P3 motherboards??

[tw1164]

I'm a little lost when it comes to Intel chips; I have a P3 computer that I bought 2nd hand. It?s been having a lot of hard lockups, at first I thought it was the ram, but its not. I think it maybe the memory controller, or some other aspect of the MB. I need to replace the MB (stupid non-transferable gateway warranty) and need some suggestions, so I can start looking for a board. It?s a simple office/surf box w/ P3-733 in it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mechBgon]

My initial guess is that it's using an i810E-based FlexATX board with two PCI slots, but in a full-sized ATX chassis with seven card slots, so you could use a microATX or ATX board as well. What's the model number on the case, and can you get some markings off the northbridge?

It may also be something else entirely... for instance, a virus/worm/trojan, or bad sectors on your hard drive, perhaps bad RAM or just a Windows corruption. Have you eliminated some/all of those?

 

[tw1164]

Its a NLX board, so I'll have to get a replacement tower (I think).

Its a i815 chipsetSpecs from gateway

I tested for viruses w/ norton, it was ok.

I don't think that it was the HD, because it still locks when I'm running memtest86 off a floppy.

 

[mechBgon]

Oh, gotcha. This might help: Intel board finder

Axiontech.com has quite a few i815 boards, so you might try there after finding something that sounds good. I believe the Gateway PSU uses a normal ATX pinout, although the power supply's housing is not a standard ATX size/shape, so you might want to pick up a new power supply with the new tower.

 

[virtuamike]

For P3 mobo I loved using Asus CUSL2-C. Very stable and good overclocker up to 150FSB. My advice, pick one up on ebay, can get them for ~$50 shipped. Make sure it's CUSL2-C though, couple different versions out there.