Celeron 1.1 lockups

Hello there!

I'm trying to o/c my Celeron 1.1A with absolutely no luck. I've got a ST6 mobo and some decent air cooling, but my chip just won't hit 133MHz FSB.
Here's what it does:
No matter what voltage I run (1.5 through 1.675), it would POST just fine, but lock up seconds after showing Windows (98) desktop. It always locks up in the same spot. First I thought it was a voltage problem, but it doesn't make much sense since I wouldn't have been able to load Windows at 1.5v... ??
Now I'm thinking my CPU is lazy or I've forgotten something very important in my overclocking...
All I did was:
Select 1.46(133) CPU in BIOS, upp the volts and get RAM timings to 3-3-3 7/9. What is missing here??

Thanks in advance.
Conan

Without seeing any of the rest of your rig, it sounds to me like you are right at the stability threshold of your current rig. Try clocking with the FSB at 126 instead of 133 and see if this stabilizes it. Also realize that it is WAY easier for us (other forum members) to help you if you include information establishing other hardware in your machine -- especially:
+ Motherboard
+ Memory
+ Videocard
+ Operating System
+ etc, etc.
.
Dave

Your voltage might be low. I have a 1.2 on an st6. I found that when I can post but windows hangs, if I up the voltage a little, win loads fine.

It looks like you are at your max voltage in bios (1.675). There is a vidpin trick (on a sticky under Intel CPUs) that's rather easy to do. It will bump up your default voltage allowing higher settings in bios. If you up voltage and win still hangs you've might have maxed out your chip.

You also need to watch temps. They can be a problem if too high.

Also you may want to set your CPU at defaultspeed and format and reinstall Windows. If your using 98 and its not a fresh install then perhaps Windows is corrupted.

what do you mean by decent cooling? if your temps are above 40 that may be your problem

Well, I was thinking it's Windows' fault...
Anyway, here's the complete config of my PC:
Celeron 1.1A
Titan CU5TB copper heatsink with cooler (load temp ~43C)
ABIT ST6
2 x 128 MB PQI PC133 SDRAM Memory rated CL3
Quantum Fireball Plus AS
Geforce4 Ti4200 128MB
SBLive! Value
Intel PRO/100 ethernet

I also tried some more overclocking...
105 MHz FSB runs fine at default voltage
110 MHz FSB runs fine at 1.55V with cycle time 5/7 (3-3-3)
130 and 133 MHz FSB won't load Windows at anything up to 1.675, if I set cycle time to 5/7 it won't even start loading Windows.

So I am considering a new chip, quite possibly, 1.0A, cause I won't have a big enough turbo to cool that ******* above 1.675V...

Any other suggestions?

There has been quite a bit of discussion about the ST6 reading higher CPU temps, maybe 5-8C higher. You might consider going ahead and trying the vid pin trick, and at least see what happens with your temps and CPU stability. You might be surprised.

My sig computer runs 95% stable at 133 FSB at 1.675V, but I have been running it at 1.725V. I travel a fair amount and don't want it to shutdown while I am out of town.

do a burn-in if thats a new cpu. set it to run at 66MHz FSB and vcore to 1.7-1.8V and run stress programs for two, three days and you gotta keep temps as low as you can, otherwise the burn-in wont work.
do it with the case side panels off.. just lower temps.

i agree with the windows thing, 98 is not quite a stable platform; but may you need a few more voltage to get it running ok. after the burn-in, if things keep still the same then you might consider doing the vid pin mod for a few more voltage.
you should also consider lowering the load temps a bit more in my opinion, at least because the vid pin mod.

Conan,

Almost any 1.1A should be able to run 133Mhz.... at least this is the experience in this forum. This is why I think that buying a new chip won't solve your problem.

I also don't see a problem in cooling this chip, your cooper HSF should be more than enough to handle a 1.1 at 133... even at 140 (if correctly installed). make sure however that you have not skip lower potentially stable voltages either... there have been posts of tualatins not wanting high voltages above 1.65... but overclocking to 1.5Ghz+ at lower (around 1.575).

I would say that you probably have either bad RAM (or too much pushed one) or a basic BIOS parameter configuration error. Do you have your multipliers set up correctly ? Another thing to check for is your PSU ... what wattage is it ?, Are the 5 and 12 volts rails at correct levels ?

Hope this helps a bit
Regards
FTC

Sounds like the memory to me. Is your memory rated pc133? I would try getting some new.

Caffinehog said:

Sounds like the memory to me. Is your memory rated pc133? I would try getting some new.

Click to expand...

Take a good look at your bios settings for memory and make sure that it is running @ 4:4:1 above 124mhz otherwise your pci bus will be way out of spec. Some of the recent posts on users of newer st6 mobos have had problems getting the bios to the correct settings. It will not run at 3:3:1 above 124fsb because the pci bus would be way over 40mhz and your drives and video card will most likely crash.

davefred99 said:

Take a good look at your bios settings for memory and make sure that it is running @ 4:4:1 above 124mhz otherwise your pci bus will be way out of spec. Some of the recent posts on users of newer st6 mobos have had problems getting the bios to the correct settings. It will not run at 3:3:1 above 124fsb because the pci bus would be way over 40mhz and your drives and video card will most likely crash.

Click to expand...

davefred99 is exactly right, with 3:3:1 dividers I could not run anything above 132 but with 4:4:1 i'm getting much better results.

Do yourself a favor and format your HD then reinstall Win98. Also take out everything except for your vidcard when you OC as it might be that one of your components just can't take the out of spec pci speeds.

You might also have gotten a very bad chip because 1.55Vcore is very high for just 110mhz FSB... I can run 133mhz fsb at default Vcore.

Yeah, check the PCI and VGA divider first in BIOS, make sure is 4:1, and then go ahead with 133FSB. For the memory, I assume you have PC133 SDRAM, and this could be set at 1:1 in the BIOS.

Do "wire tricks" or "solder tricks" to eliminate cold boot problem. A default voltage 1.7v is enough.

Finally, make sure the heatsink is big, or just buy the biggest HSF you can afford. Don't spend too much on this thing though. For examples, my CPU produce a maximum 45C under full loads, but beyond 55C could cause random stabillity problems.