"cpu unworkable" message on first boot kt7a

[stevenvee]

I'm building my first system. So far assembled according to instructions from sysopt guide and product manuals:

abit kt7a- raid
amd athlon 1000 ghz thunderbird
alpha-pal 6035 cpu cooler
inno3d geforce mx 2 32 mb sdram
usb jumper from board to spit connectors
all fan heads attached using fan1 and fan2
256 mb pc-133 ram

According to instructions I was to power up the system and see if the appropriate screen came up before proceeding. Was also to check to see if all the fans, led's, and switches worked properly before moving on to next step of installing drives.

Last night I did not have a spare monitor and keyboard but I powered up anyway to see if the fans and lights worked. Left on for several minutes before turning off. Powered up again a little later to revel in my tremendous ability to make little fans spin by using hundreds of dollars worth of sophisticated equipment.

The next evening I attached an old Art Scan color monitor as well as a keyboard and fired up the system to see if I was getting the proper message. The board recognized my video card and gave the ok. Then I saw the following message:

main processor: AMD Athlon 1000 mhz (100 x 10)
memory testing: 262144 mb


CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck cpu softmenu.


I then tried to enter delete to get to the bios. System froze and would not shut down with switch. Had to unplug.

Waited and restarted... Same message....
went immediately to bios, selected soft menu and saw:

cpu 600
multiplier 6
etc.

Even this rookie knew this was not right from reading the manual. I tried to press F6 to initiate safe mode. No dice. Froze again... and had to unplug.

Went through same process and messages again and immediately entered setup, selected soft menu and entered F6 and answered Y to go into safe mode. Hit esc and then F10 to save and exit. System shut down by switch.

Waited... Restarted.... Same cpu unworkable message...went to setup...softmenu.. Now:

CPU 100
Multiplier 10

Success... I thought went to go to other area of cmos.... system froze. shutdown only by unplug..

You get the picture I hope. Sorry for the lengthy explanation but I wanted you to have all the info. I still get the "CPU unworkable" message and have a system freeze after a minute or so.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as there is no documentation in the manual for this message and problem.

Remember in your responses that I am not that familiar with bios terminology or manipulation.

Thanks... Steve


[This message has been edited by stevenvee (edited 02-01-2001).]

[Buji]

I'm not familiar with that board, but on my Abit you have to disable Speed Error Hold to clear that message which leads me to think you might not have a 1gig chip.On Abit boards it sets that error when you overclock the CPU. Do you have an Auto Detect CPU setting or Load Set up Defaults in the Bios?

[hurricane_floyd]

Dude !!! Simple as can be.
Whenever you first boot a KT7/raid up after CMOS reset, it allows the CPU to go to its default. What you need to do is enter CMOS setup and go to the Soft Menu III page, then you must set your CPU speed to 1G or 1000 according to which bios you have.The system will then go thru normal boot-up.

I am running the exact same MoBo and CPU.

[stevenvee]

Floyd,

I did what you said as I mentioned in my original post and the bios recognized the cpu at 100 and the xmultiplier at 10 but the system still freezes after 45 seconds and will not budge.

After this post I discharged the cmos jumper with the system off, put it back to original and tried to boot again. (to clear the cmos) No more "cpu unworkable" message. Went to softmenu in bios and selected 100 x 10 and saved according to directions in the manual for resetting cmos. Rebooted, no more cpu unworkable message and the system went through the process looking for drives etc. but the system still freezes after about 45 seconds.

I also got into the PC health option in the bios. The cpu temp is 69 C and system 20 C.

I still could use some help because everything freezes after 45 seconds every time I restart.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

[This message has been edited by stevenvee (edited 02-02-2001).]

[jtax]

i hope your cpu isn't fried. have you checked if the heatsink was securely attached and fully covered the cpu? I usually get this message when i o/c but i don't have enough cooling or my pIII cannot support that speed. Also, what did you set the voltage to?

[stevenvee]

jtax,

I didn't set the votage. It set as default. I'm not there now but as I remember it was 1.75 v. Also the heatsink is tightly on the cpu. The clip on the alpha exerts alot of pressure.

[Buji]

Chapter 5 Thermal Design 21
23792G—October 2000 AMD Athlon™ Processor Model 4 Data Sheet
Preliminary Information
5 Thermal Design
For information about thermal design for the AMD Athlon™
Processor Model 4, including layout and airflow considerations,
see the AMD Thermal, Mechanical, and Chassis Cooling Design
Guide, order# 23794, and the cooling guidelines on www.amd.com.
Table 1 shows the thermal design power. The thermal design
power represents the maximum sustained power dissipated
while executing publicly available software or instruction
sequences under normal system operation at nominal
VCC_CORE. Thermal solutions must monitor the processor
temperature to prevent the processor from exceeding its
maximum die temperature.
The maximum die temperature is specified through
characterization at 90....C for frequencies up to 1000 MHz, and
95....C for frequencies 1100 MHz and above. http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athl.../pdf/23792.pdf http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athl...ocs/index.html http://www1.amd.com/athlon/config http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon

[stevenvee]

Buji,

I am certainly under 90 C. I went home removed the sink and cleaned the core. By the way there was a smooth thin surface of grease on the core as well as the sink when I removed it. Reassembled and regreased with a slightly heavier application of grease to the core than before and now have constant idle temps of 61 C vs the 70 I had before.

[hurricane_floyd]

Thats pretty **** Hot !!! You may need to get a better heat-sink fan unit. I have a little heat problem with a Thermaltake ChromeOrb, but not as bad as you. All the hardware temperature monitoring programs seems to read differently. I trust the BIOS one myself but keep tabs with VIAHM.

Also be VERY CAREFUL!!! when pulling the HSF off and putting it back on so as not to crunch your 1G T-Birds heart, I got a few flakes gone out of ignorance but she is still doing fine, can OC to 1100Mhz but gets warm FAST.

You might want to try dropping the voltage and speed(if L1's are unlocked) until you can get a better HSF. Or use a backup system.
The WinFOP32s or 38s HSFs seem to be doing good in the numbers. I am going liquid soon, T-Birds don't really cool well with air.

Later..

[stevenvee]

To all that took the time to respond thank you!

The verdict is in.........

After considering everyones input I decided to remove the alpha-pal and try another. I found a Cool Master with the better fan at my local copmputer store and voila......


23 C at idle and 32 C when I'm running quake.

As you guys projected the HS was not working. The interface on the alpha stinks in my opinion and you don't get great heat transfer. The cool master may be cheaper but for my money it has a better clip arrangement and a more fool proof (good for me) interface.

Thanks again.

Steve

[Tbonz]

Dude! 23 degrees! I have the exact same system with a coolermaster, thermal paste and I hover at 35.

When I run Sandra2000, CPU info reads as my 1001Mhz Tbird has a PR1301.

Any translations?

[stevenvee]

Tbonz,

My reading of 23 C is from viahm or Via Hardware Manager. My system is brand new and I have not installed Sandra yet.

One difference I noticed: You said, “thermal paste”

I used the sticky pink pad that was stuck to the face of the heatsink. I removed the plastic sheet that covered the pad and installed the heatsink. According to the Cooler Master Website, this pad provides for an excellent thermal contact with no gaps. The pink bubblegum melts when you start up and provides a perfect layer of thermally conductive material, which is hard to get sometimes with thermal grease.

I’ve had problems with thermal grease in the past. I also do not OC my 1G T-Bird because I don’t see the gain vs. the heat and instability. You can order thermal pads from different sites that specialize in cooling for cpu’s such as:
www.2cooltek.com www.millisec.com

Give it a try if you’d like. Although, the temps you mention are not bad at all.

Good luck!

[[H2O]Tman]

The alpha PAL (from what i read) is a WAY better heatsink than ANY coolermaster. I am thinking maybe you didn't install yours right. Did you remove the plastic off the PAL? Or whatever the instructions say? The alpha should be giving you much better temps.

[stevenvee]

H2OTman,

Yes, I followed every direction perfectly. I know what the reports say about Alpha, that's why I bought it. But it does not seat as well as the coolermaster I have. The alpha may be superior in many ways but what good is it, if it doesn't make flat contact with the cpu. The clip arrangement is substandard in my opinion. It can be installed incorrectly too easily. If you fidget with it, it may eventually make perfect contact, but for my money, I'll take the cooler master. Lighter, easier to install, better clip arrangement and better thermal contact with the pad that comes on the unit.

Remember I do not OC. My cpu ran all night last night doing 3dbechmarks and never got above 30 C.

Steve