Best way to get a KT266A stable (4in1s or not?)

[BlueEyedBeezlebub]

My last ditch effort before I order a nforce2 is a format and reinstall of xp. The system is a Gigabyte 7VTXE (KT266A), Athlon XP 1700+, 512MB Crucial PC2100 (2x256), VT GF3, Linksys nic. right now my xp install includes the latest 4in1s and latest nvidia drivers but i get reboots daily without warning and xp says its a system error detected by the cpu and they offer no fix.
I had an Audigy, a Hauppauge WinTV Go and a 3Com 56k gaming modem in the system prior to my trying to get the system stable. I took out the tv tuner and modem at first and it went from rebooting every 10minutes without notice to 1-2 hours. I have the interrupt handling mode set to PIC instead of APIC also. I got the Audigy on its own IRQ (5) at that point. Then the error reported by windows was that their was a device driver causing the problem. So I pulled out the audigy and now it reboots roughly every 12-24 hours and I get the error I listed at the beginning of my post that its a system bus or design error. Now I'm looking at the cpu or motherboard chipset.

I think a format is due before I order a nforce2 and will probably try no 4in1s, no pci cards and see how it goes. If its unstable try the 4in1s, still with no pci cards. If its still unstable at that point get the nforce!

I welcome all opinions and suggestions (please!)

Thanks in advance.

 

[PCHPlayer]

Could be any number of things, including a bad CPU. What power supply are you using?

 

[BlueEyedBeezlebub]

psu is a enermax whisper 300watt
power strip is a APC Back UPS Office 280

 

[Jeff7]

What are your CPU and case temperatures?
Need more info on the error types and messages. Try this:
Right click on My Computer. Go to Advanced tab, then the Startup and Recovery Settings button.
Under System Failure, uncheck Automatically Restart. Hopefully this way, when your computer does crash, it'll display a Blue Screen of Death instead, which could provide useful information.

 

[Workin']

I always use the VIA drivers that come with XP. I never install any updated 4-in-1's and haven't had any problems with dozens of KT266A systems except when I used an Audigy for sound. Then some (but not all) of the machines would randomly reboot (or rather, hang and then automatically reboot). Many of the systems used GF3 graphics cards, but a few used ATI Radeon VIVO's (the original Radeon).

Hope that helps a little...

 

[BlueEyedBeezlebub]

I had the computer on for about 10minutes, read the post and rebooted to get temps from the bios. 54c cpu/44c system. I have my front case fans unplugged (two 80mm, they make alot of noise), have the dual fan PSU and a antec 80mm in back that came with the case (Antec SX300 midtower).

I have had temp problems in the past and usually it locks up before it reboots with a windows error but I guess its possible.

I took it off of auto reboot and will leave the system to hang tonight.. when I get an error I'll post it.

I'll probably opt for the 4in1s because of the large performance gain they give.. but I've never tried running this system with a fresh format of xp and no creative sound card (live! or audigy).

Hope it turns out well so i dont have to buy more junk. besides a santa cruz, gotta keep these z560s pumpin.

 

[Zepper]

Also, if it is possible, install just the AGP part of the 4-in-1 drivers after the video card drivers are installed. If you can't install just the AGP part, then DL the separate AGP driver that's available on the VIA site. And taking CL sound out of the picture is always a good idea with an older VIA chipset...
.bh.

 

[Mem]

Also, if it is possible, install just the AGP part of the 4-in-1 drivers after the video card drivers are installed.

By default when you install the VIA 4 in 1 drivers in XP,it only installs the AGP driver and updates the VIA inf files for WinXP,if you want the VIA IDE driver updated you have to go to device manager select properties for the VIA IDE controller (which`s just under the Microsoft primary and secondary IDE ones)and choose "update driver",it will then then search and find the updated driver in the windows/system32 directory.

 

[Amber]

I had the same thing going on with my MSI rig, I stoped using VIA 4in1 and just use the 4in1 that in XP and now it's like a ROCK
also shut off auto restart

 

[Stylez]

i want to go back to winXPs' via and nivdia drivers how do i do that?

 

[Zepper]

But if you have installed new video card drivers, you should reinstall your chipset's AGP driver afterwards. As the video driver install, may replace some AGP driver files with older ones.
.bh.

 

[Amber]

what I do when I set up my Computers is to load XP Pro, nVidia Reg. hack so you can overclock your nVidia AGP card (i'm running a gforce3) then the newist nVidia video drivers
I don't use any of the MOB drivers or any VIA 4in1's but what is in the XP PRO
I built about 30 Rigs last year, most of them AMD's with a bunch of MOB's
they are all running very good no lockup, crashing, or BSOD/restarts

try this it works

PS. I have a copy of XP Pro PM my for info

 

[BlueEyedBeezlebub]

from my previous experiences, installing the 4in1s both fixed problems and introduced new ones.
once i get some of this homework for the end of semester done i'll do the format
my feelings currently though are i should just get a stable nforce2 use the onboard sounds and leave creative and via for someone else to work with

 

[Amber]

A stable nforce2 (what is that)......hehe
do you think that will help
if your car gets a flat tire, do you just buy a new one

creative new drivers work the best so far and the creative playcenter 3 is the best

and I'll take your Gigabyte 7VTXE , that is a very nice MOB

 

[BlueEyedBeezlebub]

from the kt133 to the kt133a to the kt266 to the kt266a its been nothing but flat tires and gas gauges that dont work right.

i could probably fix this system, but i remember once i tried a fresh format last year without 4in1s and when i tried to transfer large amounts of data between the ide buses it would crash, then installed the 4in1s and other problems arised like now.

 

[BlueEyedBeezlebub]

and if via made a car it would only get 10mpg and start when it felt like it

i figure the nforce 2 gets me out of creative and via country in one fell swoop as well as gives stability and lots of upgrade options not possible on the kt266a.. not to mention the dual ddr controllers which is nice.

 

[Amber]

that nforce2 mob is very nice and it sounds like you are tired of messing with this Rig
for you this could be the just the thing
good luck I hope you get out of VIA hell

 

[dude]

Originally posted by: BlueEyedBeezlebub
from the kt133 to the kt133a to the kt266 to the kt266a its been nothing but flat tires and gas gauges that dont work right. i could probably fix this system, but i remember once i tried a fresh format last year without 4in1s and when i tried to transfer large amounts of data between the ide buses it would crash, then installed the 4in1s and other problems arised like now.

This was a big problem last year. It had to do with creative labs drivers with their Live cards. VIA chipset systems experienced it more than P4 users, but it was a SB Live problem.

I'd suggest getting the latest 4-in-1's and the latest SB drivers.

 

[BlueEyedBeezlebub]

I got it pretty stable, btw my nforce was backordered and i was going to have to wait until they got some in of wed next week and im not waiting that long. so i went ahead with a format and its been up for 19hrs.. latest 4in1s, latest nvidia drivers (from microsoft update, the ones from nvidias site dont seem to like the hyperion 4in1s).

I had one reboot soon after i had gotten both new drivers installed but like i said 19hrs uptime better than ever before, if it doesnt stay this way i'll do another format without the 4in1s. If it stays really stable I'll give the audigy another try, right now im using via onboard.

 

[BlueEyedBeezlebub]

nope, installed the audigy with latest drivers ONLY and it started making the system terribly unstable again.. even when i pulled the card back out and uninstalled the drivers my windows install was messed up.

I think some via boards must have work arounds built in to let an audigy work correctly with it and some dont, I have one of the very first KT266A boards...

i might give no 4in1s a try with teh audigy just to be sure that the combo will not work.

thanks to everybody who offered a opinion.