KX7-333R WinXP installation woes

Just got one of these boards and am haing somewhat of a nightmare getting WinXP pro to work properly on the board. I have been trying to install onto my main drive which is split into one FAT32 partition and one NTFS partition.

The first problem that I had was that the installation would hang near the end. I switched my GeForce3 Ti200 for a crappy 2meg card and that sorted that. I then found that the machine was VERY unstable, I got BSOD's a lot of the time. The BSOD's seemed to be worse when I was on the net with my Alcatel blob.

I've also found that programs that due the latest version of installshield will cause my PC to lock up. Very strange.

My BIOS settings are set to the fail safe deafults apart from the raid controller setting which I hve set to DISABLED.

To try and sort out the stability issues I have tried to reinstall XP onto my main HDD but BSOD's started to come up with error code 0x0000007E . Somewhere I read that this my be due to bad partition info. I'm now reformtting my 2nd HDD as this only has one partition just to see how I go on with this drive. I've took the IDE cable out of the first drive to take it out of the equation completely.

Has anyone else had problems installing XP on a HDD with 2 partition using different file systems?

Another question that I have is does the dimms have to be installed in slots 4 to 1 as the manual says? Seems a bit odd. I have one strip of PC2100 256meg installed in slot 4 (furthest from the cpu).

Any help and tips would be much appreciated. I'm having a nightmare with this board ;-( (2nd one as the first turned out to be faulty).

Not sure if my sys info that I submitted with my profile are appended to this message so I'm adding it here.

Athlon 1900+
PC2100 256meg Micron
KX7-333
Hercules GeForce3 Ti200
BIOS set to fail safe except for DISABLED RAID

Post your complete system specs along with your ambient, case & CPU load temps. List down exactly what your see in SOFT MENU III & ADVANCED CHIPSET FEATURES 'cause sometimes those can be wrong even when set to default.

just been running memtest 2.9 to try and figure out if my pc 2100 256meg memory module has any errors as Windows XP won't install and I hear it's very fussy about memory. A few errors were reported on test3 and then an error reported on test 4 when I ran the test at nother time. I switched the FSB of my 1900+ from 133 to 100 and the errors have disappeared. Anybody any idea why the errors would dissapear and how to stop them at my CPU's correct speed?

Here's some detailed system info.

--------------------------------
CPU Speed Settings when ERRORS
--------------------------------
FSB = 133
Ratio = 4:2:1
Multiplier x12
Speed Error Hold = disabled
Enhance for benchmark = disabled

CPU Power = CPU Default
Core Voltage = 1.75
I/O Voltage = 3.5
DDR Volt = 2.55
CPU Fast command decode = Normal

--------------------------------
CPU Speed Settings when NO ERRORS
--------------------------------
FSB = 100
Ratio = 4:2:1
Multiplier x12
Speed Error Hold = disabled
Enhance for benchmark = disabled

CPU Power = CPU Default
Core Voltage = 1.75
I/O Voltage = 3.5
DDR Volt = 2.55
CPU Fast command decode = Normal

--------------------------------
PC Health Info when ERRORS
--------------------------------

Sys temp = 32c
CPU temp = 53c
CPU fan spd = 7600rpm

vcore = 1.76v
VIO = 3.5v
+5v = 4.89v
+12v = 12.52 - 12.58v
AGP = 3.5v
DDR = 2.59v
SVSB = 4.92v
VBAT = 3.00v

--------------------------------
PC Health Info when NO ERRORS
--------------------------------

Sys temp = 32c
CPU temp = 49c
CPU fan spd = 7600rpm

vcore = 1.77v
VIO = 3.5v
+5v = 4.91v
+12v = 12.40 - 12.46v
AGP = 3.48 - 3.5v
DDR = 2.59v
SVSB = 4.94v
VBAT = 3.00v

---
mobo Abit KX7-333r
Athlon 1900+
Micron PC2100 256meg
BIOS settings set to default except for RAID which is DISABLED and CPU FSB which is set to 100

One thing you need to try would be to populate different dimm slots since your memory seems to be affected by it. The other Abit board that had issues like this was the KR7A-/133/RAID. The front page has an article about it & which slots to put them in.

Another thing that I noticed is that since your in the BIOS checking your CPU temps and getting 48°C - 52°C is that you are way too hot. Check how you mounted the HSF & thermal paste application. Hopefully you removed the T.I.M.(Thermal Interface Material) & plastic cover it had before you mounted it.

Your CPU's temp is awfully high. There is an excellent chance that is the problem. What sort of thermal compound did you use? If you reduce your temps, I bet your problems will be solved. Or at least greatly reduced, you may still need to do some adjustments of your BIOS settings.
Edit: Sonny, you beat me to it by seconds this morning! My reflexes and typing speed aren't up to the challenge at four thirty in the morning, especially when I've only had one cup of coffee!

I'll see if I can find that info about the abit boards dimm population. As for the temperature, I thought that this was well within the spec of the chip?

I'll take the HS off and have a look at it.

I took the fan off and had a look. There was nothing on the bottom that needed to be peeled off or anything. It's a Coolermaster HCC 002 Delta Heat Sink & Fan (6800 RPM) upto 3.4GHz by the way. It is seated correctly on the 4 pads on top of the chip. I have no paste, just a fan. The chip didn't feel hot when I touched it.

Well get yourself some ASII or arctic silver III and add that, either of these will almost for sure improve temps and solve your install woes, temps cause more problems than just lockups

You are not alone, I have been trying to get my abit kx7 333R/athlon 1900 to run at 133 fsb and have not been successful. I can also get xp to load at 100 fsb but not 133 and I get a simular error. I thougt I had done a good job installing the cpu and heat sync. BTW what is a suitable temp? I'm inclined to believe the high temp is the problem (I've tried everything else).

Where do I get this paste and where exactly do I put it? Would changing memory help me? It's the FSB change that gives me beter stbility tht is making me wonder whether the memory isn't liked by my board.

NEVIN HOUSE has some of the best if not the best thermal paste for our use & also has a link to were it can be purchased. You may want ot visit the Cooling Section of the Forums & ask which thermal compound they would rather use.

The article can be found HERE. Understand that even if they are different chipsets they do have a lot in common.

I just ran memtest again with FSB's at 133/133 nd I get the
EXACT same error on test 3 as I did couple of hours ago. Same address etc.

pstones578 said:

I just ran memtest again with FSB's at 133/133 nd I get the
EXACT same error on test 3 as I did couple of hours ago. Same address etc.

Click to expand...

Did you try diffrent DIMM Slots this time? Did you try to cool down your system at least when running your tests?

Different DIMM slots. Temps roughly the same.

The thing to do know is to test the ram on another working system.

You have to address your heat problem yesterday. Your stable at 100 X 12 = 1200MHz since it is a lot slower than 133 X 12 = 1600MHz so high temps are not affecting it as much.

cpu high at error

i noticed that your cpu is about 4 degrees higher during the errors , and i also wonder...why not set you fsb at 100.....install windows, ....and then change back your settings to 133....?? just a thought...


hmmmmmm

I've been and swapped my memory today. I get less errors in memtest now. Should I get any?

WinXP installed and I'm now putting all my apps back on.

They put some paste on the chip while it was at the shop. It runs a bit cooler now.

good paste?

you should've use arctic silver....even if you buy it and have the tech apply it.....

i use as3 and my temps dropped 6 degrees more on the cpu.....and i still use a cheap cooler..

my temps were 32/52 idle, and after the as3, 32/44 - 32/45

Where can I get this paste from off the net? I'm not bothered about applying it, I'm sure I could do that myself.

Just a case of wiping off the other stuff and putting on the new I would imagine

i got mine on e-bay

although i got mine at e-bay, you might want to type in arctic silver III as a search word or look under cooling for some links.

there is another ...look-alike.....out there , so get the right stuff. go to arcticsilver.com and read all about it first....then go get some....

good luck


on arctic silver's website, they explain how to clean the heatsink and the cpu. i think they said to use acetone for the heatsink, and then use alcohol to follow up, and to clean the cpu. read the instructions on their site to get the specifics....you'll be surprised that there is more to it than just wipe it off and squirt some more on.....