Wasn't sure where to put this topic. I feel the Hardware section needs a troubleshooting forum since issues could comprise any hardware.
I have a machine that's been running for almost ten years without many interruptions. Mostly it's been used for Office and web apps by day and as a nightly backup target for about 7 other machines besides itself.
Asus P5LD2-Deluxe
Intel Pentium 4 650 Prescott Socket 775 LGA 3.4 Ghz
2 x 1GB 533Mhz Simpletech PC2-4200
For all this time the BIOS' CPU, memory, and FSB settings were always left on Auto. Recently, the machine started showing the "Overclock voltage has failed", Press F1 to configure, or F2 to load defaults (can't remember exact wording), during POST. The power in the building is terrible. It's a warehouse in the middle of a cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere. All we can get for internet is via dish. The lights flicker several times a day. lol We have every machine on a consumer grade 750 surge/battery backup but they don't always catch the ridiculous hiccups of the power down there. The power situation is a techies nightmare. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night screaming over it. lol Recently, I have been getting random shutdowns, and blue screens. Most of the blue screens are page faults, or IRQ is less or equal. The errors are somewhat random without a pattern to it but they do seem to be memory related. Keep in mind this machine has been solid for almost ten years besides PSU replacements. I believe the power supply is good. I have tried it in another machine. I have everything unplugged from the mobo except the CPU, and RAM but it IS still in the case. I've cleared the bios numerous times. I have to get a lucky pass to get in the bios before it hangs but if I set the Overclock setting to Manual, the CPU frequency to 133Mhz, and the RAM frequency to 533Mhz it will run pretty solid. I've only had one lockup booted into a mini XP boot cd this way. RAM could also be Auto and it will run but anything over 133MHz on CPU hangs it eventually. I've stressed it with S&M successfully. I've tried about every other combo of setting to keep the 266Mhz CPU speed so the CPU will run at 3.4Ghz but it hangs very quickly unless I set it at 133Mhz. It also hangs less with just one stick of RAM, than two. If I remember correctly I can put the second one in after the CPU frequency has been set to 133Mhz without issues. It still hangs with two but not as quickly or as much. If the bios is set to Auto for CPU frequency, and RAM with two sticks it will hang before I can get in to change anything. I feel like I may be reducing heat by lowering the CPU freq and that is why it's running better. Because it used to run for so long and no longer does I feel like it's component failure. Possibly a mobo short but I am skeptical and don't want to remove everything just yet. My question is to those of you who know your overclocking stuff better than I. What does this behavior seem to indicate? Due to the age of this machine I wouldn't mind buying a used proc to try but if it's the mobo I think I'm going to start new. Before it failed it was a reliable backup target but now it's destiny, if any, is a lowly thick client. lol Are there things I can do to troubleshot the CPU, or mobo? I also wonder about memory module compatibility. These aren't on the list. They are just some I had laying around. I don't have any spares of any of this which is making it harder. Anything I want to do I'm going to have to convince someone it stands a chance of fixing it. Thought I might get a stronger impression from those with more troubleshooting experience.
Thanks!
I have a machine that's been running for almost ten years without many interruptions. Mostly it's been used for Office and web apps by day and as a nightly backup target for about 7 other machines besides itself.
Asus P5LD2-Deluxe
Intel Pentium 4 650 Prescott Socket 775 LGA 3.4 Ghz
2 x 1GB 533Mhz Simpletech PC2-4200
For all this time the BIOS' CPU, memory, and FSB settings were always left on Auto. Recently, the machine started showing the "Overclock voltage has failed", Press F1 to configure, or F2 to load defaults (can't remember exact wording), during POST. The power in the building is terrible. It's a warehouse in the middle of a cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere. All we can get for internet is via dish. The lights flicker several times a day. lol We have every machine on a consumer grade 750 surge/battery backup but they don't always catch the ridiculous hiccups of the power down there. The power situation is a techies nightmare. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night screaming over it. lol Recently, I have been getting random shutdowns, and blue screens. Most of the blue screens are page faults, or IRQ is less or equal. The errors are somewhat random without a pattern to it but they do seem to be memory related. Keep in mind this machine has been solid for almost ten years besides PSU replacements. I believe the power supply is good. I have tried it in another machine. I have everything unplugged from the mobo except the CPU, and RAM but it IS still in the case. I've cleared the bios numerous times. I have to get a lucky pass to get in the bios before it hangs but if I set the Overclock setting to Manual, the CPU frequency to 133Mhz, and the RAM frequency to 533Mhz it will run pretty solid. I've only had one lockup booted into a mini XP boot cd this way. RAM could also be Auto and it will run but anything over 133MHz on CPU hangs it eventually. I've stressed it with S&M successfully. I've tried about every other combo of setting to keep the 266Mhz CPU speed so the CPU will run at 3.4Ghz but it hangs very quickly unless I set it at 133Mhz. It also hangs less with just one stick of RAM, than two. If I remember correctly I can put the second one in after the CPU frequency has been set to 133Mhz without issues. It still hangs with two but not as quickly or as much. If the bios is set to Auto for CPU frequency, and RAM with two sticks it will hang before I can get in to change anything. I feel like I may be reducing heat by lowering the CPU freq and that is why it's running better. Because it used to run for so long and no longer does I feel like it's component failure. Possibly a mobo short but I am skeptical and don't want to remove everything just yet. My question is to those of you who know your overclocking stuff better than I. What does this behavior seem to indicate? Due to the age of this machine I wouldn't mind buying a used proc to try but if it's the mobo I think I'm going to start new. Before it failed it was a reliable backup target but now it's destiny, if any, is a lowly thick client. lol Are there things I can do to troubleshot the CPU, or mobo? I also wonder about memory module compatibility. These aren't on the list. They are just some I had laying around. I don't have any spares of any of this which is making it harder. Anything I want to do I'm going to have to convince someone it stands a chance of fixing it. Thought I might get a stronger impression from those with more troubleshooting experience.
Thanks!
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