My PC2100 sticks can't hit 133MHz?

[MrCodeDude]

Flashback.

Lost / damaged partition table on old hard-drive. Bought new hard-drive, switched from the K7S5A to the Iwill 333-R just for an upgrade, started everything up. Everything worked, could not install any OS (Windows XP and 2000 were the ones I tried). Both gave me errors halfway into the installation. I tried the other cd-rom drive (the CD burner), got farther in both installations, but ended up failing, like the CD-Rom drive.

So I put back the K7S5A, added another 512MB stick of PC2100 ram (now totalling 1GB) and now I can not get the frequency to 133/133 and the CPU is running 10 degrees F higher (used to run 90 Idle, 110 Load) now runs 95 Idle and 120 Load.

The computer will run stable at 100/100, but once I go to 133/133, I can sometimes get into Windows, but 15 minutes with Windows, and a restart I've tried both sticks of RAM together, than tried one, then the other by themselves, then I even took a piece of 512MB PC2100 out of my other machine (which runs 133/133) and it would still not stay stable at 133/133..

Now, I'm clueless. It's not the RAM, could it be the CPU itself? Here are the specs of the computer

330w Enermax PowerSupply
XP 1800+
ECS K7S5A
Tried 3 different sticks of Generic PC2100 512MB RAM (bought at Fry's)
36X Generic CDRom
8x4x32 Phillips CD Burner
7200RPM 80GB Seagate Hard-Drive
MSI GeForce3 Ti200 (at stock speeds at the moment)
Onboard LAN and Audio
Windows XP
-- mrcodedude

 

[zzzz]

probably cpu overheating. Try reseating the HSf and reapplying AS-3(or whatever you use)

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: zzzz
probably cpu overheating. Try reseating the HSf and reapplying AS-3(or whatever you use)

That's what I thought it was too. But everyone else told me it was faulty RAM

I have this small Cooler Master HSF with 60mm Fan which probably produces around 25CFM. Got any other recommendations?
-- mrcodedude

 

[PHiuR]

i think it is ram also...this problem happen to me before

 

[MrCodeDude]

I don't see how all three sticks can all be faulty. Especially since one was previously running at 133/133
-- mrcodedude

 

[DAPUNISHER]

In my personal experience, generic DDR is crap and should be avoided! Pay extra for quality DDR and it'll repay you many times over

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
In my personal experience, generic DDR is crap and should be avoided! Pay extra for quality DDR and it'll repay you many times over

Yes, I know. But for a 14 year old who is jobless, I didn't have the money to pay an extra $50 for the same speed RAM.
-- mrcodedude

 

[RanDum72]

Try slowing down the memory in the BIOS ( CAS 2.5 instead of CAS2, insert a wait state here and there, etc...) It could be that the motherboard has pretty fast timing in which the memory can't cope with. Or the memory may not be fully compatible (I've seen DDR sticks with Samsung chips act funny on the K7S5A). It could be the mobo is wacked but since the memory is giving different mobos problems, most likely its the memory. A 512mb DDR stick I got from Fry's would run just fine with the 'Fast' setting in my KG7 but once you set it to 'Turbo', it becomes unstable. A Kingston stick would run just fine with 'Turbo' but not 'Ultra' ( I like the naming scheme). Only my Crucial sticks run at the 'Ultra' setting.

 

[Rhombuss]

This is why you should never buy Generic RAM - the least you should ever go is brand name chips on OEM PCB. Otherwise, shoot for original packaging, it'll save you headaches in the long run .

But in terms of your problem, could you be using the wrong CPU/RAM divider?

 

[RanDum72]

The K7S5A automatically sets the CPU/RAM divider. There are very few options that you can set in terms of multipliers, etc..