GA-7VAXP random reboots

[Redbird]

I have been running the with the GA-7VAXP m/b. I have the AMD xp2000+ cpu with 512mb DD2700 memory. The fsb switch is set to 133 and I'm not doing any overclocking at this time.

However if I set the bios to optimal performance and/or enable top performance, when I boot into windows xp I get random reboots for no apparent reason.

Not for sure what revision the board is or where to even check.

My guess is cheap memory, but not for sure. I have played around with the bios and am wondering if some (or one) of the advanced memory settings (cntl-F1) might be the culprit. Something called "ram burst" settings of either 8 or 4? When set to 4 it seems to be more stable. Also I've incremented the vcore for memory using the .1 increment and that seems like it may have helped.

I'm wondering if any of you have ran into this type of problem.

My temp's seem to be okay (35c m/b - 46c cpu).

Thanks in advance!

Redbird

 

[Rcttexas]

I had the same problem with my VRXP when I first got it. I disabled "top performance" and had no further problems. I can't say it will work for yours, but you might try it.

 

[Redbird]

I think the solution was setting the DDR/RAM voltage from auto to increment .1 volts. This seems to have given the little extra surge to complete those cycles. It's been stable for 48 hours now. I also ran a memory test program with this bios setting and there were no errors reported (all passes). When running with the standard auto setting (which probably produces standard 2.5volts vs. the incremantal .1 = 2.6v), there were a few errors. So one has to wonder.

Redbird

 

[saulin]

I'm also getting random reboots...

How did you solve the problem? by setting the ram voltage to 2.6v? disabling top performance?

I'm really getting ****ed off at this board. I might not even be overclocking by that much and it does the ramdom reboots.

I have a rev 2.0

I tried bios F6, F8, F9, F10, F11 and they all gave me the ramdom reboots. Right now I'm using the F6 Bios...

I have an Athlon XP 2200+ at only 1877Mhz arrrg, ****ty all I can do or it does the Ramdom reboots a lot...

FSB at only 139Mhz. And even though I have PC2700 Ram I have to run it at 266Mhz or else it won't even load Windows. Oh yeah to get the board to run stable I'm using +7.5% voltage on then CPU otherwise it craps out.

I have a Volcano 7+ as my heatsink. Temps might get 47 Degrees under full load.

Could it be my power supply too? Is only a 300Watt and I do have a Geforce4.

 

[AmigoThree]

Saulin, I would say it is a low PS for you too. I have the rig in my sig and a neon light and as soon as I installed a LAN card, that put me over. I was riding on the edge for a while and that was all I needed to go over my limit. So I went and bought a 431Watt Enermax PS and it all works now.

 

[Redbird]

Random reboot (my solution)...

I disabled the top performance and set the RAM voltage increment to .1 volts. Didn't have to mess with any CPU settings (ie - vcore, fsb). The fsb is running at 133 (no overclocking here at this point). So I've got my XP 2000+ cpu running at 266. The PC2700 memory is running at 333 (as the fsb does not effect the memory like older boards). I've been stable now for 1 week. I don't quite understand why a p/s would be the problem. A 300 to 350watt P/S should be more than adequate as the these comp's just don't pull that much power like in the old days. That's not to say one may be running a crappy power supply I guess.

 

[saulin]

Something I forgot to mention. I'm suing F6 bios cause in newer bioses everytime the computer would do the ramdom reboots I would totally lose my sound (sblive card) and my Network card (D-link DFE-538TX) and Windows would not detect them anymore unless I remove the 2 PCI cards and reinstall them in different slots. Also my bios settings would reset to factory defauls.

With F6 bios if the ramdom reboot happens I don't lose the sound or my network and the bios does not reset to defaults. However to make it more stable I had to clock my FSB down from 142Mhz DDR to around 138Mhz DDR. This is BS since I know this board can do a lot more than that. Like I said before I don't think cooling is my problem.

Oh I don't really know what brand RAM I have, is not labeled on the RAM but Sisoft Sandra says I have a 512MB PC2700 stick of Kingston RAM.

Also at 142Mhz FSB I did a burn-in test on the CPU for 7 hrs and it didn't crash... So my guess is that is either my RAM or something to do with the PCI bus speed?

That would be weird though cause I had this PCI devices before running at higher bus speed on another PC.

 

[Redbird]

probably memory

I would gather to say that the PC2700 DDR (333mhz) memory is probably our issue here. I don't know about you, but I tend to find the cheapest memory I can online. This logic worked real well with the old pc133 memory. But I think that logic is flawed when building a system based on DDR pc2700. It may be a better idea to spend more and get more compatible/reliable DDR PC2700 (333mhz) memory.

I also swapped out cpu's to make sure It wasn't a heat or cpu issue. And it wasn't. BTW, the fsb setting shouldn't affect whether your memory is running at 333. The fsb setting only controls overclocking your cpu, pci cards. If you want to overclock, try the Easytune 4 software that comes with the board. It's easy to use within windows. Once you've burned a set of config. in, then go ahead and set your bios accordingly.

 

[saulin]

Yeah I guess I will be buying some Crucial Ram soon...

Oh the Easytune 4 software only changes the FSB, does not change the PCI/AGP bus speeds..