New M7NCG-Pro & XP-1700 PC (Not OC'd) statred acting up

Herkulese

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2001
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MOBO - Biostar M7NCG-Pro (at 200/400mhz FSB)
CPU - XP-1700+ TBread "A" (Not OC"d - 200 x 7.5 = 1.5ghz)
RAM - OCZ Performance PC3200 DDR
SURGE PROTECTOR - Tripp Lite TLP810NET (3690 Joule Rating)

I set this PC up over a period of a week, installing a lot of software and testing it, with absolutely no instability of any kind. I even mildly OC'd it, and ran a Prime 95 test, at priority 10,for several hoursb with no errors.

I delivered it to my friend on Saturday, and on Sunday he ran it for a while, and left it on. Later that day there was a thunderstorm near there house, and when he went back to use the PC, it would not come out of the standard power saving black screen. Instead of calling me, he left it running like that for the next couple of days, through 2 more thunder storms.

Also, the apartment that he lives in has one circuit for the living room and two bedrooms, and all outlets are the old 2-prong style.

He finally called Tuesday night to ask me what might be wrong, and it was still locked at the black power saver screen. I asked him to hit the rest button, but it came to a black screen that said "TO PREVENT YOUR COMPUTER FROM BEING DAMAGED, WINDOWS HAS NOT STARTED". I then had him do a cold re-start and it would not even post. I told him to shut it down, and unplug the surge protector.

Several days later, I got the chance to go over and take a look, and the first thing I did was CLEAR CMOS, and VIOA it started right up and went into Windows. I tried going on line, to see if the modem was OK and it connected and logged in with no problem at all. I then started testing by doing several warm restarts, and sure enough, as it warmed up it started not posting and/or posting and not loading windows. I had to lower the FSB to 166 to get it to start consistently. I tried leaving the ram at 200 but it will not run there without extra voltage either. If I add voltage to the IGP (1.6 up to 1.8) it will load windows most of the time but, once in a while it will not. As it gets warmer it gets worse.

Any comments or suggestions?
 

johnjkr1

Platinum Member
Jan 10, 2003
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I'd start by replacing the power supply. Or calling the company that made the surge protector and get them to pay for it. Power spikes can also come through cable, then the nic, so check that out too.
 

Herkulese

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2001
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I ment to say that I did try a known good power supply, with the same results.

There is no NIC or Cable hooked up. I mentioned that the modem is still working perfectly, and BYW, it is hooked up through the Surge Protector.
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Has anyone here had experience getting a surge protector company to pay for a system that was damaged by a power spike through there system?
 

Cheetah8799

Diamond Member
Apr 12, 2001
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As johnjkr1 implied, the surge protector can fail. The mfgr often will insure your equipment that is being protected. Depends on what surge protector you bought though.

CPU - XP-1700+ TBread "A" (Not OC"d - 200 x 7.5 = 1.5ghz)

Is 200mhz fsb the default for this cpu? I'm guessing the default is 166mhz, or 133mhz, in which case a 200mhz fsb would be considered overclocking the cpu, even though you may have lowered the multiplier so that the final speed is "stock".

I assume you've checked the temps on the cpu to see if it is overheating? You may want to install MBM5 if you haven't already, just to see what it says. maybe stick in another intake/exhaust fan to see what happens to the temps/stability?

You could also try booting up a copy of Knoppix to see if it results in the same problem.


EDIT: Also, I live in a similar apartment. The power plugs are almost all 2-prong. You may want to check if there are ANY 3-prong plugs that you could run an extension cord to for the pc. It may help. In my apartment the wiring in the walls is very old, and we get a lot of power surges. Light bulbs don't often last long... I have all my gear on surge protectors, and the best you can do is to make sure it's a good one.
 

Herkulese

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2001
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MOBO - Biostar M7NCG-Pro (Supports 200/400mhz FSB)
CPU - XP-1700+ TBread "A" (1.47ghz Stock)
RAM - OCZ Performance PC3200 DDR
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OK,

I have done some more experimenting.

If I run at FSB 166 x 9 (1.49ghz), with RAM sinked at 166, I can run Prime 95 at priority 10 for hours with no problems.

If I run at FSB 166 x 9 (1.49ghz), with RAM asink at 200, I can not get into Windows. It gets to the Main XP screen, with the blue bar, then goes to a black screen.

If I run at If I run at FSB 200 x 7.5 (1.5ghz), with RAM asink at 166, I can sometimes get into windows, and sometimes not.