Barton or Thoroughbred?

[qbas]

I also think that it would be a lot worse if there was something wrong with your memory.

If you have your old memory, try running them at their old stable speed and see what happens.

before you look for your memory's stable speed, check what happens to the 12+ line when you run P95. Does it drop?

It changes places with 11.56 and 11.50 but nothing else and i ge this error message:

"Test 1, 4000 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M19922945 using 1024k FFT lenght.
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file."

And when i tried with stock settings with FSB at 166 and memtest86 i got errors on test 5 (9 errors) but no other errors...and when i tried 200FSB i got allmost 3000 errors.

 

[qbas]

Ok, i put my old 256 memory to the sockets and tried memtest86 but no errors ok then i tried Prime95 and i got the same error message and as i have nForce 2 it should double the memory when using 2 memoryslots but i didn't get double, it keeps it at 512MB. And i forgot to mention that everytime i restart or start the computer i get a beep sound, is this normal on nForce 2 mobo's? especialy in my mobo?

Is it really that my Abit mobo doesn't like my Q-Tec's PSU? Because in my KT4 board i didn't get errors at all when testing memtest and prime95. I don't think my mobo is damaged or anything, it has to be the PSU.

But why didn't i get my memory to 1Gb when i put my two 256 memorymodules on their specific slots that would double them? I only have 512mb and it should be 1Gb.

 

[qbas]

Now i'm having weird problems...i found out that with NF7 series mobo's having difficulty to get over 166FSB is because of APIC feature in BIOS so i reinstalled windows with APIC disabled but nothing happened instead i'm getting BSOD's more than ever...i'm trying to update my windows again, but i'm afraid that i get BSOD before i can do that.

I'm stumped...is it my PSU that is causing the trouble? Because my mobo tells me that everything is ok (no problems with memory or anything...one short beep when restarting or opening computer.

 

[shiyan]

the beep is quite normal.

I do remember reading about problems with APIC, so you are not the only one.

11.5v seems really low.

do you know how fast you could run your PC2100 RAM at? It should tell you when your computer beeps and posts (with that screen with your IDE devices etc.)

 

[qbas]

the beep is quite normal.

I do remember reading about problems with APIC, so you are not the only one.

11.5v seems really low.

do you know how fast you could run your PC2100 RAM at? It should tell you when your computer beeps and posts (with that screen with your IDE devices etc.)

Well i used the old PC2100 at how my FSB were in my old mobo and in the memtest is didn't get errors but in Prime95 it didn't even start the stress test, i got bad error...and when i use 200FSB and multiplier at 10 now it POSTs but for awhile when i'm using windows i get BSOD. So i think it isn't my memory that is bad. I mean it works fine with 166FSB, and when i turned the APIC off i got IRQ errors so i put it back on and now it seems to work.

How much should the +12v be? This is really weird problem or as stated many times my PSU doesn't give enough power to the chipset...it seems that my PSU works at 400W only 1/10th of a time when reading the posts about the Q-Tec PSUs and that there have been complications with Abit mobos and Q-Tec's PSUs.

 

[shiyan]

I really do think that it is the power supply. See if you can find someone with a good power supply that you can borrow to make sure.

Does P95 crap out with RAM speed low and CPU speed at stock? If it does then you can almost be sure that it is the PSU.

 

[qbas]

I really do think that it is the power supply. See if you can find someone with a good power supply that you can borrow to make sure.

Does P95 crap out with RAM speed low and CPU speed at stock? If it does then you can almost be sure that it is the PSU.

What memory settings would you recommend? for testing Prime95?

 

[shiyan]

what I am suggesting is just to test the PSU, so you can set the RAM to really slow frequency (like 133Mhz), default timings, and the lowest voltage, which is 2.6v.

also set your CPU to default frequency (11x166), but use slightly more voltage (say 1.75v) to load the PSU more.

using these settings, it should be 100% stable using any program. if it is not then the most probable problem is the power supply.

the reason for this is because the RAM should definitely be alright, and the CPU must definitely be alright, and as long as you CPU temperatures are not getting out of hand, the only source of instability would be the PSU.

if your temperatures are too high, then you have to use a slightly lower vcore than 1.75v.

for this test you can use either P95 or CPU Burn.

 

[qbas]

Ok thanks, how did i put my memory to work at 133mhz? separate to to my CPU's? I used the lowest memory timings 13-7-7-3.0 and i still got errors...i'll try your method.

 

[qbas]

Ok i tried your method i put my FSB 166x11 and put my DDR to 266 (133 Mhz) and yet i got error message from Prime95.

Edit: It has to be my PSU because if my good working old memories get error message in Prime95 then there must be some that my Abit board doesn't like my PSU and it doesn't give enough power to the board.

 

[shiyan]

to get CPU at 166 and RAM at 133, you use the 5:4 CPU:RAM divider.

but it looks like you already figured that out.

if you still get an error message, then there's definitely something wrong, and the prime suspect to me would be the power supply.

So your 12+ was still at 11.5v then?

What were your CPU temperatures? Just want to make sure it's not heat related.

maybe some other experienced AMD guys can give their views on this.

in the meantime, try the same thing with your new RAM. this way we are sure. for your new PC3200 ram, you can use 166Mhz.

 

[qbas]

to get CPU at 166 and RAM at 133, you use the 5:4 CPU:RAM divider.

but it looks like you already figured that out.

if you still get an error message, then there's definitely something wrong, and the prime suspect to me would be the power supply.

So your 12+ was still at 11.5v then?

What were your CPU temperatures? Just want to make sure it's not heat related.

maybe some other experienced AMD guys can give their views on this.

in the meantime, try the same thing with your new RAM. this way we are sure. for your new PC3200 ram, you can use 166Mhz.

Ok i tried again with Hardware doctor on and my 12+ is still at 11.5 and drops to 11.44 and changes with 1.44 and 1.50 and when idle it is 11.56. This really bugs me...must be the crappy PSU.

 

[shiyan]

I PM'ed Deathknight and c627627, hopefully they'll give their views on this.

in Hardware Doctor, what is you CPU temperature idle and under load?

can you also try it again with the PC3200, just to make sure?

 

[qbas]

I PM'ed Deathknight and c627627, hopefully they'll give their views on this.

in Hardware Doctor, what is you CPU temperature idle and under load?

can you also try it again with the PC3200, just to make sure?

I used the PC3200 same error...my computer temperature is 49.50 idle and the same when used the Prime95 test (i have chassis open) but i have voltages at 1.725 with CPU. This is really bugging me.

 

[qbas]

One really interesting note i found out...when putting my PSU connected to my board i forgot to put the smaller one in place (i was used to put the larger one to the board and this one has 2 power connectors)

 

[shiyan]

it shouldn't make much difference.

your temperatures are a little high.

could you try increasing your cooling? like with like a table fan right next to your case, or putting the case next to an open window? how's your system temperature?

it's looking very probable that the problem is the power supply, but I just want to be sure it's nothing else.

 

[qbas]

it shouldn't make much difference.

your temperatures are a little high.

could you try increasing your cooling? like with like a table fan right next to your case, or putting the case next to an open window? how's your system temperature?

it's looking very probable that the problem is the power supply, but I just want to be sure it's nothing else.

Well i tried again and no effect (the other cable didn't help), well my temperatures are 49 degrees with 1.725 and default if 1.65 and then it is about 44-46 degrees...it's not that my computer gets hot or anything. I still get errors from -5v voltage saying it is too low. I'm pretty confident that it is my PSU that is causing these troubles because i can't find any other solution. It's not a case of bad memory if my old 100% working ones fails Prime95 torture test.

 

[shiyan]

I'd agree with that.

 

[Deathknight]

Well I tried to skim over most of the thread here after shiyan PMed me. There was alot to read so forgive me if I say something that was already covered

If you have a multimeter available to test your PSU with that would probably give a final answer if your PSU is to blame. I didn't catch what motherboard you used to have, I just saw it was a kt400 chipset? Most older AMD motherboards used to pull cpu power off of the 5v rail. Some newer ones do as well but the NF7-S pulls power off of the 12v rail. Its possible that your PSU just doesn't have the juice on the 12v rail to handle the additional load of the cpu on there.

I also saw some talk of memory timings but I didn't see for sure what timings you were running at qbas? If you have not already tried to loosen your timings you definatly should, this could help diagnose if the memory is the problem. Also if you have not given more voltage to the memory you may want to. I am not familiar with that brand of memory but some brands of high speed memory work better with more voltage. If its just tested and rebadged pc2700 then it may need the additional voltage (some memory is actually only rated to run at the timings and speed they rate it at if you do run more voltage).

Anyways from what I read the PSU seems to be a prime suspect. The bios is not really an accurate measure of the true voltages, however the 12v rail seems to be off ALOT. I would suggest beg borrow or steal a multimeter to find out for sure or just suck it up and invest in a better PSU. Not sure what brands you have available to you over there but a quality brand that has some beef on the 12v rail will go a long ways

 

[shiyan]

Thanks a lot Deathknight!

qbas has upgraded to an Abit NF7-S v2.

even with the PC2100 RAM with default timings and 133Mhz, and the vcore set to 1.75v, default speed, P95 fails.

he repeated with PC3200 RAM, and it still fails. So RAM is probably not to blame.