Duron 800 overclocking pushed too far?? something suffered and someone here knows what it is..please help:)

[FunFactorz]

I posted a few weeks ago and got great info. Since then I got a MSI Pro2a board installed with my Duron 800 (unlocked with silver pen).

one night finally got to overclocking, peak was at 1.8V, 9x, 109 bus, for 981Mhz, then 111bus and it was no good, rebooted at default and it was never the same, booted with fatal errors on windows screen, then somewhat stabilized and % of good boots was better, I removed my coolermaster fan and remounted incase grease got melted out (temp was 42celsius at max point from crappy bios/Mboard sensor). Still get errors on bootup sometimes but not so often.

Another problem that MAY be related is my CDRW will no longer write. A cheap NEC model, very new, wholesaler just tested and it worked fine for them so something is buggy in my system. As soon as adaptec (only software rec'd for this writer, says the wholesaler, it worked fine on prior board) goes to CDRW, the buffer fills up/falters, then freezes and no more lights on CDRW at all. Can't even open/close CDRW CD drawer after that until a reboot has been done. I have 2-128Mb SDramm PC133, tried pulling one and burning a CD, still no good, yanked that ram and put other one in, no change. Changed power connnector to CDRW, no change. I can read CD's from CDRW so assume IDE cable is OK?

I'm thinking both ram are bad, CPU bad, cable bad, board bad, power supply bad. Pretty much in that order but this building/modifying computers is quite new to me so I'm really looking fwd to hearing inputs on this. What's most likely to get 'burned' from oc efforts? CPU/RAM? Maybe I shouldn't have played with it as I can't afford to just buy new CPU/board etc but thought oc a duron to a 1000 was fairly minor...will see.

thanks in advance

system is a duron800/top coolermaster fan/PSI pro2a/32mb TNT2 Nvidia/2x128mb PC133 sdramm

CDROM is on master of secondary IDE and CDRW is on slave of secondary, jumpers are set correctly. primary IDE has a 30Gb samsung as master and 20Gb fuji as secondary if this helps.

 

[Pederv]

Try doing a hard bios reset (use a jumper or remove the battery and discharge the bios). Before doing this take not of your bios settings so you can re-set them. It's possible that your bios has some garbage in it from when you overclocked and things didn't work right.

 

[audscott]

I have a Tbird that's kind of that way..difference being I don't get any errors messages, but it won't overclock (anymore).

I like testing the CPU & periphs individually..of as much as one can.

Try running CPU Stability Test first. Run it in default mode first....then you can try hardcore. It'll give you a DOS window like readout of tests & timer so you know if your system locked up - very handy tool.

If that works OK...say overnight (8 hours) then try 3DMark2000 from Madonion. It's a huge download, so If your a dail up user, you'll spend a fews hours downloading the benchmark. This really stresses the Video card, memory & CPU.

Lastly, Get ahold of Soft sisandra which will let you perform specific benchmarks & tests.

It's not easy isolating a problem. There have been times I swore a hardware conflict existed & turned out to be OS related. It's a challenge, so I'm hoping you enjoy obsticals as much as I do.

 

[Miraluka]

I think it may be your FSB. You say that your system went up to 109, but at 111 it wouldn't post. It may be too high for your system to handle. My system won't even post at 107fsb. Crashes at the windows splash screen at 106.

Why not try lowering your FSB, and raising your multiplier? I'm running my Duron 800 on the MSi K7T Pro2-a at 9.5x104 at 1.825 cpu voltage. Runs perfectly stable on Win98se.

Might be your coolermaster? If you have a better hsf at your disposal, try that one. I'm running on Alpha PAL6035 with 26cfm Sunon fan. Maybe you should get a new hsf?

 

[FunFactorz]

thanks for the quick replies to date. Since that one night's overclocking efforts I've ONLY been running it at default. I had to clear CMOS to restart after the 111 bus attempt (did the jumper on the board on/off always works it seems, should I have pulled the battery as well?). I had tried at 9.5x multiplier before above 'best' setting and that jammed out quit early actually (don't recall exact settings at that time, it was 2-3 weeks ago and I'm swamped with grad studies assignments right now but the non functioning CDRW is cutting into some school needs with software so I'd like to nip this problem.

If RAM is a likely problem (does it get stressed heavy as the CDRW buffer (only 2Mb on mine I think) is initially filled?) I may just buy one 128 strip at $55cd/$35us if that were the most likely factor. Otherwise I'll start out on the tests audscott laid out. I do enjoy troubleshooting problems but not typically electronic ones, especially intermittent (like my boot up errors/CDRW errors are constant).

Any chance in those overclocking freezes my registry got altered/damaged? Can this be intermittent or affect CDRW write initiation/sequence and/or bootups? Just thinking out loud. This info in these forums is great! And is their any chance some default bios setting on this Mboard doesn't agree with my CDRW writing?? Maybe I've got more than one 'challenge' going on unless just 'burned' ram can do this. (and if ram is bad can the wholesaler tell I overclocked it or not??)
thanks again

 

[JHalpin]

Have you tried reflashing the bios? I was getting fatal errors on windows startup using the OCer bios after clearing the cmos and reflashing solved that...

As for the CDRW I would try

reinstalling VIA 4in1 drivers
unintalling and reinstalling adaptec software
Deleting your CDRW from the device manager page and letting windows redetect it.

Good Luck

 

[Def]

When is the last time you reinstalled Windows?

I'd be willing to bet it's probably 6months or more ago. If that's the case, Windows is your problem.

Windows, the OS we all know and love, is what I'd term a "self-corrupting" OS. It tends to just screw itself up over time.

I'd say that, and the fact that you probably didn't have enough voltage when you OC'd and you got a bunch of registry errors and possibly hard drive corruption, would leave me to point the finger at Winblows.

Also, don't think of computer components as you would a mechanical machine such as a car engine. It cannot "break" from being used under "normal" circumstances(heatsink on, no temps over 80C, etc.). You did not permanently damage any components of your system, it is just that the data on your harddrive is messed up.

I'd say a completely reformat and reinstall of everything should take 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours MAX.

 

[FunFactorz]

Great stuff coming in guys, keeping me thinking that's for sure. It is automotive I'm more used to troubleshooting (got a 12second hybrid datsun;^)

I reinstalled windows with this motherboard (ie. 3 weeks ago). I recall a PITA with via 4in1 drivers with viacart.inf or something similar, anyone else encounter this? I reset to default bios or cmos with that jumper mentioned. I'll have to check manual to see which it was the jumper did (bios I'd thought and cmos at same time). I have unistalled/rebooted/reinstalled/rebooted adaptec a couple times. Never yanked the device from windows manager though.

I wish I could do a full reinstall in 1.5-2.5 hrs, my OC/office/scanner/printer/cable modem all seem to take a lot longer but its certainly worth a shot (done it 3-4x's in 3 mos. as I swapped boards 3 times and reloaded twice on one board). Maybe I'll be alot faster this time

Oh yeah, is 'reflashing' my bios safe and should I look for an upgrade for my Pro2a? I'll have to find that manual again (under stacks of homework) as I haven't a clue on how to do that, I thought it could kill a board doing that?