XP 2000+ + changed CPU clock = I'm an idiot?

londonbeatnik · Feb 25, 2007

So...I went into BIOS and changed 'CPU Clock' from 133 to 160. Dont ask me why, I just thought I was being clever. Now when I switch the PC on, it seems to run normal but nothing appears on my monitor and after a minute it goes into power saving mode. So I obviously cant go into BIOS and change it back.

Motherboard is ASUS, 512mb RAM, Radeon 9250 (128mb) graphics card.

Any help in resuscitating my PC is much appreciated... :beer:

Opteron 1100 · Feb 25, 2007

Just clear the cmos by poping the battery out for about 10 sec and put it back in , that will put all bios setting to default

Clockwork_Apple · Feb 25, 2007

Yup, just clear the CMOS to set all BIOS settings back to defaults.

When you next boot the 'CPU clock' may be set to 100 and you need to change it back to 133. There may be some other settings such as boot order you need to change.

londonbeatnik · Feb 25, 2007

Thanks for the replies guys, just found the battery and took it out. Thanks also for the heads up about BIOS changes, anything else that will need to be changed? Hope I didnt wipe out my harddrive or anything. :-/

Clockwork_Apple · Feb 25, 2007

You may not have to change anything.

Chances are the motherboard has a PCI lock, meaning when you change the FSB all other clocks stay the same. This means there wont be corruption on the hard drives when the PCI clock raises with the FSB.

If you can't boot into Windows, you may just need to change the boot order, or tell it to boot from the HDD that has XP on, if you have more than 1.

Good Luck

londonbeatnik · Feb 25, 2007

So I took battery out for 5 minutes, put back in, restarted computer but same thing, nothing appearing on monitor. Whats this jumper thing about, I noticed a couple of slots with wires plugged in next to the battery, do I take them out for a couple minutes too?

Clockwork_Apple · Feb 25, 2007

londonbeatnik said:
So I took battery out for 5 minutes, put back in, restarted computer but same thing, nothing appearing on monitor. Whats this jumper thing about, I noticed a couple of slots with wires plugged in next to the battery, do I take them out for a couple minutes too?

They're the front panel connectors. They wont do anything

You need to find the CMOS clear jumper. It should be on pins 1-2 and you need to change it to 2-3, leave it for a minute, and move it back to 1-2 and start the PC.

Take a look in your motherboard manual. The jumper is usually close to the battery.

londonbeatnik · Feb 25, 2007

Sorry , but man, I am so lost, lol. (no manual around) Here's a couple pics I just took, maybe you can direct me better with these:

Click on the pics to see them bigger. As you can see I've taken the battery out and nearby are a bunch of slots with wires in them, (the thing is I cant see clear numbers going up from 1, is it ok to just take them all out then put back in?) and I appreciate your patience with me.

ManofGod · Feb 25, 2007

What brand and model motherboard do you have? (Need to know so I can look up the manual.)

Joe

londonbeatnik · Feb 25, 2007

ManofGod said:
What brand and model motherboard do you have? (Need to know so I can look up the manual.)

Joe

This is something I was researching last week online but seeing as I cant access my notes I cant help you much. From memory I was leaning towards it being an ASUS A7N8X-something or other. I got the PC in 2003. There's a VIA chip that says VT8235, if its any help.

londonbeatnik · Feb 25, 2007

Crisis averted. I left the battery out for 30 minutes this time and this time everything's working again.

So my question now is, what exactly happened to my PC when I changed the cpu clock? The reason I did so was because I'd read other people do it without changing anything else, like voltage, etc.

And thanks again for your help guys.

Clockwork_Apple · Feb 25, 2007

Read an overclocking guide, and you will understand what you did and what you should do to successfully overclock.

You basically raised the clock speed to a level that it was unstable, at that voltage. You need to increase FSB in small increments (~5mhz) to find that max stable clock speed at stock voltage. Then increase voltage and repeat. Always keeping an eye on temps and not going to crazy voltage's without adequate cooling.

londonbeatnik · Feb 25, 2007

Yep, I was aware of that small increments method but for some stupid reason didnt follow it apparently.

Unfortunately, although everything's back to normal, while surfing the net it does feel slightly sluggish. I checked Windows Task Manager and it looks like my Physical Memory has gone down a little, from 5-something to 490996 currently, and with 146820 available which is lower than what it usually is, and I'm not even doing anything except surfing. I was looking for more RAM anyway, but this is a bit crap. :bang head

Cant wait to get a new computer later in the year, I've been looking at Shuttle cases and Intel core 2 duos... :drool:

EDIT: A nasty side effect of my tinkering has made me inexplicably lose RAM. I used to have 512mb, but now System Properties tells me I have 480mb! Internet surfing feels more sluggish than before, its really annoying.

Serlant · Feb 25, 2007

i dunno but i think i read about an option called memory hole in the bios that reserves a little memory for the bios or something? also isant that the reset cmos jumper RIGHT next to the battery? down left of it in the pics.

RJARRRPCGP · Feb 25, 2007

The memory hole option probably is archaic! It's for ISA cards, AFAIK. You don't have ISA cards!

ISA cards are so 1990s!

londonbeatnik · Feb 25, 2007

Memory hole sounds interesting, but I cant see any option to do with that in the BIOS.

I just bought a much needed 1 gig stick of Corsair RAM for £42 off Ebay. Will hopefully find another deal and end up with 2gig RAM soon. (or under 2gig at this rate) Either way, I hope extra RAM fixes up the sluggishness plaguing my computer, otherwise there will be more headbanging.

EDIT: Also, ever since my foray into molesting CPU clocks, I notice that sometimes the desktop icons in the lower left of my screen sometimes end up slightly higher than usual, and when I try to drag them lower to their usual spot they wont stick. My computer is haunted. Or just ****ed off.

smokie mcpott · Feb 25, 2007

i would be willing to bet the motherboard has onboard video?
if so... its stealing 32mb for the shared video?

also, i dont think its a ASUS A7N8X
i have one and it has a tan/brown PCB not green

londonbeatnik · Feb 25, 2007

smokie mcpott said:
i would be willing to bet the motherboard has onboard video?
if so... its stealing 32mb for the shared video?

Hmm, interesting. I remember disabling onboard graphics when I installed the Radeon 9250, but I just checked out the BIOS and in the 'Advanced Chipset Features' section, in the category 'AGP + P2P Bridge Control', there's an option called 'VGA Share Memory Size' which is currently set to 32MB. With options for 16MB, 8MB and 'disabled'. Guess I should disable this, eh?...

also, i dont think its a ASUS A7N8X. i have one and it has a tan/brown PCB not green

I've been trying to figure out what the hell I've got, I dont have the manual but have been googling the last couple days and figured it was either the A7N8X-VM or A7N8X-LA. Both the specs for these summed up my motherboard correctly.

Gunlance · Feb 25, 2007

If its an A7N8X then it will say so on the motherboard. Inbetween the PCI slots.

Raptord · Feb 25, 2007

Probably. Usually you should take out the cmos battery for 10 minutes to reset the BIOS, which is probably why 5 mins didn't work and 30 mins did. Also, if you download cpu-z, it will tell you what motherboard you have.

XP 2000+ + changed CPU clock = I'm an idiot?

Registered

Member

Member

Registered

Member

Registered

Member

Registered

New Member

Registered

Registered

Member

Registered

Member

Member

Registered

Member

Registered

Member

Member

Similar threads