PLEASE HELP! --> Boot problems with my new Athlon XP 1800 and Abit KR7-RAID, please help!

[Epsil0n00]

I am in the process of putting together my new system. This is the first time I have built my own, so I am a bit inexperienced. I have installed the CPU (an Athlon XP 1800) onto the mobo (Abit KR7-RAID) and put on the Heatsink+Fan (Alpha PAL 8045 + Enermax 80mm fan). I have not plugged in any of the drives--I wanted to make sure that it would boot okay before I started dealing with HDD setup or OS installation. I have also plugged in my GF3 Ti200, and have the monitor plugged into that. When I first tried to turn it on it wouldn't power on--turns out I had the power switch wires backwards.

So, I got it to power on. It boots, recognizes the CPU and all of the RAM, looks for drives and finds none. This is where the problem happens, it says, "CMOS checksum error - defaults loaded."
Then it gives the options of F1 to continue or "del" to enter setup. If I press "del" it tries to load the BIOS and then hangs. If I press "F1" it loads the Highpoint RAID driver, checks for devices and then says it can't find any valid system (which is to be expected).

When I reboot it runs through the checks again but this time it reports "CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck - CPU SOFT MENU"

Then it gives the same options to press "F1" or "del" -- pressing either one has the same results as before. It will continue to give the "CPU unworkable" message upon every boot. I tried clearing the CMOS and it went back to saying the original error message "CMOS checksum error - defaults loaded." Then it hung when I tried to enter the BIOS and now it is back to saying the "CPU unworkable" message.

By all physical clues, the system appears to be working properly--all the fans are spinning, LEDs lighting up etc. If you have any ideas of what the problem might be, I would really appreciate your assistance. Thanks for reading through this huge message and taking a moment to help. I look forward to your responce.

Thanks!
Epsil0n

 

[Epsil0n00]

bump, any ideas? Thanks

 

[WarCon]

If you didn't quite get your heatsink on right, maybe your having severe instability due to heat. What thermal compound did you use? Check and see if you got your washers on right.

Also did you try to unlock it your processor? Maybe thats causing an issue.

 

[So]

Not sure if this is your issue, but check very carefully that your CPU is level in the socket. The KR7A's thermistor is initially bent slightly too high for athlon XP's (the resistors on the bottom of the chip touch the thermistor) and you may have to bend it down so the CPU will sit level in the socket.

Hope that helps (and I hope that if this is the case, that you have good enough contact between the CPU and heatsink that you didn't fry your nice new XP. )

 

[Epsil0n00]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the ideas. I didn't try to unlock the CPU. I remember talking about the thermister issue, but I made very sure that the CPU is seated fully and evenly. The Heatsink is level and I am using AS3. My heatsink (Alpha PAL 80450 uses screws as opposed to the popular clip method, so it is easy to install properly and make sure it is level.

I actually think that I figured out the problem with that error message--doing some searching turned up some causes of this problem. Pretty much, on Abit mobos when you try to overclock or underclock (or simply have the CPU speed set incorrectly) it gives that message. All you have to do is make sure that it is set correctly in the BIOS. The problem for me was that I couldn't get into the BIOS because it would always freeze. I finally managed to get in by pressing the "delete" key quickly as soon as it started to load.

Now when I startup it recognizes the correct speed (before it said that it was an 1100MHz. I figured that the FSB just needed to be set to 133MHz instead of 100MHz, but it turned out that the FSB was already at 133 and it just had the wrong CPU speed). However, I still can't get into the BIOS--it always crashes with a text cursor in the top left and a blue bar across the bottom of the screen. I can't even control-alt-del out of it--I have to hit reset.

Also, sometimes when I hit reset it will look like its going to restart, but it just sits there and doesn't load even though the system is powered on and the fans are spinning. If I hit reset again, or maybe a couple times, it will load. Also, when I hit the power button (which is a hard switch as opposed to a software switch) on my Lian Li case it turns off the system--but then I can't turn the power back on. To solve this I have to flip the switch on the back of the case off, than back on, then hit the power button and it will power on again. Its like I have to clear some existing charge or something.

Finally, one of the times I started up it showed the CPU speed as being around 1400MHz instead of the proper 1530MHz of the XP1800. When I restarted it showed the correct settings.

If you have any ideas of what might be causing these irregularities and strange, but annoying, problems I would love to hear them. Thanks again!

Epsil0n

 

[So]

Ok, I have another idea.

You have a LanLi case - I think there may be an issue with a case standoff.

In my case, there is a hole that is out of line with a standoff, but fortunately the standoffs in my case are removable, so I just left it out, however, I think I recall hearing something about the LanLi contacting there and causing errors (They may have even been similar to this one, no sure tho.)

The standoff in question is in the upper right corner of the motherboard. Check this standoff carefully and if you find that it is contacting you can take it from there.

Even if this is not the case, it can't hurt to strip the system down and run it with just the essentials. (Yes, I know that'll be a lot of work w/ the 8045 & the KR7A, so you may want to make it your last resort)

Hopefully that helps.

Good luck.

And consider this an afternoon bump!

Edit: For clarification, when I say strip the sytem down, I am suggesting that you take the mobo off the backplane and run the system sitting on the mobo's original antistatic bag.

 

[Legendary]

I've read many places that the HS on the Northbridge doesn't have enough epoxy underneath it and it's not doing it's job well with just that. Take the HSF off the northbridge, put some AS3 on, then put the HSF back on, see if that fixes anything.

 

[So]

That sounds like a possibility, but I personally have never had a problem w/ the default Northbridge heatsink (I may just be lucky, and have gotten adequate thermal compound), but I would wait on that. I doubt that the chipset could overheat that quickly (I am assuming it takes him under 30 secs before it crashes)

 

[Epsil0n00]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the suggestions. So~ you're right, the hole on the mobo doesn't quite line up with the nearest standoff on the mobo tray. I did have a standoff in that hole which wasn't lined up properly... but, I could see from the front of the case (through a drive bay) that the standoff wasn't touching the PCB. I removed it just in case.

You're also correct when you said that it crashes less than 30 seconds after I boot. Here's what happens: I press the power button, it begins to load the BIOS, as soon as I see anything on the screen I begin hitting "delete" to enter the BIOS setup. Then it acts like it is going to enter the BIOS setup, but goes to the screen with the blue bar across the bottom of the screen. A couple times it has actually loaded the BIOS, but mostly not.

I am going to try running it outside of the case to see if that helps--> at least that way I can narrow things down a bit more. Would I still connect the power button from the case, or buy some other kind of switch? Yeah, I'll try it first with the same PWS connected from inside the case coming out, and with the case's power button, just not mounted in the case. The one thing I can't take out of the equation is the video card, since the KR7A doesn't have any onboard video out.

I will test this setup and let you know what happens... talk to you soon. And thanks again for all the advice!
Epsil0n

 

[Epsil0n00]

I just thought of something else... do you think that updating the BIOS to the latest verison would be a good idea? I haven't read to much on how to do this (you need to have the BIOS on a floppy disk, and then load it off of that into the BIOS chip right?). I have always heard that flashing the BIOS is sorta risky, right? Do you thihk this would help? Maybe I'll try all other options before investigating this possibility... I just wanted to hear what y'all think.

 

[abaez]

If you can return it and get a Northwood 1.6 and a p4b266 you should do it.

 

[Epsil0n00]

<< If you can return it and get a Northwood 1.6 and a p4b266 you should do it. >>

[sarcasm] Thanks ever so much for your helpful suggestion![/sarcaasm]

:| :| :| :| :| :|

 

[So]

abaez, that was a bit unnecessarry, wasn't it?

If you take it out of the case and it continues to crash, I wouldn't advise flashing the bios just yet. If you don't try to enter the bios, what hapens? does it crash or does it continue to boot? It could be a corrupted bios (never heard of that happening before, but you never know, right?)

When you take it out of the case, there should be no problem leaving the power switch attached and using that to boot, but you could optionally use a short piece of metal (i.e. a flathead screwdriver) to short the pins for the power switch to boot it.

Anyway, strip it down to the mobo, CPU, Heatsink/fan, 1 stick of ram and power supply.

Good luck.

BTW. RAM problems are a possibility, the KR7A has some weird ram preferences(it can be picky, I am running crucial ram problem free). Make SURE that the ram is FULLY inserted (it does take a seemigly excessive amount of force) don't snap the board, but don't be so gentle that the ram doesn't go all the way in, you arent done pushing it down when it clicks in w/ the KR7A, it has to go slightly further (at least on mine and most of the earlier ones, I don't know if this has changed recently). Also, I believe that the KR7A.

Additionally, you may want to check out the AMDMB (www.amdmb.com) forums they have an ABIT forum that may be able to provide help.

Good luck, I am sure that you'll get that system running in no time. This is the fun part of PC's

 

[Epsil0n00]

So~ I took the mobo out and ran it sitting on the anti-static bag... same results. I tried running it without the battery in, same results. I tried reseating the RAM and the video card, same results. I think that I am going to flash the BIOS to the latest version and see if that helps. If that doesn't work it's back to Newegg with this mofo... er um I mean mobo.

I'll let you know how it goes.
epsil0n

 

[Epsil0n00]

Hey, I didn't see your reply... to answer your questions:

If I don't try to enter the BIOS it will check the CPU speed and the RAM then continue to load as if nothing were wrong. Then it will tell me that there is no OS found. However, I took the battery out which cleared the CMOS, so now it is back to saying that error message about the CPU being unworkable, because it is set to the wrong speed, and I have no way of correcting this now cause it wont go into SETUP at all.

The RAM has always been recognized correctly, but I tried running it with one stick only, then swapping sticks and it still gave the same results. I made very sure that the RAM and the video card are fully inserted. I am using 1024MB of Kingston RAM, which I know isn't the absolute best, but it appears to be working fine.

I'll take your advice and do some more research before I flash the BIOS, but it seems like that step is soon approaching. More soon if I figure anything out. BTW, I should bake you some cookies for all of your help.

Epsil0n

 

[So]

Sorry to hear that you've had such bad luck, it certainly sounds like it may just be a bad board. Good luck with the flash, and if it fails, surely your next board - be it another KR7A or a different board, (the A7V-266E is in my opinion #2 - haven't owned one tho') - will be fine. I will be interested to hear how the bios flash goes.

I know how you feel, I could never get my old A7V133 to run stably, I finally had to give up on the ah heck. I'm sure virtually everyone else here has dealt with bad hardware before.

Best of luck. Hopefully the BIOS flash will fix things.

 

[KyleMac]

I can't be bothered to read through this whole thread so if I'm repeating stuff call my a lazy idiot.

I had the same problem last night with my new 1700 and KR7A-133. Just go into the bios and load optimal or fail-safe defaults and try to boot again.

If your processor speed is wrong yet you're FSB is set to 133 in the bios then you need to change to user defined settings and set 133 yourself.

Just some problems I experienced last night.

 

[Epsil0n00]

I tried to flash the BIOS, or was going to try, but I couldn't get it to boot off the floppy. I know that the floppy is bootable, and it has all the right stuff as Paul's FAQ recommends, but no go. I couldn't enter the BIOS in order to change the boot order, but I assume at default settings that the Floppy is set as the first boot device... Nothing I did would get it to boot from the floppy, so there's no way for me to flash the BIOS (unless maybe I connect the cd drive and boot from an OS cd, then go to dos and flash from there, hmmm, that may work...)

Also, I tried to take apart the northbridge HSF (to make sure that there was enough grease). I got the fan off with no problem, but the HS uses these annoying little plastic clips to hold it onto the PCB. In the end I figured that it would be better not to ruin these clips as it would probably void my warrenty--which I will be needing when I send the thing back to Newegg.

So, myabe I'll try to boot from a CD before I give up on this SOB, but either way I think it is destined to be RMA'ed.
Any Ideas anyone? Thanks!

Epsil0n

BTW~ Thanks for the link to amdmb.com, you're right, that forum is really usefull. I can tell I'll be spending more time there when I get this KR7A-RAID working properly.

 

[So]

I am pretty sure that floppy is the default first boot device, tho' I don't even know if boot from CD is on by default.

Sorry to hear that you had no luck w/ the bios flash. It sounds like you've tried just about everything (at least that I can think of). I guess you must just have a bad board .

It's a shame that we weren't able to help you .
Good luck w/ the RMA.

 

[Epsil0n00]

Hey~ the guys over at AMDMB.com helped me figure this one out. Turns out that the whole problem was due to noise on the CPU fan's RPM sensing wire. As soon as I plugged this fan directly into the powersupply my problems went away! Also, someone suggested that I might be able to solder in a "10nF capacitor across from the sense wire to ground on the connector of the fan" and that would allow the RPM sensing while cutting out the noise.

I am happy for now.

here's the link to that thread in case anyone is interested or is having similar problems.
LINK

Thanks for your help So!

 

[So]

Glad to help. And I'm glad you got your problem resolved, I guess we'll all have to keep an eye out for that one in the future.

That was a strange problem, I guess you learn something new every day.

 

[CoDerEd]

I had the same problem with enermax fan and KR7A mobo also.
same problem with you except i put the enermax for case fan.
i try the fan on different mobo and it's working but on KR7A
it's only works when we put it on the PSU not on the mobo.
I guess your post also answer the question for my problem.

thanks

 

[HikkiFan]

This problem happened to me twice :-( and I solved it by loosen up the screws on the motherboard a little.... it seems that I screwed it in too hard.