HELP: Can't run my 1.2G AMD at 1.2G for 3D Game

[xzw]

I just assembled my machine, everything was fine until I tried to run Quake 3 Arena and MDK2.
When running Quake 3, after several seconds, system halted. When running MDK2, I ran its test first, before the test completes, system halted too.
After several failure, I decided to lower the CPU frequency. I tried 100MH system bus, everything is fine. And I tried 111, for MDK2, something weird, but no halt.
Whenever I tried 133M system bus, system will halt when running Quake or MDK2. What is wrong with it ? I am sure my system can run at 133M system bus.

Below is my configuration:

AMD 1.2G Athlon Retail Box ( no overclocking of course, bought from newegg.com)
EPOX 8K7A ( from newegg.com )
Crucial PC2100 DDR 256M RAM X 2 = 512M ( from crucial.com )
ATI Radeon 64M DDR VIVO, Driver version: 5.13.01.3102 ( from buy.com )
Creative SouldBlaster Live + Gamer 5.1 ( from dell.com )
Pioneer 16XDVD ( from amazon.com )
YAMAHA 16X10 CDRW ( from dell.com )
WD 30G 7200RPM ATA100 Hard Drive
Antec KS280B+PP303X

Please give me some suggestion, Thanks!!!!

 

[merlocka]

Try running game with 1 memory stick at a time. This will determine if you got a bad stick.

Try lowering the FSB but raising the multiplier of your board (to raise the CPU to it's default speed) to see if your CPU is bad.

Inspect your cooling device. Make sure the thermal contact between the chip and heatsink is proper.

Have you installed the latest 4-in-1 drivers from VIA?

Have you installed directX 8?

 

[cmaMath13]

Can you give us some information on you system's temperatures at idle and full load?

 

[xzw]

My CPU temp is about 41C. Looks good!
But I didn't install 4-in-1 driver, what is that ? where to download it ?
With the ATI radeon driver, it comes directX 8.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

this sounds like you need to flip the dip switch on your motherboard that goes from 100 MHz to 133 MHz so that you will be using the 1/4 divider for your PCI cards so they are running at their spec 33 MHz instead of way overclocked at 44 MHz. That should fix your problem. Many people make that same mistake initially with that board.

 

[xzw]

NelsonMuntz , Thank you so much!
Flipping the DIP solved my problem...... So great!

Haven't assembled a machine for a long time, almost forget to set the switch thinking that the MB nowadays can detect it all automatically.
I'd better check the MB manual to see this before assembling the machine!

Thanks for all the replies!!!

 

[merlocka]

Also, read up about the 4-in-1 drivers. I would strongly suggest installing them. I have heard about people who say boards run fine without them, but very rare.

 

[cmaMath13]

Great! Glad to hear problem is solved.

 

[xzw]

what is that 4-in-1 driver for ?
I installed that, but nothing happened! Do I still need to install IDE tool to make the harddrive running at ATA100 ?