help!! athlon 1200 keeps locking up!

i have a 1200/266 athlon cpu, a ak73pro(A)motherboard. a riva tnt2 32meg video card. 256meg pc133 ram.
My computer keeps locking up and i need to hit the reset button. Sometimes it will go all night before freezing or locking up, and sometimes 2 minutes. my cpu temperature is between 38 and 45c. i took out the 1200 cpu and tried my 750 athlon cpu and it works great. but when i use 1200 athlon it keeps locking up. i tried everything i know. updated all the drivers .. use win2k pro with service pack 2. i think i got a bad 1200 cpu, someone told me that if the cpu is bad then my computer will not even post. they said that a cpu either works or don't. i hope someone will be able to help me. thanks.

Not quite true, you can have an 'unstable' cpu that might well work 90% of the time but occasionally screw up.

Are you overclocking the CPU at all, what voltage are you giving it?. And what PSU are you using?

not overclocked

this athlon 1200 is not overclocked. according to the via hardware monitoring system . my vcore value =1.84 in bios it is the default. i have a 300w power supply. i have tried another 300w power supply and there was no change. my computer usually freezes a time or two every hour then it might go most of the day.

try to use different ram or display card if possible


it probably is the ram

Violator said:

Not quite true, you can have an 'unstable' cpu that might well work 90% of the time but occasionally screw up.

Are you overclocking the CPU at all, what voltage are you giving it?. And what PSU are you using?

Click to expand...

What mobo do u got??

I had exactly the same problem with my abit kt7 board. On tbirds over 1.1ghz it screwed up, while working totally fine with my old duron 750.

MB

i am using a aopen73pro(A) MB. not overclocked. is it possible that my video card (riva tnt2 32meg) video card will not work with the 1200 / 266 athlon with MB at 133fsb . and work with 170 athlon at 100 fsb. i have 3 / 128meg pc133 sdram.

You'r videocard has nothing to do with your chip. Maybe you got to many things on 1 IRQ check with sisoftsandra download it from http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/ That was one of my problems why my comp used to lock up. Check your +5v in your bios and under load with sisoft sandra. If its below +4.85 underload with your T-bird it means the tbird takes alot more from the +5 then your duron , this might mean you need a new psu. Remember just cause a psu is 400watts doesn't mean its gona have great +5volts and stuff , I would go with a powmax psu get one @ pricewatch.com for like $30 300watter and then you could turn up the +5 on that psu with a screw driver by turning a pot inside the psu.GL keep posting if you need more help don't hesitate to prvt message me or email me.

my 5 v value is 5.08 . someone told me i should set the 3.3v vio value up to 3.4. is this safe or will it toast my board or ram and cards. sometimes when my computer froze up i had to wait a few minutes before it will start again. the power button will do nothing for a few minutes. i keep a close watch on the heat and it never goes over 50c. most times it is arround mid 40s c. what would be a good way to rule out the PS.