AMD Athlon XP 1700+ Problem!!!!!!

nocter

I have an AMD Athlon XP Processor 1700+ with 256 sdram for only a few mounts and im having a few problems with it.

it keeps freezing and restarting when ever it likes.... i sometimes get a BULE screen error saying that windows has stoped starting up cos of a major problem... and if have any new hard ware installed, that i should uninstalled it... BUT i dont have any new hard ware installed. The pc could run for 4 hours or for 2 mins before freezing or restarting.

I have got this error under windows 98, xp home edition and pro.....

One More thing is the normal tempature for a pc about 40'C cos thats how hot mine is..... (it sayes so in the bios setup)

jim_bob

i had the same problem with an AMD Athlon XP Processor but it was the 1900 the same thing kept happening me in xp pro it turned out to be the graphics card and xp. was using a geforce 3. something todo with nvidia drivers. but when i went back to 98 it cleared up the problem.

nocter

I used to have an Rage ATI 128 card but i still have the problem so i got a geforce 2 mx 100/200 and i still have the problem and to make things worst i have an on borad card and with no card in my AGP slot i.e using the on board card, i still get the problem.......

Xithus

I had a similar problem.. Turned out to be my mobo though.

halfab

nocter what mainboard do you have ?

nocter

I'm Not sure what mobo i have. where can i check that out.????

BKtje

there are programs around that tell you all your system info.
i got sisoftware, tells me everything.

Might be an easier way tho

nocter

where can i down load sisoftware.... Or can i?

alb

I had a similar problem with random rebooting. Strangely enough I solved it by putting my number of colours in windows down to 256 from 16 million in display properties. Perhaps it was the graphics card over heating... i'm not sure

nocter

i think that that could be the maen problem ald.
My pc temputer is about 39'C. I think that thats very high for a pc but i'm total sure.... If any one has any an Athlon pc could they check the temp... You can check the temp by going in to the bios at start up... Go through the options and see if you can find it.... Thanks a mill

Mountjoy Mugger

39 C is not high. Most AMDs will run fine, under load, at 50+.

alb

sure 39C could be room temperature in a lot of places worldwide, your processor will run at higher temperatures than that safely

nocter

Thanks that clears up a few thing. I was going to another fan but now i wont bother..... Anyone have any other ideas... or any web sites where i could get a program thats tell me every thing about my computer????

Quigs Snr

Blue screens. I'll wager you could well have an ECS K7S5A MB. Good cheap board, too many duds, 2 of my last 4 gave blue screen errors.

If you are getting blue screens of the nature you describe, it is very rarely a software issue, you look at a few things.

1. Temperature, you are fine in this regard, so forget that,

2. RAM, you may have had your RAM timings set too agressivley or have a bad stick. There is only ONE way to check. Download a program called memtest86 from the following page:

http://www.teresaudio.com/memtest86/

You create a self booting diagnostic disk with this software. Reboot the machine and let the memory test run. As far as I am concerned this is my most valuable utility. (I have built 21 PC's based around Athlon systems in the past 5 months alone - in that time, I have encountered 2 faulty motherboards, and one faulty memory stick thanks to this program).

If you get ANY errors, you have a hardware problem somewhere. Note the test takes about 20 minutes and will loop infinitely. Let it run once or twice. If you get an error, note the memory address, rerun the test. If you get the same problem in the same address, the memory is faulty. To double check, remove the ram, put it into another machine, run the test on that. You should get the problem at the same address again.

What happens if the error is at a different address each time ?

On the 2 occasions I have enountered this the problem turned out to be the motherboard (on both occasions an ECS board) to test, simply take the stick of RAM (which is probably throwing up thousands of errors), put it into another machine and run the test there, if you don't get errors, then I would suspect your motherboard straight away and replace it.

To further test this, turn you FSB speed down in the BIOS from 133/133mhz to 100/100mhz. Often a faulty AMD based MB will work at 100 FSB but not 133. If you get the memtest errors on 133/133 (Which your machine currently runs at if it is a 1700), go into the BIOS and under CPU setup or something like that you should be able to set Front Side Bus to 100. Re-run the test. If you get no errors, pack that motherboard up as quick as you can and send it back.

I sent 2 boards back to ebuyer in the UK after suffering a month of random reboots, blue screens, etc.. I also sent them a copy of memtest86, on both occasions the boards were replaced. I have never known this utility to fail yet.


What happens if my temperature is fine and my RAM is also fine ?

I still don't think you have a software/driver problem as your problem persists through different OS's. It's not impossible, mind, but in 10 years of sticking these things together, I wouldn't have encountered it too often (cept once on a P75 when putting in a graphics card it didn't like).

In this instance, I would still suspect your RAM, perhaps its timings are too aggressive, make sure your CAS, Precharge and Latency are set normally (look this up on the web and with your manufacturer before you go messing). It may even be down to corrupt RAM on your video card, so replace your card and try that.

But before you do anything. Download memtest and try it. It's reliable. I have never seen it show up on error on a healthy system. It's success rate is 100% for me.

nocter

Thanks a milloin Quigs Snr.

I'm just after downloaded the program memtest.
so i'll now go home test and i'll get back to you.
However i dont think its the ram cos i ran the same ram in another pc (P3 668) and i got no blue screen or stop screen.
its likely to be the mother board.

By the way how hot can the Athlon get and can my MB can it take?

Stonemason

A slightly damaged chip.I built a system once with an athlon 1.4 there was a very very small chip on the actual chip itself the system would boot fine sometimes get into windows it would work fine for an x amount of time then either throw up a blue screen or just freeze lock up completely.In the end it would work fine until that part of the chip was called on that said though it never ran for two hours without a lock 5/20 mins tops usaly.


Stone

Quigs Snr

How hot your chip can run really depends. AMD have said in the past up to 90 degree's !. I find on most motherboards though if you stay below 55 you should be OK.

However, and this is a big however. Different motherboards measure temperature in different ways, in some the sensor might be further from the die than in others, so say for instance (this is hypothetcial) 55 degrees on an ECS K7S5A might be OK, 55 on a Shuttle AK32 might not, because the sensor is not measuring temperature the same way.

A good way of checking of temperature is a problem is the following: I had an old AMD K6500 which was running a bit hot causing blue screens so, I pulled the side off the case, got a fan (a household or office one that you might have at your desk) and pointed it right at the processor. The machine ran stable for hours till I turned it off. Case back on, ran for 20 mins, then blue screens.

Tell me what make your motherboard is.

Gerry

No, that was a dodgy motherboard. The corners of the athlon chips can be chipped off, and the chip will work away, because the chip hasn't gotten as far as the core, it has just ripped some of the protective layer away.

If the chip is damaged so much that part of the silicon core has been affected, it won't boot at all.

Gerry

If your cpu is 40c in the bios, then under full load it may be going over 55, depending on your case cooling. You need to check the temp in windows, mbm5 is a good program to use for this.

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

Remember as quigs said, that the actual temp is going to be a few degrees extra, since the temperature is measured in the cavity underneath the cpu in the cpu socket. The sensor may not even be touching the underside of the cpu (you can try bending it up a little to achieve this )

Heres a full package of stress tests, you should run burnbx (to stress your chipset, and it works with any chipset) and burnk7 to stress your chip.

Normally if there is an error they will quit out or hang your machine within 20 minutes, perhaps even less.

Also you should keep mbm5 running while running these stress tests, and see what the temperature goes up to.

You could also tell us what motherboard you have, it would be very helpful.

nocter

how can i check the name of my motherboard?

Is there a program that i could run to tell me....


Quigs Snr, i ran that program memtest and i got 1000's of errors. I didn't note any of the locations cos there were so many. Iran the pro for about 1 to 2 hours...

Quigs Snr

If the RAM works in another machine and completes the test with no errors, I think your motherboard is screwed. Try to go into the bios and set the FSB to 100 instead of 133 and then re-run memtest. You will probably get no errors.

Motherboards have their names in different places, a good place to look would be on the chipset heatsink as this should have at least the companies name on it.

In the case of an ECS motherboard this would be a big orange metal thing on the Motherboard with EliteGroup written on it. In the case of a shuttle this would be a green shiny metal thing with spacewalker written on it. The chipset heatsink is notmally the most obvious feature on a board.

If you look at SISoft Sandra as well by the way under the motherboard settings it will probably tell you who makes the board. It should also tell you when you bootup. On boot one of the first things you see will be something about the board.

Just look at SISSoft Sandra, then look at the board itself, specfically look at the metal heatsinks, and the main chips and tell me what you see, note anyting written on the chips and post it here.

Look on the web for a review of an ECS K7S5A, find one with a picture. That way you will see what I mean by the orange heatsink.

nocter

Where do i to find SISoft Sandra.....

I never heard about it before....

Quigs Snr

You can get it here:

http://www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk/sandra/

nocter

ok i'll download that software now and run it to night.
I have memtest running at the moment. With 1GMHz and FSB (what does FSB mean or what is it?..Bus Lines?) at 100MHz. I should have results tommsrow for u.

Now about that mobo. On the fan is sayes 'mentor' under that 'ball bearing' the Colour is silver
When i boot up the pc it sayes 'American Megatrends AMIBIOS (c) 2000'.....
When i went to system information (under start - Program files - system tools - system information) I coundn't find any thing on mobo's. What i found was this

System Manufacturer = SiS
System Model = 430s
System Type = X86 - based - pc

i dont know if its any uses to you....

I'll be back tomoorw to tell u about that test and to tell u what type of mobo i have

Quigs Snr

The fan you mention is on the CPU heatsink. The chipset heatsink is something else. There is no fan, it should be just a piece of shiny metal which looks out of place on your motherboard.

If you have a digital camera take a pic of the board and post it up so I can have a look.

Where did you buy the machine ?

nocter

ok got good news.....
I ran memtest last night for about 4 hrs and i didnt get one error under 1.1GHz FSB 100... So as u said Quigs Snr its the mother board. I also ran cpubrun7 and the pc didnt crash....

I also ran sisoftware
the system board manufacturer ishsing tech enterprise
the chip set model is silico integrated system.
the cpu fan speed in 5000rpm.


I'll get a picture of it but i wont be able to post it till friday...
I bought the pc form a local pc shop... I'll bring it back and i'll give him a copy of memtest, and tell him to run the test at 1.5GHz FSB 133 then at 1.1GHz FBS100... Dont worry i got a year free parts with it so i'll be getting a new mother board.... Thanks for all the help.
I'll Post that pic friday. Talk then

Quigs Snr

Bring it back to the local shop, explain the symptoms which led you to believe there was a problem in the first place.

Then show him memtest failing under 133 and working under 100. Get him to put the RAM in another machine and run memtest on that (a proven working machine, if he puts it into one the same as yours with the same problem, thats no good).

The RAM should work fine.

That should be enough to convince them there is a problem.

Beware though, most small time operations in this country, buy crap on the basis of what they read on the brochures, many of these shops will not have a clue what you are on about when you mention your problems. I have yet to find a tech in one of these places who has a fraction of my knowledge of their products. Thats sad really. Refuse to accept anything less than a complete replacement of the board, insist that you will not be taking it either until you see it pass the memtest. The shop will try to discredit memtest and the other apps. Do not accept it. I worked as a tech in Irelands leading computer store (s******) for 2 years when I was in college, since then I have been a programmer, but build tons of systems as a sideline thing, I have NEVER seen memtest fail on a healthy system.

Yours is a textbook example. Best of luck. Get that machine back to the supplier as quick as your legs can carry you.

nocter

thanks a million. dont worry i'll get a new mobo.... thanks again...

See u around.