Weird 1GHz Athlon / Asus A7V OC Problem

[Dantzig]

I am having the strangest problem trying to overclock an 1GHz Athlon on an Asus A7V (1005C BIOS): I can't change the multiplier to anything but 10x or 10.5x!

I just got a GlobalWin FOP38 w/ the 6800RPM Black Delta fan and I wanted to see how high I could go. I erased the old pencil marks on the L1 bridges and cleaned up the old thermal paste on the chip. Then I redrew the bridges and applied silver-based thermal compound. After configuring the jumpers, I posted at 10x100@default voltage. Then I tried 12x100@1.85v--nothing. 11x100@1.85v--nothing. 10.5x100@1.85v--perfectly stable! Right now I'm running 10.5x109@1.85v.

I know that the chip will POST at least as high as 10.5x117 = 1228MHz @ 1.85v, but for why won't it POST at 11x100 = 1100 MHz @ 1.85v?

Previously, I ran the chip at 11x105 = 1155MHz @ 1.8v w/ a $10 Taisol HSF.

I've tried everything I can think of--cleaning CPU and reapplying thermal compound, redrawing L1 bridges--nothing works.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[AmazonRasta]

I've heard from people that there are some problems unlocking some of the newer week Thunderbird chips. I'm not sure if that's true or not. I've owned two 1.0GHz chips and they've both overclocked nicely. Try going over the bridges about 30 times, and press harder. Also, make sure there is no damage to the core. Last but not least, make sure the dip switches are all the way in the direction (either up or down) that they are supposed to go. Hope this helps you. Good luck to you.

 

[Dantzig]

I've read that from a couple places also, but I used to run this chip at 11x105 and now it won't even POST at 11x100! I'll try going over the bridges yet again. . . Thanks for the tips!

 

[Dantzig]

Going over all the bridges about 30 times worked. I guess I just didn't get enough graphite on the bridges. The highest I could get it to POST was 1337MHz, but it seems that the fastest I can run 100% stable is 11x107 = 1177MHz. Thanks!