Unstable at any Speed!

[amdkt7]

I just found about this place from someone else who had just found it!
Look like a great site.

I am a long time Abit fan (seems like it). I have had an KT7, KT7A, KR7A, now a KX7-333.

I replaced my KT7A because I was trying to fix a problem with Rally Throphy (a racing game). I still have the same problem.

I have three problems:
Jerks or hesitation associated with hd access, I have most of those kinks worked out, I'm not to worried about it.

The second problem is video corruption, It's like the textures get mixed up, it will continue to run for a while, then eventully it will freeze.

The third problem is likely to be caused by the same problem as the second, the screen freezes, and the sound will continue making the same sound and the system will be totally locked up.

When I first got the game I had a Matrox G400. I had the graphics and locking up problem there too, but the game ran fairly smooth if I did not set the graphics too high. I wanted more power so I upgraded my video to a VisionTek GF3 Ti200.
Now I had all three problems. The hesitation problem showed up, I bought more ram, giving me 512 meg. Still had the hesitation problem.
Replaced my elderly Tbird 1.2g with my present XP1800+.
Still hesitates. Played with Via 4-1 drivers and DET's. PCI latency patch, virtual memory settings.. suddenly the problem went away, however I was still haunted by problems 2 and 3, lockups and graphics corruption.
The Visiontek would not overclock very well, so I replaced it with a Gainward, sweet card, but I still had the same problems, plus the hesitation problem came back.
Bought a new Enermax 350 to replace my older 330watt Enermax. Still did not work.
Decided to change the mobo, bought the KX7-333, it's supposed to be stable. Reinstalled windows bare bone, no sound card, modem, no wheel controller, printer, only what I needed.
Installed Via 4-1 4.38 (said to be one of the most stable drivers).
Installed DirectX 8.1, then the DET 21.83
Installed my game and let it loop a replay. It crashes after 1-6 hours.
I bought a new Antec 450 watt PSU, removed my UPS and added a new surge suppresser. Still did not help.
I have the latest bios, 9K and have spent a long time tweaking bios settings.
3Dmark also will lock up after looping for a few hours, Prime95 has only been tested for 3 hrs, left it running today before I went to work.
Tested without the mouse, replaced the keyboard, no cdrom, only one hd...
What else can I try? Perhaps my memory is not combatable?
Its Crucial CT3264Z265.16T DDR PC2100 • CL=2.5 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 2.5V • 32Meg x 64
http://www.crucial.com/store/listpa...mfr=ABIT&cat=RAM&model=KX7-333/333R&submit=Go

I'm running Win98se, I'm thinking about going to WinXP or swapping mobo's.
At this point I think I have three options:
WinXP
New Mobo
New Ram

Any ideas anyone?

 

[UnseenMenace]

have you put another hard drive in your system and tried that ?

 

[amdkt7]

I have an older drive that I tested for the hesitation problem and it did not seem to matter.

I did not do any stability testing on the old drive. If I'm running a replay and let it loop it does not access the hd any more.

I have a second Maxtor (identical) that I use as a second drive, I could swap them.

I guess I should try a different drive to do stability testing on.

 

[madsam]

does this only happen with that game? maybe there is a patch or update for the game, but i'm just guessing. seems weird you changed so many parts and the same problems exist.

i'd wonder about the memory, but i would think a memory problem would cause errors in other apps. as well.

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS TOO....!!!!

 

[madsam]

has that game ever worked fine? if not, could it be a corrupt cd? i'd install it on a friends pc, and see if it errors there too

 

[amdkt7]

I was worried that it was the game, but last night I ran 3Dmark and let it loop the benchmark at the resolution that I run normally, 1280x1024, 32 bit. It ran several passes ok, then locked up sometime in the night.
I need to check to see if there is any log that could tell me how long it stayed up.

I don't think it is the game because of 3Dmark crashing the same way.

I'm running Prime95 on it now, but I can't check on it until I get home, or my wife does.

If Prime95 crashes that will tell me something, I'd suspect the memory.
I have tested the memory one stick at a time, and used different slots.

I've upped the voltages to the cpu, io and ram, then went back to defaults when it did not help. Also tried md and command on high.
Still have a few more memory settings to try.

I like crucial, but I may have to try something else.
I'm sitting on WinXP on my wish list on New Egg, but perhaps I can pickup some ram at a local store and test it out. I need to find a place that will let me return it.

 

[amdkt7]

Tried a fresh stick of Kingston ram, same results. Tonight I plan to move the computer to where the kids computer is and use there monitor.

That will get me a different power circuit, location, and monitor.

I have heard of monitors causing problems, but I have never believed it.... I'll try most anything at this point.

Runs Prime95, PCmark2001 (all tests selected except for video memory), memtest86... forever. 3DMark crashes after a long time.

Tested at fail safe bios and optimized settings...
AGP driving force high and low from default...
Different AGP values, leaving it at either 64 or 128 most of the time.

 

[Exar Jun]

I seriously don't think that a monitor could come close to locking your computer up. Especially if the moni works.

You need to wipe out your drive and reinstall a fresh copy of windows. Preferably xp pro. 98 is too unstable for me. Sounds like your registry is corrupt a bit.

If you use 98 make sure you update the direct x before you install the video card drivers.

 

[amdkt7]

Exar Jun those are very good points, however I have done several reinstalls, total formats. I'v tried via 4-1 versions 4.34, 3.38, and 4.42.
DirectX8.1b
Det's 21.83, 27.42, 28.XX (can't remember that one) and one more very recent.

I'm considering WinXP, though others have Win98se stable on recent Abit boards.

I will try moving the computer tonight. That way I may be getting it away from EMI, a bad power circuit and I will be using a different monitor.

 

[Sonny]

With the issue of poor video performance & stability I'm thinking it is probably heat. The problem may not even be with the HSF on the GPU or sinks on the ram but the actual airflow of the case. The hot air may be exhausted properly giving you the lockups after a few extended runs. What sound card are you using?

 

[amdkt7]

At this point no sound card! Latter a SB PCI 128, but right now non!

My cpu is running nice, 45C max.
The Visiontec gave me the same problem even with an old K6-2 type heatsink attached to it.
I have not altered the Gainward yet, but I'm about to remove it's heatsink and put my own on. At least replace the thermal tape with properly applied compond.

I normally have 2 120mm side mounted fans blowing in on the mobo, lately the side panel has been removed, perhaps I need to rig a temporary fan to keep the video card a little cooler.

I had these same lockups with my KR7A with the best cooling, but I guess I need to go back to full cooling on the KX7-133, just to rule it out again.

Thanks for everybody's input...every idea is helpful!

 

[Sonny]

Do you think running at 1.53GHz & 120mm fans is taxing your PSU? It is only 350W right?

 

[amdkt7]

First, the 120mm fans are on a seperate powersupply, second I bought an Antec 450 and tested with it. When that did not help, I returned it to the store.

 

[SpyderMatrix]

Well to me it sounds like a hard drive and a o/s problem you need to put in a good drive at least 20gig and fresh install of winxp i like pro and can get it at a good price pm me unless you got it already but that hard drive is whats killing you my friend tried to run win xp on a 6.0 gig hard drive and it did the same thing and he got a new drive and he was ok

 

[amdkt7]

I got plenty of hd space for Win98, right now about 18gig free! However, I may have to run XP to get the stability..

 

[Exar Jun]

If you do that make sure you backup your info and go with a fresh format. This would norrow it down even more if it were to not work.

 

[amdkt7]

I am much happier, not quite joyfull, but I'm making progress.


I first removed the cooler from the video card (what a weird thing, made out of thin sheet metal, orb type cooler, with too much thermal compond) and created my own using a passive type heatsink from an old Pentium processor. I attached it with screws through the board.

Next I mounted my 60 mm (it's oversized) fan on top, it overlaps the heatsink so that it also blows on the memory. I think it will be much cooler.

I also put my side panel back on, with the big fans, I had been testing without it, set everything up for best cooling.

Then I moved the computer to the other room and hooked it up to the kids monitor. Fired it up, reset some things in the bios to ordianary settings, booted and started RT replay. Ran great from 6PM to 12PM (6 hours), checked it again at 3:30 and it was still running, but graphics corruption had started, so I quit the game and went back to bed.

This leads me to believe it is a heat issue, something seems to be getting too hot. I think that I will take a hair dryer and carefully warm up different sections and see if I can find the critical spot. I use to use a heat gun when I was a electronics repair tech. It was a great way to find intermitents. We also used freeze spray (loved playing with that stuff).

It still could be a power issue, or EMI of some type.

It does not seem to be any bios settings, I have not found any relation so far.

I guess I'll keep the mobo, though I might consider RMA'ing it just to see if a second board acts the same way. I better think fast, I got 30 days.

I looked at the Epox boards, my favorite supplier's policy on Epox is exchange for the same type only. I'm not sure why. I won't get one from them.

I'm considering ordering XPHome addition (full version for $90). You must purchase hardware, I hope a CDR will quailfy.

This is great advice to format before installing any OS first. I always do that... I love clean fresh installs. I have written my own guide or checklist of things to install, options to pick, ect.
I am documenting everything at this point so I can go back.
It's like being a scientist... carefull controlled expermints lead to facts.

Tonight I got to do other things, but I will move the computer back and let the game run overnight again to see if it crashes sooner. If not then I can rule out the monitor!

 

[amdkt7]

I have pretty much ruled out the monitor, power and emi.
I took out the Gainward and replaced it with the Gainward, still get the same results.
I'm planning on picking up an ATI Radeon 8500LE today or something close to that (something I can return easy). I want to try something other than Geforce for a change.

I have upped the IO voltage to 3.65 volts (from 3.5), no change. Experimented with AGP driving force from 93 to EA to EF. I have not tried FF on this mobo, but I did on the KR7A.

If the ATI does not work out I guess I will have to swap mobo's. Since I get the same results with the KR7A and the KX7-133 I think that getting another Abit board (at least with the same type chipset) is not going to fix my problem.

I will hate leaving Abit, but it looks like I have no other choice unless I get the Nivida chipset. I'm afraid of the Nivida chipset because it is so new. Anybody have any comments?

 

[amdkt7]

I guess I don't need to get an ATI after all. After months of trouble shooting I discovered Omega drivers and that solved my stability problem.

http://www.omegacorner.com/

I was able to let RT (My game) loop all night no problems.