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Why is my 1800 XP Unstable when not overclocked?

B

bluearchtop

Member
I'm at a loss. I have a newly built 1800 XP w/ MSI K7T266 motherboard, 512 DDR. I am not trying to overclock or anything. I have a Volcano II fan (w/ thermal grease) and an extra case fan (blowing air out of the case). All in a 315W Antec AMD approved case. My BIOS settings are:

Spread Spectrum: Disabled
CPU FSB: 133
CPU FSB/PCI Overclocking: H/W
CPU Ratio: Auto
CPU VCORE: 1.85
DDR Voltage: 2.7

At these settings, I run at 1.53 Ghz. My CPU temp is about 120 farenheight when idle. If I do anything somewhat CPU intensive, my CPU temp will grow to about 128 degrees, then everything locks up. Very frustrating. I lock up several times a day, and every morning I turn on my monitor to see I am locked up.

If I lower my CPU FSB to 100 in bios, I run from about 107 to 114 max and never crash. But I run at about 1 Ghz.

What am I doing wrong? If I set my bios to the auto detect settings for the CPU, it picks the 100 CPU FSB. I always thought that was weird.

Any tips on how to run my 1800 XP at the 1.5 Ghz that it SHOULD be running at w/ no problems would be greatly appreciated 🙂
 
What OS are you running? That's the cause of instability in the large majority of cases.

Also, there might be some other software issue as well. Give us some more details. I doubt overclocking has anything to do with it.

EDIT: It's highly unlikely your problem has anything to do with your processor, assuming you assembled your system correctly.
 


<< All in a 315W Antec AMD approved case >>



Do you mean Antec 300w PSU?.. that is not approved for XP 1800+, the Antec 400w is.Also that heatsink is only approved to XP 1500+,
Thermaltake
DUO462-7
Volcano II

(60 x 60 mm)
Socket

Athlon XP 1500+
Athlon MP 1200
Athlon MP 1000
Athlon 950
Athlon 900
Athlon 850
Athlon 800
Athlon 750
Athlon 700
Athlon 1200
Athlon 1133
Athlon 1100
Athlon 1000
So start with a better heatsink that is approved for XP 1800+ then that should fix your problem since I`m sure it`s a heat problem,the Antec 300w is really at the limits so I would get a better PSU as well.

Here are the AMD approved heatsink list & PSU list
 
Like Mem says, your temperatures seem to be the culprit here. You've already identified that as your computer is only locking up when it hits a certain (high) temperature. Change that HSF with something better, like the new Coolermaster HHC001. If you don't think that HSF will fit due to the heat pipes, then try something like the Thermalright SK-6
 
Thanks. I am running XP Pro. I am sorry , I confused the case, it's an Enlight 340 Watt. So I guess I'll start w/ trying a better CPU fan. Hopefully that will do it. Thanks guys.
 
The temp may or may not be the problem. The temp increases because there is strain being put on the system. The extra work it's doing could be the cause, not the heat. For example, flakey memory. A guy here at work built a 1800+ system on a Dragon Plus mobo. He couldn't even get the o/s to install. He finally replaced the generic memory with some Corsair. No more problems. Any one component may be failing under load.

However, the problem could be heat related. I don't think anything beats the SK6 for price/performance. Take the side panel off and put a box fan blowing into the case. That'll help keep it cool and should help eliminate or prove heat problems.

Just don't get tunnel vision and focus on heat.

Running SETI is a great stability tester! See my sig for details on SETI.
 
If ya need a good cheap cooler go to highspeedpc.com and order a Senfu for 20 bucks... I have one on my t-bird and it cools better than the SK6.. And yeah i've used an SK6 for those just wanting to be nef's My temps on average are about 6F cooler with the Senfu... This was done with a Delta on both HSF. It comes in a kick ass plastic case comes with goop and a small screw driver... For 20 its a hell of a deal... PC Abusers had a review on it might wanna go over there and check it out... It sounds like heat is your culprit for sure... my dad has a 1600+ running with the stock HSF that came with it... Loaded it only hits 114 idle 104... It looks like its a Coolermaster HSF of some sorts.
 
I am not sure about the MSI motheboard but on many motherboards you need to make sure a jumper on the board is set to 133 as factory default is usually set to 100 so check that out first. On cpu heatsinks if the Alpha 8045 will fit get one of those they cool really well and you can use a quieter fan on them as they use a 80mm fan, they are on sale now at svcompucycle for 29.95 right now which is a great deal, I have a 48.5 cfm YS Tech fan on mine and it cools great. Buy the fan from them when you get the cooler and it will be cheaper. They also have AS2 on sale for 4.95 with free shipping. Also what kind of memory do you have, it may be more stable if you up the voltage on the memory a bit.
 
You could try unlocking your CPU and run it at something like 11x100 FSB to see if its the FSB thats causing the instablity.
 
Even a 315W psu is more than enough for your computer. 49C is high for an idle cpu, but I wouldn't think its a stablity issue, yet. Whats the full load temp?

What else do you have in your system? they might be causing problems.
 
I ordered an SK6 , so I'll see if that fixes it. Idle, I'm about 49 C idle. I have plenty of DDR Ram, fast CPU, etc. I get up to about 55 C and lock up. I tried that SETI program as you suggested, and I locked up after just a few seconds 🙂

Thanks for all your help. If the heatsink doesn't fix it, then I'll dig deeper.
 
you didn't chip the core when installing it did you? most of the time you can still run the cpu from what I hear, but sometimes it will kill it, if its a big enough chip.
 
Whoa. You definately need a new heatsink on that. Also, you want a new PSU as well. PSU's are underrated in the level of importance. You need a good PSU or you may regret it.
 
You should try finding the jumper that sets the FSB to 133, because if it is autodetecting it as 100 and you are manually setting it to 133, then it will definitely lead to instability, thats the best thing i can come up with
 
The MSI manual says there FSB is bios only, no jumper. No chips on the CPU either. Hopefully my fan will help out. I have a 340W PSU. How would getting a better PSU help? I don't know much about that area.
 
Your PSU is fine since it`s approved for XP 2000+

Enlight Corp. EN-8341931 ATX-340 340w
Athlon XP 2000+
Athlon XP 1900+
Athlon XP 1800+
Athlon XP 1700+
Athlon XP 1600+
Athlon XP 1500+
Athlon 950
Athlon 900
Athlon 850
Athlon 800
Athlon 750
Athlon 700
Athlon 650
Athlon 600
Athlon 1400
Athlon 1333
Athlon 1300
Athlon 1200
Athlon 1133
Athlon 1100
Athlon 1000

It was your 1st post where you said 315w that got some of us confused,btw that 128 degrees works out at 53.3c if I worked it out right, so am 99% sure it`s a temp problem with your computer.
 
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