Duron with a mind of it's own! Sorta...

[culex]

Well that's a bad title but oh well... I hope it serves as atleast an attention getter... Sorry

Well here's my story.

The power's been sorta unstable here lately because the neighbors are using a gazillion watt heater or some crap...

So anyways, I'm at 1.8v, 100mhz and 10x multiplier... hence 1000mhz. Here's the thing. It posts alright, it loads alright. When I reboot, it posts well... now, if something like a small power drop (like a millisecond) happens, the computer usually reboots. When this type of crap happens, the system will not POST. I have to reset the CMOS everytime this happens.

Here's the fun part. To get it back to 1ghz again, I can't just set the multiplier back to 10x. It refuses to post. What I need to do is set the voltage to 1.8, set multiplier to 9.5, boot into Windows, let it stress a little bit then reboot. Only THEN will it post at 10x multiplier.

I doubt this is a heating problem... but since temperature is around 45C lately, I figured I'll just order some arctic silver and fop38. (using the 1.2ghz rated taisol right now... i forget the part number).

So my question is, what exactly is preventing the system to POST when it's forced to reboot at a power drop? Normal rebooting works... only when it's those darn power drops this is crapping out

Thanks.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Hmmm... what kind of power supply are you using? what kind of case cooling? And what is your ambient case temp?


Mike

 

[culex]

Using a 250watt powersupply.

I think case temp is around 24-28C.

Don't have much case cooling, I have a front case fan that blows in the case and the power supply fan that blows out.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Hmmm... I'm guessing your setup would benefit from another exhuast fan. Also, the power problems may be associated with the power supply. If you have a friend with another one to try out that might help solve your problem.


Mike

 

[Viperoni]

Power supply is very weak.
Get at least a 300 watter HIGH QUALITY

 

[culex]

I was thinking I might need a 300 watt...

I still don't understand why it'll only work at 10x multiplier after running Windows for a wile...

 

[Mikewarrior2]

maybe its a cold boot problem where it won't change the voltage until a warm reboot.

DO you have the latest k7t pro2 bios?


Mike

 

[culex]

That's a good question...

My philosophy is that when all is fine, don't flash da mobo... something like that.

So not yet. Should I?

 

[Mikewarrior2]

if its running fine, then i wouldnt' bother either

 

[culex]

Any other suggestions?

 

[poop]

Get a UPS. If you are only experiencing short drops in power, then a cheapo UPS will do the trick.

 

[Dravic]

Sounds like a PS issue.

I would also get low end UPS. So if you lose power you at least have 10-15 minutes to shutdown.

You might even want to pich up the UPS first.. if its cheaper then a new PS(doubt it)
And at least the UPS will notify you when power has been cut. This will give you a good indications if indeed you are pulling to much from the PS, or if in fact you are having external power issues(e.g. the neighbors).