. You never said whether you were runing 2 sticks of 256MB of SDRAM or whether it was just 1 stick of 512MB SDRAM.
If your runing 2 sticks of SDRAM @ 256MB each,....... try removing one stick (leave the remainder stick of RAM in BANK 1), and then boot-up,....and proceed with what ever task you want to carry out,....maybe play a game,.....as some can be pretty demanding on a system,...and this may be a real good test to check it out.

I personally never had the 2 sticks of SDRAM issue,...but I have read numerous amounts of times, that this turned out to be the system's issue with others. And NO,..not because the other stick of RAM turned out to be bad,....because infact....they had done the same thing with the second stick of RAM,... and all was fine.
REASON for this,.....I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW,.... but I figured....if you try everything else,...and it ends up not solving your dilemma, ....then what have you got to loose,....it's worked for others!

Good Luck! :D

[lptech]

I think that your AMD XP+ 2000 CPU requires a more powerful Power Supply Unit or one that could provide more wattage on the 12v rail! The CPU requires about 87.5watts of power by itself alone, the motherboard requires about 25watts to 30watts and remember that the 12v rail supplies the drives and cooling fans with power, so you see that it is important to make sure that you have enough current capability on the 12v rail. Please read the following link to give you a better picture of what your power needs are:

http://firingsquad.gamers.com/guides/power_supply/page2.asp

So, the bottomline is not the total wattage, but what the wattage output capability on each rail is! (i.e. - 3v, 5v & 12v rails) Hope that this info is helpful to you.:)

[Greg Harper]

Great article iptech, that's one I needed to see. That will sure help on this next amd system.
Thanks
G. Harper:t

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Guys its not the bios I know that for sure. The reg. ecs k7s5a bios is fine for xp2000+. I set my bro up with that exact setup and it worked right from the very start at 133/133. I have the same setup too but with a xp 1600+ and there again at 133/133. The cpu overheating is possible too. The prob. isnt the bios for sure but either mem/heat /psu or just plain funky bad mobo even.:(

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Originally posted by lptech
I think that your AMD XP+ 2000 CPU requires a more powerful Power Supply Unit or one that could provide more wattage on the 12v rail! The CPU requires about 87.5watts of power by itself alone, the motherboard requires about 25watts to 30watts and remember that the 12v rail supplies the drives and cooling fans with power, so you see that it is important to make sure that you have enough current capability on the 12v rail. Please read the following link to give you a better picture of what your power needs are:

http://firingsquad.gamers.com/guides/power_supply/page2.asp

So, the bottomline is not the total wattage, but what the wattage output capability on each rail is! (i.e. - 3v, 5v & 12v rails) Hope that this info is helpful to you.:)

I agree almost totally. The 87 watt cpu part though. Remember that its not running at 3.3v though is it. The vcore is like half that. SO as you lower the volts you can up the amps thus also raising the power watts. So it looks worse then it is. though I will say you should have a good qualtiy min. 350watt psu. That will supply enuff on each rail. If the 3.3v rail was tooo low it wouldnt even boot as the mem wouldnt charge up. Also my MSI mobo (amd) uses the P4 power plug and uses 12v rail for cpu. So its not always (is it at all?) fed by the 3.3v rail.;)

[landwire]

I've been using the board for awhile now. The only problem I have is after a random period of time, 5 mins - 2 hours, the system would just reboot. I'm using the 2100xp chip with a 350 watt powersupply. Memory, video, whatever have been swapped out, left out trying to figure this one out. Any ideas???

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Reboots after a period of use USUALLY mean its overheating the cpu or mem. Try taking off side of case and running also when it forces a reboot go into the bios and check the cpu temp right away. If its at or over 50c thats your prob. Check the TIM or apply non conductive thermal grease sparingly. Also make sure the HSF is rated for that cpu speed.:t

[Raraku]

Ok, well here's my current situation.

I'm still using the fan and can play lower-end games that I couldn't play before without the fan, but when I try to play higher-end games it still freezes up sometimes. I'm assuming this means it's an over-heating issue, and not a PSU issue? Some clarification would be appreciated, once again :)

[landwire]

After looking farther into the issue, I discovered my cpu temp is averaging around 55 C. and is around the low 60. c. before it forces a reboot. Needless to say, I am working on redesigning the system for better temp control.

[Raraku]

That's odd... After my computer freezes, I check my bios and it says the cpu is at around 45 or 46 celcius... should it not be higher if it's an overheating issue? If that's the case, then what's the problem?

[landwire]

In the past when my computer locked from running games, it was video and or memory. May seem like a dumb question, but does your system meet or exceeds the memory requirements of the game?? What OS are you running. When building a system for whomever, I always double the min memory requirements. Let me know about the OS and I can give more insights.

[Raraku]

Yes.. my system more then meets the requirements for the game, and my computer doesn't freeze if I run at 100/100 (1250 mhz) instead of 133.

I'm running windows98se

[landwire]

At this point I am thinking a cpu issue, maybe memory.... Honestly, I never used win98se. I stuck with 95 and then jumped to 2k and beyond... At this point, if you have it, try switching out memory, and or cpu's. You might have a bad board.

[crucibelle]

Raraku - You never mentioned what the 3.3v & 5v combined rating was on your psu. What is it? Also, how many amps are provided on the 3.3v line? These should all be listed on one side of your psu. Look in your bios (i forget exactly where to find it though) - somewhere it will list voltages - 3.3v, 5v, 12v, etc etc. What are those readings?

What hsf are you using? What thermal paste?

If you list these things, it might be easier for others to help out. ;)

Also, do you have another video card you could try?



-jeanna

[gcadidas133]

Yes, I had a video card that wasn't compatable with my system, a Savage 2000 64MB with TV Out on a PC Chips m830lmr (the one that died recently :( ) with an XP 2000+ (also dead now)...

Anyways, long story short, i checked my video card with Windows Support and it wasn't supported. Yes mine was crashing every hour or so (even idle) and when i switched it out the problem was solved.

I second crucibelle's recommendation on trying another video card.

Brian

[Raraku]

Well, i'm pretty sure it's not my video card because the computer can run fine forever on 100/100, it only freezes up when I run higher end games at 133/133, and if i'm really lucky, not even then if i'm using the fan...

I looked at my power supply and this is what it says

3.3v - 14A

5v - 30A

12v - 10A

It also says it's a 'Turbolink', whatever that is...
I'm using a Geforce 2 TI, incase anyone is wondering.
i'm assuming the hsf is the heatsink? I'm not exactly sure.. anyways my heatsink is pretty small and I don't believe i've even got any thermal paste on it...

And unfortunately I don't have another video card I can try.

Just so i'm clear. My computer only freezes up when i'm running at 133/133 in a higher end game, I can safely play low-end games at 133/133... also note that i've still got this fan blowing into my case, otherwise I couldn't play any games at all at 133/133... This is why I THINK it's an overheating problem, something likely to do with the heatsink, but i'm not sure.

[landwire]

HSF = Heat Sink Fan

[Raraku]

I bought my ehatsink fan new a couple months ago.. it's silver and says 'tT' on it, I think it's a Volcano7 or something, not sure.

[Greg Harper]

According to firing squad pc you're a little low on the 12v rail. www.firingsquad.gamers.com. Go to the Power supply article. It's a good one and has a lot of useful advice. ;) It may also help answer some of your questions. Can you oc the board? I see that you're gaming problems occur at 133. At first I couldn't get any stability at 133 and ran rock solid at 138 with an oc bios flash. You may want to consider it.:t

[j.m@talk]

Originally posted by Raraku
I bought my ehatsink fan new a couple months ago.. it's silver and says 'tT' on it, I think it's a Volcano7 or something, not sure.

Recognise this?

[Raraku]

yea j.m talk, thats it...

Greg, that link isn't working for some reason... and what video card, how much ram, and what xp model were you using when you ran at 138? I'd try the bios thing, but I don't want to screw up my computer, can I fix it incase something goes wrong with the bios since it wasn't created by ECS?

[Raraku]

Also... some times I can play the games at 133, even the high end ones, but alot of the time I can't. I honestly don't have a clue what's wrong, lol...

Please, also remember that if I were to turn the fan off, I couldn't play ANY games at 133... this is the primary reason that I think it's an overheating problem, but then there's the whole issue of, after it freezes, I reset it and enter my bios, it says my cpu temperature is only at 45 c. I don't think that's quite overheating temperature, and I don't think the CPU would cool down that fast, considering I just reset it about 10-15 seconds ago.

I don't know... help me computer experts!! :)

[Greg Harper]

Xp 1800+, 768 mb ddr2100 ram, and geforce 2 mx 200 vid card.:)

[Raraku]

I SUPPOSE I could try a new bios.. but I don't want my comp to get screwed, ya know what I mean?

Doesn't the fact that the computer can run games at 133/133 with the fan on say that it's an overheating problem? Once again, I dunno... there's another guy with a thread that has the same problems as mine, and his PSU looks really good, so I don't think it's that...

Explain to me how I can get this bios Greg, and how can I fix it if it were to screw up... the last thing I want is my computer being completely inoperative because the bios screwed it up :)

[crucibelle]

Raraku - there are several different things that could be wrong. It could be just one thing, or it could be a combination. You're just going to have to experiment till you find out what the problem is. I do think that you being able to play games at 133/133 with the side off/fan blowing on is a clue. I've heard around that a psu that is working to hard (inadequate) can also overheat a system. I could be wrong about this though - someone correct me if I'm wrong, please. Then again, it could be the hsf (heasink/fan combo). You might just need to take it off, clean it up, apply some good thermal paste, and reseat it. In any case if you decide to buy a new psu OR a new heatsink, neither one will really be a waste of money, in my opinion. Have you tried playing games at 133/133 with just the bare minimum components (one stick of ram, harddrive, vid card)? How is the airflow in your case? Do you have the wires & cables tied up neatly out of the way? Have any case fans?

One more thing: If I were you, I'd go ahead and do the chipset heatsink modification that is outlined by ocworkbench. That may very well be your problem.

-jeanna

[Raraku]

what's the chipset heatsink combination?

[crucibelle]

Raraku - I think you might have gotten two different things I said mixed up... heheh ;) The heatsink/fan combo is the heatsink - the metal thing that sits directly on top of your cpu, and the fan that sits on top of the heatsink. These are usually sold in combinations, but you can buy them seperately, as well.

The chipset heatsink mod that I was talking about is on the ocworkbench page you posted about:

13. Why does my system works perfectly with 100/100 FSB but then will not boot when placed at 133/133 FSB?

And here was the answer:

This is a very common problem with the ECS K7S5A, so far there are two known fixes for this problem but it’s still not 100%. The problem could be PSU related or overheating of the Sis 735 chipset. Others who have upgraded their PSU’s reported to have fix this problem while other reported a fix by replacing the thermal tape off the chipset heat sink with Artic Silver or even regular silicon thermal paste.

-jeanna

[Raraku]

ah ok, thanks alot. Yea I think first i'm going to try replacing the heatsink and putting on some arctic silver.

Also, does anyone know of any great sites where I can buy computer products(i'm looking specifically for a Geforce 4ti 4200, or 4600, whatever) that ships to Canada and has great prices? It can be Canadian or American, whatever, as long as it ships to Canada. I've been to pricewatch and newegg.com, but I don't know if they ship to Canada or not... and I don't know how much the prices will be when the currency is adjusted.

[j.m@talk]

Originally posted by Raraku
I don't know how much the prices will be when the currency is adjusted.

http://www.xe.com/

Maybe we should concentrare on making the thing work
before we incorperate a 3rd party bios huh! :rolleyes:

[omega31]

Greg, that link isn't working for some reason
This is what he was referring to:
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/guides/power_supply/

[Raraku]

yea, I think so.. i'm going to try a new heatsink with some arctic silver first, I think that will fix it.. if it's not that it must be the PSU, the only problem is i'm really strapped for cash right now :(

[Raraku]

just checked out my bios after my computer freezing up again, and I went to the PSU voltage area.. this is what I saw:

Vcc3.3v - 3.280v
Vcc5v - 4.919v
+12v.288-480v (it changed)

I don't know what you guys can get from that... does it look allright?

[crucibelle]

Hmmm... I'm not positive, but I think those are ok. I'm starting to lean more toward heat being your issue. :t

-jeanna

[Raraku]

I don't really understand that article too well, I know I need to learn more about computers, but can anyone tell me, after looking at the information I listed, and that article, does it seem like my PSU is allright?

Crucibelle, thanks for the opinion, I really appreciate it, just wouldn't mind another opinion or two before I buy a new heatsink among other things :)

[crucibelle]

Raraku - No prob! I would do the same thing. I'm nowhere near an expert on the subject... heheh ;) And, you're welcome! :D

-jeanna

[Raraku]

shoot... after reading that article, it's explained that the new P4 and Athlon processors run on the +12V rail... I looked at my PSU again and it says the +12V rail provides 10 amps... is that enough for an XP 2000+?? :(

Edit: then again, the article also explains that if that were the problem, the computer would spontaneously reboot... Mine just freezes up with a repeat sound noise coming from my speakers... I have no clue...

Need a computer expert to come in here and help me! :(

[PacNW CE]

Originally posted by Raraku
ah ok, thanks alot. Yea I think first i'm going to try replacing the heatsink and putting on some arctic silver.

Also, does anyone know of any great sites where I can buy computer products(i'm looking specifically for a Geforce 4ti 4200, or 4600, whatever) that ships to Canada and has great prices? It can be Canadian or American, whatever, as long as it ships to Canada. I've been to pricewatch and newegg.com, but I don't know if they ship to Canada or not... and I don't know how much the prices will be when the currency is adjusted.

I love newegg. Dunno about shipping to the Great White North...

I have this board, and as I mentioned once before, I have had similar stability problems. I changed PS and added case fans. I have a centerfuge exaust fan running above my AGP slot. Your case may not allow for this, but mine does. Cool your case, and maybe the problem goes away. so my advise is basically go drop 15 bucks on a fan, and 60 more on a new PS. Make sure you overkill on the PS, so it lasts through your next upgrade too.


:t

[gcadidas133]

Raraku, I've heard somewhere that if you're setting yourself up with a +12V 10-12A power supply, you're setting yourself up for instability. I dont know what all of the comparasons between amps, watts, volts, whatever... but 10-12A = instability, so i've heard.

(...looks for site in history...)

"The majority of low-cost power supplies you see at computer shows tend to have +12V rails with 10 or 12A. No matter how many total watts the power supply may have, you’re setting yourself up for instability if you buy that power supply."

http://firingsquad.gamers.com/guides/power_supply/page5.asp



You may want to take a look at this if you would like to learn about what you want in a power supply:

http://firingsquad.gamers.com/guides/power_supply/

Hope this helps :)

(i feel important)

Brian:t

[DEV1OUS]

I don't know if this will help you or not, but I have the same motherboard you have. My CPU is an Athlon XP 1700. I had the exact same problem your having. It took me about a month to figure out what was wrong.
After a lot of searching on the internet, it seem that everything came back to some kind of faulty hardware. Everything I had on my system was new, so I kept thinking it was not that. I was so frustrated and decided to eliminate things. I started with my sound and video cards.
To make a long story short. I had a bad stick of memory. Once I removed the memory everything ran fine. I have not had any problems since.
I don't know if this will solve your problem or not, but it's worth a try. Take out or replace cards one at a time. This motherboard is very picky when it comes to anything faulty.

Goodluck :D

[Raraku]

Can someone tell me about the memtest thing? When I ran it a few days ago, it had allready done like 5 tests... and it didn't find anything wrong. Do I just let it go and it will eventually end, or is it doing the same test over and over, and i'm just waisting my time? Also.. if it does the test on my RAM and doesn't find any errors, is it suffice to believe that my RAM is indeed not the problem?

Devious.. thanks for the suggestion. When you had the problem.. could you play high end games at all... or could you play them some times, and other times they would crash like 10 minutes in? The only reason I don't think it's my RAM is because sometimes I can play the high-end games for a couple hours, and I can ALWAYS play the low-end games, and I can always do regular computer tasks(browsing, listening to music, getting on word processors) without any problems...

Where did everyone go, any big time computer experts that can give me some more advice?

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Memtest86 doesnt stop it just keeps going and going like the energizer bunney. Anyhow if it passes loop 1 and 2 it should pass them all so says the author of the prog. Running longer is just testing for chipset/heat probs. As it will run the cpu and mem plus chipset full load.:eek: If you passed that, the mem is ok. But not nesecarily the rest of it.;) Run sisoftsandre and stress test with it. "Burn in wizard" its called on sandre. Anyhow uncheck all but cpu. Now run over and over like 20x. If its locking up there is th eprob. If not now unselect cpu from tests and leave the mem selected. Now do the same 20x loop. If it locks up- well ya know. Anyhow I do this to narrow down what the issue is when it comes to heat and volt probs. Stressing the part will A) increase the heat B) show manufacturing flaws quicker (like a bad cpu/mobo) C) will increase the cpu's power consumption greatly. Give it a go and see if ya pass.
http://www.sisoftware.net/?location=update
:t

{edit= spelling}:rolleyes:

[j.m@talk]

I went out with Sisoft Sandra once....for a beer.........

Still payin' the child support ;)

[Greg Harper]

I went out and pi$$ed off a sandra once and I'm still paying too!!!

[j.m@talk]

maybe you should of piston her instead! :D

[Pointer]

your Vidiocard is to slow you buy a vidiocard with GF4 cpu
:t

[Peter M]

I've seen plenty of systems that wouldn't run 133/133.

It's been either insufficient or poorly mounted CPU cooling, dodgy RAM, or weak or poorly regulated power supply. Every time. (No, once it's been all three :rolleyes:)

Changing the mainboard has never helped for the cases I've been brought onto.

btw, yes, CPUs heat up and cool down incredibly fast. You can toast an Athlon in three seconds, and you just as well cool it down by some twenty degrees within twenty seconds. Remember, this is not your kitchen cooking equipment - the CPU die has almost no mass of its own, hence very little heat capacity.

[fishybawb]

The "repeat sound" and hang that you mention sounds very much like a RAM problem - this is *exactly* what happened with my k7s5a when I had two sticks of RAM (different brands and cheap) installed. Removing one of them fixed the problem straight away, but in the end I installed some Crucial RAM instead. Ah, I miss my old ECS. If it hadn't met an unfortunate accident with half a bottle of Bud it'd still be with me today :D

[tranka32]

Sorry if this sounds rude,, but I can't believe this thread is still alive,,, we're going over the same troubleshooting routine with no results... I have an old system that is rated for 133 sdram,, but has trouble with it so I run it at 100, That's it,,, I don't worry about it alot,,, Good luck... hope you find an answer...

[BillBaldwin]

well I have a K7S5A Mobo I am putting together but wish I could be far enough along in the assembly to have problems with oc'ing and freezing.

Anyone have real world details on how to set up the "FPI" connector? this is a real mystery to me -- cannot see how a jumper possibly could, for example, go across a diagonal (pins 5,8 for "RST_SW_N" page 9 of hte manual); how does one tell which lead from the case is negative/positive (am assuming the white wires are negative, but is this true?).

This is quite frustrating and have not had this problem with other boards in the past . . .

TIA for any suggestions . . .