Display lockups coupled with Mystery Reboots

[Mr.Do]

amd athlon 800
epox 7kxa
256mb pc-100
diamond viper v550 AGP 16mb detonator drivers
Windows 98 Second Edition
sound blaster live value, realtek 10/100 network card

--Details--
I just got this mainboard and cpu. Supposedly an upgrade! I am at the end of rope with this thing.

First off, I installed the board under winMe. Everything seems fine and
then without warning or cause the display locks up forcing a manual reboot.
Sometimes however, when the lockup occurs the comp reboots by itself.

So, I figured it was the video card. Switched the card into another
computer and "viola" no more disply crashes. So its not the card. Second, I
reseat the card 4, count 'em 4 times all with the same result...display
lockups. Third, the diamond is only a 2x AGP card so i disable the 4x AGP in the bios, that gave me an extra 40 seconds of display time before a crash. Forth, disabled PnP to no avail. Fifth, lowered the fsb to below 100 with no results. Sixth, Updated all the drivers for all cards and
motherboard......still no fix. Seventh, reseated all cards again with no
results. Eighth, changed positions of pci cards hoping maybe there was an
IRQ conflict......no result. Ninth, reformated and reintalled winME
fresh...no result. Tenth, went through steps 1-9 on a fresh OS with no
result. Eleventh, Since winME is crap anyway, I reformatted and installed win98......no result or change for that matter. Twelfth, repeated steps 1-9 with win98. Thirteenth,(not yet completed), is to tear this board out of my computer, perform an exorcism on it and then systematically pound the crap out of it until it becomes a fine powder.

I need some tech support and I need it bad. Is there a problem with the
board and V550? Diamond tech says no and I cant find anything on any support boards including the epox support boards and newsgroups. Is there some other obvious thing I am missing?Is it the power supply? (Increasing the vcore on the cpu gives a nominal improvement on how long I can go without a lockup but I dont like doing it {its a 300w ATX}). Everything other than the display seems fine, no conflicts/ no crashes. However, the display locks up so frequently I havent had the pleasure of finding any more of these delightful glitches.

Please and Thank You with sugar on top......give me some answers before I
snap.

[mjc]

Well, can you keep it going long enough to get a CPU temp? You may find that it is running a little hot. How is your cooling setup? Did you install the CPU and cooler yourself or did it come preinstalled?

A little too much thermal grease can prevent the heatsink and CPU from making good contact. Since AMD chips run a little hot you may need a beefier cooling system. You can try running it with the case open and small fan blowing on it to see if it helps.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

Does Bill Gates use WindowsME?

[tjaymadison]

Take out the NIC.

[Paleo Pete]

Both of the above suggestions sound solid, also you cab check in BIOS for the AGP Aperture size, usually 64MB is considered best for most video cards, higher or lower can cause problems, and check the memory speed. If it's set to 60ns, slowing it down to 70 can make a big difference, and some of the other memory related settings may apply. CAS-2 vs CAS-3, latency time, read and write back, etc. Might take some tinkering, write down all BIOS changes, and change things one at a time so it's easier to reverse it if you have trouble.

Also check Internal and External caching, both are usually enabled but can be disabled for troubleshooting. Disabling either will slow the computer waaayyy down...video pallette snoop should usually be disabled, and take a look at the video BIOS shadow. That may be affecting it. Can you try AGP at 1X? That might help too...

That's everything I can think of right now, check for heat and try removing the NIC first, either of those sounds very likely, and the memory speed setting would be the next thing I would look at. Going from 60ns to 70 made a huge difference in my machine, very similar problem. Again, make changes in BIOS one at a tinme and write everything down.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Randy_tx]

If changing the CAS to 3 doesn't help.......you definately need to RECHECK the CPU core voltage.....It should be 1.6v or 1.7v at the most. The cpu should be set @ 100 MHZ/8 multiplier/1.7v (I think) Are you overclocking this chip by chance??

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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT

[blazer2boy]

Hang in there Mr. Do

I have this board with an athalon 750mhz running Windows 98se.

Using an ASUS V7700 AGP

If I remember correctly there are some jumper settings on the MOBO. Did you change the jumper settings, as the default is set to do everything from BIOS.

Did you Disable the intergated sound in BIOS?
Are you overclocking the processor? All the Ideas presented in the above posts are good places to start.

Post back if you are still having problem after trying the above ideas.

Cheers http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Blazer



I'm glad to be without ME



[This message has been edited by blazer2boy (edited 03-27-2001).]

[Mr.Do]

thanks for the help.

I'll tell you what ive done since the last post and the suggestions ive tried.

I use CPUcool for temp readings and I get a high temp of 36.8 C. Hotter than my old p2. If I run with the case off, the temp does go down by about 2-3 C but I still have lockups.

My AGP aperture was 64. I then tried 32 and 16 and then back to 64, all with no substantial gains or losses. I can only disable AGP 4x and am not able to choose a 1x setting.

I was not overclocking, but i did think it was a power issue and checked the vcore to make sure it was getting enough juice. With the jumpers at default the vcore was 1.62. I set the jumpers for 1.7 and got 1.67 with no noticable improvement. I then set the vcore to 1.8 and got a reading of 1.77 and this voltage gave me a nominal improvement in how long before a lockup. I havent changed the multiplier or FSB, currently 8x100.

All the jumpers are set on their defaults and I did disable onboard sound.

Epox sent me this:
"Try to load the BIOS fail-safe defaults.
Set the AGP drive control to manual and set for A8 or B8 in the CMOS.
Download the latest VIA 4-in-1 driver from our website.

Lastly try the attached beta BIOS."

I've tried everything they told with the exception of the BIOS. Because, this is sweet, the board is recognizing my 3 1/2 floppy as a 5 1/4 floppy and I don't want to flash the bios from the harddrive, I hear it is not a good idea.

NIC?? I am supposing that is "network interface card"? If I'm wrong could someone correct me. I cannot remove the card because that is the only way for me to connect, adsl and I have no dialup access.

I'm just about to try changing the RAM speed, it is currently at 70.

Is it worth the risk to flash from the harddrive? Thanks again for the help. I'll keep you posted

"Still crashin' and burnin'" Mr.Do

[blazer2boy]

Mr Do what ram do you have PC 66, PC 100 or PC 133. The speed should be set at the speed of the ram you are using. Most likely you should be using PC 100 or 133. If you have PC 66 your overclocking the ram and that could be the problem.

Post back with what RAM you are using.


Cheers http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Blazer

[Mr.Do]

its pc-100, all my ststem specs are at the very top of my initial post. all i have in my box is in that post.

I was just curious, it wouldn't be anything simple like a bad usb port or that kind of a conflict? I have my keyboard in one of the usb ports and it gave me some grief when I first replaced the board.

[bassvax]

Just adding some fodder here...have you checked the monitor on a diff system?

------------------
Jerry

[Mr.Do]

I havent tested the monitor on a diffrent system but i do have two monitors. Both have the same result.

[ColorCode]

Have you tried running it without the sound card? SB Live cards are involved in many systems with freezes. Remove it in the Device Manager, then power down and remove the card. It may be a fixable IRQ problem, but pulling the card is a quick step to isolate the problem.

[Mr.Do]

Update:
Took the soundblaster out of windows and then the box. Still got a lockup.

The temp thing was bugging me so I took the case right apart, both side panels so the mainboard was more or less completely exposed. Got a fan on either side and let 'er rip. I got a good 1 1/2 without a lock up however it did lock up.

I ended up flashing the bios from a old hard drive I had laying around, I just made it one big boot disk, the board is still telling me I got a 5 1/4 floppy instead of a 3 1/2. This made a huge difference, I went a good 2hrs without a lock up but alas hope faded as well as my display.

I figure that this one is beyond me and I'm gonna break down and either let a pro fix it or buy a new board.

Thanks for all the help, its nice to have a place where ignorant guys like me aren't belittled.

[Reid]

You have to set the floppy type in the BIOS; it does not detect them.

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reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[Paleo Pete]

Thanks for all the help, its nice to have a place where ignorant guys like me aren't belittled.

Check through the forums, anyone who does that is treated to a fairly uncomfortable chewing out from yours truly, and often from most of the rest of us. We just don't put up with it.

You might try running msconfig and disable everything running in the Start Up tab except
Scan registry
System Tray
Load Power Profile

Then try a selective start up, use the [F8] key to get to a boot menu, disable all but one item, keep adding one at a time at each boot until it hangs again. That will tell you what's doing it, might well be software, I suspect it is, looks like you've ruled out everything I can think of that's hardware or BIOS related already. Reid is correct, the floppy must be set in BIOS, it's not detected automatically. It's usually in Standard BIOS settings, same area as the hard drive parameters. Check and be sure Swap Floppy Drive and Floppy Mode 3 Support are both disabled as well, both can cause problems.

Q188867 (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q188/8/67.ASP) is related to Start Up problems, but the troubleshooting steps are pretty good for isolating hangups after start up too. Pay attention to the sections on Autoexec.bat and TSR's. Q238096 (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q238/0/96.ASP) pertains to shut down problems, but again may have some good info. Disregard the Shutdown Patch, it doesn't seem like that's a problem. Some of the other troubleshooting steps may help though.

Finding random hangup info is tough, but the above two MSKD articles are often helpful. The same basic troubleshooting ideas often apply.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Mr.Do]

Hammered it down!!

It was a heat problem after all, fan/heatsink came off the thermal plate and wasn't even touching the cpu. I held my finger on the cpu after running Q3 for 20 min and damn near burnt my finger.Plus the Athlon was running so hot it almost BBQ'd the Viper[AGP and Cpu have a 1/8th inch clearance]. Doesnt explain why the temp reading was so off though??

Anyway, i got new heatsink and a dual fan, plus one for the ViperV550 {which was laking one} and have gone 2 solid days without a lockup, aside from the usual plethora of windows prob's http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

Thanks again for the help.