Opinions please...

[pcgirl]

Okay I think I might have this problem solved through process of elimination but I just wanted some other opinions. Here's what happened:

I had a pc that wouldn't boot. Fans would spin, lights would come on, but no post. After some troubleshooting I decided to replace the motherboard. So I did, and for about a day the machine worked okay with the new mobo. I installed Win98 and was playing games and what not. Then, all of a sudden I was getting blue screens left and right, illegal operations, and windows protection errors. I decided to format the HDD and install win 98 again. I did, and again it worked okay for about a day or so. Now I'm back to getting protection errors and blue screens. Sometimes I can surf the internet for a few minutes without errors but as soon as I try to open a game or anything everything dies. I have had one or two random reboots.

Here are the specs and the parts I've swapped out but still no luck:

MSI K7T Turbo-R (new mobo to replace Abit KT7)

T-Bird 800 Mhz (this is the only part I have *not* swapped out--it was running at about 43 degrees celsius, which is warmer than I'd like, but not overly hot I don't think)

192 mb generic pc133 SDRAM (swapped out and tried a 256 mb stick of Corsair pc133 to no avail)

Geforce 4 MX440 (tried a GF 3 Ti200 also)

Maxtor 20 gig HDD (swapped with a 10 gig Western Digital just for the heck of it, but of course that wasn't the problem)

CD-ROM

Floppy

Sparkle 300W PSU (tried an Enermax 350W but didn't help)

I have also booted the mobo out of the case and changed IDE cables but that didn't help either. I am at my wits end here and I since it was the only thing I haven't replaced, I bought a new CPU (XP 1600+). I really really hope this helps.

Is there anything that I might have overlooked?

 

[ThePerfectCore]

I blame the chip, or you've just had bad luck with the PSU.

 

[gahdzila]

PSU was my first thought...but you tried a higher wattage PSU, which didn't help.

I hope your new CPU fixes your problem...that very well could be the culprit.

 

[Kendan]

I was about to say PSU or Harddrive but since you switched both those I guess not. Have you tried a new IDE cable? Good luck

 

[HardwareJedi]

Interesting problem. Did you solve the problem?

My thoughts are that Blue screens, Winblows Protection errors, and illegal operations all point to Memory problems. I know you swapped memory and it didn't work, but did you try different Ram slot arrangments. You may have a bad RAM slot. You might try setting Ram timings in Bios to less agressive settings and see if that helps. If that doesn't help, I'm afraid I'd have to say the MB is bad.
Pretty good troubleshooting on your part already. It seems to me you tried switching out all the obvious parts.

 

[The VTech]

IF your CPU swapout doesn't resolve the problem, I would start looking at the wall outlet. Brownouts and surges can create some very unique issues. Also, I would check your motherboard, Vid-card driverrs and make sure they are the latest. Renew the BIOS and clear your CMOS. Clear your CMOS first. Try it with both boards just to be sure since they both use the same chipsets this may not help much but you never know. One over looked rule in PC diagnostics and troubleshooting is the infamous, "It just is" or "It just does" clause.

 

[pcgirl]

I have tried different RAM slots with no luck. When I actually had the pc up and running, I was able to flash the BIOS to the latest version with no problems.

Another reason that I'm kinda leaning towards the CPU being the problem is that when I would take it out and reseat it, that's when it worked okay (for awhile). Very weird.

The XP 1600+ is on it's way from Newegg, should be here tomorrow or the next day. I'll let you guys know what happens...thanks for your help!

 

[HardwareJedi]

PCGirl, Your comments begs the question Did you try your CPU in a diff. system to see if it was the culprit. Reseating the CPU and having it help for a while could be indicative of a problematic CPU or it could be the CPU socket itself on the MB.
Am I right that this is a new MB to you and these problems started right after you changed over to it? How was everything working on the old MB? If OK, I tend not to think it is the cpu itself, as it was working ok in your previous board.

One other possible cause would be a heat related problem. If it seems to work ok for a short time and then start to act up, it could be a heat buildup affecting a component. The symptoms are indicative of that type of problem too.

Edited - One other question comes to mind after I reread your last post. How strong is the clamping force on your CPU HS/Fan. If it is too low and barely being held on that would make for very poor heat transfer and lead to an abnormally high CPU temp. When you first boot it up and get it running and check temps everything would be fine, but after a little bit of use and loading the cpu, the Heat would start to build up and bam. Just something else to think about...

Power fluctuations on the Power grid can affect your PC more than most people realize, I agree with The Vtech on that one, But in my experience the problems caused do not include blue screens or windows protection errors. Usually, you'll get a no boot situation, or Hard locks or reboots or random shutdowns only. You seem to have more symptoms than just those caused by a Power sag or brownout.

Sorry, but this is a flaky problem, and the best I can do at this point is make educated guesses. Good luck with the new CPU!

 

[pcgirl]

I did not try the CPU in another system. The exact same problems that I've listed above were happening with the old mobo (Abit KT7) as well....which at first led me to think I had a bad mb, so I bought a new one but now I'm basically back where I started. This CPU that is in question I bought used (along with the Abit mb), so I don't really know the history of it. When I first got the chip though, it was *caked* with AS3, and it took me awhile to clean off. That got me thinking too that perhaps some AS3 got into where it didn't need to be....

The clamping force on the HSF is very tight. I have a cooler master HSF on the chip, and it takes me forever to get on and off because it's so tight on there. And after about an hour of doing various tasks, my temps never got above 45C...

 

[HardwareJedi]

That answers those questions but brings up another ... How are you arriving at your CPU temp readings. I did a little research and found that the KT133a chipset does not read CPU dies temps directly. Actually, I don't think the T'bird even had a temp diode on die. That MB uses an in-socket thermister(The springy thing in the bottom of the socket) which could be off by 8-10c on the low side. If the thermister got pushed down in the socket by accident and is not touching the bottom of the CPU it could be off even more. Air is a terrible conductor of heat.
You need to add a fudge factor for the thermister innaccuracy. In which case, your CPU would be closer to 55c(or more). That could be high enough to cause a problem imho... and if not the cause, you should be aware of the needed fudge factor for future reference.

Also, and this is not intended as a slam in any way, My experience is that even the best Cooler Master HS's are not all that great, and the some of the cheaper models are downright inadequate. I have a buddy that has an HHC-001 /delta 60 combo w/as3 on a slightly overclocked 1800+ and it is struggling to keep it cool. A Good temp reading for your Machine using the socket Thermister would be a reading of 35-37c or so in MBM, giving you a true CPU core temp of around 45-47c @idle.

My machine is possibly dissipating twice as much power as that T'bird 800, yet my idle temps are in the 43c range at idle true CPU temp. I have a friend with a 1400c t'bird and it runs in the 47c true range with an SK-6 and delta 60. which is comparable to the best Coolermaster HS's. So I don't think you should discount a heat problem.

 

[pcgirl]

My new CPU arrived today and I went ahead and got a new heatsink for it as well. So far everything seems to be working perfectly, I just got done playing a little Quake III with no problems. Sandra is reporting my temp at 39.5C

It's great to finally have this fixed! Thanks everyone for the help

 

[krott5333]

You said the lights turned on, and the fans spun, but no boot, definitely sounds like the chip to me, thats the first thing I would have replaced because my room mate had the same problem after he tried to unlock his cpu and messed up.

What kind of beeps do you get? He was getting all kinds of weird beeps.

 

[pcgirl]

Well most of the time I would get no beeps at all, a few times I would get one beep like it made it through the post but I still had no video or other activity.

 

[Mr. $T$]

Congrats, Glad you fixed it.

can you say keychain

BTW: We have the same birthday kool