Dual PII 400 Server Probs: Freezing

[RedShirt]

Hey everybody. This one has bothered me for a long time.

At college here I run a Counter-Strike Server on a Dual PII 400 box, and sometimes it freezes, and I can't figure out why. Here is the total story:

At the begining of the year, the server was only a single PII 400 with 320 megs of RAM. Later on, I decided to buy a new motherboard and another PII 400. Before the upgrade the server would never crash and was 100% rock stable.

After the upgrade the system would freeze a lot. Running CHKDSK would stop the freezing for a while, but then it would come back in a day or so. It likes to freeze in Monitor Power Saving a lot... but sometimes it freezes while it's not in power saving mode. I've tried disabling power savings, but it still freezes.

These are the things I have tried to fix the problem:
New Case and Powers Supply (300W, should be enough for a dual PII400),
Different NIC Cards
2 different sound cards and no sound
2 different videocards: Matrox G200 and Geforce DDR
Disabling Power Saving
NTFS and FAT32 formating

Could it be the hard drive at fault? Is there something else I am overlooking? I have no IRQ conflicts. It seems strange that when I run CHKDSK that the problems leave for a while. Any suggestions are welcome.

Also, I hear you are supposed to buy dual processors at the same time (so that they are fully compatable) Is that the same for PII's? The are both SECC1 and not 2. And one more thing, heat is not a problem. I'm getting a readout of about 30 degrees C for both processors and I have 4 case fans in the tower.

Thanks

 

[outlamd]

I might try running your current config with a single processor for awhile and see if the errors still occur. If not, then your looking at either a bad processor or perhaps a firmware upgrade on the MB. Which OS are you running? I would install the latest service pack. Just a few quick thoughts. HTH!!

 

[RedShirt]

Ok, I will have to try one processor out
That would be terrible (if it was faulty) since I bought the second prosessor on egay.

I'm running win2k with SP1 installed.

As far as I know, I have the latest bios for my MB.

 

[RedShirt]

I also might add that when I don't run the CS server, the computer freezes only rarely... it is weird. I don't think it's CS because I've reformated multiple times and have ran both version 1.1 and 1.0 and they both freeze the system. However, I can go days without a freeze without a CS server running. Both processors also run 100% all the time since I'm helping to crack RC5. With CS, the computer freezes a lot.

 

[Phil21]

Sounds like it could even just be a simple heat issue.

Just because rc5 runs w/o freezing, doesn't mean CS wouldn't freeze due to heat. CS probably works a lot different registers on the processor, some of which may be more prone to failure due to heat or whatnot. Try checking to make sure the heatsinks are firmly seated, and the fans are indeed running. Also see if one "feels" hotter than the other. Try running either one as a single processor to see if the box still freezes.

Could also be a bad processor, the mobo might have a buggy SMP implementation, or your processors may even be different steppings. I about killed one of my PII450's when one was SECC, and the other SECC2. Little did I know that the SECC2 runs at a higher voltage (and thus set the voltage for the other one). Box froze during boot every time and I was scared as hell. (super-critical webserver) Finally ripped the case off and got a 3rd degree burn on my hand from the CPU. Ouch! But, perfectly stable with one CPU in it.

Also, I would like to stress that cheapo SMP boards are not worth it. If you want to SMP, go with a Tyan or Asus or some place that makes decent boards. SMP is not easy to pull off it seems.

-Phil

 

[RedShirt]

Both Processors are cool. I have 4 case fans in the comp and I put faster, bigger fans both of the heat sinks. The temp stays steady around 30 degree C on both processors. Both Processors are SECC1 and I bought a board that had good reviews on the web. I didn't need anything like onboard scsi or whatnot, so I just got a simple dual Slot 1 board from EPOX (BX Based). I know Epox isn't the best board manufacture in the world, but the reviews for the board were almost exactly the same. They said it was a rock stable board.

I will have to try running with one processor for a while, cept it's gonna have to wait until Sunday. Any more advice is welcome.

Thanks.

 

[PELarson]

If you switch it back to a single processor. Make sure the single processor you use is the one you just bought.