P4 Bent pins -> Unstable System?

[fez]

The other day I decided to replace my crappy Celeron with a 2.67Ghz P4. However, when I was about to insert the CPU into the socket it just wouldn't fit. I've installed CPUs before so I'm semi-sort-of-know-what-I'm-doing.

Anyway, I examined the CPU and noticed that some pins were bent. I did some googling on the subject bent pins P4 and read some forum-posts and thought that it was no big deal to straighten those pins and just install the CPU.

I straightened the pins and inserted the CPU, so far so good. But, now my system is very unstable: I'm getting wierd GFX glitches, sometimes the system freezes etc. etc.

"Of course", I formatted the computer and installed all drivers for mobo, GFX card etc. etc.

So, my question is: is it possible for the system to just get unstable from having bent pins? Obviously this CPU has been a bit damaged somewhere (quite sure it wasn't me).

Of course, there could be thousands of other reasons why my system is unstable (The Power Supply might be the reason). But I figured that the bent pins is probably the most likely reason!?

 

[xeenrecoil]

heya Fez:

Ive streightned bent pins before and have never had that problem, if the pins were still strong when you bent them back i see no reason why it would be a problem, unless one broke off in the socket after you clamped it down, was the CPU brand new when you got it? If so then you need to RMA and just say its not working properly and you dont know why, i wouldnt even mention the pins or they wont take it back, thinking you damaged it.

Go ahead and trouble shoot the system first and see if you can get it stable, but if not get a different CPU and try again.

One question, are you sure the chipset on your mobo was designed to support that CPU, or perhaps it needs a Bios flash, perhaps you just simply need to reset C-Mos, there are tons of possibilites really.

Keep us up to date.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Could be a memory problem.

The celeron is 100fsb by default. the2.66is 133fsb by default. Try resetting bios if that fails repost your system specs.

I aint signing nothing!!!

 

[fez]

Thanks for the fast responses!

The CPU was brand new. I'm not sure of which strategy I'll go for when I contact the store. If i just say that the computer is unstable they'll just blame it on the mobo, memory or whatever. If I say that the pins were bent then there's obviously something wrong with the CPU. I live in Sweden and, usually, these sort of inadequate-product-problems sort out. But, maybe it was a mistake to start using it in the first place. I should just have returned it at once.

What I'd like to know if it's common to get a brand new CPU with bent pins? I was browsing some forums and some people claim to have received brand new CPUs with bent pins. Seems to be mostly AMDs though?!

I'm 100% sure the pins were bent at my first attempt of inserting the CPU. It just wouldn't fit, and I didn't use any force what so ever. The first thing I did then was to look at the pins and... voila... bent. As far as I remember I didn't drop it or something like that before i tried to insert it. So, most likely they were already bent when the CPU were boxed.

"Go ahead and trouble shoot the system first and see if you can get it stable..."

First of all. This is my mobo:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=313

It's the MSI 845E Max (Standard Version)

I flashed the bios a few days ago so I have the latest version around.

Since this could be a Power Supply problem (??!) here's some specs from my PS:

CODEGEN 350W
ATX 2.03(P4)
Model: 350X

AC Input: 115/230 VAC 8A/4A 50/60Hz
AC Output: 115/230 VAC 1A/0.5A 50/60Hz

DC Output: +3.3V +5V +12V / -5V -12V +5VSB
20A 30A 15A / 0.5A 0.8A 2A
185W Max / 9.6W Max
-------------------------------------------
350W Max

And, a review of the PSU can be found here:
http://www.mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/codegen350/

Seems like a decent PSU. But "bad for powerful gaming rig." according to the review.

My GFX card is a HIS Excalibur Radeon 9600XT 128MB.
The driver says it's a 256MB though. When I had my Celeron installed it also said 256MB , but it ran fine with the Celeron.

A review here: http://thetechzone.com/computers.php?i=312&p=1

"Could be a memory problem."

To be honest. I have no idea what kind of memory I have. It some sort of cheap DDR. 512MB...

The Sound is integrated on the mobo.

"perhaps you just simply need to reset C-Mos"
"Try resetting bios"

You're talking about the same thing, right?

The stability-problems I've noticed so far is:

3dMark03 always crashes at the "nature" part.

Winning Eleven 7 (A soccer game) has got really wierd GFX glitches. Random polygons appearing here and there. This game ran *perfect* (even at high FPS) with my Celeron.

However, I played Far Cry (<- supposedly a much more demanding game than WE7) at very high detail and resolution and I didn't see any GFX problems at all.

Windows (XP) seems to be pretty stable (I'm not using any "heavy" applications though), but it froze once for some reason.

So, that's the story so far...

Thanks, again.

 

[fez]

Hmmm... seems like this is a GFX card issue. I put my Celeron back into the system and these GFX bugs were still there when I tested the game Winning Eleven 7. This game used to run absolutely perfect on my Celeron.

Since I wanted to rule out the possibility of software/driver problems I (once again) formatted and reinstalled Windows and all drivers.

The system is getting more and more unstable. The VPU recovery has started to kick in even during "normal" Windows usage.

I guess I'll let the store where I bought the GFX card have a look at it?!

 

[xeenrecoil]

heya fez;

Which version of the Celeron do you have by the way, i cant find where you said what it was, also you never said what version of the p4 2.6Ghz you had either, is it the p4a (400Mhz FSB), p4b(533Mhz FSB)? The Motherboard will support both but the celeron is a native 100Mhz FSB and uses pc1600, while the p4b is a native 133Mhz FSB and uses pc2100, so im thinking the problem is, without you realizing it you Overclocked the hell out of your pc1600, and now its toast, but its a common mistake, and never fear, go get some pc2100+ and it will be good as new again, and smile, you get a CPU and memory upgrade all at once hehe
I hope you have the money to do this, if not then sorry bro but they should have mentioned the CPU was a 533Mhz FSB when they sold it to you, oh and btw dont take it back and get the 400Mhz FSB version cuz its a Piece of crap, keep this one and just save up for some new memory. Oh and btw, there is a good possibility that your graphics card is dying as well, check out both possibilities, because they are both feasable.

Keep us informed.

 

[fez]

Hey, again XeenRecoil.

Apparently the GFX card was defect. I called the store where I bought it and they told me that they've had a lot of problems with their Radeon 9600 cards.

I got a new one, plugged it in and now everything seems to run perfectly fine. No 3D GFX glitches and 3dMark 03 doesn't crash anymore.

I have no idea which version of the Celeron I had. The P4 is a 533 Mhz FSB and it seems to work perfectly fine now even though the pins were a bit bent from the start.

I assume the pc1600 and pc2100+ are different types of memory?! Do you know any decent software that displays the type of memory I have?

I think I wont overclock my system now, for a while, (heh..) since everything seems to run a decent FPS now. 40+ is good enough for me.

Thanks, again, for your help.