Help with my GA-7DXE

Below are my specs and problems with this Mboard.

WinXP Professional Service Pack 1
Gigabyte GA-7DXE AMD761 Chipset motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (Palomino not overclocked)
Inno3D Geforce 4 Ti4200
256 DDR RAM
Seagate 40GB 7200 RPM
Western Digital 1.0 GB
Lite-On 52X CDROM Drive
Lite-On 40/12/48 CDRW Drive
HEC 350 Power Supply with 2 fans
Thermaltake Volcano 7+ with Heatsink
3 case fans

Arctic Silver 3 Thermal Paste Apllied

Reseted eatsink

- After a lot of overheats with my Athlon XP 2000+ (133 FSB)I underclocked it to 120 FSB so it is now recognized as an Athlon XP 1800+. Why? With 133 FSB, system always crashes. It's very very unstable. But when I use 120 FSB It never ever crashed. This is not a heat problem beacuse when I use FSB 133 it crashes between 50C - 55C but when I use120 FSB it can go as high as 70C withot crashing. am I lacking power?

I don't know anything about this but here ya go...
+12v = +12.300 Volt
+5v = +4.970 Volt (4.900 while running BurnK7.exe)
+3.3v = +3.230 Volt
VcoreA +1.770A Volt

- If I set the Clock speed to 133 on the bios and use programs such as WCPUID it recognizes it as 134 - not 133. Same with Windows, the quantispeed rating of an Athlon XP 2000+ is 1666MHZ but mine reports it as 1675 MHZ. I think ths is because of the bug that 133 FSB is really actually 134 FSB.

- The manual says I can adjust Core voltages and such but whenever I go to the BIOS I can only edit the clock frequency in Supervisor mode. Where are the voltage settings? Are there supposed to be jumpers to be set. The manual says nothing of it.

Thanks.

I have been following you thread in the amd cpu section and thought I would come over here to try and help you some more. I have a GA-7DX+ in my wifes computer, which is pretty similar to yours.
First, in the bios for this board there is a setion called Frequency/Voltage Control. In here there are settings for AGP voltage,DDr voltage,CPU frequency,CPU clock,CPU Overvoltage Control, Normal cpu voltage. In the CPU overvoltage you can set it to normal or 1.1v-1.85v. I really dont know, but I assume since the boards are so closely related in design, yours should be the same or similar.
I believe the temps your getting are right since you are having stability problems. the reason your staying stable longer at the low fsb/higher temp is probably because you are essentially 'underclocking' the processor by lowering the fsb there for allowing it to stay stable longer.
Is your CPU voltage 1.77v in the bios or the gigabyte system monitor? It may not be a problem since mine it currently set a 1.75v and the monitor reads it at 1.74v. and even if it is slightly increased to 1.775, thats not enough to really make your temps rise. BTW, what are your case temps?
This is a hard one to figure out since you+have basically done everything you should to fix this. This HS/F should have no problem cooling the 2000+. I know one complaint I have had with this board is that the cpu mounts so that the HS/F blow the air sideways, not up and down. This tends to trap heat in the cpu area making further cooling problems.
Have you tried booting up and going into the bios to and leaving it in the bios to monitor your temps there? see how fast the temps rise that way. Also As far as the do I need more power question try disconnecting and removing everything but the memory, cpu, hs/f And HD and monitor your temps and voltage from the bios to see the results. Another thing to try if you are able to, is find another mobo to put your hardware in to see if it does any different. Or maybe a different cpu in your rig. Possible you cpu is crapping out on ya.
I will look around and think some more to try and find a solution for you. Good luck to you.

Thanks for replying.

I know how closeley related our motherboards are. We even share the same manual.

First, in the bios for this board there is a setion called Frequency/Voltage Control. In here there are settings for AGP voltage,DDr voltage,CPU frequency,CPU clock,CPU Overvoltage Control, Normal cpu voltage. In the CPU overvoltage you can set it to normal or 1.1v-1.85v. I really dont know, but I assume since the boards are so closely related in design, yours should be the same or similar.

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I have Frequency/Voltage Control but I can only set the Frequency. The Voltage controls are missing but in the manual it says it's in there.

Is your CPU voltage 1.77v

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Yes, in the Gigabyte System Monitor

My case Temp is 38C

I know one complaint I have had with this board is that the cpu mounts so that the HS/F blow the air sideways, not up and down. This tends to trap heat in the cpu area making further cooling problems.

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The Thermaltake does blow it sideways. But it's really designed that way. (I think)

Also As far as the do I need more power question try disconnecting and removing everything but the memory, cpu, hs/f And HD and monitor your temps and voltage from the bios to see the results.

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Already did this a thousand times

The socket in thes mobos are mounted different and that why the hs/f blows sideways.
Your case temps are higher right now than my cpu temps are.Im running my 1600+ at stock speeds and settings with the fan on med speed and my cpu is 36c and case is 26c. 38c seems kinda high for case temps.
One more thing to try. Since as3 has to be applied so sparingly to avoid any shorting out problems, try cleaning it off and using so good old white thermal paste. Then you can apply alittle more to it without the worry of shorting you cpu out. If nothing else this would eleminate the possibility of not enough thermal paste being your problem.

I'm going to the the thermal paste thingy but before that, can RAM be the culprit?

Ram can cause instability problems, but I have never seen or heard of ram causing temp problems like you have. The only thing I could think of that could cause you to have such high temps is either a heatsink mounting problem, thermal paste problem, a bad cpu, or a fan problem. Ill check in here tomorrow to see how the thermal paste went.

Just some extra results to share.

While running Prime 95, The highest FSB I could attain without errors is 129 FSB. If it goes above that, pc freezes or restarts.

Already disconnected all power cables and devices excluding RAM, HDD and vidcard. Results still the same.

-something weird happens. If I watch the temp using the BIOS or the official Gigabyte temerature monitor, it sometimes freezes even when you are not doing anything. I am now using the program "Hardware Sensors Monitor" to check my temps.

I let the computer rest for two hours then opened it up again (set to 133FSB) from a cold start, I ran Prime95 and it already produced an error on the first try. keeping in mind that the temps were still low. I even had a box fan to make sure.

Make sure your memory settings are relaxed as much as possible.
Especially cas2.5,not cas2. Dont know what type of memory you have, but some of memory will not tolerate high settings.
you didnt say if you tried the white paste or if you were having temp problems still so let me know.
Ill check your progress after work today.

Problem is, I can't set my memory. You know, Cas 2.5., etc. No setting whatsoever. (like the voltage)

Is the white paste with the Thermaltake package good enough?

Yea , all the white stuff is pretty much the same. I will look on my wifes pc and check the bios so that I can maybe give you a clue how to change the settings.
BTW, have you ever had this mobo working with another cpu? Same for the cpu and memory. Have they ever worked in another mobo?

check

Yeah, check the stuff in other pc, like Pyros said.... My cousin have the same problem with a xp 1600+... It doesn´t works right at 133 fsb... when I back it to 100 fsb it boots Ok and can go until 120.... I haven´t time to try fixing his pc, but one thing that may help is to unlock your cpu, so that you can adjust your cpu multiplyer as you want... You could put it at 6x133 for example... it should eliminate the temperature problem andd it it still have bugs at that speed it would tend to say it´s a problem with th FSB (Memory probably...)... If you can run it at 116x100 for example and it goes Ok we may conclude it´s not the cpu overheating or cold boot problem.....


You may be shure your ventilation is very good and then try to run the cpu with a litle overvoltage (only do that if your coooling is good...) It may help to increase the cpu stability when the cpu is guilty...


I don´t know if your mobo alows you to choose running the memory syncronously / asincronously in the bios.... (not used to that chipset) you may try to run the FSB at 100 and the ram at 133 or the FSB at 133 and the ram at 100 to be shure it´s not the ram that doesn´t like the higher speed.... That could help if the setting is possible.


Temp: A very well ventilated case tend´s to increase cpu temperature when the case is opened (yes, when you open) becouse you disturb the in/out flyux of air.... If your cpu tends to lower 5-10 degrees celsius when you open the case, there is a heat problem going on and you still can improove the cooling... (I use 1x120 and 3x80mm aditional fans in low speed/noise)...

Unlocking the chip or trying the memory sybcronous/asyncronous trick may help.... If you ´haven´t done that yet, please do it ansd tell us.... If you already done, please disconsider this message.... Anything we may help we´ll be here.
Cheers:

It doesn´t works right at 133 fsb... when I back it to 100 fsb it boots Ok and can go until 120

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Same problem. 120 FSB is my most stable FSB.

BTW, have you ever had this mobo working with another cpu? Same for the cpu and memory. Have they ever worked in another mobo?

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Not yet, but I'll borrow my friend's RAM to test.