KT7-RAID board owners!

[sinner]

Hi
I'm hoping someone has gone through the same thing I'm going through! After I purchased my new KT7-R board, I came home and installed it with only the power supply, voodoo3 3000 agp card(tv out), 128 MB PC-133, and my new tbird 800mhz proc. On boot, I constantly get this persistent 'cpu is unworkable, check SOFTMENU III' message. I've taken it back to the vendor twice already, who says he posts it with both agp and pci cards no problem!? I've done my research and know I must disable the speed in the softmenu(which I've done). The end result remains the same, whenever I make a change in the bios and save and exit, I boot to a black screen, nothing. I find I must then reboot the computer several times,(sometimes 5-15 times) until I actually get anything. Then I simply get the 'cpu is unworkable message' The excitement of owning a KT7 is slipping away, but I'm plugging away at it. Any help would be appreciated if someone has been through this. Thanks
=]

-sinner.

 

[Bandit]

First off, where did you get the board? And did you get the processor at the same time? This almost sounds like someone sold you a lesser processor and OC'd it. Pull off your heatsink, and check the processor. Make sure it is not overclocked. Then, remove and reseat it to insure this is done properly, and lastly, when putting back the heatsink, put a thin layer of thermal grease on the die, and ensure the heat sink is set properly.

 

[sinner]

Yes, it is an 800mhz tbird, I have checked the seating and it does have thermal grease, I was quite surprised that I actually got a decent h/s and fan with it! Everything seems fine, I've flashed up to the new WW version bios. Same thing. I think it's just a setting in the bios, but I'm not sure. I've tried a different power supply, my next step is to demand an exchange, they probably won't want to do this. =[

-sinner.

 

[Guest]

Did you try another cpu on it?

 

[sinner]

Unfortunately, I dont have another socket A cpu to try. Like I said, my next step is to go and demand an exchange on both board and processor, as I purchased them together, was apparently *tested*, had it back twice, still posts there, but of course I havn't seen it myself, noones allowed in the back. I've never seen it post *properly* at home, without the 'cpu is unworkable' message.

-sinner.

 

[Bandit]

Well, ask for the exchange. If they say no, demand to SEE them get it to post. Tell them it's either one or the other. If you stick to your guns, they will give you what you want.

 

[sinner]

Thanks bandit, that's what I'm going to do. I just thought there was some unheard of bios setting i was missing, but i got the speed error setting disabled and I still have the same problem. Exchange time tomorrow if I can't get it going tonight. That way they can't say I didn't give it any effort. I am somewhat worried they will have an issue over the bios update i performed last night, it flashed fine and all works well, just same message. If anything, I'll have them replace the cpu. Thanks for your help guys. Now if I could get that Linux help, noone answers me there, LOL!

-sinner.

 

[oldschool]

At apushardware.com, there is an article where they go through the entire SoftMenu and show what every setting does, and what the normal set up should be.

Perhaps you'll find your setting there.

 

[sinner]

Hey guys!
I brought back that processor and board. The guy wanted a day to fix it, so I gave him that. I go back the next day, he says they reseated the CPU and it now works just fine! LOL Anyway, I take it home, works perfectly fine now, my suspicion, they replaced the CPU, he just wouldn't tell me that, I had a good idea it was the CPU. I marked the board before I took it in, it's the same board. Anyways, thanks for your help! =]

-sinner.

 

[Guest]

I'm glad it's working.

By the way, AMD has some free utilities on their site, that give all kinds of cpu details, so you can see next time if you're getting hosed by the dealer.