Please Help Diagnose-- What did I do?

[axemurderer83]

Last night I decided to try a little experiment with an older AthlonXP computer I have. It's an AthlonXP 3000 w/333mhz bus, and I wanted to see if I could get the bus to run at 400mhz. well all I did was lower the multiplier to 9x, the voltage from 1.6 to 1.65, and the FSB to 200. Now the system won't even POST-no beeps, no nothing, monitor doesn't come out of suspend state either. ( I did it to myself). Damn how I wish I had a time machine when this stuff happens--

I've tried clearing the CMOS, took out the battery and unplugged the thing too. still nothing. right now I could use an extra processor to see if it POSTs with that, but i'm not sure if I still have an older chip-- but for now I just want to know if the cpu could be the issue.

so what did I do? is it possible my CPU fried? I hope it's not my video card, it's worth more than most of the computer! the only other thing i can think of is that when I was done in the BIOS, i clicked "save and exit" and then the computer just went to a blank screen and sat there. after a minute I hit the reset button. is it possible my BIOS got erased somehow? how would I go about fixing it?

 

[badge]

Last night I decided to try a little experiment with an older AthlonXP computer I have. It's an AthlonXP 3000 w/333mhz bus, and I wanted to see if I could get the bus to run at 400mhz. well all I did was lower the multiplier to 9x, the voltage from 1.6 to 1.65, and the FSB to 200. Now the system won't even POST-no beeps, no nothing, monitor doesn't come out of suspend state either. ( I did it to myself). Damn how I wish I had a time machine when this stuff happens--

I've tried clearing the CMOS, took out the battery and unplugged the thing too. still nothing. right now I could use an extra processor to see if it POSTs with that, but i'm not sure if I still have an older chip-- but for now I just want to know if the cpu could be the issue.

so what did I do? is it possible my CPU fried? I hope it's not my video card, it's worth more than most of the computer! the only other thing i can think of is that when I was done in the BIOS, i clicked "save and exit" and then the computer just went to a blank screen and sat there. after a minute I hit the reset button. is it possible my BIOS got erased somehow? how would I go about fixing it?

Try one stick of RAM in #1 and see if you can boot into safe mode. F8. If it doesnt work try clearing the CMOS with jumper again.

 

[axemurderer83]

ok since my first post I've tried swapping out the memory, CPU and video card for components that I know work. still nothing. must be a motherboard issue, no? Like I mentioned earlier, I suspect the BIOS may be corrupted.

But here's the funpart-- The actual BIOS memory chip on the mainboard says "Pheonix Bios". But the only BIOS downloads from the MSI website are for Award BIOS. Now, this is my exact model number-- the MSI K7N2 Delta2-FSR. If I flash the mainboard with this BIOS, is it going to work? why is there a pheonix bios chip on my board when they list it as having an Award BIOS anyway? oy--

so is there any way to flash the BIOS on this board if the computer won't POST? I know an old Asus board I had worked like that. Or perhaps, could I somehow put the BIOS chip into a different motherboard, and flash it to the correct version that way?

 

[axemurderer83]

well this is all more trouble than it's probably worth. I'm about an inch away from RMA'ing the motherboard. when i get home from work tonight I'll put my ASUS a7v8x-x in there and make sure everything works-- the only difference in performance will be no more dual-channel memory. If you have any tips on fixing the BIOS, please let me know-- otherwise the thing is going back.

this is why I always shop at newegg-- the no-hassle return policy.

 

[badge]

ok since my first post I've tried swapping out the memory, CPU and video card for components that I know work. still nothing. must be a motherboard issue, no? Like I mentioned earlier, I suspect the BIOS may be corrupted.

But here's the funpart-- The actual BIOS memory chip on the mainboard says "Pheonix Bios". But the only BIOS downloads from the MSI website are for Award BIOS. Now, this is my exact model number-- the MSI K7N2 Delta2-FSR. If I flash the mainboard with this BIOS, is it going to work? why is there a pheonix bios chip on my board when they list it as having an Award BIOS anyway? oy--

so is there any way to flash the BIOS on this board if the computer won't POST? I know an old Asus board I had worked like that. Or perhaps, could I somehow put the BIOS chip into a different motherboard, and flash it to the correct version that way?

My next suggestion was going ot be to go online to the MB manfacturer and search the forums. You were attempting to overclock and you said you did bump the voltages, so something may have been damaged. You did exactly what I would have done in reseating all the components. It's obvious the changes you made in your BIOS while o'cing is causing you not to boot up now. So, you think it's either the MB, BIOS or the CPU because you did overvolt it.

I corrupted a BIOS on an MSI board, K8N Nforce 4 Platinum, and I never got it back. Had to RMA it back to MSI. They were great and sent me out a replacement board within a couple of weeks. Really, if you can not reset the CMOS and get back up and running at defaults, you must be on the right track. MB, CPU must be gone. Hope you get it going.

 

[axemurderer83]

yeah I'm RMA'ing the motherboard for a refund. but I'm hoping it's just the mobo. I know I've run that CPU at 1.65 volts before, not sure why it would just stop working now-- I've read that this chip should be ok up until 1.8V.

anyway I'll try putting the cpu, memory and video card into the Asus A7v8x when I get home from work in a few hours. I'd really rather not have to buy a new cpu-- even the old SocketA chips still go for more than $100. The only reason I upgraded the mobo in the first place was to get the dual-channel memory support, and it did work very well for a while. Also, this is my back-up rig, for my friends to use--- I have an Abit AV8 w/ an Athlon64 3000 Venice in my newer rig.

anyway I'll follow up as to whether or not I have any luck with this. as for now I'll start bidding at eBay for a new nforce2 board--

 

[elpresidente2075]

RMA it. get a new one. Or if you don't need it anymore, just throw it out and get on with your life. I did the same thing with 3 XP motherboards, and they sit in the bottom of my spare parts box, awaiting their fate. I now have an A64 setup and haven't looked back.

 

[badge]

yeah I'm RMA'ing the motherboard for a refund. but I'm hoping it's just the mobo. I know I've run that CPU at 1.65 volts before, not sure why it would just stop working now-- I've read that this chip should be ok up until 1.8V.

anyway I'll try putting the cpu, memory and video card into the Asus A7v8x when I get home from work in a few hours. I'd really rather not have to buy a new cpu-- even the old SocketA chips still go for more than $100. The only reason I upgraded the mobo in the first place was to get the dual-channel memory support, and it did work very well for a while. Also, this is my back-up rig, for my friends to use--- I have an Abit AV8 w/ an Athlon64 3000 Venice in my newer rig.

anyway I'll follow up as to whether or not I have any luck with this. as for now I'll start bidding at eBay for a new nforce2 board--

I have an ASUS Deluxe Nforce 2 I built years ago with last AMD socket A chip released. A Barton 3200 xp. It supports dual channel PC3200 RAM. Right now it's tore down, had Vista Beta 2 on there till a couple of days ago. I started building an EPOX board socket 754 AMD 64 3400 2.4 with SLI. Yeah, a socket 754 SLI. I needed that 300 gig Maxtor SATA HD on the Nforce 2 ASUS board. I'll have that Socket A up and running in a couple of weeks. I'll even put it in a newer case this time. Thatt Socket A 3200 xp Nforece 2 ran Vista Beta 2 with no problem. A gig of PC3200 at 400 mhz and an ATI Radeon 9200 128 meg did the trick. I have forgotten what the voltage defaults are on the socket A chips. Maybe you didn't damage the chip. If you severely overvolted it, you would think you would have smelled the silicone burning and noticed the brown burn marks on the MB and case. I did. LOL!

 

[gomerpile]

before rma take out the battery for a minute, that will work

 

[axemurderer83]

Yeah, for not spending too much money I've gotten a lot of performance out of the AthlonXP 3000 I have there. Teamed with 1gig of Patriot memory with nice timings in dual-channel and an ATI Radeon X800xl, I still get 50-60 fps in BF2 on medium-high settings. very pleased with how it runs, so I'd rather not have to buy another cpu-- the 3200 Barton w/ 400mhz FSB is still like $150. I'd rather be spending my money on more pertinent upgrades, like another audigy2 for this computer (I hear the x-fi's have driver issues, and i've been nothing but satisified with the audigy2 zs I have now).

no, I didn't smell anything or see scorch marks on the chip-- like I said, I suspect I just got unlucky and corrupted the BIOS more than anything-- but it comes back to just needing to test more. we'll see about the state of the cpu in about 4 hours-- *fingers crossed*

I just found a Biostar M7ncd w/ nforce 2 chipset for $51 at mwave.com--- is biostar a decent brand?

 

[axemurderer83]

oh, btw gomer, i did everything to the cmos i could think of. switched the jumper, took out the battery, and unplugged the power cord from the PSU.


this is weird though-- at one point, after I had cleared the CMOS like a dozen times, the screen did flash on once and it said something like "BIOS checksum failure" and then it started scanning for a floppy drive-- the trouble is, I had no floppy drive installed. since that one time that message popped up, I have not been able to bring it back. I was hoping I could flash BIOS from a floppy, but I can't if it doesn't even show that screen again.

 

[badge]

Yeah, for not spending too much money I've gotten a lot of performance out of the AthlonXP 3000 I have there. Teamed with 1gig of Patriot memory with nice timings in dual-channel and an ATI Radeon X800xl, I still get 50-60 fps in BF2 on medium-high settings. very pleased with how it runs, so I'd rather not have to buy another cpu-- the 3200 Barton w/ 400mhz FSB is still like $150. I'd rather be spending my money on more pertinent upgrades, like another audigy2 for this computer (I hear the x-fi's have driver issues, and i've been nothing but satisified with the audigy2 zs I have now).

no, I didn't smell anything or see scorch marks on the chip-- like I said, I suspect I just got unlucky and corrupted the BIOS more than anything-- but it comes back to just needing to test more. we'll see about the state of the cpu in about 4 hours-- *fingers crossed*

I just found a Biostar M7ncd w/ nforce 2 chipset for $51 at mwave.com--- is biostar a decent brand?

The MSI MB I had to RMA, I made a BIOS recovery disk. It wouldn't budge. HA..I had an Audigy LS too. Right now it's in another computer I don't use much. Won't fit in my SLI. I think BIOSTAR is good. I want to buy one of their video cards.

 

[gomerpile]

yes biostar has been making mb since the 8088 great support too. I wanted to add something that sounds the same.
Ok I had an xp 1700 and was over clocking and volting I had the similar thing happen I did fry the processor, there was no sign on the cpu that it got fried just black screen no beeps nothing. I went and bought the 3200 and it worked just fine so a week later I said to myself that this 1700 has to be good tried it again and it worked one week later.

 

[axemurderer83]

well good news is that none of the core components are fried. the CPU worked on the first boot in my older Asus board-- thank god!

thanks for the support, hopefully my next overclock attempt goes smoother.

 

[badge]

Great to hear the processor is working. Still a bit of a mystery why the MSI board won't let you into the BIOS. Hopefully the RMA will go quickly.