ASUS A7V266-E

[Frosty]

Hi All,

This is my first post and I'm still fairly new to putting my own stuff together so I hope these questions aren't too basic.

I've been having lots of problems with my computer since putting an Athlon XP 2400 Thoroughbred into it a couple of weeks ago. ASUS claimed that the motherboard was compatible but I have my doubts now, mostly due to having to reinstall Windows XP five times.

The system locks up and crashes when performing certain functions. The first time it jammed out was on a disk defrag, the second time while reading music from the old hard drive into Windows media player (9). A friend mentioned similar problems occurring when he upgraded his A7V266-E that he was unable to resolve.

At first I assumed my hard drive was fried and went out and bought a new one, but the same thing happened, so I'm fairly sure that there is a problem related to the CPU and motherboard.

I'm ready to give up on the thing right now and go out and buy a new mobo. I'm really leaning towards switching over to Intel right now since they seem to have the edge in performance.

Basically, I was just wondering if anyone else has had trouble with this motherboard? Also, has anyone got the Intel865GBF? This is what I'm considering going over to. If I decide to save money, I'll go with an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe, but I'm really wary about going with a machine that has let me down. Every time I turn my machine on, something seems to go a little weird. Sometimes it's a major problem with boot files that forces me to reinstall my OS and other times it's just some simple settings. God knows what's going on in the background that I can't see.

Cheers,

Frosty

 

[longhorn2005]

Hi Frosty,

What version of BIOS are u running ???

I would suggest you to upgrade ur bios to the latest version and then try again.

Regards

 

[Frosty]

Hi Longhorn2005,

I've already flashed the BIOS with version 1011, which was the one ASUS said was necessary to make the new CPU run. The problem seems to be that the CPU is way too fast for the board. When it does anything intense, it seems to get ahead of itself. It jams out on me when the CPU does any long, continuous functions (for example: loading songs into the WMP's library; transferring photos between hard drives - I bought a new hard drive to protect what data was on my old one when it first screwed up so that I could transfer it over from the original using it as a slave; and, the defrag I mentioned).

I guess I could slow down the clock speed but the thought of running something slower than it's meant to go at pains me. On the other hand, I'm going to have to start buying stuff to break if I have to reinstall Windows one more time.

Cheers,

Frosty

 

[pIII_Man]

what is your cpu temp?

There is no smell better than fried silicon

 

[Frosty]

It runs around 58C (136F) usually. The temperature fluctuates between 57-60C. I know it's a little warm, but it's not worrying me that much since my buddy down the road has the same mobo and a slower CPU and his sits around 60, too. I have doubts about the accuracy of ASUS probe. It usually reads about 47C on start-up.

The first time I installed the CPU it got up to 68C, but hasn't come anywhere near that on subsequent start-ups. I've set 75C as the cut-off point.

Frosty

 

[pIII_Man]

what did your cpu temp used to be...also can you give more detailed system specs...

There is no smell better than fried silicon

 

[Frosty]

Specs:

Mobo: ASUS A7V266-E, BIOS 1011
CPU: Athlon XP 2400+
Power Supply: 300W (perhaps a problem?)
RAM: 1.5 GB, PC2100 (everything was satisfactory until the CPU changeover)
Video-Card: LeadTek GeForce4 4400 Ti
Sound: Creative: Live! 5.1.
Hard Disks: Was using a Maxtor 80GB HD until problems started, then changed over to a Seagate Barracuda 120GB, 7200rpm drive.

I don't know what it was running at exactly before the switch, but I seem to remember something in the vicinity of 50-55C. My buddy on the same mobo with a slower CPU, less RAM and an older video cards says his goes at 60C.

 

[pIII_Man]

55c is a bit hot if you are running a tbred B but nothing to be worried about...ok here are my thoughts...

i would just for the uses of experimentation bring the fsb to 100mhz fsb and see if you are still having problems...

Out of curiosity what cpu are you upgrading from?

Also if you have a volt meter can you check (while the pc is runninfg) the voltage of the yellow wire in the molex (hard drive/cd rom) connector and also that of the red wire...or at least give your readings of voltage from the bios...using a voltmeter would be preferable though...also what brand is the power supply? Generic?

There is no smell better than fried silicon

 

[Frosty]

Thanks pIII_Man.

The power supply is generic. Also, the heatsink is just the one that came with the box. I'm also only running one fan at the back and none at the front, which is likely the root of the heat, right? I'm not so worried about the heat since it's within an acceptable operating level.

I'll slow it down and see what happens.

By the way, my old CPU was an Athlon XP 1600.

Cheers,

Frosty

 

[pIII_Man]

a front case fan would help pull down those temperatures...however i don't think heat is the problem...although a fan might not be a bad investment...

Plz get back to me on those volatges...since you are using a 300watt generic they could very well be the root of the problem...

There is no smell better than fried silicon

 

[Frosty]

I don't have a voltmeter that I can hook up, but...

Based on the readings from the ASUS Probe program, the voltages read as follows:

VCore is at 1.728
+3.3 is at 3.248
+5 is at 4.865, but occasionally jumps up to 5.
+12 sits between 12.2 and 12.403 (max)

Unfortunately, I know very little about how the voltage impacts on the system and lack a background. These figures are based on running Counter-Strike for over an hour. There was very little fluctuation in any of the numbers and the VCore never changed at all.

However, one problem that I did note is that now I can't run WMP in the background or the game lags. At the same time, the music is jump and gets stuck, then goes back 1 - 2 seconds during play (of CS).

This is without having slowed down the CPU yet. I'll try that now.

OK, same problems with WMP and CS. The only difference I noticed was that the CPU was running about 3-4 degrees cooler than usual, sitting around 54-58 instead of 57-61

Frosty

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Frosty on 07/22/03 10:29 AM.</EM></FONT></P>