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"Quick .. Quick .. Power down .. he's working on something and has not saved yet" ..said the computer

C

Confucius

Junior Member
I have a puzzling problem with my new Shuttle (forgot it write down the model) motherboard and a AMD 1700+ processor with a volcano cooler. The system also has 2 PC2100 128 SDRAM modules, a Radeon 7000 video card, twin 20 gig drives and 2 case fans in a full tower with a 300watt power supply. Now that that is out of the way .. No matter what OS is on the system it decides when to power down or lockup. Usually on the first boot the system will work for about 3 minutes (from a cold boot) and the entire system will lock up hard. After that I need to hard boot the machine due to the inability to soft boot with the keyboard. The system will usually then work for several hours with out a problem, but then the system will prompt me with a GPF of what ever I am working in and allows me to close it and it proceeds to power down the system. I have removed memory modules and replaced them with new ones, did not help. I did unplug and remove devices just in case it was overloading the power supply .. still no go. The volcano cooler is running and the coolant mixture supplied was added to the surface of the processor. Just in case of overheating I added a few case fans .. still nothing. I am lost and do not know where the light at the end of the tunnel went... can you help???😱

I do not consider myself a moron .. just one to slow to comprehend the basics ..😀
 
Ok, couple questions to start narrowing down the issue. What temps are you getting in bios? What speed is your CPU fan registering in bios? What are the actual voltages from bios for the vcore, 3.3v, 5v and 12v rails?

What brand powersupply?

 
I will get that later today when I get home .. I was in a hurry this morning .. I do remember that the BIOS showed the temps were in tolerance. The Vcore is 3.3v (auto set by the Bios- is registering correctly as a 1700+). "What speed is your CPU fan registering in bios?" I will check this ..

thanks
 
CPU VOLTAGE - 1.712V WITH DEFAULT 1.750V; warning temp 70c / current 45c; fan speed 4450 rpm; Shuttle AK31S2EF V2.0 ..on first boot it will lock up almost imediatly.. the second boot it may or may not work for 5 minutes. I am currently running MEMTEST-86 v3 to test the memory chips. The power suppy is an allied 300w
 
Looks like your possibly getting low vcore. Which may be causing your boot problems. You could try upping the vcore. This might make you more stable while your running, but if your mobo has issues where it boots at default you may have to close some of the bridges that control the vcore to set its default to a higher value. I don't remember which set of bridges those are (I want to say L7's, but am probably wrong). Do a search or post that as a specific question.

But try a higher vcore first and see if it improves/fixes your stability issue while your running.

It also may be your 5volt rail on your powersupply can't handle the load and you might need a new supply. You didn't post what the 5volt rail said in bios.
 
Was XP incuded in the OS's you've tried? If not, have you been installing current 4-in-1 drivers? A general protection fault can be caused by a large set of variables. Usually a GPF will include an application that caused the fault in an .exe module. What are your GPF's indicating as the cause? It may help us to track down the problem. I suppose it could be Vcore related, but at 1.712v (provided that's accurate), you're talking about ~2% variance from spec. That shouldn't be enough to cause these errors IMO. Did you swap motherboards without a fresh OS install or something?

What's the history behind this system?
 
I appreciate everyone's help. Here is the history:

I purchased this system a couple months ago and the first shuttle board burned out with in 1 day. I shipped it back and got a new one. I started with XP it would work pretty good for about a week then on reboot the system could not find the OS (this occured 3 times). I then downgraded to 2000 and it seemed to work pretty good until I tried to run any processor intensive programs and it would just close the program down and go back to the desktop. usually locking the machine shortly after that. I then decided to try new pc2100 memory, possible burn out of the memory chips on teh last motherboard failure. This did not fix the issue. I was service patched up to current levels on everything. I decided to wipe 2000 and drop win98 se on it. The issues I am currently having is with 98SE. I took the processor to a computer shop down the street and had them test the processor ..just in case, no probelm found after 8 hours of loop testing. This is when I decided it may be a cooling issue on the cpu so I purchased a volcano cooler, same issues .. I have run a memory tester (MEMTEST-86 v3) without errors after it ran its tests for 6 hours on the memory.

"possibly getting low vcore" does anyone know that the core should be running at?? I am looking at it right now and it is flux between 1.696 and 1.712. Default is 1.750v

3.3VIN = 3.24
5V = 4.86
12V = 12.03
-12V = -11.62
-5v = -4.99
VBAT(V) = 3.21
5VSB = 5.37

CPU Warning temp = 70c/158f
system temp = 33c / 91f
CPU temp = 41c / 105f
cpufan speed = 3792

Thanks again
 
It sounds to me like something else is causing the system to crash. Have you tried running the system bare boned...with only a processor, video card, RAM, PSU, mobo, HDD, floppy, CD-ROM etc. I've had NICs, soundcards and other PCI peripherals wreak havoc on a system.
 
I have stripped the system down to the basics, even without a CD-ROM and it works for a while. I think there may be a power issue because I hooked up a internet gateway server to the same power and after I try to burn a CD from it and the internal mobo alarm on the gateway started buzzing. I have burned several CD's from this system while it was hooked up in it's original location. I only have 2 computers on that circuit so I doubt it is a load issue .. but ya never know. I and hooking the system up in another location today to see if this was the problem .. that would suck if it was .. I am pretty sure I have tried this before .. I don't remember. I will try to bump the vcore if it still does not work .. thanks again
 
No go .. tried a different location and everything .. I believe that this is an issue with the BIOS config. I have called Shuttle's tech support .. ha .. good one "tech support" ..more like "Are You an Idiot Support" The person was reading word for word from the manual .. any additional questions I was put on hold so they could find out .. and guess what ... they did not know. The person that is "Knowledgeable with AMD configurations" is on vacation for the next 2 weeks ... boy oh boy .. when it rains it pours. The memory checks out, the BIOS seems to be in order. The last thing I need to try is to swap out the power supply .. I am trying to figure out how to boost the vcore in this bios without changing the dipp switches... argh
 
You do realise that shuttle is part of the infamous PC-CHIPS conglomerate don't you?

PC-CHIPS are crap when it comes to quality, support and service and that's putting it nicely. If you are unaware of PC-CHIP's history I suggest you try a google search using the terms "486 fake cache motherboard" Here is a sample article from the resulting list.

If stability and reliable operation matter to you at all, you should always purchase motherboards from tier one manufacturers. The extra cost more than pays for itself in reliability - you get what you pay for.

I wouldn't hold my breath on the "AMD expert" getting back to you either... you are simply being given the run around there.

My advice is to cut your losses with the board - return it for refund and replace it with a decent one.

Greg
 
Man .. this sucks .. thanks for the help .. I have been having a crappy year when it comes to "deals" on mobo's .. 2 doa's and now this one .. gee .. I love technology .. yea it pays the bills but it sure turns the hair grey really quick ..


:disgust:
 
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