unstable KT7a, amd 1400, GTS pro

[Clymbore]

This is a new system abit kt7a via kt133, amd k7 1400 mhz, 256 mb pc150, gts geforce2 running winxp.

Here is all the stuff it was doing yesterday


1.the mouse "flutters" or stalls, the problem seems to come and go (with the sound card totally out and only a nic card in, I have tried every pci slot)
2. it reboots for no reason all all (even without the sc and with nothing big running like a game, when I came home today it was rebooting as I came in the door)
3. When the SC is in, the windows noise (first noise that windows makes like a welcome noise) is real terrible, all static BUT everything after that sounds perfect. (UT 3dmark all other sounds including other windows noises)
4. When I enabled all the four way interleave stuff it wont boot up at all. I have to go back to the bios and turn it back to default and/or clear the biose (I have had to do this like 5 times to get it to reboot, the problem persists) .This morining I felt that the video card feels warm (almost hot) to the touch (the fan on it (the vc card) IS spinning). The cpu was cool to the touch. (nothing is overclocked)
6. crashes almost every time at the same place when running 3dmark2000 (when the helicopter blows up)
7. I tried the other nvidia driver 12.9 and it did not help.
8.All of this stuff has been going on through all different bios settings, everything from the default settings (and just upping the cpu to 1400) to tweaked.
9. I am building another identical system at work, I brought home the 256k of kingston memory and replaced it with mine, the problem did not go away!
10. the only speed/multiplier setting that equals 1400 that will post is 12.5*107. the max that will post at 133 is 10.5 (1266)
11. I turned off my computer for an hour, took the side off (fong 300) and pointed a floor fan at it, just in case it was a heat prob. the problem is just as bad.
12. I have played several games of UT WITHOUT crashing. but with nothing running it still crashes. (like within 5 minutes of closing UT)and the funky mouse stutter flutter prob is still there.

(the mouse funky think does not show up in UT)

I am thinking it has to do with some kind of heat issue even though nothing is overclocked.

The case is 300w. I currently have the voltages set to default.

HERE ARE ALL THE THINGS I HAVE TRIED TODAY!

I have tried a lot more things, but still it won't work

1. flashed bios (to kt73r)(which supports 1400mhz)
2. ditched windowsxp and reformatted to WinME
3. Installed the 4n1 drivers, detonator, dirextX8

The mouse flutter problem is gone BUT...........

I STILL can't run the cpu by ANY multiplier times 133, even well below 1400 mhz
it just goes to a blank screen and I have to clear the cmos.

I am having to run it at 110*(various) for testing, even well below 1400 it crashes, however it will boot to windows just not run a 3d program (crashed immediatly or after a short time)

I have tried this with everything taken out except for the video Card (gts2 pro)but it still crashes.

Oh, this may be a tip off. I tried to install the AMD driver pack but it gave an error message that NO AMD DEVICE EXISTS!
(I took the fan off and checked the processor, silly I know but anyway iT says amd all over it and "a1400ams3c&quot

"also at this point I don't have all the default bios setting except for cpu speed"

The CPU temp is 52c.

I also just tried a different video card but the problem still is there.

 

[Budman]

1.Do you have an Amd aproved power supply rated ok for a 1.4ghz Athlon?

2.Did you unlock your chip to be able to adjust the multipliers? (L1)

 

[Clymbore]

This case appears to be Athlon Approved.


http://www.directron.com/fk320.html

Black Fong Kai FK-320B Super Mid-Tower ATX Computer Cases, Xeon & Athlon Approved, w/ 300W PS, *P4 Ready


How would I "unlock the chip". It's a true 1.4, should I have to do that?

 

[Budman]

Looks like your power supply is only aproved for up to 1.33ghz athlons.



<< Power Supply: AMD Athlon K7 approved Model ATX-0730 300W made by Enhanced Electronics, recommended for up to Athlon 1333MHz (1.33GHz). >>






Go here to see how to join the L1's to unlock your chip.

 

[gsaldivar]

This may be different in WinXP..:

Right-click &quot;My Computer&quot; > System Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > System Failure ... make sure &quot;Automatically reboot&quot; is not checked.

 

[Clymbore]

But even at 9*133 it won't post. That is way below the 1333mhz. Do you still think it is a power problem? It won't post anything at 133. (well I havnt tried every multipier)

The only weird/unusual thing that happened when building this computer (bought a pretested bundle from mwave) is that I took the stock fan off and mounted a bigger fan before I even put the motherboard in the case. It did not work (fan would not spin) so I put the stock one back on. I wonder if I coudl have damaged something with all the on and off. I ditched the other fan immediatly and don't think it had time to overheat. If it did overheat, would it even be working at all?

(gsaldivar, the rebooting/mouse problems disappeard when I formatted and installed winme)

Also, a new 1.4 would not be locked out of 133 would it?

What do you think I should try next?

 

[fetuchin]

which mobo version do you have? which bios? some previous-to-1400 bios did not recognize 133x10.5 so you had to upgrade the bios to use that multiplier and to add stability to the config (it would disable acpi as well to avoid instability at high speeds). on the other hand a powerful psu is a must for you (as it is for me, i've just ordered a 400w psu that -hope- will be installed in a couple of days).

 

[fetuchin]

i forgot it, there are 100-fsb 1400s as well. i just imagine yours is a 266 fsb, isn't it?. look for a b or a c in the first line of the processors code. if it ends in c it is 266 if b 200 fsb.

 

[Budman]

<< I took the fan off and checked the processor, silly I know but anyway iT says amd all over it and &quot;a1400ams3c >>



It's a C (266).

The only thing i can think of is that psu that's only rated for 1.33ghz.

But then again it's an Abit so anything's possible.

 

[fetuchin]

oops, i just did not read the end of your post where you state you just have tried to flash bios and that stuff. it sounds like yours is a 100fsb 1400.

 

[Budman]

<< oops, i just did not read the end of your post where you state you just have tried to flash bios and that stuff. it sounds like yours is a 100fsb 1400. >>



Then you better go read it again, it's a C chip running at 133mhz (266).

 

[fetuchin]

sorry for the errors. anyone can commit a mistake.
nonetheless my psu -as you can see in my sig- is 230watt and it works fine up tp 1.39 1.40 (139x10 / 140x10) having to cope with processor 2 80mmfans, hsf fan, northbridge fan, extra video card fan, 4 pci cards 2 40gb 7200 rpm hd, 1 20 gb 7200 hd 1 20x cdrw 1 40x scsi cdrom, 1 ide zip and 768mb ram) so i do not think 300 watts are that extremely short of power despite of the quality of your psu (mine is common enlight). sure it will add instability but do not think things are going to that extreme.
anyway my experience is for sure far more limited than yours, i only try to help, not to asume i am an expert at all.

 

[Budman]

 

[Hardware]

As I said sometimes the KT7A(R) is unable to run on high mhz (>=1333) with a FSB 133 (just like me)
Run your CPU with a 13X100(+x) multiplier und avoid Abit in the future!
Viva Abit go to Hell

 

[Clymbore]

OH MY GOSH.

after all that IT WAS THE MOTHERBOARD. I am 100% sure. I took the whole thing apart and used a differnt kt7a. It is fine/stable at 133*10.5 (1400) and probably higher.

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions, I learned a lot! I hope they warranty it, but I am just glad to what the problem was.