[horlor44]

I have recently had some blue screening, informing me of different reasons on each memory dump. when i check the BIOS/Hardware the CPU temp was 60C! Ihave now got a new CPU fan and brought the CPU clock down from 200 to 166 and the system boots fine( but only running @1800Mhz when the CPU is in fact a Athlon 3200XP) .but when I try to put it back to 200 it wont load windows it just starts over again.its all fairly new kit. MB is ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe with 2x 256 and 1x512 DDR RAMs. I checked MB FSB jumper and its set to 200-400 setting.
I cant seem to get the correct combination in the BIOS ,Is that the problem?
Its been working fine for 7months on 200. Thanks in advance

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Hi,

Have you added any ram recently, if you have check that its its in the correct dimm config, if not let me know and I will down load your manual and have a look.

What are the temps now?
What is the vcore set at?

Rick

[Doby]

Hi,

Have you added any ram recently, if you have check that its its in the correct dimm config, if not let me know and I will down load your manual and have a look.

What are the temps now?
What is the vcore set at?

Rick

[horlor44]

Thanks Rick.. I am a novice builder and am on my 2nd machine. yes ,I removed a 256( not sure which one) from my 1st PC (the one with the problem) and installed it in my new build just to get it going ,I then put it back in PC #1 and thats when things went wrong.
Ive run SISoftware sandra.and found one 256 running @2100 and the remaining 256 and 512 @2700.so ive taken the 2100 out,but it all worked before the switch around, so I cant make it out. the temp now (after 1 hr) is 51C,the V core is 1.68V.
CPU is still on 166,multiple x 11. boot up now sees the CPU as a2500( 1.83Ghz in Sandra)

On boot up tonight after work, all my settings had gone ,my background back to win default,and all desktop shortcuts gone( so I restored ),but all progs still in startup list thank god! thanks for your time..Richard

[Doby]

Hi Richard,

Running ram of different speeds is not a good thing and you are running in dual channel and different speed ram is a definate no no. I am unsure why the board ran in that configuration in the first place but it ain't suppose to.

When running different speed ram as in your case pc 2100 and pc 2700 all ram will slow down to the slowest ram installed in this case pc2100. This is a bottle neck in your system and the gain of 256 mb the pc 2100 gives you is negated by the lose in speed you would have if you were running just the 2 sticks of pc2700.

For best performance your system should have a dual channel kit of pc3200 this would allow the ram to run at 400 mhz the same as the 3200+ 400 mhz cpu.

But with what you have try this, remove the pc 2100 and install the pc 2700 in dimm A1 and A2.

Go into bios and set the fsb to 200 and check the memory frquency is set to "by spd" if it is check the resulting freq (Right below) is 166 mhz. If the resulting freq is not 166mhz the set the memory freq to a percentage that give you a resulting freq of 166 mhz, this should be 50% but make sure on that.

Try these setting and let me know how they work, we may also want to check some things on that cpu temp it is still high for idle but one thing at a time.

Rick

[horlor44]

Thanks Rick, Ive removed the 256 pc 2100 and re-located the the 256 and 512(pc2700) to slots A 1and A2 ( B1 empty). changed the freq to SPD the resulting Freq was indeed 166 and changed the CPU to 200. it still wont boot to windows, with a blue screen saying.."page fault-in -non paged-area??.I done all this when temp ( just after start-up ) was 47C. I suspect the CPU is at fault but I hav'nt put it to the test at the lower 166 setting (audio recording and such ).It still boots up fine but at 2500(1800Mhz ) in single channel mode? I'm not sure about dual channel V single channel ?? Thanks again..regards..Richard

Edited by horlor44, 04 May 2005 - 10:42 AM.

[Doby]

Well Richard that error can be just about anything from bad hardware to driver issues so if you get any other errors please post'em.

The first thing to try is memtest86 run it on each stick individually and let it run for at least 3 passes and post back how many errors there are and on what test they occured.

What is your vcore set at? And while your in bios check the cpu temp as reported in there and let me know

What are your voltages on the 12v, 3.3 and 5v?

Also make sure the 4 pin 12v connector from the psu to the mobo is not loose.

Once we get it to run at its rated speed I will explain dual channel ram but for now just let it run in single mode

Rick

[horlor44]

Thanks for sticking with me on this ,I unzipped memtest but I found 4 files with 1 application that I could'nt find when opened ,in my programs,sorry.The Pc is now running on a single 256 ( POST test on RAM=262144Kb) at 166 CPU setting.the other info is:.. 12v=12.80 5V=4.65 3.3 = 3.6 to 3.20(approx)

V core = 1.68v

temp (after 1hr) =48C (after 2hrs)51C

Have checked MOBO connectors.OK

What is a definate fix?..a new 1GB 3200 strip? and can I use any of this old ram in the new build somehow ?do you think its a memory only problem ? thanks very much again. Richard

Added later.. I have tried to run each strip on its own @ 200 (in slot A1 )and no luck..bluescreen with no "reason" message.here are new readings at 3hrs at idel.

V core1.68

+12v=13.65
+5V=4.48
+3.3=3.15

CPU temp 53C

Edited by horlor44, 05 May 2005 - 01:32 PM.

[Doby]

I would shut down the computer and not restart it untill either you replace the psu(power supply) or test it. The psu is over volting on the 12v rail.

The 12v rail should be just that 12v but can be plus or minus 5% so that would be a range of 11.4 to 12.6 and still be within spec, yours is 13.65 thats to high and can damage many components. The psu is also undervolting on the 5 v.

Before you spend your hard earned cash there is a way to test for this to double check if you have a volt meter I can explain how but you most likely will have to replace it.

Rick

[horlor44]

OK Rick,

what started to happen was the pc completly shut off without re- starting so I switched the 512 ram for the 256,the same thing happend.so, I took the PSU(300w) from my new build and....the same thing happens complete shutdown and Im running at 2500/166cpu setting.I went to launch Winamp player to stream some radio and got a bluescreen . I think maybe the board is fried,its the cheaper option 1st right? then a new CPU!..




>Added later....I had pc in BIOS, monitor page, just to keep an eye on the cpu temp(47C) and all voltages with new PSU and the pc just shut off without warning with no auto re-boot it done this with the 1st psu as well ,but I have checked all my connections carefully and they are OK any ideas??

Edited by horlor44, 07 May 2005 - 08:33 AM.

[Doby]

Hi Richard,

Sorry so late getting back, but the norm for me in the summer months is to go camping & boating on the weekends.

Please pardon me for being frank but I need to be. I think you are making poor choices when it comes to power supplies. Modern computers need psu's of at least 400w and they should be name brand so using a 300w on your new build is not a good idea and putting it in the computer with problems just to try is not conclusive because it may not have enough amps on the 12v that is needed.

I am guessing the cpu on the bad computer because it won't run at its rated speed or any speed now for that matter but the board and ram could also be bad too because off the overvolt. BTW name brand psu's have better protection against overvolt also.

Before purchasing a cpu or board here,s what I recommend, purchasing a new psu like a Antec true series either 430w or 480w. You will then have this for your new build but can use it to test the bad computer and we then can decide what parts are actually bad if any.

Let me know your thoughts.

Rick

[Doby]

Another thought just occured to me, try removing all the drives and any cards except the video of course and boot into bios. I would like to check the temps but just in case the temps being repoted in bios are not accurate do this.

Very carefully touch the base of the heat sink (hs) after the computer has been running for a few minutes if this is possible without a shutdown and use this scale to estimate the cpu temp.

40c to 50c = pleasently warm
50c to 60c = uncomfurtable need to pull away after 3 to 5 seconds.
60c to 65c = hot, need to pull away after 1 second
65c and above = burnt fingers.

Rick

[horlor44]

Ok Rick ,its fixed ,but I dont know exactly which process fixed it.I took the sempron 2500 from the new build just to see if the board was ok,it booted up fine but @100mhz so I did,nt change it to 200 as I did'nt want to risk damage.I also had to re-activate Windows via the phone, but it seemed to be ok,so I removed the 2500 and re-installed the 3200 XP with a new dolop of compound to the sink.It booted at 166 and I changed this to 200 and it seems to be fine( knock wood)the temp know is 47C after being on all day.Ive a feeling it was a heat problem as my mobo has heat protection cut out.maybe the HS was not in proper contact with the CPU or not enough compound ,I guess I'll never know....Thanks again for all your help...let me know your thoughts ( and about single/dual channel modes)

[Doby]

Great glad you got it fixed and its running to correct speed, it must have been heat problems maybe the thermal paste was getting dry. I still would not use the psu thats overvolting though. Heres a good artical that will explain better than I can.

Dual channel Technology

Lets say you have a car that can hold 4 people but you've got 8 people to transport across town. What do you do? Well you could take one load of people across town, and then go back and get another load of people (a standard memory system) or if money was no object you could simply buy another car and have the other half of the people follow you across town in the other car (a Dual channel memory bus). With dual channel technology you use two memory modules at once to further enhance performance. This essentially doubles the number of signals a second you can handle and doubles your bandwidth (volume of information that can be transferred at once). Point Blank: Dual channel technology increases memory performance but it costs more money because you have to buy memory modules in pairs. Dual channel technology also costs more because the motherboard has to support it in the chipset and a chipset that supports dual channel technology costs more due to the higher complexity of the memory bus. Higher motherboard cost + higher memory cost = higher overall system cost.

I wrote that some time ago trying to explain the basics of dual channel but remember your ram is only pc2700 so its already slower than your system can handle. Is it worth upgrading to pc3200? It would really depend on what you use the system for if its gaming then yes but if its just word processing with just a couple applications open and general internet browsing then you would not notice a big difference.

Hope that helps some. Rick

[horlor44]

Thanks Rick ,Now, if I steal all the RAM( 768 ) from my" now fixed" to put in the new build,what would be the best RAM option for my" now fixed" ? , 1GB 3200 single module or 2x 512,s.Have 2 slots to be populated for it to be in dual mode ?is that how it works ? will a single 1 gb do the same job?.. this is what Im not sure about. ..Cheers..Richard

[Doby]

The best option would be 2x512 of pc 3200, you need 2 sticks to run dual channel so yes you have to populate 2 slots.
Make sure the sticks are purchased together like This, in fact I recommend this ram notice the life time warrenty and it works well with all systems.

Rick