Holy instability, batman!

[theflyingrat]

Now that I got the RAM thing figured out (I think), I'm running into more problems. System is as follows:

Turbo ATX case w/320W Power supply (generic)
Leadtek GeForce2 Ultra
Ensoniq PCI 128 sound
WinME
Athlon 1.4 (266)
Vantec CCK-6035D Copper heatsink/7000RPM Delta fan
DFI AK76-SN motherboard
1x256MB stick of Crucial PC2100
1x30GB Maxtor HDD and 1x40GB Maxtor HDD (both 7200rpm)
CD-ROM and CD-RW

Now, to pose my problems:
I can run programs like Diablo II and Office apps seemingly indefinitely (a few hours at a time). CPU temps constantly range from 37 to 42C, which isn't too high if I'm not mistaken. Once I load a program like Counter-Strike or Serious Sam, though, all hell seems to break loose. Any of various things start happening - random system locks, black screens, or getting kicked back into the desktop are among them.

Now for the questions:
1)Are 1.4 Athlons always this unstable?
2)could my PSU be the problem? All of this current-sucking componentry, I have a feeling, could pooch something here and there, but VIA Hardware monitor always displays consistent and seemingly correct voltages for all components. 3)Has anyone experienced problems with this motherboard before.

Thanks in advance for any help you may have.

[Tebore]

Try disabling fast writes. It has something to do with software. Does the mobo have a VIA chip set if yes do u have the latest drivers?

[theflyingrat]

Fast writes are active on my motherboard. It's an AMD 761 northbridge and a VIA 686b southbridge. Both have the latest drivers installed, as does my video.

Anyone heard of any problems with the newest NVIDIA det4 drivers? I have them installed now, and I'm about to change them. I remember on my old Celeron machine with a GF2 GTS after I installed the Detonator 4s, it was nonstop crashing, albeit in Windows 2000. I'll let you know of any results when I disable fast-writes.

I just ran Sandra CPU/Multimedia/Memory burnins for a couple hours with no problems.

[tbirdkiri]

OO OO I KNOW PICK ME!!!!!
hehe its gotta be ME...
j/k but you should still get the latest drivers for all your devices.

[el]

well check your voltages and make sure the PS can handle all you stuff! 5volt should not be lower than 4.8. ever.

[el]

and get rid of ME. If you have 2000 why not install that?

[Tomas]

Yeh i agree. Get rid of that sucky os and install win2k.

[Amedeo602]

Originally posted by Tomas
Yeh i agree. Get rid of that sucky os and install win2k.

nah, keep ME installed and send me your 2k CD/COA :)

[theflyingrat]

Well, I ended up with a new Motherboard....seems to work fine except a couple little things....

I went out and purchased an MSI K7Master. Pretty sweet board, and it's roughly the size of Texas. Now, all seems to work fine and dandy even at 1533, except startup. Whenever it boots, I get the diagnostic LEDs telling me I have incorrectly installed the CPU, which is not the case , or it's an unknown CPU type. It's the lastes BIOS flash available (1.2), but it still auto-detects my 1.4 GHz Athlon as a 1050. I rectified this by manually setting the FSB to 133/33.

It also will not boot unless you first hit the reset button. From cold boot, you have to first hit the power button, then follow it up with one or two resets. Then it boots. When I reboot from windows, I still have to hit the reset button. Anyone seen THIS before?

[tbirdkiri]

i'd return it.
i have seen that before on an FIC va503+ that crapeist board on earth.

[LinkStatic]

I'd say save your self from doing that boot up routine... RMA that board...

[!-=sky=-!]

i will return the board and get something else

[warlok]

hey if your looking for a board with stability i got an epox 8kta3pro..with 1.4 athalon...it seems no problem to me it has all the standard volt bus/clock mods vcore mods and agp volt mods...the board itself has jp for voltage increase as well but i understand this and the bios are unrelated...anyway i got good low temps at 135/11...47*c underload....oh ya and with only my volcano 6cu hsf