KT7 + Duron OC problems

[Sleeper]

I have an Abit KT7 and a Duron 600 that I can overclock to over 1GHz just fine at 1.85Volts. At least that has been for the last month or so. However, a few days ago, it stopped being able to do the POST at even 800MHz some of the time. Please note that there is nothing wrong with the processor, but it is a problem with something with the pins or the motherboard because I have a huge loud fan that keeps the temp down to less than 25 degrees celsius at full load. Also, I know it is not caused by any other component in my system because I have been testing this at the default bus speed of 100MHz. I have verified that it is not an issue with the multiplier or the 50Mhz pin because I can clock it at anything up to 750Mhz just fine. I have installed the via 4-in-1 drivers and I am using bios version UL. I have also found out (through experimentation) that my computer will not POST at anything higher than 750MHz using the default voltage. I think that the problem is that sometimes, upon booting, the voltage that is used is the default voltage, and not the 1.85 that I want it to be. Is there some sort of manual override that I could use to get around the possibility of it sometimes using the default voltage and sometimes using 1.85V? I think the best solution at this point would be just to *gasp* do the voltage mod on my motherboard to make it so the default voltage is higher than 1.85V and then I'll be all set, but I'd rather not risk frying my motherboard unless absolutely necessary. Ok, so I think I've given as much information as I possibly can about the situation. Thank you for reading. If you have any suggestions or questions, please post a reply.

-Sleeper

 

[Technonut]

Well,

#1. How is your Duron unlocked? If it is by pencil, I would try to redo the lines, or use the Loctite conductive paint. (the best solution)

#2. When you are in BIOS what does it say your voltage is set at under the system health monitor? (not Soft Menu)

#3. If indeed you do have a voltage problem, you do not need to mod the board for 1.85V. Just fill in the L7 bridges the same way that the L1's are unlocked. It should default to 1.85V.

I suspect that if you unlocked it with a pencil, it just needs to be re-done. I strongly suggest the Loctite since I have done quite a few with pencil, and they all failed sooner or later.

EDIT: You are setting the voltage in Soft Menu to what you want it to be right?

 

[lane42]

Yes, I would agree with Technonut. Sounds like an L1 problem. My 600 came with L7 connected.

 

[Sleeper]

#1 Unlocked by pencil.
#2 When it posts, the bios says 1.92V (which is what I want it to be). I set it to 1.85 in softmenu and my motherboard adds .07V because it is a VIA chipset.
#3 SWEET! I didn't know that you could do that with the L7 bridges. Do I just connect them the same way as the L1?

-Sleeper

 

[lane42]

Sleeper look here

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1345&p=4

 

[Sleeper]

Penciling the L7 bridges worked! I guess for some reason, setting the voltage in the bios doesn't always work on my board. But, who cares! It works now! I have it running at 115*8.5 = 980MHz right now and it can run the Prime95 torture test while serving a 4 player game of Quake3Arena while I'm playing (and serving) a multiplayer game Diablo2. That should be a good enough stability test so I am quite pleased. My system now beats the Athlon 1GHz in every benchmark in Sandra. It gets a 525/628 on the memory benchmark, which is about what a DDR board gets! Finally I can actually take advantage of this Mushkin ram. Thank you so much Technonut.