help!! athlon 1200 keeps locking up!

[Guitartom]

i have a 1200/266 athlon cpu, a ak73pro(A)motherboard. a riva tnt2 32meg video card. 256meg pc133 ram.
My computer keeps locking up and i need to hit the reset button. Sometimes it will go all night before freezing or locking up, and sometimes 2 minutes. my cpu temperature is between 38 and 45c. i took out the 1200 cpu and tried my 750 athlon cpu and it works great. but when i use 1200 athlon it keeps locking up. i tried everything i know. updated all the drivers .. use win2k pro with service pack 2. i think i got a bad 1200 cpu, someone told me that if the cpu is bad then my computer will not even post. they said that a cpu either works or don't. i hope someone will be able to help me. thanks.

[Violator]

Not quite true, you can have an 'unstable' cpu that might well work 90% of the time but occasionally screw up.

Are you overclocking the CPU at all, what voltage are you giving it?. And what PSU are you using?

[Guitartom]

this athlon 1200 is not overclocked. according to the via hardware monitoring system . my vcore value =1.84 in bios it is the default. i have a 300w power supply. i have tried another 300w power supply and there was no change. my computer usually freezes a time or two every hour then it might go most of the day.

[!-=sky=-!]

try to use different ram or display card if possible


it probably is the ram

[Tomas]

Originally posted by Violator
Not quite true, you can have an 'unstable' cpu that might well work 90% of the time but occasionally screw up.

Are you overclocking the CPU at all, what voltage are you giving it?. And what PSU are you using?

What mobo do u got??

I had exactly the same problem with my abit kt7 board. On tbirds over 1.1ghz it screwed up, while working totally fine with my old duron 750.

[Guitartom]

i am using a aopen73pro(A) MB. not overclocked. is it possible that my video card (riva tnt2 32meg) video card will not work with the 1200 / 266 athlon with MB at 133fsb . and work with 170 athlon at 100 fsb. i have 3 / 128meg pc133 sdram.

[ReTiCuLeX]

You'r videocard has nothing to do with your chip. Maybe you got to many things on 1 IRQ check with sisoftsandra download it from http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/ That was one of my problems why my comp used to lock up. Check your +5v in your bios and under load with sisoft sandra. If its below +4.85 underload with your T-bird it means the tbird takes alot more from the +5 then your duron , this might mean you need a new psu. Remember just cause a psu is 400watts doesn't mean its gona have great +5volts and stuff , I would go with a powmax psu get one @ pricewatch.com for like $30 300watter and then you could turn up the +5 on that psu with a screw driver by turning a pot inside the psu.GL keep posting if you need more help don't hesitate to prvt message me or email me.

[Guitartom]

my 5 v value is 5.08 . someone told me i should set the 3.3v vio value up to 3.4. is this safe or will it toast my board or ram and cards. sometimes when my computer froze up i had to wait a few minutes before it will start again. the power button will do nothing for a few minutes. i keep a close watch on the heat and it never goes over 50c. most times it is arround mid 40s c. what would be a good way to rule out the PS.