VA 503+ upgraded to k6-3 450/ win98 lock-ups

[Toadman]

I just upgraded to this CPU from a k6-2 350 after flashing to the current BIOS, and it POSTS fine, but it is hanging on desktop occasionally immediately after win98 loads, or fails to draw icons, requiring re-booting. Click on browser,it starts to load up then freezes(no CPU/HD activity.)Seems to freeze loading Win apps, not games. Device mgr shows no IRQ conflicts in safe mode. Jumpers ok and heat appears not an issue. Is there anything in the BIOS that would cause it to hang after upgrade?(Aperture 64mb, Video shadow disabled, etc.)

Specs are:

FIC VA503+ (w/o EO0037 sticker)
AMDK6-3 450 2.4v w/thermal paste
128m PC100 RAM
Viper 770 AGP non-ultra w/2.08 drivers
SB Live
AT case slot fan

Thank you for any advice you can give! /forum/smile.gif

[M1pilot]

Hey Toad,

Did you try that little vxd proggy I sent you? It got rid of all my BSOD's. If you suspect the BIOS, why don't you start it up at default and see what happens. If that works, just keep changing settings up until your symptoms start to occur. That's a little drastic and time consuming, but it might work. You might try shutting down the L3 and setting your memory to CAS 3 first to see if that helps. I would suggest, also, not using VIA's busmastering driver....the Win98 native driver seems to work much better.
You've probably tried all this, but if not, hope this helps. Good luck.

-M1pilot

[Axel]

It almost sounds like your video driver isn't quite up to spec or possibly might just need to be reloaded.

You might want to get on the web and check to see if your video card has an updated driver.

Also, have you tried changing the resolution of your screen down a bit? - That's probably not it, but might be worth a try.

[Toadman]

Thanks guys. I'm going to set my BIOS to default then start flipping options on/off. I'll get the Detonator 2.17 driver as well (not 3.53) and reload Vxdgart(thanks M1). Guess I gotta run my monitor at 800x600 though. VA503 mobos do not like TNT2's at all! Hope it's not a voltage issue on the mobo to the CPU. Strange to have to reload video drivers after CPU upgrade,though. WIsh me luck.

[Chainsaw]

Hi Toadman,
Sure hope you get those lock ups figured out, I just went thru the FDISK thing to straighten mine out and it was a bit of a chore, but WOW what a difference, my prob was a software thing, but I really had no way of knowing till I did a re-install to all and watched the performance after each.
By the way, I just downloaded the 2.17 Detonator driver today and am running it right now. It's a little hard to tell without documented before and after benchmarks, but I think there's about a 1-2 percent performance improvement over the 2.08 driver. I just ran 3DMARK and got a 4515 which is not the best I've gotten, but better than my average. You know what I mean when I say that it really depends on the system as a whole, rather than just one change. I sure wish ya luck in getting things ironed out, hang in there, there isn't any place better to get the support needed to optimize, build, tweak, or just learn about a machine than right here on SysOpt.
...chainsaw