Motherboard issue

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Etacovda

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 25, 2003
Messages
186
Hey everyone -

I think its a mobo issue, but im not sure ...

Alright, heres the system

GA-7VAXP
512 Geil DDR (known to be good)
Ledtek ti4200 MY VIVO
LITEON cdrw
Barracuda 20gig 7200
Barracuda 120gig 7200
Barracuda 60gig 7200 (install drive)
sblive! 5.1
network card - realtek based

microsoft keys
microsoft mouse

This system has random errors from the word go, especially with windows 2000 - on xp it was less error-filled, but there are crashes etc with 2k almost constantly. Win2k SP4, windows 2000 original install disk. Ive tried - swapping ram, reinstalls, bios defaults etc etc.

Any ideas?
 
PSU - enermax 350w model
Ram is known good, as it is out of the rig in my signature :)
 
Originally posted by Etacovda
PSU - enermax 350w model
Ram is known good, as it is out of the rig in my signature :)
Click to expand...

Decent PSU- how are the voltages? Are they fluctating more than .1v or not within 5% of what they should be?

I don't trust Geil RAM even as far as I can throw it, but i'll have to take your word on it... well... head over to memtest86.com anyways


Pick up IBM's *cough* Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test here-> http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm and run the advanced test on each of the drives. This will still test even though you have seagates- this drive test is the only one that i have found to be well done, reliable, etc (and i've used alot of 'em).

Try a new ribbon cable on the HDD's

Also, check the event log inside of W2k or XP and see if there are any specific error messages that may give you a clue.

Check your bios settings, make sure you havn't selected Turbo mode or anything- if your timings are off, it could be a non-profitable situation. If you need more tweakability in the BIOS for ram timings, press Ctrl + F1 and you will get those options to appear (from the mainscreen).
 
Originally posted by Schro
Decent PSU- how are the voltages? Are they fluctating more than .1v or not within 5% of what they should be?

Hmm - Ive checked the rails, and they are a bit dubious :eek: -12 is at -7 and the -5 doesnt even register... i think it might be the motherboard having the issues tho, but ill check with my enermax 350 in this machine which has great rails...



The ram has been memtested, and gets up to 185 fsb without memtest errors - its at stock, with optimal settings selected in bios.


Sweet, ive been looking for a decent drive tester :)

Have tried the original mobo cables, and are using silver rounded ides atm

Also, check the event log inside of W2k or XP and see if there are any specific error messages that may give you a clue.

Great idea, i dont know why i didnt think of it >_<

I have defaulted the bios, and have tried giving the cpu and ram 0.1 more voltage
 
Typically, the negative rails won't affect anything that you do- they are leftovers from the AT age, and because they aren't used, they typically can't carry a stable or accurate voltage.

A quality multimeter would be best way to test, but for the problems you're having, its likely to be voltage fluctuation rather than just plain bad voltage affecting your activities.

Is that SB Live! a 5.1 version, or just classic? If its the 5.1 one, there are some reported instances of it not cooperating w/ the VIA Southbridges, and you may need to procure the PCI latency patch that I can't seem to find at viaarena.com

I presume you have the latest 4n1's from VIA, right?
 
Im looking up the PCI latency issue now, thanks very much for your help man, its very appreciated.

edit - The latency patch seems to have increased the speed of the comp nicely, it feels like a 2500 now rather than a duron 1000 :)

(one thing i didnt mention was a pci irq sharing... however, this card was disabled during testing; ill move its slot soon [my gf's computer, she doesnt want it moved atm])
 
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