Topic: Processor/Motherboard problems (Read 3657 times)

Monty · « **on:** March 31, 2004, 06:26:02 am »

OK, the problem:
AMD 2500+ Athlon XP clocking in at 1.1GHz when it should be 1.8 . I know the reason for this.

My clock multiplier is defaulted at 10.5 and my FSB is defaulted at 100 MHz. I think the mulitplier my also be on auto detect.

11 * 100 gives 1100

When I try to raise the FSB to 166 ( or even 133.3) using the Dip switches on my motherboard, the computer posts... shows the processor AMD 1833 (less at a lesser FSB selection) Athlon XP, shows the RAM 512mb then stops. It doesn't proceed to check for IDE drives, it just... stops.

My System specs:

512mb PC2100 RAM
80GB IBM HDD
CDRW Sony CRX100E
Soltek SL-75DRV5 Mainbaord
GF4 titanium 4200 64mb DDR
Windows XP Home edition

Current BIOS revision T1.8 .

When I tried T1.6 it didn't recognise the CPU.... and it still hung with the FSB was increased.

I will be trying T1.5 later... it apparrently added 2600+ and 2700+ support, surely it could handle the 2500+?

I have contacted Soltek to see what they say, but in the mean time...

Anyone here ever had experience with my motherboard good/bad, encountered similar problems and overcome them?

Tonight I'm going to:
Try revision T1.5
Try different Clock Mulitplier and FSB ranges
I'm going to check the Vcore value: acccording to the information sheet in front of me it should be 1.65v .
Set RAM to 100% or synch, or whatever settings i can to make sure i'm not OCing it.
Clear the CMOS see if that helps.

If anyone has any suggestions please post them here.

I replaced my 1.1GHz Duron with this 2500+ Athlon and the ironary of the situation is not totally lost on me.

Hopefully I won't have to replace the motherboard.

ChAotiCIllusion · « **Reply #1 on:** March 31, 2004, 06:36:36 am »

Big thing that jumps out at me is the memory pc2100 is designed to run at 133 FSB. First boot at 100 go into the bios and change the memory timings to the highest numbers you can. Now turn off the machine change the dipswitch to 133 and try it. If that works then chances are the board is autodetecting the memory timings incorrectly which is what is causing the machine to hang at 133 and the fact it's being set at 166 for 166. If you can try borrowing some memory off someone which you know will run at pc2700 then try.
Also just to add http://www.soltek-computer.de/soltek/FAQ/CPU_list/amd.pdf the board you have is not guarnteed to run that chip because the kt333 chipset was never actually certified for use with 166 processors.

Monty · « **Reply #2 on:** March 31, 2004, 07:04:46 am »

Thanks for the reply,

You are not the first person to tell me that pc2700 RAM might shed some light on the subject.

I'll give your suggestions a go and see how I get on tonight.

I noticed that information sheet at Soltek after I bought the processor - isn't that always the way.

I kinda assumed that if a BIOS release adds in support for 2600+ and 2700+ I should be safe with the 2500+. At the moment I've still got a performance increase (the relavitvely huge L2 cache compared to the Duron) and if i can bump up the clock speed any further it will be faster still.

Time to go memory hunting...

Monty · « **Reply #3 on:** April 01, 2004, 02:10:55 am »

OK, some progress.

Two things have happened.

I now have the processor clocking in at 1.6 GHz.

I first of all changed the DIMM Clock to 133MHz explicitly (previous setting was by SPD ).

I then slowly incremented the CPU External Clock Frequency in the BIOS, booted windows each time checked temps etc etc.

I got to 132MHz and then switched the DIP switches to set the CPU External clock to 133.

Again, incremented did some checks etc etc.

The highest I got it to get past the memory check and boot windows was 158. At this stage I had a reported CPU clock speed of 1738MHz, and my bios reported that I had a Athlon 2100+ XP processor. Windows however was very unstable at this speed.

I lowered the external clock to 150 where my BIOS had previously reported a 2000+ Athlon.

Two things came to my notice. On idle the ABSII temp was about 49oC, and the CPU External Temp was about 39oC . After a couple of hours of game playing - specifically Championship Manager 4 and Unreal 2 the ABSII temp was 57-60 oC and CPU External Temp was 49 oC. This seems a bit high to me, then again I don't know what the typical temps are for this processor using the stock cooler. Opinions anyone?

The second thing I noticed.

Some of the Voltage readings were lower than I was expecting. I couldn't measure these at say 160MHz because windows threw the toys out of the pram but I would estimate that the voltages where lower still and this maybe contribute to the instability.

Here at the readings I took with the CPU External Clock set to 150 MHz:

CPU Voltage: 1.648
Dimm Voltage: 2.432
3.3v : 3.184 / 3.2 (it alternated between these values)
5v : 4.785/4.757 (it alternated between these values)
+12V : 12.224
-12v : 11.373
-5v: -5.267
5USB (think thats what it was called) : 4.756
Bat: 3.12

I have a 18 Month old 300W power supply that came with my case. Any thoughts on these figures?

Lastly, I have received an email from soltek. Given me what appears to be a BETA Bios. I have seen some mention of that somewhere else - is there much risk in using a beta bios?

ChAotiCIllusion · « **Reply #4 on:** April 01, 2004, 02:58:28 am »

I would still blame the memory

The temps do sounds a bit high but then again with the stock cooler you don't expect miracles. I wouldn't worry too much the athlon XP is supposed to still be able to run at 110C.
As for the voltages the only one that seems low is the dimm voltage. If you can in the bios try increasing it to 2.8 volts and you might possibly be able to get into windows at 166. 2.8v is generally a safe voltage for DDR it's only when you get above 3v you start getting worried. 5v is a touch low but still just within a 5% spec. 3.3v isn't used by much and so hence doesn't have the draw to actually get resistance which allows the voltage to climb higher so don't worry about it.

A beta bios is always slightly risky but I ran one for ages on my current system with no problem. I would still say try and find a nice friend with 2700 memory or a new system at work not that I would ever suggest this of course

Monty · « **Reply #5 on:** April 01, 2004, 04:27:31 am »

I might try increasing the DIMM voltage tonight.

The BETA Bios... I've none of the sophisticated tools that some of the newer boards have if your bios goes wonky so if my BIOS goes thats it.

I might see if i can pick up some cheep PC3200 Memory - it should clock down ok? If I pick up cheep PC2700 theres no certainty that it will run at its rated 333MHz...

E_Look · « **Reply #6 on:** April 01, 2004, 01:05:30 pm »

I'm no expert, but your power supply seems a tad on the small side at 300 W. You know that after combining the power output (not always linearly) of all three rails, most supplies come in at (sometimes way) under its rated total power.

Then, AMD chips, and I love 'em, but they eat more power than Intels do.

Now, I don't think the GeForce card you've got uses as much power as some of the newer ones do, but vid cards still consume some watts, too. If you've got other peripherals in your system, then they take their respective bites out of your power supply, too.

Whatever else you have to do to get your chip running right, you still might need a supply that cranks out more power, say, at least 400W, to be safe.

Monty · « **Reply #7 on:** March 31, 2004, 06:26:02 am »

OK, the problem:
AMD 2500+ Athlon XP clocking in at 1.1GHz when it should be 1.8 . I know the reason for this.

My clock multiplier is defaulted at 10.5 and my FSB is defaulted at 100 MHz. I think the mulitplier my also be on auto detect.

11 * 100 gives 1100

When I try to raise the FSB to 166 ( or even 133.3) using the Dip switches on my motherboard, the computer posts... shows the processor AMD 1833 (less at a lesser FSB selection) Athlon XP, shows the RAM 512mb then stops. It doesn't proceed to check for IDE drives, it just... stops.

My System specs:

512mb PC2100 RAM
80GB IBM HDD
CDRW Sony CRX100E
Soltek SL-75DRV5 Mainbaord
GF4 titanium 4200 64mb DDR
Windows XP Home edition

Current BIOS revision T1.8 .

When I tried T1.6 it didn't recognise the CPU.... and it still hung with the FSB was increased.

I will be trying T1.5 later... it apparrently added 2600+ and 2700+ support, surely it could handle the 2500+?

I have contacted Soltek to see what they say, but in the mean time...

Anyone here ever had experience with my motherboard good/bad, encountered similar problems and overcome them?

Tonight I'm going to:
Try revision T1.5
Try different Clock Mulitplier and FSB ranges
I'm going to check the Vcore value: acccording to the information sheet in front of me it should be 1.65v .
Set RAM to 100% or synch, or whatever settings i can to make sure i'm not OCing it.
Clear the CMOS see if that helps.

If anyone has any suggestions please post them here.

I replaced my 1.1GHz Duron with this 2500+ Athlon and the ironary of the situation is not totally lost on me.

Hopefully I won't have to replace the motherboard.

ChAotiCIllusion · « **Reply #8 on:** March 31, 2004, 06:36:36 am »

Big thing that jumps out at me is the memory pc2100 is designed to run at 133 FSB. First boot at 100 go into the bios and change the memory timings to the highest numbers you can. Now turn off the machine change the dipswitch to 133 and try it. If that works then chances are the board is autodetecting the memory timings incorrectly which is what is causing the machine to hang at 133 and the fact it's being set at 166 for 166. If you can try borrowing some memory off someone which you know will run at pc2700 then try.
Also just to add http://www.soltek-computer.de/soltek/FAQ/CPU_list/amd.pdf the board you have is not guarnteed to run that chip because the kt333 chipset was never actually certified for use with 166 processors.

Monty · « **Reply #9 on:** March 31, 2004, 07:04:46 am »

Thanks for the reply,

You are not the first person to tell me that pc2700 RAM might shed some light on the subject.

I'll give your suggestions a go and see how I get on tonight.

I noticed that information sheet at Soltek after I bought the processor - isn't that always the way.

I kinda assumed that if a BIOS release adds in support for 2600+ and 2700+ I should be safe with the 2500+. At the moment I've still got a performance increase (the relavitvely huge L2 cache compared to the Duron) and if i can bump up the clock speed any further it will be faster still.

Time to go memory hunting...

Monty · « **Reply #10 on:** April 01, 2004, 02:10:55 am »

OK, some progress.

Two things have happened.

I now have the processor clocking in at 1.6 GHz.

I first of all changed the DIMM Clock to 133MHz explicitly (previous setting was by SPD ).

I then slowly incremented the CPU External Clock Frequency in the BIOS, booted windows each time checked temps etc etc.

I got to 132MHz and then switched the DIP switches to set the CPU External clock to 133.

Again, incremented did some checks etc etc.

The highest I got it to get past the memory check and boot windows was 158. At this stage I had a reported CPU clock speed of 1738MHz, and my bios reported that I had a Athlon 2100+ XP processor. Windows however was very unstable at this speed.

I lowered the external clock to 150 where my BIOS had previously reported a 2000+ Athlon.

Two things came to my notice. On idle the ABSII temp was about 49oC, and the CPU External Temp was about 39oC . After a couple of hours of game playing - specifically Championship Manager 4 and Unreal 2 the ABSII temp was 57-60 oC and CPU External Temp was 49 oC. This seems a bit high to me, then again I don't know what the typical temps are for this processor using the stock cooler. Opinions anyone?

The second thing I noticed.

Some of the Voltage readings were lower than I was expecting. I couldn't measure these at say 160MHz because windows threw the toys out of the pram but I would estimate that the voltages where lower still and this maybe contribute to the instability.

Here at the readings I took with the CPU External Clock set to 150 MHz:

CPU Voltage: 1.648
Dimm Voltage: 2.432
3.3v : 3.184 / 3.2 (it alternated between these values)
5v : 4.785/4.757 (it alternated between these values)
+12V : 12.224
-12v : 11.373
-5v: -5.267
5USB (think thats what it was called) : 4.756
Bat: 3.12

I have a 18 Month old 300W power supply that came with my case. Any thoughts on these figures?

Lastly, I have received an email from soltek. Given me what appears to be a BETA Bios. I have seen some mention of that somewhere else - is there much risk in using a beta bios?

ChAotiCIllusion · « **Reply #11 on:** April 01, 2004, 02:58:28 am »

I would still blame the memory

The temps do sounds a bit high but then again with the stock cooler you don't expect miracles. I wouldn't worry too much the athlon XP is supposed to still be able to run at 110C.
As for the voltages the only one that seems low is the dimm voltage. If you can in the bios try increasing it to 2.8 volts and you might possibly be able to get into windows at 166. 2.8v is generally a safe voltage for DDR it's only when you get above 3v you start getting worried. 5v is a touch low but still just within a 5% spec. 3.3v isn't used by much and so hence doesn't have the draw to actually get resistance which allows the voltage to climb higher so don't worry about it.

A beta bios is always slightly risky but I ran one for ages on my current system with no problem. I would still say try and find a nice friend with 2700 memory or a new system at work not that I would ever suggest this of course

Monty · « **Reply #12 on:** April 01, 2004, 04:27:31 am »

I might try increasing the DIMM voltage tonight.

The BETA Bios... I've none of the sophisticated tools that some of the newer boards have if your bios goes wonky so if my BIOS goes thats it.

I might see if i can pick up some cheep PC3200 Memory - it should clock down ok? If I pick up cheep PC2700 theres no certainty that it will run at its rated 333MHz...

E_Look · « **Reply #13 on:** April 01, 2004, 01:05:30 pm »

I'm no expert, but your power supply seems a tad on the small side at 300 W. You know that after combining the power output (not always linearly) of all three rails, most supplies come in at (sometimes way) under its rated total power.

Then, AMD chips, and I love 'em, but they eat more power than Intels do.

Now, I don't think the GeForce card you've got uses as much power as some of the newer ones do, but vid cards still consume some watts, too. If you've got other peripherals in your system, then they take their respective bites out of your power supply, too.

Whatever else you have to do to get your chip running right, you still might need a supply that cranks out more power, say, at least 400W, to be safe.

Monty · « **Reply #14 on:** March 31, 2004, 06:26:02 am »

OK, the problem:
AMD 2500+ Athlon XP clocking in at 1.1GHz when it should be 1.8 . I know the reason for this.

My clock multiplier is defaulted at 10.5 and my FSB is defaulted at 100 MHz. I think the mulitplier my also be on auto detect.

11 * 100 gives 1100

When I try to raise the FSB to 166 ( or even 133.3) using the Dip switches on my motherboard, the computer posts... shows the processor AMD 1833 (less at a lesser FSB selection) Athlon XP, shows the RAM 512mb then stops. It doesn't proceed to check for IDE drives, it just... stops.

My System specs:

512mb PC2100 RAM
80GB IBM HDD
CDRW Sony CRX100E
Soltek SL-75DRV5 Mainbaord
GF4 titanium 4200 64mb DDR
Windows XP Home edition

Current BIOS revision T1.8 .

When I tried T1.6 it didn't recognise the CPU.... and it still hung with the FSB was increased.

I will be trying T1.5 later... it apparrently added 2600+ and 2700+ support, surely it could handle the 2500+?

I have contacted Soltek to see what they say, but in the mean time...

Anyone here ever had experience with my motherboard good/bad, encountered similar problems and overcome them?

Tonight I'm going to:
Try revision T1.5
Try different Clock Mulitplier and FSB ranges
I'm going to check the Vcore value: acccording to the information sheet in front of me it should be 1.65v .
Set RAM to 100% or synch, or whatever settings i can to make sure i'm not OCing it.
Clear the CMOS see if that helps.

If anyone has any suggestions please post them here.

I replaced my 1.1GHz Duron with this 2500+ Athlon and the ironary of the situation is not totally lost on me.

Hopefully I won't have to replace the motherboard.

ChAotiCIllusion · « **Reply #15 on:** March 31, 2004, 06:36:36 am »

Big thing that jumps out at me is the memory pc2100 is designed to run at 133 FSB. First boot at 100 go into the bios and change the memory timings to the highest numbers you can. Now turn off the machine change the dipswitch to 133 and try it. If that works then chances are the board is autodetecting the memory timings incorrectly which is what is causing the machine to hang at 133 and the fact it's being set at 166 for 166. If you can try borrowing some memory off someone which you know will run at pc2700 then try.
Also just to add http://www.soltek-computer.de/soltek/FAQ/CPU_list/amd.pdf the board you have is not guarnteed to run that chip because the kt333 chipset was never actually certified for use with 166 processors.

Monty · « **Reply #16 on:** March 31, 2004, 07:04:46 am »

Thanks for the reply,

You are not the first person to tell me that pc2700 RAM might shed some light on the subject.

I'll give your suggestions a go and see how I get on tonight.

I noticed that information sheet at Soltek after I bought the processor - isn't that always the way.

I kinda assumed that if a BIOS release adds in support for 2600+ and 2700+ I should be safe with the 2500+. At the moment I've still got a performance increase (the relavitvely huge L2 cache compared to the Duron) and if i can bump up the clock speed any further it will be faster still.

Time to go memory hunting...

Monty · « **Reply #17 on:** April 01, 2004, 02:10:55 am »

OK, some progress.

Two things have happened.

I now have the processor clocking in at 1.6 GHz.

I first of all changed the DIMM Clock to 133MHz explicitly (previous setting was by SPD ).

I then slowly incremented the CPU External Clock Frequency in the BIOS, booted windows each time checked temps etc etc.

I got to 132MHz and then switched the DIP switches to set the CPU External clock to 133.

Again, incremented did some checks etc etc.

The highest I got it to get past the memory check and boot windows was 158. At this stage I had a reported CPU clock speed of 1738MHz, and my bios reported that I had a Athlon 2100+ XP processor. Windows however was very unstable at this speed.

I lowered the external clock to 150 where my BIOS had previously reported a 2000+ Athlon.

Two things came to my notice. On idle the ABSII temp was about 49oC, and the CPU External Temp was about 39oC . After a couple of hours of game playing - specifically Championship Manager 4 and Unreal 2 the ABSII temp was 57-60 oC and CPU External Temp was 49 oC. This seems a bit high to me, then again I don't know what the typical temps are for this processor using the stock cooler. Opinions anyone?

The second thing I noticed.

Some of the Voltage readings were lower than I was expecting. I couldn't measure these at say 160MHz because windows threw the toys out of the pram but I would estimate that the voltages where lower still and this maybe contribute to the instability.

Here at the readings I took with the CPU External Clock set to 150 MHz:

CPU Voltage: 1.648
Dimm Voltage: 2.432
3.3v : 3.184 / 3.2 (it alternated between these values)
5v : 4.785/4.757 (it alternated between these values)
+12V : 12.224
-12v : 11.373
-5v: -5.267
5USB (think thats what it was called) : 4.756
Bat: 3.12

I have a 18 Month old 300W power supply that came with my case. Any thoughts on these figures?

Lastly, I have received an email from soltek. Given me what appears to be a BETA Bios. I have seen some mention of that somewhere else - is there much risk in using a beta bios?

ChAotiCIllusion · « **Reply #18 on:** April 01, 2004, 02:58:28 am »

I would still blame the memory

The temps do sounds a bit high but then again with the stock cooler you don't expect miracles. I wouldn't worry too much the athlon XP is supposed to still be able to run at 110C.
As for the voltages the only one that seems low is the dimm voltage. If you can in the bios try increasing it to 2.8 volts and you might possibly be able to get into windows at 166. 2.8v is generally a safe voltage for DDR it's only when you get above 3v you start getting worried. 5v is a touch low but still just within a 5% spec. 3.3v isn't used by much and so hence doesn't have the draw to actually get resistance which allows the voltage to climb higher so don't worry about it.

A beta bios is always slightly risky but I ran one for ages on my current system with no problem. I would still say try and find a nice friend with 2700 memory or a new system at work not that I would ever suggest this of course

Monty · « **Reply #19 on:** April 01, 2004, 04:27:31 am »

I might try increasing the DIMM voltage tonight.

The BETA Bios... I've none of the sophisticated tools that some of the newer boards have if your bios goes wonky so if my BIOS goes thats it.

I might see if i can pick up some cheep PC3200 Memory - it should clock down ok? If I pick up cheep PC2700 theres no certainty that it will run at its rated 333MHz...

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Topic: Processor/Motherboard problems (Read 3657 times)