K7VTA3 doesn't like 2600+...

[ecollier]

I just bought the fry's special, ECS K7VTA3 and an AMD 2600+. I try to get the board set to a 2600+, and it doesn't boot when I set the jumpers j2 and j3 to 166. Am I doing something wrong? Can someone give me a hand and let me know how I should set the jumpers and the bios for a 2600+?

Thanks for any help.

Eric

 

[Peter]

There are four different 2600+ processors. Check what you have there - it might be a 133 MHz bus version.

 

[ecollier]

The receipt says it's a barton..... I haven't wanted to take the heatsink off to verify, because I don't have any thermal paste lying around.

Eric

 

[o1die]

This board is a hit or miss item. Try reseating your ddram. One problem with this board is the lack of "beeps" when there's a problem, so it's more difficult to diagnose. I went through a total of 5 boards with my duron. The first 4 posted only about 50% of the time. The fifth one runs perfectly. I use mushkin pc2100 memory and an enermax 350 watt power supply. What are the specs for your memory and power supply?

 

[ecollier]

I'm running Crucial PC2100 512 RAM, and have an Antec 400 wat PSU.

Eric

 

[o1die]

Your pc2100 may be holding you back. Some pc2100 will run overclocked at 333, but apparantly yours won't. This board automatically sets the memory fsb the same as the cpu. At 166, you need pc2700 to run at 333. Try running the cpu at 150 (the same setting I use) by setting the jumpers to 133 fsb and manually changing the cpu fsb in the bios. If you still can't get it to work, try swapping motherboards or using different memory.

 

[Peter]

See if you can choose 166 MHz for the CPU bus and 133 for the RAM. I don't recall whether this VIA chipset board lets you do that though.

 

[pspada]

I'm pretty sure the jumpers are set to the 166 bus speed by default, and I don't think there is a way to set the memory to run at a different bus speed. You can see if the memory speed is the problem (most likely) by setting the cpu to 133 bus speed - if the machine then works (at a lower speed than the 2600+ should run, of course), it's your ram that's the problem.

 

[Peter]

The board's manual does mention the BIOS has a RAM speed control. Anyhow, the BIOS should be detecting the maximum possible speed for your DIMMs automatically by default. However, as I said, VIA chipsets might not be able to run the RAM slower than the CPU. (SiS chipsets do, so if you can, swap that K7VTA3 for an M848A.)

 

[pspada]

I picked up one of these deals, and the mobo is a new rev 6, not the rev 5 I've used before. The jumpers were set to a default 100Mhz fsb - I can see plenty of returns from newbie users who don't know to change the jumpers.

 

[ecollier]

You're right. The board is rev.6 and it was set to 100. I guess I'm smart enough to know to change the jumpers!! Thank goodness!! I bought some new pc2700 RAM, so hopefully it will work the way it's intended to. I borrowed a stick of 128 pc2700 from a friend, and it came up as a 2600+. So you guys were right all along!!!


Thanks a ton!!

Eric