System Failed CPU Test

Here's my problem. Whenever I play any videogame, I always have a voice come on my speakers saying "System Failed CPU Test". Sometimes my game will freeze up, other times it keeps working. I have an A78x-deluxe, and am using an AMD 3200+. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

Hi katarn,

Could be a few things going on. Your cpu may be overheating. Your memory may not be able to keep up with the cpu. The power supply may not be providing enough power. It could be a bios glitch.

In order to help you, could you post or update your profile, with your complete system specs. This will give us a better idea of what to look for.

Include:
vendor, or built by yourself
system memory
power supply and back up power supply if applicable
(I know your mobo and cpu but stick them in too, if you update your profile) cpu heatsink and fan
all drives and all other peripherals (anything drawing power)
case and case fans
video card
pci cards
operating system

Then, we could use your temps(from Asus pc probe or MBM 5) and Front side bus speeds, and memory timings.

If you have trouble with any of this just ask.
Thanks
Artisan

I built it.
Asus a7n8x-deluxe, amd 3200+ w/ 400 FSB, Volcano 11+ Heatsink, 2 512 DDR PC2700 Kingston, Radeon 9800 XT, Maxtor 160 GB ATA133, Antec TruControl 550 PSU, Linksys 802.11g PCI card, ATI TV Tuner, Windows XP Pro

According to Asus Probe my cpu is at 41C.

Nice system

Well, it could be that your memory isn't keeping up. Have you used memtest at 200 fsb(I'm assuming your running it at 100% cpu speed)

With what you've listed, that's the only thing I can think of, other than a glitch. Try turning off the post reporter, I know some people have had trouble with it and just disable it, I think that will turn it off in your situation too, not positive. It's possible that the bios just accessing the speakers is causing the crashes. You may also try telling the bios to halt on no errors.

Sorry I can't help more
Artisan

How do I turn off the post reporter?

You need to enter setup and disable it under the advanced bios features section. I've included the step by step below, just incase you need it.

Start or restart your computer and press delete during the post screen (when you see the asus logo, or memory check during startup)

This will bring you to the setup screen. Use the directional arrows to go to the advanced section.

Select "Advanced Bios Options", and press enter.

Scroll down to the bottom and you should see "Speach POST reporter". Highlight it and press enter, select "disable" and press enter again.

Press escape twice(maybe three times) and you should be prompted "Save Changes and Exit?". Press y and enter.

(You may as well disable the post complete report, while your at it)

The computer should restart with the speach disabled.

Let me know whether or not this works for you.
There are more things to try if it doesn't work.

By the way, your pc 2700 memory is rated to run 333mhz out of the box, while your cpu is running at 400mhz. If the memory is not able to keep up and is causing errors, that could be an issue you need to resolve also.

I get the same thing every time I boot system failed memory test. what a pain because then I have to reboot again.

I turned off the post reporter, but the "system failed cpu test" is still coming on when I play games.

Have you run Memtest 86? Set bios to halt on no errors?

If not, try turning the fsb down to 166 and test to see if you still get the error. Your ram is not rated to run at 400mhz at stock settings. If you haven't changed the memory timings and/or voltages to make up for this, it could be causing the error.

What bios do you have?(Should come up during post)
What board revision( Look Between the top couple pci slots)

Have you cleared the cmos/realtime clock. (look in mobo manual for instructions, reset your bios settings after doing this)

Hey Guys, what I found to be my problem was that my power supply was under volting the 3V+ which I believe is related to the CPU. Check what the motherboard is reporting on your Power Supply under the Hardware Monitor in the BIOS and make sure everything looks like its close to what it should be...it should fluctate a little. BTW, there's no way to turn off the Post Reporter with that type of error the only thing you can do is put in a different Sound Card and not use the onboard sound. Good Luck! I know this is a very annoying issue...I was trying to play Neverwinter Nights and I kept getting that message over and over again. I did end up replacing my Power Supply.

JC, what's the minimum for the 3.3V, I just checked mine, and its @ 2.98V

That's awful Low Katarn...it should be at the least in my opinion at 3.1 to 3.2. I definitely recommend trying to use a different power supply. My old power supply was doing about the same marks when I got that ongoing error...2.8 to 2.9. I'm sorry about the bad news but I believe a replacement PS will clear up your prob...better than a new MB or Processor

Is there any danger from having it that low? I had a spare sound card from an older computer, so I installed it, so now I can;t hear the announcement anymore.

katarn said:

I built it.
Asus a7n8x-deluxe, amd 3200+ w/ 400 FSB, Volcano 11+ Heatsink, 2 512 DDR PC2700 Kingston, Radeon 9800 XT, Maxtor 160 GB ATA133, Antec TruControl 550 PSU , Linksys 802.11g PCI card, ATI TV Tuner, Windows XP Pro

According to Asus Probe my cpu is at 41C.

Click to expand...

You have an Antec True Control, which means you can adjust the voltage on the +3.3, 5, and 12V rails. Maybe try to carefully turn it up to closer to 3.3.

Thank You kct2, I brought it up to 3.29 volts, and that fixed it, I'd like to thank everyone who helped me out, I really appreciate it.

No Prob Katarn...glad I could be of assistance...maybe I should get one of those power supplies too