P3 problem

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Guest

Guest
I’m having a problem with my system. It’s a socket 370 PIII-700 on a slot 1 converter on a Abit BX6 rev2 with 2*128 SDRAM, Geforce2MX32 and some other stuff…
Since a week or two I experienced random freezes, most of the time just on desktop while idle but also during a game or while chatting. I opened the case and saw that the cpu cooling fan was covered in a pile of dust and wasn’t working. I went to the BIOS to check the temp, it was at 52 C. So I got it the cooler out, cleaned it and put it back. As I turned my pc back the monitor stayed blank, it didn’t click on and I didn’t hear the single beep. So I took the cpu out of it’s socket, put it back in, took the converter out of the slot 1, put it back in, etc… And behold, the pc started up again, but the fan still didn’t work. Today I bought a new cooler, mounted it on the cpu and mounted the whole thing on the motherboard. When I turned the pc on I heard a series of strange beeps, varying in tones and it wouldn’t start up. So then I sat back terrified for a moment, after that I just fumbled around a bit with the cpu, pressed it a little harder in its socket, pressed the converter a little more into the slot… etc… Now it works again and the new cooler works fine... But a couple minutes ago I got another freeze… Does anybody have a clue what the problem could be?
 

ritesh_laud

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Nov 16, 2001
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Could be an electrical problem with your converter, perhaps a voltage issue. How long was it working properly for before this started happening? Try setting your memory timings in the BIOS to the most conservative (default) settings.
 
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things were perfectly fine since I got that cpu, about 14 months... Could it be that because the cooler was broken for a while, the cpu got overheated?
 

Oracle

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Jan 29, 2002
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I doubt that your CPU fried, P3s have a thermal protection (primitive, but a protection nonetheless). Have you tried updating your BIOS version? Also check your power supply. If you've got one of those 230 watts PS that shipped in PCs back when Slot 1 was state-of-the-art, it may not be sufficient for running today's stuff. Even so if all your plugs are used for something (i.e. a 7200rpm HDD, DVD drive, etc.).
 
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the power supply is a 250 watts one, which should be ok? and the BIOS is up to date. it's worked just fine for over a year, so I'm really wondering what's up, maybe some contacts on that riser card are falling apart...
 

Jusphil

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Aug 30, 2001
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My uncle's PC had a similar problem with random lockups, most of the time happening while in Internet Explorer. I tried EVERYTHING short of a new motherboard - new ram default BIOS, BIOS update etc... it turned out to be a corrupt windows kernel, found that out when upgrading to win2000 from win98 SE. Hey its worth a try if you can get your hands on a new OS for (next to)nothing =)
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
Did you use thermal paste on the new cooler? Otherwise, a clean install of the OS may be in order, as overheating can cause file corruption. If you did not previously have problems with your OS, keep it (especially if it's 98SE, the best OS for systems that can use it stably).

What's the frequency, Kenneth?