The Diary of a simple Computer Rebuild.

[TekeTorvo]

Sooo, I just upgraded, but this isn't about that. I decided to give my Wife the Mobo and Proc I had. She is going from an Asus A7N8X (plain) w/ 2600+ to an A7N8X-E Deluxe w/3200+.

Now, when I first built this system, I fought for months trying to get it going good. I even managed to call Asus at the change of shifts one day and a manager answered and felt my pain, and gave me his direct extension incase, after he helped me, if I EVER had any problems to call him direct. He told me to get better RAM, but helped me get it to install WinXP Pro. I was still highly unstable in games, so I bought some much better RAM shortly after.

Sooooooo, I put the mobo and proc in her comp, and try to get it going. It kept getting to the "Searching for IDE" and would lock up. Hmmmm....things aren't starting very good. So I took my own advice I would have given someone and I disconnected EVERYTHING that wasn't needed. I left one harddrive and the DVD-Drive. Same thing. Grrr.

Her computer starts inching it's way towards the back door, soon to be airborne acrossed the back yard.

After awhile, I decided for NO APPARENT REASON to change ALL IDE cables. One of which was one I got with my Brand new DFI LANPARTY NF3 UT Mobo. It had never been installed. So I changed it anyways, and that was the problem.

Now I can't get Windows to even copy all the files to even start installing. I keep getting a BSOD now!!! At this point my Wife barracades the back door, (not sure why). I take out the Mobo, and put her old Mobo in, which is an A7N8X plain. I figured the Deluxe needed a little more power than her supply was giving. SAME THING!!!! So what to do....Hmmmmm...I start rethinking my status of calling myself a fairly decent computer guy. I tossed a couple %$#@!^'s and a few #%$@&!!!'s and, even though I felt a little better, the problem was still there.

Let's see. What else was a difference. OH YEA!!! My RAM went to my new build, and I used her old RAM. 2x512 Kingston ValueRAM. Hmmm, her old Proc was a 2600+, and the new one (my old one) is a 3200+. So it hits me like a ton of bricks! Going to a 400FSB on her RAM has really messed things up! Woe is me...What to do???...

Ahhh. Lets see if I can figure out this thing I read ALL the time at OCF about using a Divider on my RAM. I change this to User Defined, and that to User Defined and That other thing to User Defined. I upped (<--that even a word?) the RAM volt's from 1.65 to 1.7, and I changed the divider from 100% to 83%.

WOOHOO! That did the trick. Had I tried using a divider the first time I built this, I wouldn't have had to buy better RAM. Thanks for all the past Mumbo Jumbo that FINALLY got through this thick skull.

 

[Yuriman]

If I understand correctly, you used a divider on the Athlon XP system, correct? The divider does not make the ram 83% of it's rated speed, it makes it 83% of your FSB. If you set the FSB to 166 and run 1:1, your ram is running 166mhz. 133 1:1 = 133. My guess is that the ram is bad. Run memtest?

 

[TekeTorvo]

My FSB is 200 correct?

 

[TekeTorvo]

If you set the FSB to 166 and run 1:1, your ram is running 166mhz. 133 1:1 = 133. My guess is that the ram is bad. Run memtest?

Why would I go from a 2600+ to a 3200+ and then lower the FSB from 200 to 166?

You have now totally confused me. What are you talking about? At what point did I say anything about lowering my FSB? I will re-read my post, but if I did say I lowered it, I didn't mean it.

*EDIT* Nope. No mention of it.

 

[Yuriman]

Er, I was rather confused by your post too. I was talking about the Athlon XP, not the Athlon64. You said it was unstable? That putting a memory divider fixed it? You were not very clear on what went with what.

But anywho, point is you got it working, eh?

 

[DaWiper]

Lets see if I got this right. You went from 2600+(133 or 166fsb) to a 3200+(200). The memory you used was pc2700(?). To fully support a xp3200+, the memory should have been pc3200. To fix things you adjusted the memspeed from 1:1(200) to 6:5(166), right?
That kingston valueram MIGHT be able to do 200 with some more voltage.

 

[Yuriman]

It appears he went from a socket A 2600+ to an Athlon64 3200+ (he didn't specify 754 or 939). I am still a little confused about what ram went where.

 

[TekeTorvo]

Sorry, I just got home from work.

I went from a xp2600+ to a xp3200+.

The RAM is PC3200.

Where I confused you all I think, is I stated "Going to a 400FSB on her RAM has really messed things up!". What it should have read was, Even though her RAM is PC3200, with her old Proc it never ran at that speed, and now, with the xp3200+, it does, but can't. Which is where the divider helped.

That's the way I see things anyways. I could be wrong.