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Tales From The Rags Side

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  • Tales From The Rags Side

    Hi all,

    I seem to have a strange problem with my trusty system. I will first list my specs, then go from there:
    Abit BF6, P3-550E in a Slotket, 256 MB 7E memory, Ricoh SCSI CD burner, Toshiba DVD, 2X 20 GB IBM IDE drives, SB Live! value, G450, 3Com 905B NIC, Adaptec SCSI adapter.

    The other day I was going on doing my normal computing when the screen just froze. No warnings, no nothing it just froze. I gave it the three fingered salute, no go. I hit the reset, the system stayed blank. I powered it down, waited a few, then hit the power..stayed black, hit the reset again, and it posted, goes to the win2k scandisk and freezes. I had it overclocked at the time (150 FSB), so I turned it back down to default, and it wouldn't post again. So, I cleared the cmos, it posted right away, but when you clear the cmos, it boots to 66 Mhz fsb. I go into the bios, make sure my settings are okay, and set the cpu to default. No post again. So, I reset the cmos again, and let it stay at 66 Mhz FSB this time. I boot fine, no problems at 366 Mhz (66 FSB). Everything works at that speed, no probs. So I figure I may have damaged my cpu, so I grab another cpu I have here, and put it in, no POST at 100 Mhz FSB. Hmmmm...must be a memory problem, so I swap out my memory. No change. So I keep the new memory in, and put my 550E back in. I set the bios for 100 Mhz FSB, and it doesn't post. So, I start taking out cards one by one. With no cards in, it still doesn't POST. I switched to some other Vid cards I had lying around (Winfast GeForce MX, ATI Radeon VIVO, G400, G200) to no avail. Then I think maybe something else, so I pull the plug on peripherals. When I yank the USB plug for my printer, it Posts at 100 Mhz all the time, but is not completely stable. I played a round of TFC with it set at 100, but locked up later on. So, now I am back to running at 66 Mhz FSB again.

    Now. I am thinking I may have a power supply problem, but watching my voltages, they don't seem to stray too far off. On the other hand I may have pushed my motherboard too far. I have run it at 165 FSB for while before going back to 150, so it's not like I have been nice to it.
    Looks like maybe I should replace my motherboard tho.

    What are your ideas/suggestions?

    Rags



  • #2
    Rags,
    I know it seems obviuose but you didn't
    mention changing your ratios (pci & agp)
    It's late at night, could you have left
    them up when you changed from 66 to 100?

    Also, try setting the speed with the dip
    switches.
    chuck
    Chuck
    秋音的爸爸

    Comment


    • #3
      Yes, I did change the PCI and AGP dividers accordingly when moving the the FSB speeds around.

      No, I haven't attempted setting the speed with the dip switches, but I will give it a shot. That's one I hadn't thought of.

      Thanks

      Rags

      Comment


      • #4
        No go. It won't even POST at all using the dipswitches.

        Disable the dipswitches, and it will POST at 100 Mhz, and again plugging in the USB cable won't allow it to POST at all. I am thinking my motherboard is bum. Hopefully I can find another one here in town.

        Rags

        Comment


        • #5
          As it's about the only thing you haven't changed, Matt, I would be on the look-out for another motherboard.

          Although what you might check as well is your PSU. Might be that you hit that one a bit hard as well.
          Jordâ„¢

          Comment


          • #6
            Yah, it's possible my PS may be going bad, but I lean towards thinking no. I spent a good chunk of money to get a good PS, and the voltages aren't going all over the place. I guess even though, the current may be dipping.

            Well, I guess I will get the motherboard, and if it's the Power Supply, then I guess Kruzin gets another motherboard

            Rags

            Comment


            • #7
              I'd be leaning towards the motherboard as well, if it won't post with nothing in it.

              amish
              Despite my nickname causing confusion, I have no religious affiliations.

              Comment


              • #8
                How much snow and ice is resting on the power lines, Matt? And how many of your neighbours have extra heating cabinets all over the house, plugged into these mains? Something to take into consideration as well... maybe?
                Jordâ„¢

                Comment


                • #9
                  I have a UPS with a line conditioner, so I don't think my wall outlets are affecting this. Too bad it wasn't that simple

                  Rags

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    You don't know anyone with a diagnostics card, do you? So that you can read out the BIOS codes...

                    ------------------
                    Cheers,
                    Steve

                    "Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I suspect that the motherboard is finally fed up with all the abuse that you have been putting it through. Some of the electronics may well be saturated. If you can afford to, keep it in a cool dry place for about a day and then try using it again. If that doesn't work then you should probably just replace it. Have you tried it in another case (diff. PSU)?
                      [size=1]D3/\/7YCR4CK3R
                      Ryzen: Asrock B450M Pro4, Ryzen 5 2600, 16GB G-Skill Ripjaws V Series DDR4 PC4-25600 RAM, 1TB Seagate SATA HD, 256GB myDigital PCIEx4 M.2 SSD, Samsung LI24T350FHNXZA 24" HDMI LED monitor, Klipsch Promedia 4.2 400, Win11
                      Home: M1 Mac Mini 8GB 256GB
                      Surgery: HP Stream 200-010 Mini Desktop,Intel Celeron 2957U Processor, 6 GB RAM, ADATA 128 GB SSD, Win 10 home ver 22H2
                      Frontdesk: Beelink T4 8GB

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        No, I haven't tried it in a different case yet. My thought is that if I am going to yank it and put it in a different case, a new motherboard is going back in my current case

                        Steve-Yes, there were no codes displayed, it checked okay. There were also no beep codes. I am beginning to think the clock generator just can't keep a clean signal at certain speeds.

                        Okay guys, any suggestions? I have three choices:
                        1- I can stick with a P3 system, and not have to upgrade my cpu, if I do which board do you guys think I should get and why. Right now I am leaning towards an Abit SE6 or SA6R, because both work fine under win2k using ACPI, I would go with the Asus CUSL2 that's in my other bench testing system, but there are still ACPI issues with this board that have not been adressed and they do affect me.

                        2- I can go with a Thunderbird/Duron system. If I do this, a 900 TBird and Abit K7T would be my first choices, but if you have other suggestions, please tell and give reasons.

                        3- I can jump out of my mind and go with a P4, my case and PS will work fine with it using the Asus board...yeah I know, but it is an option

                        Rags

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I like option number two. Those systems just keep getting cheaper. Option #3 just sounds like a bad move to anybody for me.

                          Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Yes, they are getting cheaper. But I really don't need to upgrade my cpu at this point, but it's an option.

                            Let's see:

                            With #1 I am having to spend money on a motherboard that will have no faster upgrades past 1.13 Ghz, and I have to buy a new MB (duh). Roughly 130 bucks.

                            With #2 I have to spend money on a new motherboard and processor, MB is around 150, processor is 190, that is 340 bucks. Plus, there are DDR boards coming out soon, and if I go with this option, I have to shell out 340 plus the next motherboard and RAM.

                            Decisions, decisions.

                            I see Asus has released a new revision of the CUSL2, and it looks to be betta, so I may just drop that in and see how it works.

                            Rags, still looking for comments

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Well, option #2(revised):
                              The MB price seems a little high, but it depends on your choice of MB
                              CPU price is just a tad off:
                              1GHz Athlon: $170
                              900MHz: $140
                              850MHz Duron: $110

                              Not to mention shopping for a cheaper processor that you can OC or can buy guaranteed to OC.

                              And you get a faster processor.
                              I'm not trying to really push you, I just want you to be informed. I certainly wouldn't be insulted if you got a new MB for your processor (although I would think less of you if you bought a P-IV now )

                              Also, I would check out your CPU before making a decision. You haven't checked it out yet, if I'm reading your post correctly. It might very well be that your CPU went, and then sent the nasties along to the MB.

                              Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

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