Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)
Well, I tried two Durons (800MHz and 1.6GHz), and the problem went away.
I've now replaced the first Sempron 2400+ CPU w/ a new one from AMD, and the
original problem is back; I need help!!!
Situation:
Abit KW7 (w/ BIOS now to rev15); AMD Retail Sempron 2400+; one pair of
Corsair Value Select 512MB 3200 DDR; Ultra brand 400W Power Supply; Maxtor
60gig HD; ATi AIW 9700Pro Video Card; Floppy; 4x Lite-On DVD Burner; two
80mm case fans; registered Windows XP Home, upgraded to SP2.
First assembled end of April 2005, and ran without problems (including
Prime95 stress tests, PCMark04, 3DMark03) until about a month ago. Had taken
to a friend's place to try out WMV-HD on his HD tv (ok at 720p, choppy at
1080p). Left it there for a while. Brought it back, and now it won't
complete a boot w/ original speed Sempron CPU in it.
What do I mean when I say it won't complete a boot? Running safe mode for
the XP Home boot, it gets to Mup.sys, then offers chance to cancel loading
the Daemon driver. Cancel or not, it goes about another 6-10 seconds without
showing anything, and then the system reboots. Hard. In normal XP boot, it
shows the progress bar and the Windows flag for about the same total time,
and then reboots the same way. Booting from a Drive Image 7 disk (Win2K?),
it eventually blue screens, with each reported error mostly seemingly
related to memory problems.
Tried all the obvious things, or at least those obvious to me. Failsafe BIOS
settings; swapped power supplies; tried each stick of DDR one at a time;
disconnected all the drives except the HD; turned down speed and timings of
DDR; swapped out the video card for an Abit Radeon 9550; updated the BIOS
from something like ver13 to newest ver15; none of these things worked. And,
eventually swapped the Sempron 2400+ for a new one from AMD, and that didn't
work either.
What did work? Replacing the Sempron w/ my vy old Duron 800MHz. Admittedly,
not much of a push on the system, but made me suspect the Sempron CPU.
Bought a new Duron 1.6GHz (thinking I might use it in place of the 800MHz
later - not working so far, though...), and that works too. The 1.6G even
allows the DDR to run Dual Channel - although not w/ 1T timing, like the
Sempron *used* to do on this board. Still, w/ the mini L2 Cache in the
Duron, performance is nothing like the Sempron gave it.
Hey! Don't laugh!! I've also got a 3000+ 64bit Newcastle running at 2.4G, w/
Geil DDR at 506MHz, all air cooled and checked solid w/ Prime95. This little
Sempron experiment was *supposed* to be a gift to my brother-in-law. Not
much of a gift, if I can't keep it running, though...
So... What to try now? What might it be?? The folks at AMD are pretty sure
now that it's the mobo. I'm not convinced, but it sounds plausible to me.
How can I sort this out, without going broke replacing part after part?
Looking forward to your helpful replies.
--
StewRat `8^Þ
Well, I tried two Durons (800MHz and 1.6GHz), and the problem went away.
I've now replaced the first Sempron 2400+ CPU w/ a new one from AMD, and the
original problem is back; I need help!!!
Situation:
Abit KW7 (w/ BIOS now to rev15); AMD Retail Sempron 2400+; one pair of
Corsair Value Select 512MB 3200 DDR; Ultra brand 400W Power Supply; Maxtor
60gig HD; ATi AIW 9700Pro Video Card; Floppy; 4x Lite-On DVD Burner; two
80mm case fans; registered Windows XP Home, upgraded to SP2.
First assembled end of April 2005, and ran without problems (including
Prime95 stress tests, PCMark04, 3DMark03) until about a month ago. Had taken
to a friend's place to try out WMV-HD on his HD tv (ok at 720p, choppy at
1080p). Left it there for a while. Brought it back, and now it won't
complete a boot w/ original speed Sempron CPU in it.
What do I mean when I say it won't complete a boot? Running safe mode for
the XP Home boot, it gets to Mup.sys, then offers chance to cancel loading
the Daemon driver. Cancel or not, it goes about another 6-10 seconds without
showing anything, and then the system reboots. Hard. In normal XP boot, it
shows the progress bar and the Windows flag for about the same total time,
and then reboots the same way. Booting from a Drive Image 7 disk (Win2K?),
it eventually blue screens, with each reported error mostly seemingly
related to memory problems.
Tried all the obvious things, or at least those obvious to me. Failsafe BIOS
settings; swapped power supplies; tried each stick of DDR one at a time;
disconnected all the drives except the HD; turned down speed and timings of
DDR; swapped out the video card for an Abit Radeon 9550; updated the BIOS
from something like ver13 to newest ver15; none of these things worked. And,
eventually swapped the Sempron 2400+ for a new one from AMD, and that didn't
work either.
What did work? Replacing the Sempron w/ my vy old Duron 800MHz. Admittedly,
not much of a push on the system, but made me suspect the Sempron CPU.
Bought a new Duron 1.6GHz (thinking I might use it in place of the 800MHz
later - not working so far, though...), and that works too. The 1.6G even
allows the DDR to run Dual Channel - although not w/ 1T timing, like the
Sempron *used* to do on this board. Still, w/ the mini L2 Cache in the
Duron, performance is nothing like the Sempron gave it.
Hey! Don't laugh!! I've also got a 3000+ 64bit Newcastle running at 2.4G, w/
Geil DDR at 506MHz, all air cooled and checked solid w/ Prime95. This little
Sempron experiment was *supposed* to be a gift to my brother-in-law. Not
much of a gift, if I can't keep it running, though...
So... What to try now? What might it be?? The folks at AMD are pretty sure
now that it's the mobo. I'm not convinced, but it sounds plausible to me.
How can I sort this out, without going broke replacing part after part?
Looking forward to your helpful replies.
--
StewRat `8^Þ
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