Did I buy a bad CPU??

[oldlefty]

Well, here's my second problem guys. I think I know the bad news, but maybe you can help me.

I have a system with an Abit motherboard, Win98SE, 220 MB RAM, and a 366 Celeron. Works pretty well. I just bought a used PIII 450 on ebay. I had to flash the BIOS, but that went pretty well. Since the flash I get a first-screen message that the CPU is bad or unrecognized, but if I push F1 it goes through start-up fine and runs the same as always. I installed the PIII this evening, also went smoothly. Only instalation issue was the retention mechanism- the Celeron brackets don't fit the PIII, but even so the Slot 1 board seemed to fit in very firmly.

I fired it up and reset the CMOS for the new CPU (one thing I noticed was that the options for things like external clock and multiplier all dissapear with the PIII, but are there with the Celeron?? I have "Soft Menu" set-up with the Abit). The BIOS recognized the PIII 450 and started through start-up routine. I get the first Windows screen and then the trouble starts. Every time I try and start up I get to a different part in the Windows startup and get errors. Lots of errors. And lots of different errors. Each time it's different. Fatal exception, can't find files, you name it. Usually 3-5+ error boxes in a row, then it locks up. Sometimes (but not always)it will allow startup in safe mode. When it does if I go into device manager and click on the devices, there are usually two of everything, sometimes more. There are 10 hard drives listed and I only have one! Two keyboards, two mice, doubles or triples of the CD drives??? Unless it goes into safe mode It never gets to the point of a functional screen.

If I shut down and put the Celeron back in it works fine. I've swapped three times, and it's always the same.

Is there something I'm not doing right, anything else I can check, or did I get a bad one?

Thanks again! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif

[mjc]

With the Celeron in does it show the multiple listings in Safe Mode?

Also did you clear the CMOS, after dropping in the PIII?

Try clearing the CMOS, and then reloading the default values, and since you have the jumper-free setting s for the CPU, after reloading the defaults, make sure that everyting is as it should be for the chip (the FSB, the multiplier, etc). some of the symptoms you describe sound like overclocking gone bad....the errors and such.

Also with the CPU not being tied down the vibration from the fan could possibly cause erratic behavior.....

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[oldlefty]

Thanks. I didn't clear CMOS, only changed the CPU settings. I'll try that. With the Celeron in (in normal mode anyway) there are not the multiple detections.

Is it normal that the CMOS setting parameters for clock speed, multiplier, etc. should not appear with the PIII but be there (as described in the ABIT manual) with the Celeron? I mean, it's not even that they're there and you can't change them, the parameters aren't there at all!

[mjc]

Hmmm...that sounds interesting, maybe clearing the CMOS will redetect the chip properly, sounds like it isn't really sure what they should be because the chip isn't being recognized.........

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[Randy_tx]

If I received a first screen message with the Celeron in it then I would reflash the bios.
If you get the message only with the PIII then the bios is probably telling you that the cpu is either not firmly seated or indeed it is bad.

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XP didn't save Me !

[oldlefty]

Well, I "borrowed" my CPU from work, also a PIII 450 and it exhibited the exact same symptoms as the PIII I bought, so I guess it's not the CPU that's bad. It must have something to do with either how I flashed the BIOS or how I'm setting up CMOS??

I guess I'll reflash the BIOS first. I flashed with the newest BIOS, that's no problem, right? It is supposed to allow for up to Intel 700s. There were other intermediate BIOSs, but I thought you should use the newest.

I reset CMOS- at least I chose "use origonal CMOS settins" and saved them before exiting. Anything else I should have done?

In the CPU settings menu, if I select the 450/100 setting (or any other of the specific settings) it doesn't show the setting options for clock speed, multiplier, etc. They do show up if I select "user define" in place of the specific CPU selection.

Thanks again for everyone's help. I feel better knowing that it doesn't look like I bought a bad CPU.

[oldlefty]

Let me ask that a different way: If you were upgrading a machine from a 366 Celeron to a 450 PIII, what is the proper sequence of steps?

[mjc]

Grab the latest BIOS, flash it, power off, (after making sure the flash was good), open up the computer, pill out the old CPU, put in the new one (change any jumper settings), fire it up and then reset the BIOS (starting out with resetting the default values and making sure the settings for the CPU are correct), and finally tweaking the settings for any performance enhancements......

You may have to go in and set them all manually under user define......

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[oldlefty]

Still working on this one, guys. I discharged CMOS, restarted, same problem. The earlier flash I did of the BIOS seems good, it shows CPUs of up to 700mhz, which is what it's supposed to do, plus it runs the 366 just fine. Still suggest re-flashing it? Anything else I could try? Note that when I restart, CMOS has the PIII 450 correctly identified. It's just that when I get to Windows, all hell breaks loose in the Error Dept.

[oldlefty]

Here's another thought. My brother-in-law suggested checking memory speed. If there was a module in there (I have four in the slots) that was a 66, would that work ok with the Celeron, but cause problems with the Pentium III (it runs at 100)?

[mjc]

Yeah a PC66 stick probably wouldn't work too well at 100MHz (unless it was very high quality), but I don't think that it would prevent the CPU recognition from working properly...the fatal exceptions, duplicate devices...that sounds like a memeory problem or overclocking (which is what you would be doing to the PC66 mem)

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[oldlefty]

Bingo!! It works! I took out all but my newest ram stick- 128MB, switched to the PIII 450, and it fired right up. Then I stuck in the 64 MB stick and it ran well also. I had 2 other 32's that were in there and I added them - one at a time. Low and behold, it runs fine with all of them in there?? Either it had something to do with adding them one at a time, or maybe I didn't have one seated all the way? Either way it was RAM related and the 450 runs fine now.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

[oldlefty]

Update. After a short time I started to get errors. I removed the oldest-looking 32 MB piece of RAM and it's running smoothly now. Looks like that one may have been the culprit.

[mjc]

oldlefty,

You know what the holes in the edges of a stick of RAM are for?


Installing a split-ring to turn it into a keychain........ http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.