CPU speed is incorrect in games??

[mcurphy]

I just built the following system:

Gigabyte SINXP1394 mobo
P4 2.53 Ghz 533fsb CPU
4 X 256MB PC2100 RAM
GeForce2 MX200 32 MB video (I know this sucks...I am waiting for the 9800 pro)
Antec True Blue 480watt psu
Zalman CNPS7000-Cu heatsink/fan
120GB Maxtor system drive
2 X 30GB Maxtor in RAID-0 array

So I have had this PC running smoothly for three days now, but I am having trouble installing / running games. I installed NeverWinter Nights and it came up with an error that my processot didn't meet minimum requirements, it listed it as -17777 or something like that. I tried running the game, but after the initial splash screen and intro video sequence I get a black screen. I can hear the music and my cursor shows up as a little hand, but there is no other display. Just black. So then I tried installing Medal Of Honor - Allied Asault, and it tells me that my cpu is also at -17777. When I try to run this game I get the splash screen, but then my display turns grey!

Any ideas what is going on here?? I am pretty sure it is NOT the video card because I used it three days ago in my old system.

I am wondering if it has something to do with my RAID array? I installed both games on the RAID drive even though it isn't my system drive because I wanted to take advantage of the increased performance.

Pease help guys! In the meantime I am going to uninstall both games and see if they will run off my C: drive. This will be very disapointing if I can't utilize the RAID like I wanted.

Thanks,

Mcurphy

 

[mcurphy]

OK, no luck after reinstall on drive C. Now my cpu is listed as a pentium 3 in MOH. I also tried installing Soldier of Fortune 2, and didn't get anywhere with that.

Can anyone steer me in the right direction towards resolving this problem?? I am posting in this forum because the incorrect cpu speeds being displayed is my only lead.

BTW, my processot speed is listed properly in other apps, system, and tests.



**edit** removed game text messages because I don't think it is relavant

 

[mcurphy]

OK, I am bumping this up....I am desperate for help!!

Could the problem have something to do with my CPU temps?

The reason I ask this now is because I installed Motherboard Monitor 5 and it is saying my CPU temp is at 120 Celcius!!! :Q
My BIOS displays the CPU temp at 30 Celcius. Which do I believe?

Mcurphy

 

[Looney]

Wow, this is completely strange. I have no idea, but good luck to you.

 

[mcurphy]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic
Wow, this is completely strange. I have no idea, but good luck to you.

Thats what I was thinking. Everything seemed to be running fine...up until a few minutes ago.
My system crashed and rebooted.

I reset the BIOS to optimized defaults and it didn't seem to help anything.

I am now thinking it may be one of three things:
1. I need to update the BIOS from F4 to F5
2. I need to reseat the heatsink and reapply AS3
3. There's some really odd software conflict going on so I need to reformat and start from scratch

Well its 2:24 AM here and the CPU now reads at 127 C. I need to get to bed so I can tackle this thing head on tomorrow.

Hopefully someone can possibly shed some new light on this in the meantime....PLEASE!

Thanks,
Mcurphy

 

[Looney]

Update the bios, it should be a painless and quick process. As for the OS, what OS are you using?

 

[ReiAyanami]

u ocing at all?

127C is umm fried, hopefully u mean 127F

 

[MrEgo]

If you have any other known working processors, I would try placing them on your motherboard.. given they have the same interface. System crashing and rebooting often deals with processor or memory failures.

 

[Rich3077]

I just got done installing NWN on my machine wich is overclocked to 3.1 GHz.
I got the error too... but just ignore the error and continue to install the game and it will run fine.
After install it showed my cpu speed as -3.1 GHz... after I installed the latest patch the problem went away.. but it didnt matter anyway because it ran fine even with the error.

Peace
Rich

 

[Lonyo]

I would flash the BIOS, install any mobo drivers in the OS, and try again (probably a fresh Windows install).
I guess it would be the mobo BIOS that would be the main cause of issues if the temp and speed are both messed up, unless it is 127F, in which case it might be some Windows conflicts.

 

[mcurphy]

The temp is definitley reading 127 Celsius. It is at 260 Farenheit!! (These temps are from MBM 5, the BIOS still shows 30C)
I am going to search for another program to get a third reading on the temps. Any suggestions?

I am running Win XP-Pro, and the machine is not overclocked at all. Also, I don't think it is an issue with NWN since I have no luck running any game.

I am also going to update the BIOS now, I'll post the results when I'm finished. Unfortunately, I don't have another P4 available to check with, so I'll have to try and get this one to play nice.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[mcurphy]

Well I updated the BIOS and reinstalled Win Xp. Still can't run any games.

A couple good things though...I don't think my temps are high. I installed Easy Tune 4 for my mobo and it says my CPU temp is at 27 C. The BIOS is still reading around 30C or so which is pretty close to the Easy Tune4 number.
(I unistalled MM 5, I don't think this program was working correctly on my system.)
I have had my PC running all day and no problems so far except the no games deal.

Have any of you heard of OpenGL? This is something that is failing to load with the games. I am going to concentrate my problem here now.

 

[nick1985]

127C eh? thats just a LITTLE warm

 

[Wingznut]

It appears to be a problem related to your video card...

Have you installed the latest NWN patch?
Do you have DX8 (or DX9) installed?
Are you running the latest DX8 (or DX9) nVidia drivers?

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: mcurphy
Well I updated the BIOS and reinstalled Win Xp. Still can't run any games.

A couple good things though...I don't think my temps are high. I installed Easy Tune 4 for my mobo and it says my CPU temp is at 27 C. The BIOS is still reading around 30C or so which is pretty close to the Easy Tune4 number.
(I unistalled MM 5, I don't think this program was working correctly on my system.)
I have had my PC running all day and no problems so far except the no games deal.

Have any of you heard of OpenGL? This is something that is failing to load with the games. I am going to concentrate my problem here now.

If it says OpenGL is failing to load, then it is your videocard. Try different drivers and see how it goes.

 

[Dragonfire1357]

I know this is a old post but id just like to tell you MBM works with this Motherboard, I use the same motherboard you just had it set for the wrong sensor. Under MBM you should have seen 10 sensor listings maybe 11 with a older MBM version.

Custom
MAX1617-9 (local) - Unknown
MAX1617-9 (remote) - Unknown
None - as it says no sensor selected
Sis950/ITE8705F-1 - Case Temp/Motherboard Temp
Sis950/ITE8705F-1 Diode = Unknown - probably something to do with the case sensor
Sis950/ITE8705F-2 - CPU 1 Temp
Sis950/ITE8705F-2 Diode - CPU 1 Temp
Sis950/ITE8705F-3 - CPU 2 Temp
Sis950/ITE8705F-3 Diode - CPU 2 Temp

You most likely had MBM set to Sis950/ITE8705F-2 or Sis950/ITE8705F-2 Diode which is CPU 1 Temp but the motherboards a little messed up in that for some reason unless you have a P4 3.06 with Hyperthreading it see's your CPU as CPU 2 hence why you were getting a 127 C temp reading cause there was no CPU there for it to read. You will need to set it to the Sis950/ITE8705F-3 Diode sensor to get the same reading as Easy Tune gets. You must select the Diode one as if you select the Sis950/ITE8705F-3 it will just read 74 C and never change and Easy Tunes CPU temp reading will change to 74 C and stay there also. If you download SiSoftware Sandra Standard and have it get Motherboard Info it will put up a list of Temps Motherboard - will read the right sensor, CPU 1 - will read 127 C, and CPU 2 - will read your CPU temp. But also Remember that the CPU 2 temp is the Temp of your Core and when under full load will read 74 C or so. I have no clue were BIOS gets it temp from as i have the Alarm on in BIOS to go off at 70 C but when ever im doing anything my CPU temp goes to 74 C on Easy Tune or MBM my computer never Alarms off making me think its getting its CPU temp from some other place then what Easy Tune any of the MBM sensor listings do.

 

[Jeff7181]

I wouldn't worry about the CPU not being recognized correctly if the game works fine... 3DMark and PCMark both see my Athlon XP2500 (barton core) as a Duron... but does a Duron score 6300 in PCMark? I think not =)

 

[MadTom]

I guess it's a SW conflict.

As mentioned before - reinstall all the mobo drivers, and put the Nvidia 30.82 drivers (if you are using DX8.1, which is originally included in WinXP).

BTW, is 3DMark working?

 

[TheVoid]

I noticed the problem with games not detecting the CPU correctly. Battlefield 1942 detects my 2100+ overclocked to 2700+ as running at -2172MHz and says it doesn't meet the minimum requirements. I guess I should just ignore it cause it seems like a problem with their software. The game will run all day nonstop without ever locking up. Every other piece software that detects the CPU speed reports it correctly. It's just EA's EAsy info tool that come with Battlefield 1942.

Anyone else notice this? I'm confident my system is stable. I ran Prime95 for 48 hours with no error. CPU temp only got to 42C max. This was running in a room with the temperature of about 80F. I was trying to cook it......It never complained. I've had no lockups, reboots. I've looped 3DMark2001 almost 24 hours. I've thrown all the stability tests at it and now I'm ready to trust it and have some fun.

I'm running with a KT3 Ultra2 board and a Leadtek GF4 Ti4200 128MB.