Wrong CPU speed...

RobertFoster

Over the last year or so I've been building and modding a computer. I initially got most of the stuff from eBay (big mistake!) and the machine ended up being fairly buggy. After a couple of months of it being buggy, I ran memtest86 and after an hour of scanning, it managed to come up with over 130 errors in my RAM :eek:

I then decided to replace my motherboard and RAM, as there was no point in just getting new RAM as the motherboard could only take an Athlon XP 2600+ (which I have) and I thought it'd be better to upgrade the 2 at the same time, saving more cost later on.

The new motherboard is an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe and the RAM is 1GB 400MHz PC3200. All the crappy errors I was getting before hand have gone and the computer is running fine.

But (you knew there was going to be one ), on boot up the CPU is displayed at 16000MHz instead of 2600+ and in properties as 1.59GHz. I contacted ASUS customer support to try and fix the problem. They were helpful and gave me a lot of different configs to try and rectify the situation.

Different things lead to mainly the computer slowing down a lot (taking forever to boot, the Windows XP loading screen staying on screen for about 5 minutes) and for speeds sake I went back to the original settings.

Just wondering if anyone has/had the same problems? Should I just get a new CPU (Athlon XP 3200+(400 MHz FSB) perhaps) and forget about this one?

Cheers.

Woden

is that a barton or thoroughbred 2600+ you have there.

anywho regardsless of which the thoroughbred should run at 133*12.5 and the barton at 166*11.5

so this might be a stupid question but what happens when you set the chip to the correct frequency in the bios?

data

secret_squirrel

occasionally your bios can default to a lower speed than the processor should be.

Try changing the FSB in your bios up (in increments) to what a 2600+ should be.

Is it possible you got stuffed and got sent a lower spec cpu from ebay????

[edit] oops beat me to it data!

What data said check the fsb in the bios is set to one of the two values data mentioned. [/edit]

RobertFoster

Originally posted by secret_squirrel
Is it possible you got stuffed and got sent a lower spec cpu from ebay????[/edit]

yeah it is possible I got screwed with the RAM...

I'll try those fsb settings, and see what happens :dunno:

Sir Random

Flash to the latest BIOS:
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7N8X%20Deluxe

I rarely trust the BIOS that comes with mobos. I received an Asus P4S8X-X this morning, and it wouldn't recognise the CPU until I flashed it.

RobertFoster

I already have the latest (1007), yet I've not flashed it :dunno:

Anyway, The settings you suggested Data resulted in 2000+/1.66GHz (133*12.5) and 1916MHz/1.91GHz (166*11.5)

A friend linked me to a FAQ the other day, and it has a list of frequencies and multipliers, I didn't understand what they were until Data told me. There was one there saying: T-Bred 2600+ 2083 (166x12.5). I set it to that and it displayes 2600+

Cheers Data, squirrel & Random for your replies.

On a side note: The tech support at ASUS only suggested setting the frequency to 166 and didn't mention the multiplier at all. If only she did, I would have had it sorted a couple of months ago :rolleyes:

Col_Loki

Download and run Prime95 to insure the computer is totally stable. Run the torture test and it will tell you if your Ram and CPU are stable.

[edit] PS have a look here....... http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152842 , some general tips and all the settings for AMD chips (multipliers , FSB etc).

RobertFoster

loki, how long should I run the Prime95 stress test for?

that's a good thread, very informative.

Woden

8-12 should be fine, run when ya go to bed tonight and hopefully it will still be running when ya get up.

out of interest what did you change the settings from to 166*12.5?

Col_Loki

8-12 if you want to be extra safe, but i think 3-4 should be fine!! specially when your not overclocking it.

RobertFoster

Originally posted by Dataisgod
out of interest what did you change the settings from to 166*12.5?

They were set at 100*Auto - changed auto to menu and then selected 12.5 from the list.

Woden

hmm that seems about right when loki built my machine below on first boot up the fsb was 100mhz as well and the multi either auto which corresponded to 11 in the case of my chip or it was at 11 already