Who's to blame: The Asus A7A266 debacle

[igottaknife]

did you try setting the FSB down to 100MHz I bet it'll work fine. Also the computer will not always reboot when you overheat. Sometimes the intensive app will just shutdown (at least it will with Win2K). If it were the GPU you'd be getting artifacts early on before the crash. It <b>REALLY</b> looks like a p/s problem. 250W is minimum requirements for each, the mobo and the GF2. A 300-350W P/S would not be a waste of $60 by all means.

Your Signature Sucks

 

[Prien]

OK, you win, I'll buy a new power supply tomorrow, but this overheating thing might get to be a problem too as the case is sitting open right now and is overheating somewhat, thus, putting the dust cover on will only serve to aggravate the problem, but the fact it's summer probably hurts it too.

 

[Guest]

The culprit of many Asus A7A266 problems is it's DDR ram scheme. My System WILL NOT RUN with two DDR sticks, and is very unstable with one. The system runs great with PC133. This is a MAJOR flaw with this board, and all Asus has to say about it is 'update the BIOS'. Well my friends, a bios update later and still major problems with DDR ram.

 

[Askitis]

This may sound wierd but I'll put it on the table for what its worth.
It may be possible that directX 8.0 is the calprit. When I updated to directx8 my box started crashing left and right (couldn't even open Outlook)
After reverting back to version 7 things run smooth again.

 

[Sihs]

What type of memory was he using?

Are the Kingston pc2100 any good?

Sh!t Happens.

 

[2fast]

How did you make out with the power supply?
I have the same mobo and have had no trouble at all I use a 300 watt supply and crucial pc2100 ddr with a Geforce 2 ultra. Machine runs great!!!

If it ain't broke don't fix it

 

[Prien]

Well, the power supply didn't do anything. It's as unstable as ever. I've noticed 2 other things: first of all, I'm getting a lot of BSODs after the system crashes. If it crashes, and i reboot, I normally get at least 3 before arriving in windows. Secondly, and this is the first time it's happened, I just got medium-legnth beeps in an endless loop. According to the manual, that means "System is overheating". I rebooted and it's running at 156 degrees fahrenheit. Is that too hot? I didn't think it was, but it seems to be what the board's telling me.

 

[2fast]

I have mine @ 125 degrees for CPU and 86 degrees for mobo so it may well be to hot My system is enclosed in case purchased from 3dcool kinda expensive but it keeps things cool. By the way just tested using 3d mark and got 6905 score. not sure what that means but....

If it ain't broke don't fix it

 

[Sihs]

You've got some really bad overheating issues. I'm surprised none of the components melted yet. Get a fan blowing inside the case as that guy said.

Sh!t Happens.

 

[Guest]

did you at least try this? its an easy and cheap way to test your system. trust me....

"an easy way to test the heat theory (i agree that it seems way to hot) is to open the case and place a house fan about three feet away pointing right at the case. crank the fan up and then play for a while.....bet it settles down"

If it does stop crashing, then you know you need to take measures to cool it down with a more permenant solution, but this will help you understand if it is heat causing your crashes.
ignore everything i say<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by antivirus on 07/04/01 08:19 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

156 deg are an hell!!! i have 2 pc and one has a very bad and heavy case. I have to open it after 1 hour because bios tells me it is overheating! test ALL your pc with opened case. then check (with a termometer or even with a finger) the thermal dissipator on your GF2 and on your athlon, and you'll see the difference between open case and closed case. if u find this is the problem, get some internal PCI fans, they're good... oh, and the 300w PSU is the MINIMUM for your configuration!

 

[Guest]

Try to remove ALi AGP driver.
I faced another problem - no one 3D game started at all: just tried to start and oops "program is not responding". For some minutes I became crazy, tried some other programs and so on. Finaly I removed ALi AGP driver and reinstalled DirectX 8.0a.
At ALi site it is said that AGP driver must be installed when there are some issues with video card (ATI, as I understood) only. As to IDE driver, it is said following: "ALi recommends using STANDARD IDE driver".

 

[Prien]

I went away for the weekend to visit my girlfriend but took the suggestion of putting the housefan against the machine. I haven't had the chance to test the machine myself, but my brother says that the fan doesn't seem to help much.

Since this thread is getting to be really long, I think I'll recap:

System:
Chip: Athlon 1.33 Ghz 266 FSB
Board: Asus A7A266 bios rev 1.004
Video: GeForce2 GTS 64 MB
RAM : 256 MB DDR 2100
HD : Maxtor 13 GB drive
OS : Win98 SE
Sound: OnBoard
Dir.X: 8.0a
Power: 300 Watt power supply
Problem: Machine frequently crashes during games. While the suggestions made so far seem to have improved the stability, it is still unstable.

Tests:

* RAM: Placed 128 megs of SDR RAM in the machine from another machine, no effect.

* Video Card: Tried card in other machine. Was perfectly stable.

* Video Card: Tried installing different version of detonator drivers (5.31). No effect.

* OS: Same problems in Win2000.

* BIOS: Upgraded to ver 1.004. Some effect.

* Power: Upgraded to 300 watt from 250 watt. Some effect.

* Cooling: Put house fan next to computer. Some effect.

* AGP Driver: Have tried with and without ALI AGP driver. Seems more stable with.

* DirectX: Tried reinstalling. No effect.

* Games tested: Unreal Tournament, Jedi Knight, Starcraft.

Final notes: This system makes me want to pull my hair out=) If anyone lives in/near Delaware and wants to take a look, feel free=) I'll try to have more data regarding the temperature tomorrow.

 

[jlanka]

You've never mentioned what kind of HSF you're using, and what kind of thermal compound.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Guest]

Just a thought: what kind of DDR are you using? I have heard much of problems that arise with the use of no-name ram in athlon systems. Most people recommend crucial, micron, corsair or kingston in athlon ddr rigs.

 

[Guest]

Have you tried to wipe and wash the HDD?? I find this solves most of these kinds of errors and quite honestly I would have tried it a long time ago if I were you. Just remove all of yopur cards except video and disable all unneeded devices, format the hard drive and do a clean install of windows. Then install all of your hardware with the newest drivers. Please let me goes how it goes because i am looking at getting a very similar system but not if its a lemon.