KT3 Ultra 2 / Athlon XP1700 Problem

[tomo57]

I built the following system a week ago:

MSI KT3 Ultra 2
Athlon XP 1700 Retail
Retail Heat Sink and Fan
256MB PC2700 RAM
MSI G4 Ti4200 64MB
WD 60GB 7200rpm HD
Windows 98SE

It performed flawlessly for a week. CPU temp around 40 at idle, no higher than 48 under load. Today it?s totally unstable. It will post and re-boot itself. Sometimes it will boot into Windows but again it will re-boot itself within a minute or so. I tried to run a RAM diagnostic program but was not able to complete the test before the system would crash again. No RAM problems found during the first minute or so of the test. From the health monitor in the BIOS, processor is still running around 42-43. I?d really like to isolate the problem, I?m suspecting the motherboard or the processor. Any ideas on how to isolate it or what the problem could be? I?d appreciate any assistance.

Thanks

 

[DieHardware]

Overclocking?...could you have the memory timings set too aggressively? Have you or someone else touched/disconnected the HSF? Good airflow through your case?

 

[tbates757]

do you have a generic / crappy power supply? clear your cmos maybe. sounds like a power issue

 

[BD231]

I'd say Memory or power supply in that order. Your temps sound great, so overheating is something you dont have to worry about. I'm running the same motherboard and a 1600+ at 180mhz front side bus with no problems. Ram is for sure my #1 pick of what's causing your problem though, unless your cpu is bad, or is being undervolted by your PSU.

 

[tomo57]

Thanks for the tips. I've tried another known 300W power supply and it behaved exactly the same way so I guess I can rule that one out. I have no way of testing the RAM, the computer re-boots long before I can complete a run of Memory Doctor. At best the system will run for a minute or so, at worst it re-boots within seconds after it posts. I'm not overclocking anything. Nothing ever locks up or "crashes", it just re-boots and attempts to get to scan disk because Windows wasn't shut down properly.

TomO

 

[majewski9]

I would bet this is a mother board problem. Defiantely not CPU or temp related since usually when a CPU goes bad it doesnt work at all.