what the heck is an "external CPU speed setting"?

[EmperorNero]

I took my IDE Plextor drive out of my system (K7V, athlon) to put it into my other system. when I was done, I put back the plextor into the athlon system and turned it on: nothing. the it turned on but it didn't boot, I only got a blank screen. I tried pressing the power button to turn it off: it didn't do anything, it didnt even turn off. so I pulled the plug. then put the plug back in and turned the system back on again. it immediately went into the bios. on the right of the bios in red, it says:

"During last bootup, your system hung for an improper CPU external speed setting. Your system is now working in safe mode (BUS: 100mhz, DRAM: 100mhz, PCI: 33mhz, to optimize system performance, make sure CPU speed conforms to the specifications of your CPU)"

ooookkkk, now can somebody tell me what's wrong and how do I change it back to get optimum performance? all I did was remove the Plexor (secondary master) and put it back in only to see the error above.

EDIT:
I just recently put this system together - i.e I haven't upgraded teh bios (currently 1005a I think); haven't installed the VIA 4-in-1 drivers yet.

 

[Packet]

sounds like for some reason your FSB was set higher than 100mhz (standard for athlon classics). Which would then be overclocking your ram, and pci bus.

I wouldn't worry about it, as long as it works now.

 

[EmperorNero]

but my system is running right now in "safe mode"...how do I get it optimized again? and I'm not sure how I got the FSB higher by taking the Plextor in and out...I didn't try to overclock the system. weird.

 

[DataFly]

I assume it still says you are in "Safe Mode," correct? Flashing the BIOS might get rid of the problem, though there is probably a more elegant solution I am unaware of.

Just to be sure, you HAVE made sure all settings are correct in the BIOS?

 

[EmperorNero]

there's a lot of stuff in the bios I'm not familiar w/ so I'm not sure if those settings are right or not. can somebody give me a link to a site that has some explanations to bios settings?

 

[EmperorNero]

*************************************************************

this problem is constantly happening again - 1 in 2 times I boot up, I get that error.

firstly, I have never tried to overclock my system. secondly, I left everything in the BIOS the way it is and to make sure, I loaded the default. and lastly, I flashed my K7V to the newest BIOS revision - 1.0.0.6 - I still get the same error.

one possible problem is that I think some of my thermal grease (MPU grease, made of aluminum oxide) got on the little metal bars that hold the Athlon case together. perhaps those metal bars are connected to the actual silicon Athlon chip and I somehow short cicuited the thing w/ my thermal grease. is that a possible problem? pllleease help.

 

[EmperorNero]

^^^^^^^^^

I need help guys. if you don't know the solution, please at least fill me in on that external speed setting thing.

 

[Nick Stone]

What is the speed of your Althlon? If it's 700mhz then look for something in your Bios like 7X for a clock multiplier or 100 for a bus speed setting.
BTW, I'm not familiar with your MB or Bios but I'll try to help anyway.
It simply sounds to me like your Bios got set to default settings. One thing that could cause this, but not likely is if your battery was loose and failed to make contact for a monment.
The Plexor CD-Rom drive works OK right?
I think you bumped something while working on it. Like moving the CPU slightly, out of its socket then unsuccessfully trying to boot and now it's reseated again. Sometimes it doesn't take much. Then since your Bios is in a "user defined mode" (or something similar) relating to the CPU it wants yo to reset it to the correct values.
"External speed setting" is probably the speed you set it for in the Bios.
The heatsink compound shouldn't cause this.

 

[EmperorNero]

"What is the speed of your Althlon?"
700 mhz

"It simply sounds to me like your Bios got set to default settings."
I didn't change anything in the bios to make it reset itself to default.

"The Plextor CD-Rom drive works OK right?"
I think it does (it reads cd ok, I haven't burned anything when I put it back in this comp). but moving the plextor in and out doesn't seem to be the problem anymore. even when I didn't touch the comp except to turn it on, the problem would sometimes be there.

"I think you bumped something while working on it. Like moving the CPU slightly, out of its socket then unsuccessfully trying to boot and now it's reseated again."
I've opened up the comp several more times and took out the cpu and reseated it. still the same problem.


"Then since your Bios is in a "user defined mode" (or something similar) relating to the CPU it wants yo to reset it to the correct values. "External speed setting" is probably the speed you set it for in the Bios."
I didn't change anything in the bios. although I just downloaded WCPUID and it says:

--------

[ WCPUID Ver.2.7e-B6 (c) 1996-2000 By H.Oda! ]

Processor 1 : AMD Athlon (Model 2) / 9A44D048
: AMD Athlon(tm) Processor
Platform : Slot A (SC242 Connector)
Vendor ID : AuthenticAMD
Type ID : 0 (0)
Family ID : 6 (7)
Model ID : 2 (2)
Stepping ID : 2 (2)
Brand ID : 0 (0)

Clock Frequency
Internal : 700.02 MHz
External : 200.01 MHz DDR
Multiplier : 3.5

L1 I-Cache : 64K
L1 D-Cache : 64K
L2 Cache : 512K Byte
L2 Speed : 1/2 H4 (1/2 H4, 1/2 S4)

MMX : Supported
SIMD : Not Supported
3DNow! : Supported

Machine : IBM PC/AT
Version : Windows 98 Version 4.10.1998
-----------------

the clock frequency might be something to pay attention to - and why is my multiplier running at only 3.5?

"The heatsink compound shouldn't cause this."
Even if I might have gotten some on the chip? since it's made of aluminun oxide, it might short circuit something (b/c it's electrically conductive...I think) or did something to the chip that would be like soldering it? I dunno.

also, and now I'm facing shut down problems - I would go to start shutdown and it would show me the screen that "windows 98 is shutting down" and it never would, whereas before, it shutted down way too fast. argghh, this comp is beginning to piss me off - computers are synonymous w/ stress..at least for me .

 

[Nick Stone]

Calm down. Remember the expensive stuff is just made of sand

You're the 4th or 5th person in the last day or 2 who can't get their T-bird or Athlon to boot on a K7V. Read their stories too for help. Looks like it's a tough 1st build.
I realize that you did not change anything in the Bios. However any number of things COULD happen that cause the CPU (and only the CPU) settings in the Bios to be reset to default. If, for example you attempt to overclock some computers -- unsuccessfully and fail (it doesn't boot), the "Soft menu" information in the Bios will be reset to "default values" often to the values for a PII 233mhz CPU which happens to be 66 X 3 1/2 (notice that 3 1/2 clock multiplier?) Also a partially dislodged and reinserted CPU could cause the same symtoms. Each MB is a little different here. For example an Abit BH6 will reset to defaults if you hold down the "INS" key while booting. It also might reset if a boot failure occurs and you hold in the "start" button for 4 seconds, I don't remember. The point is each MB is a little different but most of them have a default CPU reset mechanism.
(you might read your manual for this info when you have time)

So exactly what does your Bios screen say about the CPU, it's Bus speed, the clock multiplier, the AGP/FSB ratio (should be 2/3) the PCI clock divider (should be 1/3) and the voltage it's running at, etc.

When I ask if the Plextor worked OK I meant is it recognized properly in the Bios. If not then remove it from the system temporarily and see if your problems go away.

I'm not familiar with your grease but it would probably have a warning on the label if it was Electrically conductive. Got an Ohm meter? put a little on the bottom of an upside down coffee cup and test it and see. If not then you could get a little carburator cleaner and spray it down and blow it out with a can of compressed air. But I wouldn't unless it was a last resort.
Keep trying, you'll get there.

 

[Crypticburn]

Yeah, I would remove the plextor, just to see if it's the problem, if you still get the problem ,then it's not the plextor.

BTW, Athlons have DDR fsb, so it's gonna tell you it's 200, the multiplier should be 3.5 for a 700mhz Athlon. 3.5 x 200 = 700. The FSB is 100, but it is effectively 200 b/c of the Double Data Rate that the Althons access.

The settings seem correct, I would just run through the bios and see if anything looks weird there, then if nothing, flash the mobo

Just my $0.02

 

[EmperorNero]

I noticed a pattern: whenever I take off the casing of my comp to access the internal stuff and put it back on, I usually get that error about "improper CPU setting." could my case be short cicuiting the motherboard/cpu?

I did a case mod before I built this computer: I painted the sides "metallic green" and "metallic black", maybe the paint really does have some metallic stuff? also, I cut a blowhole to attach a fan on the case for better cooling, so I have fan grills...and it's metal. could any of those be culprits?

edit, another culprit is that I accidentally got some alluminum oxide thermal paste on the little round metal things that hold the heat plate and the athlon core together. I told about this earlier but I said it again just in case someone missed/forgot about it.

pleeeasee, I need a solution - the booting up thing can be extremely annoying.

 

[paulip88]

I have an Asus A7V and I have a similar "problem". The only thing is, it really isn't a problem and more of an annoyance. This happens to me whenever I do a cold boot, but when I reboot, its fine (under the same settings when it did not boot). I doubt it had anything to do with your Plextor (quality drives BTW).

Also, as for the "safe mode" settings: I don't think that the changes made were anything aside from setting the FSB to 100MHz (x2) and the RAM to 100MHz. Aside from that, I've noticed no other changes.