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Thread: rejuvenating and old rig

  1. #1
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    rejuvenating and old rig

    Back in 2007 i built for a friend of mine a Athlon 64x2 system running Vista.
    IT's an Asus motherboard socket 939 with 2GB DDR max 4GB and a Athlon 64 x2 4200. She used it for 8 years then got a win 8.1 laptop in 2015 which she just cracked the screen and made unusable.
    She's not ready to buy a new computer so we are reviving the Athlon 64x2
    The Old hard drive has bad sectors so it's gone and new cmos battery was installed. Also purchased 2GB of additional memory.
    So I have a old Never used 250GB IDE drive and a old 500GB SATA that I only used for 1 month. both tested and passed. System wil boot from both IDE and SATA.
    Since the system is old and we dont'want to sink money into it I was planning to yous the 250GB IDE and install windows 7 32bit which I have a licences for.
    I can also get a licenses for windows 8.1 64bit and install it on the 500GB SATA.
    Which would you folks recommend? i know win 7 will work well because my folks have a win7 AMD Turion laptop and works well.
    If Win 8.1 64 bit can work well on this old system then she has a computer for 2 to 3 years.

    Second question , the Motherboard has 4 memory slots and a max memory of 4GB. It had 2GB already and i just purchased an additional 2GB of the same memory same manufacture and everything.
    When I put them all in the bios only reads 2.5GB. Why? i tested them all individually and they seem to work.

  2. #2
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    a win 8.1 laptop in 2015 which she just cracked the screen and made unusable
    If it's just a cracked screen, did you try connecting a monitor?

    It had 2GB already and i just purchased an additional 2GB of the same memory same manufacture and everything.
    When I put them all in the bios only reads 2.5GB. Why? i tested them all individually and they seem to work.
    You tested each stick by itself and they read the correct amount? It could be a BIOS compatibility issue.

    I would run Win7, if anything. I'd go for the external monitor on the laptop first

  3. #3
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    turning out to be more trouble then it's worth. now the system keeps shutting it's self down. The bios Hardware monitor show that the CPU is overheating but, it's not hot to the touch.
    not sure if the temp sensor is on the CPU or the Mobo. Or could it be a voltage issue? Also it was never an issue before.

  4. #4
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    Did you reapply the thermal paste on the CPU? Is the heatsink fan spinning properly? Is the heatsink clogged with dust?

    For a system that old, I'd also check for bad caps.
    http://www.badcaps.net/

    Did you try a monitor on the laptop or not?

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    thermal past , heatsink properly situated, fan spinning, dust cleared. all checked
    what I'm realy curious to know is if the fault is the mobo or the CPU.
    if i shut down the computer for 30 minutes and let it cool, the temperature is stable when I turn it on. It will maintain a stable 98 degrees for 30 minutes then suddenly temperature starts to rise from 98 degrees to 155 in just 2 to 3 minutes.
    If the issue is the CPU then it's possible to pick up a new one on the cheap. if it's the Mobo then i give up.
    Attaching her laptop to a monitor may be the best option. although even that laptop needs a reformatting and installation of win 8.1.

  6. #6
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    I wouldn't spend money on such an old system. I'd focus on the laptop first.

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    On a system that old, the thermal paste may be dried out. I'd try replacing it with some fresh Artic Silver.

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    thermal paste was freshly applied

  9. #9
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    Weird then that it's still running so hot.


    cpu-world.com > AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (Socket 939, rev. E6) specifications
    Maximum operating temperature 49°C - 71°C
    --

    On the 4 GB only showing 2.5 GB: 32-bit systems can only address up to 4 GB total. So, if the system itself requires say .5 and the video card say 1, that only leaves enough addresses for up to 2.5 GB of RAM.

  10. #10
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    fixed the overheating issue. The cpu had gone bad. I fou nd a great deal on ebay for a athlon 64x2 4400. Just $20
    . Now the system is running win 7 32 bit great but it still only sees 2.5 gb of the 4 gb. I don't get it. I've played with every setting in the bios. Fun is while tinkering with the bios i was able to bring it down to 2.2 gb but i could not increase it beyond 2.5. It should read 3.2 Gb
    Since i haven't activated win 7 yet, im going to test win 7 64bit. Turns out win 8.1 64 bit is not compatible with the Athlon 64x 2.
    Any ideas why I'm appear to be missing memory?

  11. #11
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    As I stated above, "32-bit systems can only address up to 4 GB total."

    So, if the system itself requires say 1/2 GB and the video card say 1 GB, that only leaves 2-1/2 GB for Windows.

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