On Wed, 2005-06-29 at 13:52, Technomage wrote:
> On Wednesday 29 June 2005 13:17, Vaughn Treude wrote:
> > Hello everyone:
> > I have a system that seems to be cursed like the Diamondback's bullpen.
> >
> > :-( I was thinking maybe with all the experience and wisdom in this
> >
> > group, that someone could recommend how I should proceed on this.
> >
> > I've had a system that's been flaky for a long time and getting flakier
> > (looking in the system logs revealed a scad of "dazed and confused"
> > errors, the system wasn't stable at all past a 2.4 kernel, and it had
> > started to occasionally hang with the beeper on.) I tried replacing the
> > Soyo KT333 MB with a new one from Abit, one that was compatible so I
> > could use the same Athlon 2400 processor and DR333 memory. It started
> > out by having seg faults every time I tried to install Linux, so I took
> > out the old ram and got a new DR333 memory stick. That improved things
> > quite a bit, but it would still hang at least once every time I tried to
> > reinstall Linux. I decided to return the new board and go back to the
> > Soyo in the meantime.
> >
> > But when when I moved the CPU and memory to the Soyo, and got it back in
> > the case, it didn't work right at all! It would tell me I had a bad
> > bios checksum. I could update the bios, but once I saved the settings
> > and tried to boot, it would hang hard with a high-pitched squeal out of
> > the beeper.
> >
> > The troubleshooting guide at the Soyo website suggested (a) bad power
> > supply or (b) overheating CPU. So first I tried replacing the
> > several-years-old 300W supply with a new 400W Antec. That didn't help.
> > Then I realized I had forgotten to reapply thermal compound to the CPU.
> > That didn't help either. I replaced the coin cell on the motherboard,
> > so I wasn't losing my BIOS settings any more. But now it would hang
> > immediately unless I used the clear-CMOS jumper to reset the BIOS,
> > allowing me to get back into there.
> >
> > One complication of this MB is that it allows you to select different
> > CPU core voltages, RAM voltages, and AGP voltages. There's a default
> > setting for each but it doesn't say what that default actually is. I
> > left the RAM and AGP settings alone, because the screen implied that the
> > default values were the nominal voltages in those cases. But the
> > default for the CPU had no such guideline. Checking the specs from AMD,
> > the 2400 is supposed to be either a 1.60 or 1.65 V part, but neither of
> > those voltages work - it hangs and squeaks again. So I cleared the CMOS
> > again and checked the "PC health" area of the BIOS, which showed that in
> > BIOS-setting mode it was running at 1.5 V. I reset the CPU voltage
> > setting to this value. This time I could get as far as the LILO
> > selection screen (I hadn't erased the whole disk, just tried to install
> > into a new partition, so I figured I could still boot into Mandrake 8.)
> >
> > I still don't know about the CPU temperature, but I know the fan is
> > running and the CPU core temperature in the PC health section showed it
> > to be at 75 degrees C, which was 8 degrees hotter than when I added the
> > thermal compound! This seems a little hot so perhaps it's hitting the
> > 85 degree limit. With all those fans on, I don't know why! Perhaps I
> > damaged the CPU somehow when moving it back and forth. I know that the
> > clip on the CPU heat sink is an absolute SOB to get on and off, and it
> > seems to take an inordinate amount of force to unclip it in particular.
> > The Soyo manual had no advice whatsoever about this except to "be
> > careful not to scratch the board" and it took me a while and a couple of
> > slips to figure out how to unclip it using a screwdriver and needle nose
> > pliers simultaneously.
> >
> > Any ideas or recommendations? I've now tried replacing everything
> > except the drives (though I did try unplugging some of them, didn't
> > help) and the CPU. Maybe I need to get a new CPU - but only if I also
> > replace that profoundly evil heat sink.
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any help you can give me,
> >
> > Vaughn
> I've been here many times.
>
> firstly, part of your problem was questionable ram.
Most definitely. I'd suspected it for a while. I put up with it for
quite some time because the price was so high. That's the last time I
buy generic memory.
> second, there is the possibility of heat related damage to the cpu (it still
> works, so its only a possibility)
> third: have you checked to make sure you aren't accidently overclocking
> things. try changing the value of the cpu clock (in bios) to a lower amount.
> also, change the clock value for the memory to a lower figure.
>
I doubt that, because it was automatically setting the frequency to 133
MHz, and the FSB is 266, and according to the Soyo manual that's right.
> one last point, it sounds like that soyo MB is on its last legs. the newer
> board sounded like it worked a lot better.
>
But since I now know the RAM was bad, and the CPU questionable, it may
not be hosed after all. But I haven't sent the Abit back yet,
thankfully. Sometimes it's good to be a procrastinator.
> btw, I use a kt333 (in the ECS K7VTA series board) with an XP 2400 here. only
> trouble I had with it locking on boot was when the cpu core frequency was set
> too high.
>
> also, due to a recent power supply failure, I am now down to 4 PCI slots on
> this board (the last 2 (shared) failed as a result of PSU failure).
>
Sad, but luckily it seems like a person doesn't need all that many slots
any more these days, with so much on the motherboard.
> if you can find a Sempron 2400 or 2600 to try on that board, I would suggest
> it. if that works with no problems, then you know you have a heat damaged cpu
> on your hands.
>
> TMH
I'll try those things, but it may be a couple of days before I get the
time, so I just wanted to say thanks for the suggestions before I forget
to do that!
Vaughn
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