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MSI KT3Ultra 2-R vs Athlon XP 2000+ gives up on WinXP boot

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Hubert

Registered
Joined
Jul 22, 2002
Location
Romania
See the system in my signature ?

Let's begin with a little history:

First rig: Athlon XP 1800+/MSI KT3 Ultra/2x256 PQI PC2700 (Samsung chips)/MSI G4TI4400/40 Gb WD 7200 rpm; OS Win XP Pro

It overclocked very poorly, I was unable to gain more then 30 Mhz.
Because with a 1500+ Athlon XP I managed to reach FSB 150, a memory problem was out of the question.
I thought it is the processor, so I changed it to another one.
The same thing occured. After several tries, I decided that 1800+ XPs suxx, and bought a 2000+.
The first one dies on me on the first Windows boot. The second one refused to boot over FSB 100, though it worked on that particular frequency. After several tries, I managed to kill it too.

I changed every major component (like the RAM, VGA etc) and after a succesful BIOS update which also didn't helped, I came to the conclusion that something is wrong with my motherboard.

So I changed the KT3Ultra back for a KT3Ultra2-R.
Mean time I realised that I've been fooled, with a 235W PSU which I found mysteriously in my case. It should be one of 300W, but it was changed by some guy at the service.
So, wery angry, I asked for a 300W PSU, but the rig still not works with the 2000+ Athlon XP.
Now I got the rig shown in my signature, and it serves me well*, but I don't know what I should do, 'cos I would like to buy a 2600+ Athlon XP.
I was told here to get a better PSU, but I want to be sure it helps before spending 80-100 bucks on one.

*I managed to boot at FSB 200, of course the RAM killed the OS.
Max operational FSB was 170, however.
 
Your base problem is power supply. All Athlon systems require a minimum 200W on the 5&3.3V line because the Athlon draws 40+amps at max load. If you do the calcs 40(amps)x5(volts)=200W. Most 300W psu's only give 150W on the 5V which means a peak value of 30 amps which is 50% too low. The figure of 40+ amps comes from the tech documents on the Athlon. To add insult to injury the Nvidia 4000 series of graphics cards also draw a huge amount of power. The two will co-exist happily together provided you give them enough power. I personally advise a minimum of 350W but the key is look for the 5V specs on the psu. If no specs are given and you cannot find out what they are don't touch it. Look for 400 - 500W if you intend to upgrade further.
 
Tiger said:
Your base problem is power supply. All Athlon systems require a minimum 200W on the 5&3.3V line because the Athlon draws 40+amps at max load. If you do the calcs 40(amps)x5(volts)=200W. Most 300W psu's only give 150W on the 5V which means a peak value of 30 amps which is 50% too low. The figure of 40+ amps comes from the tech documents on the Athlon. To add insult to injury the Nvidia 4000 series of graphics cards also draw a huge amount of power. The two will co-exist happily together provided you give them enough power. I personally advise a minimum of 350W but the key is look for the 5V specs on the psu. If no specs are given and you cannot find out what they are don't touch it. Look for 400 - 500W if you intend to upgrade further.

So, I got a 400W PSU now, ('cos I also thought that the weak PSU was the problem) with beatiful 40A/+5V and 20A/+3.3V, and 15A/+12V and my new 2100+ (AGOIA) Athlon XP still doesn't start with FSB higher than 110.
I think I'm going crazy this time ! :(

Temperature shouldn't be the problem; with the 6000 rpm HSF, and opened case, it's around 38-40 C ...
Any other ideas ?
Besides "Change user and try again", of course.
 
Last edited:
SkiptoMyLou said:
that ahppened to me...try another video card and keyboard

I tried it with a Ati Radeon 8500, and still doesn't wanna work.
I admit that I didn't thought of the keyboard, though ... :confused:
 
Last edited:
Gottcha !

Stupid me, I didn't thought about the D-Led function earlier ...

It only took a look at it, and it clearly shows the sign for: "Damaged or not properly installed RAM"

Clearly a MSI/PQI-Samsung incompatibility problem.
 
My FSB 133 problems appeared due to the Voclano 7+ cooler.
Beeing a heavy piece of CU (700 g = 0.7 kg), and having poor mounting clips it hanged when the mobo took its vertical position, and so, the contact between the heatsink and CPU core was not perfect.
What makes this problem difficult to spot is that usual thermal compounds do not keep the trace of that, as when you demount the cooler you turn the mobo back in a horizontal position, and the thermal grease reattaches the core.
Arctic Silver 3 however solidifies in time, and so I was shocked to see that only half of the core was in contact with the heatsink !

Now, I have a Titan TTC-D5TB, and everything is OK !
 
Hubert said:
See the system in my signature ?

Let's begin with a little history:

First rig: Athlon XP 1800+/MSI KT3 Ultra/2x256 PQI PC2700 (Samsung chips)/MSI G4TI4400/40 Gb WD 7200 rpm; OS Win XP Pro

It overclocked very poorly, I was unable to gain more then 30 Mhz.
Because with a 1500+ Athlon XP I managed to reach FSB 150, a memory problem was out of the question.
I thought it is the processor, so I changed it to another one.
The same thing occured. After several tries, I decided that 1800+ XPs suxx, and bought a 2000+.
The first one dies on me on the first Windows boot. The second one refused to boot over FSB 100, though it worked on that particular frequency. After several tries, I managed to kill it too.

I changed every major component (like the RAM, VGA etc) and after a succesful BIOS update which also didn't helped, I came to the conclusion that something is wrong with my motherboard.

So I changed the KT3Ultra back for a KT3Ultra2-R.
Mean time I realised that I've been fooled, with a 235W PSU which I found mysteriously in my case. It should be one of 300W, but it was changed by some guy at the service.
So, wery angry, I asked for a 300W PSU, but the rig still not works with the 2000+ Athlon XP.
Now I got the rig shown in my signature, and it serves me well*, but I don't know what I should do, 'cos I would like to buy a 2600+ Athlon XP.
I was told here to get a better PSU, but I want to be sure it helps before spending 80-100 bucks on one.

*I managed to boot at FSB 200, of course the RAM killed the OS.
Max operational FSB was 170, however.


I've been having similar trouble with my system (see sig). I bought my mobo, cpu + ram along with a new case (with 400w psu), put it all together, and it would'nt run @133mhz (I'd get to about 115mhz max).:(
With a bit of looking around in BIOS I found that 'Spread Spectrum' was enabled (@ 0.25%), I disabled it and away we went @ 133mhz. A day or so later my psu went pop, and was no more. I replaced my psu, everything was ok, then I stripped my case to add some fans. When I put it back together I got nothing (did'nt even POST). I got the cpu replaced only to be back at square one (would'nt go over 105mhz this time). I spoke to my vendor and he swapped my mobo for a new one, got it home and it would'nt POST.:mad:
So now I'm here:- I've took back the mobo, cpu + ram to the vendor, he put in another cpu and it worked, but I've left it with him a couple of days so he can test it under load.
Fingers crossed, by the weekend I'll have a system I can run at normal speed.

Not really an answer to your problems, but just a note from someone trying to tread water like yourself.

Is this a problem with 2000xp's?, or MSI mobo's, or 2000xp's on MSI mobo's???
 
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