Upgraded from XP 1600 to XP 3200, now games crash

Nexes · Post by **Nexes** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 11:09 am

specs
mobo ASUS A7N8X Deluxe 400fsb
Gforce 6800 128 mb
120gb sata hd
powersupply 550watts
cpu fan is rated for all Athlon XPs, copper heatsink
Samsung pc3200 ram 1gb

I just bought an Athlon XP 3200+ 400fsb, upgraded from a 1600+ 266fsb.
I first installed it and reset the bios to auto detect everything and it read it as an xp 1100 but the ram is still showing at dual channel 200. I manipulated the bios settings to cpu frequency to 200 and the multiplier to 11.5, then it started showing up as an xp 3200+. Windows was running and booting fine, when I went into Doom 3 and played for about 30 seconds it crashed to desktop with no errors. I tried a less video intensive game, Rise of Nations, and it did the same thing only it gives me a data exception error. I switched everything back to autodetect in the bios and it seemed to have read everthing correctly this time but it still crashed. The cpu core was running at 53C at this time idle where the 1600 was running at 39C. I tried adjustments to the Vcore voltage, bumped it to 1.700, multiplier, and mem frequency. The only thing that I've got it to run stable is setting the cpu freq to 166 instead of 200, so the fsb is running at 333 but my processor is a 3200xp 400fsb. When I set the cpu freq down to 166 it seems to be running stable in game now, but the bios is only seeing the processor as a 2500+, the cpu core is now running 39C idle. The only other thing I've done was enable the 8X support in the bios because I recently changed from a geforce 4200 to a 6800 and I forgot to change this at the time, but I tried putting it back to disabled in the bios and it didn't seem to matter. I also reloaded the latest nvidia drivers.
I have the latest bios and nvidia drivers for my motherboard and I have the fsb jumper set to pins 1-2, which is supposed to be correct for 400fsb according to my user manual.

Any suggestions, or should I just say fug it and send the 3200 back for RMA?

Post by **Illuminati** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 11:22 am

did you try clearing the bios altogether? Maybe you just need to give the bios a fresh start...

If you didn't already say you had the newest bios from Asus... then I was definitely going to suggest that because this really smells like a bios issue.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 11:48 am

when going to 266/333MHz FSB to a 400FSB processor you have to change the divider for the memory... It would be best to download CPU-Z 1.23 and make sure you CPU is at 400MHz FSB and same with the memory.

Try that and let us know if it shows everything running at the right ratio... We will get this problem worked out for yeah ;)

If everything is running at the right dividers then we have an issue with something else. After dividers the next option would be memory... For that a quick run of Memtest86+ would tell us if memory is to blame. Since its crashing due to games (heavy load on cpu/memory/video) I have a feeling its memory related.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 11:56 am

I aggree with Apoptosis, sounds like a memory issue to me, try adjusting the memory or set it always be 200/400. then if thats not fixing it run the memtest.

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 4:07 pm

Try shutting down your system, turn off the power at the PSU or unplug it, clear the CMOS at the jumper, then reboot your system, enter bios and then try setting it to optimal settings of better system defaults , save and exit. let it boot and see what happens...........

Nexes · Post by **Nexes** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 4:09 pm

I did flash the bios before installing the 3200.
I ran cpu z after setting the cpu frequency in my bios to 200 and memory to "by speed" which has a resulting freq of 200:
core speed 2191.2
multiplier x11.0
FSB 199.2 MHz
Bus Speed 398.4 MHz
L1 data 64kb
L1 code 64 kb
L2 level 512 kb
voltage 1.68
technology 0.13
family 6
ext. family 7
model A
Ext. Model A
stepping 0

Memory
size 1024
channels Dual
frequency 199.2
fsb:DRAM 1:1
CAS lat 3.0
RAS to CAS 4
RAS#precharge 4
Cycle time 8
Both Dimms are showing PC3200 512mb

If anything looks wrong there let me know, I'm going to do the memtest now.
Oh yeah when I set it back to 200 on the cpu freq, booted back up and tried to write this reply, Windows crashed to a blue screen. I had to set it back to 166.
Thanks guys!

Bio, I had tried that previously, but I went ahead and did it again. now cpu speed is 2205, fsb 200.5, and bus speed 400.9. Nothing else changed. Still crashes games also, but has not crashed windows yet.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 4:55 pm

Looks like we can eliminate the system settings (as in dividers) as being an issue... Interesting to see what MemTest shows.

Post by **Illuminati** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 7:10 pm

I just want to make sure this processor really is a 3200+ and not an overclocked 2500+... if it really is a 3200+, I would send it back for a new one.

I don't suspect anything to be wrong with your RAM since you didn't upgrade that with the processor, right? Was that Samsung PC3200 working fine with the 1600+? And were you running it at 400 MHz with the 1600+?

Anyways, the last thing I can think of is that the heatsink is not quite sitting on the cpu correctly... like is it possible you put too much or not enough thermal compound on the cpu die when installing the CPU? This could also be an overheating issue since it only happens with the processor at high frequencies and in a cpu intensive task like playing a game.

Let us know if any of this sounds like it could be the culprit... and I hope this post makes sence... it seems kinda out of order and I don't feel like fixing it...

Nexes · Post by **Nexes** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 6:48 am

I'm not posatively sure that this is a 3200 400fsb, that's what I purchased and that's what smksuperstore.com said they sent me. Do you guys have a link that'll tell me how to identify it, by the markings on the chip or something? I'm pretty sure I have the heat sync on correctly but it is possible that I may not have put enough thermal compound on. Is 53C to hot to run this processor?

Correct, my pc was working perfectly with the 1600+, it was running at 266 not 400, but the pc 3200 ram was running at dual channel 200, so yes the ram was running at 400 MHz.

I tried that memtest and I'm not sure it worked because I booted to the floppy and it just kept scrolling gibberish, I thought maybe this was the test so I let it run over night, but it was still doing this in the morning. I never made it to the test console. I created the disk in windows, could that be the problem? Or maybe that was the test and it just runs a really long time, like 8 hrs plus?

Xerxes · Post by **Xerxes** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 9:25 am

did you double check that the board is a 2.0 rev? (this is assuming its not a -e deluxe)

Xerxes · Post by **Xerxes** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 9:27 am

Nexes wrote:I'm not posatively sure that this is a 3200 400fsb, that's what I purchased and that's what smksuperstore.com said they sent me. Do you guys have a link that'll tell me how to identify it, by the markings on the chip or something? I'm pretty sure I have the heat sync on correctly but it is possible that I may not have put enough thermal compound on. Is 53C to hot to run this processor?

its definetely a 400fsb since the multiplier is 11 and you did remove the TIM before putting on the thermal compound correct?
is that 53c idle or load? if its idle theres something definetely wrong.

Xerxes · Post by **Xerxes** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 9:31 am

Nexes wrote:
I tried that memtest and I'm not sure it worked because I booted to the floppy and it just kept scrolling gibberish, I thought maybe this was the test so I let it run over night, but it was still doing this in the morning. I never made it to the test console. I created the disk in windows, could that be the problem? Or maybe that was the test and it just runs a really long time, like 8 hrs plus?

when you say giberish do you mean
short lines kinda like this scrolling down?
565466
564668
51616

if so then the floppy is corrupted

if it loaded into a screen with a blue background and white letters then memtest loaded

Nexes · Post by **Nexes** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 9:57 am

yes that's exactly what I get on that memtest, ok, I'll try a different floppy then.

I'm not sure what TIM stands for, but I put the thermal compound directly on top of the core, spreading a thin coat all over the top of it before I put the heatsink/fan on.

And it's 53 idle after I've been in game for approx 10 minutes before it crahes strait to the desktop.
What is a good temperature monitor that I can run while playing games in Windows? I tried Hmonitor but it says that my cpu is at 37C while my bios says 53C.

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:02 pm

Your bios is probably 10-15C above the real temperature, the only true way to know is to buy a temperature probe

Nexes · Post by **Nexes** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:40 pm

Xerxes I didn't see your first question earlier, my mobo is not an -e deluxe, just a deluxe and yes it is a revision 2.0, says it on the mobo.

A10 - Ok, then I guess Hmonitor is closer to the real temperature than the bios monitor, even though it uses the same temperature probes? Ok, that's good to know, thanks.

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:45 pm

Nexes wrote:Xerxes I didn't see your first question earlier, my mobo is not an -e deluxe, just a deluxe and yes it is a revision 2.0, says it on the mobo.

A10 - Ok, then I guess Hmonitor is closer to the real temperature than the bios monitor, even though it uses the same temperature probes? Ok, that's good to know, thanks.

When I bought my Koolance water cooling system you install a temp probe to the LCD display, and in the manual it tells you that it will probably be lower than the bios by quite a bit.

Xerxes · Post by **Xerxes** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 5:26 pm

Nexes wrote:yes that's exactly what I get on that memtest, ok, I'll try a different floppy then.

I'm not sure what TIM stands for, but I put the thermal compound directly on top of the core, spreading a thin coat all over the top of it before I put the heatsink/fan on.

And it's 53 idle after I've been in game for approx 10 minutes before it crahes strait to the desktop.
What is a good temperature monitor that I can run while playing games in Windows? I tried Hmonitor but it says that my cpu is at 37C while my bios says 53C.

tim = thermal interface material, ie the stuff on stock heatsink t(its a square usually pink or gray and usually a good part of it is made of paraffin) hat you need to remove if you are going to use thermal compound.

http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/revi ... age_3.html

Nexes · Post by **Nexes** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 7:12 pm

Yeah, I'm using the same fan I was on my old processor. It's a Thermaltake volcano 7+, rated for up to a xp 3400+.
http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/volcano/rs/a1254.htm

I did remove the TIM.

I ran twelve of the default tests on it and test for got 124 errors, test 5 got 2 errors and the rest were 0

Xerxes · Post by **Xerxes** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 7:23 pm

clock your ram down then first 2700 and if it still has errors then 2100. since if you left the settings for memory on auto the fsb and memory timings are sync'd so it could easily be the memory causing the errors at 200 and not the proc since it works at 166

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 9:27 am

Nexes wrote:Yeah, I'm using the same fan I was on my old processor. It's a Thermaltake volcano 7+, rated for up to a xp 3400+.
http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/volcano/rs/a1254.htm

I did remove the TIM.

I ran twelve of the default tests on it and test for got 124 errors, test 5 got 2 errors and the rest were 0

I just want to make sure that you removed the TIM and added some other interface material, you did right?