unstable P3 system

Hi, I have been having some problems lately with my P3 1Ghz system. Here are the specs:

P3 1Ghz Coppermine (Skt370)
Shuttle AV30 (latest BIOS)
256mb Crucial DDR PC2100 (2x)
Maxtor 20GB 7200RPM HDD
AOpen Geforce3 Ti200
SB Live! Value

Well, a few months ago it started to lock up and restart for no reason. I thought it was a heat problem, so I got the side off and put a floor fan blowing on it.... nope. It then got worse, it started to restart alot more and restart constantly. I checked different RAM sticks, HDD's, sound, video.... and still restarts during windows load screen, or when/IF it gets to the desktop.

Ive since got a new case with 5 fans, it should be real cool in there, heat isnt the problem, ram, video, sound, hdd..... NOT the problem.... at least Im pretty sure. I havent tested another CPU because I do not have one to test . I am running on this current system now, because I lowered the FSB to 100Mhz, which the cpu runs at 750MHZ. stable.... but I want to get this fixed before I buy a new setup, because this is really bugging me.

I really need some help on this one guys, please please give any suggestions. Much appreciated, thanks.

what psu do you have?

Is there any heat conductor left between cpu and heatsink?

Does motherboard capacitors, big round parts near cpu, look wierd (different from each other)?

What voltage levels do you get (check with proggram like Motherboard monitor 5)?

funnyperson1 said:

what psu do you have?

Click to expand...

im not sure, it came with my older aluminum case I got about 1 year ago. I know its a 320watt psu. heres what it says on the side...

TURBOLINK
SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY
MODEL: CWT-320ATX-12V

And theres a bunch more info on the rails and stuff, but I dont know alot about that.

doer said:

Is there any heat conductor left between cpu and heatsink?

Does motherboard capacitors, big round parts near cpu, look wierd (different from each other)?

What voltage levels do you get (check with proggram like Motherboard monitor 5)?

Click to expand...

Im not sure if there is any conductor left, I had someone else put this together, and Im not sure how to take the HSF off of the CPU because it seems to be on there real snug, I think theres a clip that holds it down to.

There is some stuff on some of the resistors, looks like maybe a bug or some food got in there for some reason =/ and there is some of what looks to be the same stuff on the resistors, theres a little but on the mobo itself.

On MBM5, it shows for Core 0 1.74V as being the CURRENT voltage.......wait its now 1.78V, keeps changing.

Look at the pics on this page. Those are blown capacitors. Is that what the parts on your motherboard look like? If so, you're in trouble, you'll need to get them replaced.

Your PSU is made by "Channelwell Technologies" which make a lot of the PSUs for Antec. Usually they're pretty good PSUs.

no, the "stuff" is on top, and the same looking "stuff" is on the mobo a little to, right above the cpu. i think a bug crawled into my case fan once, or could be food or something =/

Smell it. If it smells like smoke or fire then it gone bad. I've ran dual P3's on a 300Watt PSU, so you should be fine unless it is a very very low quality one.

It could still be a CPU heat problem since when you underclocked it, it ran ok. But then again it could meen power to. Usually in my experiences, if caps gp bad the board will not even post. Maybe something has gone very badly with the OS. I don't know of any, but a DOS burn in program my be able to shed light on who is the culprit.

The problems you describe really sound like bad capacitors to me. The 'food' or 'bug-goo' you're talking about are prolly leaked chemicals from bursted caps. When this happened to my old Abit BE6-II I got lockups, spontaneous reboots and sometimes USB would crap out all of a sudden...

Yes, sometimes if I change the FSB to something other than 100 where its currently stable at... usb craps out... weird stuff. so its probably the motherboard thats kinda sick =/ cant get a repsonse from Shuttle the RMA or whatever. so i guess Ill have to give this mobo away, hehe $10!