Computer won't boot or reset.

[eespinosa]

I am running Windows98se on a tyan s1598m mobo, k6-2/500, wd 8.dgb hd, 256mb ram. My system will not boot up anymore. Not even from a startup disk in the a:/. It seems like it will boot, but will just stop responding at some point. After that, it won't even reset. I figured the processor was a goner, so I bought a k6-2/450. No go. Same problem. I got a windows protection error message. Something about "ntkrnl" or some such. Then no response at all! Unless the second processor is also bad, I'm thinking that the mobo is bad. I don't want to try another mobo and still have the same problem, though. Is there a sure-fire way to tell which is the faulty component?

[Bovon]

I just put together a system using exactly the same setup, and I am quite pleased with the board, ram...system ect.

On your system, do you get any dos boot screen at all?...can you see the ram count?...do you see anything bios has detected?...hard drive, cd rom drive, floppy drive?..if you see any or all of these things, then the mainboard and processor are ok. I would suspect something has happened to the hard drive or the Windows operating system. Answer there questions I have asked, and we will go from there.

[eespinosa]

I tried booting up w/o the hd attached. I got an error message telling me to insert a system disk. I inserted a win98 startup disk. It went as far as creating the ram drive and pci scan. Then it suddenly asked for me to "insert disk with batch file. press any key to continue." This is where it stopped resonding. Hitting reset only gave me a blank screen. I shut it off, and waited a few minutes. I restarted and then it got as far as the configuration screen, which is after the memory check. Actually, only HALF on the configuration screen is shown. It does a ram count and the first boot attempt also showed the bios recognizing the hd, cdrom, etc. If I keep trying shutdown, turn-on, the rebooting process lasts less each time. BTW, I only heard one beep. When it was working properly it only beeped once. I don't know if this will help, but it still shows an AMD K6-2/500 as being installed. Right now, I have a k6-2/450 installed. I'm not sure what to try next.

[Bovon]

Ok, I think I see one thing here from your last comment.

You say its still showing the K6-2 500 when you now have a K6-2 450 installed. What I think you have done is, plugged in the 450 and did not reset the mainboard jumpers for 450 mhz...ie...4.5 times 100 = 450 mhz.

If in fact this is correct, you are trying to overclock the 450 to 500 mhz, which probably will not work, and certainly not at stock Vcore voltages. I have a K6-2 450 in the one I just put together, and I tried to make it run at 500 mhz...I increased the Vcore up to 2.7 volts. It did work, but not completely, so I rejumpered it back to 4.5 X 100, lowered Vcore back to 2.4 volts, and its running great.

The K6-2 series processors are not good overclockers at all, and usually take a good bit more Vcore voltage applied than I like to put one under, with a stock AMD heatsink. So, reset your mainboard multipliers to 4.5 and set the Vcore to 2.4 volts and try it again...come back and let us know how that went.

The other stuff you mentioned all could very well be due to an overclock that just ain't gonna work, especially at stock Vcore.

[smeare]

I am having the same problem with my computer. I have an AMD K62 500 and i have not tried any overclocking. My computer hangs up right before i get a dos prompt when i use a startup disk. The only thing i can think of would be the bios not telling the computer to look to the floppy drive at that point. I took out the little battery from what i guess is the cmos. Rebooted and had the same problem. Maybe the battery is dead. Tell me what you think or maybe a differnt problem with the computer.

smeare

[eespinosa]

Bovon, I changed the multiplier and the voltage and had success! It went into safe mode first, but then it booted fine except for the no muse message. I then rebooted with the mouse attached and then I got another windows protection error. I believe it's because I didn't have the fan attached, which brings me to a NEW problem. One of the tabs on the socket that holds the fan is broken. I guess that's why the fan fell off in the first place. Unless there is another way of keeping the fan on the cpu, I am SCREWED. Please tell me that I don't have to toss my mobo!! There has to be some miraculous way of keeping the fan on the cpu that doesn't need the socket's tabs. Isn't there? (whimper)