Problems

[Kielgard]

Alright... put my computer together:

AMD Athlon XP 1700
Epox 8K5A2+
Thermaltake Volcano 6Cu
256 MB DDR333 Ram (KByte)
48x12x48 CDRW (Liteon)
Maxtor 20 GB 7200 ATA 133
Geforce 4 MX 440 64 MB DDR (Chaintech)
Windows XP Home
80mm Rear Fan
MBM 5.2 (not quite sure how to set this all up yet)
Floppy

Using all defaults computer runs fine... boots fast (compared to my 700 celeron with ME)... no problem (haven't gamed yet). Runs at 41 cpu and 27 case. Have not updated windows or bios. Everything functions fine (all drives etc...)

Problem: The cpu is running at 1.1 Ghz. Should be 1.47. The CPU Clock jumper is in the default 100 mhz position and bios at 100mhz. Supposed to be at least 133 to make the 1.47 (133 times 11 multiplier). If I change the jumper the monitor will not turn on on boot. If I change in Bios same thing when leaving bios.. monitor turns off. If I do both (bios and jumper) same thing. There is CDRW action and some other whirring... not sure if the hd is continuing to boot. Have to reboot and unplug and press insert and sometimes wait a while before reboot will work... after a few tries often. I need to get that CPU to 1.47 at least. Should be able to get it past that on a 8K5A2+.

Thoughts:

1) Is my Geforce4 being stressed out (AGP) and should I change its defaults or overclock it somehow? Should be able to handle a default 1700 at 133.
2) I have an older TTX monitor I got with my Pentium 166 a couple years ago. Is the Geforce4 overloading it when switching to 133 CPU Clock. (Did update Nvidia drivers. And have made display not turn off... forget if I tried that it was late last night and I had given up and just become satisfied with 1.1 for the time being for continued setting up of programs). Will buy new monitor next week (didn't have the cash to do all at once).
3) Everything is fine as per MBM or PC Health monitor for the motherboard and cpu. They aren't sweating. So I don't think its a bad board or chip. Its somewhere else I'm sure.

Thanks in advance for advice... particularly if you solve the problem.

 

[Top Hat Theater]

Try clearing your CMOS first then resetting all your BIOS settings. Or maybe a BIOS flash. BTW, where in IA? I'm in Iowa City attending the University.

~THT

 

[Kielgard]

I'm in Iowa Falls. Small world. How do you clear the cmos... I believe I did reset the bios. Have not flashed it yet.

 

[Kielgard]

Could it be voltage? If I put up to 133 and I know I did not touch voltage is it possible thats causing the blank screen???

 

[Top Hat Theater]

There's a jumper that needs to be set to clear it. Your mobo manual should tell you how. As for voltage, if it's at 1.75, it should run fine. But you might try bumping it to 1.8 or 1.85. Also, what power supply are you using?

~THT

 

[Tarzan]

Try increase Vdimm 0.1 and chose SPD for timings and 133 for dram clock, should work with spd or 166 but try 133 - not much difference anyway. Use "normal" as preset. CPU clock should be 133, dont think that fsb-jumper matters so much. Mainly for 100fsb cpus I guess.

If problem is video card giving problems then may be disable "video ram cacheable", all bios guides tell you to but its not default (adv. chipset features) About the same with "video bios shadow" (adv. bios features, at the bottom) try disable it.

But good idea to clear cmos with the jumper, back into bios load "optimized default" before making changes.

When it starts to work oc it And try tweak timings but dont be surprised if the presets dont work that well. Might be ok, might not. "Normal" the safest, rest you can do manually. Dont give cpu more volt than needed, can probably use less than default 1.75 at 1466mhz - free cooling...

Also a good idea to test memory module with Memtest86 www.memtest86.com give peace in mind. Test it when you have found a permanent setup.

 

[Kielgard]

Another thing...

Another thing I found..... I found out there are two Athlon XP 1700s . Ones the thunderbird and one a palomino. First has a l on model number other a d. I have the one wil 1.75 vcore. I did hit one of the "reset bios" bullets.. either failsafe or optimal. I think both on different attempts to get up to 133. I wonder if it set my vcore at 1.5... I remember seeing that number somwhere... and when I bumped up to 133 then there was not enough voltage?? Either that or the epox set for the other xp 1700.

 

[Top Hat Theater]

You mean Tbred or Palomino. The Tbred's run at 1.65 (I think). Did you get it to work?

~THT

 

[Kielgard]

Power supply

HAve a 350 Watt Power supply AMD/Pentium 4 ready. No have not been home yet to try your suggestions out.... so not working yet. Thanks so much for all your suggestions I'm sure one's going to work. I searched google for my problem and found its out there. So hopefully solving this will be useful on other boards. Some said its a XP problem (have not upgraded XP) some said a video driver (have upgraded nvidia) some say a chip makers driver (AMD has a few for this chip I have not tried one related to XP) and some say other program related like cd writer programs (???????). Some encountered troubles when changing their memory... so will take your advice of memtest.com.

Looked at AMD site and the 2 1700s are listed as 1.5 vcore and 1.75 vcore in their online specs.

 

[Kielgard]

No go...

Tried everything you suggested Tarzan.. sorry but no go. Memtest was 100%. Going to try flash bios and update drivers etc... will update...

 

[Tarzan]

If computer cant boot correctly its not XP or driver related. Must be hardware/installation/bios.

Think I would try unplug all not needed to boot, everything except video card, memory and floppydrive - only absolute minimum, no need for fans either - except cpu fan! Also try hook cpu fan directly to PSU if not allready. May be reinstall cpu, try dif. slot for memory module. Then dif. settings in bios like "Athlon 4 ssed instructions" "agp x2" set multiplier 11 manually - and whatever I could come up with.

If possible test with other cpu and vcard.

Bios shows what mobo is using of voltage for cpu, memory etc. Should be 1.75 when vcore is on auto. Look out for 5v 3.3v 12v also. Temperatures on same screen.

Yes you did test with Memtest86 but not at 133fsb and 133 or 166 membus speed which is the setup giving you black screen. But module most likely not bad at least. Keep memory timings slowest possible until problem is solved. Could still be it I think.

If nothing helps you could try ask here www.aoaforums.com - there is an Epox forum where a couple of Epox employees are active. Might give you better answer.

 

[Kielgard]

Thanks

Thanks all. DId update BIOS. Looked at computing.net and posted there. They gave me this link

http://www.techwarelabs.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2169

Gonna fiddle with that. Still running 1.1 ghz. But I got the clock speed and dram to 133. Had to power off... pull the plug... wait a while reboot. Then it gave me a "cpu clock setting failure! please reset cpu clock settings" message but I ignored it because I knew it was a post hangup. Got into XP. Still 1.1 Going to try switching the jumper. See what that does with a couple reboots.

 

[Kielgard]

BRAVO!

Bravo Tarzan. Thank the heavens for such kind souls as you. Started by following that link... took out the Nvidia and put it back in (reseated it). Switched the FSB Jumper. Got into BIOS and set to optimal settings. Couldn't get back in.

Used your suggestion of unplugging things. And unplugged the CDRW. Booted up and got into BIOS. Pumped up DIMM voltage .1 (one thing I missed or did not do/understand on your prior post) and pumped up the vcore .25 (1.75). Rebooted with no errors.... CDRW still not plugged in but we are finally running the chip at 1.47 ghz.

Now to try plugging the CDRW back in... if it fails I assume I gotta pump in some more power.... at least until temp rises too high.

Thanks.

 

[Tarzan]

Try disable that stupid bootup-screen (bottom of adv. bios features) so you can see what is going on. Bios informs you of cpu, voltage, mhz there. Its not XP giving you right mhz at all. Must work before.

I cant really connect video problems with wrongly detected cpu but dont rule anything out. Hope bios upgrade fixes that.

Stupid, Epox have that nice post code feature and nobody suggest you checking it! Well time to check code when things go wrong and look it up in manual, page E-1 - use that if you ask elsewhere also. Great help in bootup troubleshooting.

 

[Tarzan]

Oh, didnt catch that post Nice with progress, was close to a headache

However be careful with that cpu voltage. Motherboard is suppoesed to recognize cpu and set up default voltage accordingly. If you have a 1.75v cpu 1.75v is what it should get - not 1.75 + or - 0.xx Go to the screen you see on page 4-24 in manual, it shows real time voltage levels. Ok, if you say it give 1.5 as default then it make sense and only way of keeping it alive but thats like a big bug!

 

[Kielgard]

Agree

The post code was C1 and everytime I saw a similar problem on the net it was C1 which is "Reserved". On the Epox website it says its either:

1) Bad memory
2) Wrong memory
3) Memory not inserted right
4) Wrong SPD setup.

I think when I was going in and setting things manually that I was messing up SPD??? Perhaps.... and the new bios of Nov 1 fixed "a hang up". And there is a known problem on the Epox website linking to Windows about a known problem (causing the C1) with the Via chipset and Geforce4 where some complication with AGP resources. There is a windows registry change suggested there. I also think your suggestion of .1 VDIMM may have helped it all out somehow. I do wonder why unplugging the CDRW is what got me going again and set up. And after changing voltage and plugging back in CDRW I've had no problems.

 

[Tarzan]

It takes very little to get funny results. Like if your jumper settings on a hd/cd-rw is wrong, if a ide-cable is twisted, if cpu-fan thingy on mobo cant pull your fan etc. - mechanical errors, as a homebuilder actually user errors - best is not to rule anything out no matter how weird it seems. Annoying cause if you forget to re-seat and re-check all that physical equipment you might screw other stuff up in desperation, too much bios-tweaking etc.

Plenty of other possible problems in OS but computer should boot up with correct basic values, temps, voltage before starting XP or what you have.

Latest weird events Ive seen confirming all is possible is some with RAID setup who couldnt get past HPT bootup screen after flahsing latest bios. If they disable usb keyb/mouse support it works tho! Make sense? Or is the real problem usb 2.0 is disabled by default not enabled as before? Hpt bios 2.34 can give some problems thats all. I use 2.32 with newest bios cause of stories like that, cant be too safe these days