How do I make this system stable? Please help!

[Guest]

This is the second computer I have built. No problems with the first one but I can't seem to get this one stable at ALL. Here is my setup:

Deer 300W AMD approved Power Supply
ASUS A7V266-e (w/ raid and onboard audio)
AMD Athlon xp 1600+
Two (2) 256 sticks of Mushkin pc2100 DDR
Eagle Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS Pro
Soundblaster Audigy Gamer
Maxtor 20GB 7200rpm HDD - 1 partition only
TDK 24x CD-RW
Realtek NIC connected to Toshiba Cable modem
Microsoft Optical Intellimouse
Generic Keyboard
Generic Floppy
Windows ME
APC Back UPS 500v (300W)

I am not using the raid function. I am not using the onboard audio. I have Win XP but upgrading from ME has no noticeable effect on the stability of the machine. I have both the Comp and the Monitor going through the UPS.

Here is a list of the things I have tried to do that haven't worked. Please help me think of other things I can try.

1) All mboard jumpers set to default (except switched to Palomino)
2) Disabled onboard audio in the BIOS
3) Set IRQ 5 to Legacy only
4) Plug directly into wall instead of going through UPS
5) Remove sound card and uninstall drivers
6) Switch out video card (changed to GeForce 2MX 200)
7) Set all BIOS settings to default (AGP fast-write disabled and Memory speed is conservative)
8) Disconnect cable modem and remove NIC
9) Delete partition in fDisk and reformat drive, fresh install of OS
10) Download latest drivers (audio, video, and Via 4-in-1 directly from the internet instead of loading off of CD)
11) Fresh install without loading Via 4-in-1 at all (only Nvidia drivers)
12) Switch from latest video drivers (23.11) to older version (22.80)

That is all I can think of and I still have an unstable system. This is the best resource I know of. Does anyone have any suggestions on other things I might check?

I want to get this thing rock solid first, then I can start tweaking a bit to improve performance. If only I could get it to stop turning itself off or freezing up every few minutes...

 

[o1die]

You could try another fresh install, using one card at a time. Remove all your cards except video. Format hardrive. Install windows. Install directx 8.0. Then video driver. Then turn off system, and install next card. Reboot and install driver. Somewhere in the mix is the via 4 in 1 install. You get the idea.

 

[D33]

did it freeze when you had a fresh install and booted up windows xp, or win98 alone..with no drivers whatsoever on it? if it did, then your problem is more bios...voltage or maybe something related...or maybe heat issue.
if not, try installing one item at a time with a fresh install... and test the stability at every added card.
actually the only ones that could cause such problems are sound...3dcard.. anything internal, not your ups or anything!
let us know what happened

 

[Black_Cat]

Try taking one of the dimms out. If it's still unstable, take the remaining dimm out and swap it with the one you removed. Could be a bad dimm.

What?

 

[Guest]

I downloaded a program called Hardware Monitor and another called Motherboard Monitor. These show the following info:

These are averages:

CPU Temp: around 48C
Mainboard Temp: 32C
Core 0: 1.79 V
Core 1: .11 V
+3.3: 3.26 V (between 3.15 and 3.34)
+5.00: 4.95 V (between 4.78 and 5.08)
+12.00: 12.46 V (between 12.10 and 12.77)
-12.00: -11.10 V (between 9.59 and 12.64)
-5.00: -3.58 V (between 2.81 and 4.40)

The negative voltages do not look right. In fact, the core and both the negative voltages are often red on my Hardware Monitor display. I understand the negative voltages power the PCI slots. Is that right? Is this my problem? How do I fix it?

I also downloaded BurnInTest. It ran my CPU temp up to about 52C in a 15 minute test. It found no problems with anything else.

Another thing: I'm going to try another fresh install soon. I have wiped this HDD about 5 times now. Can you ruin an HDD doing that over and over?

 

[Crashman]

3.15 volts (on the 3.3v line) caused extreme unstability in my system, I had to get rid of my crappy Antec power supply.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Guest]

I happen to have had similar problems with a brand new system and I found out if you do not have your memory in the right slots .. check the manual for the dimm order .. you will get extreme unstability and auto reboots and wierdness it was driving me crazy and latley checking this stuff has been added to trouble shooting list ..so try that

Oh yeah another thing .. not that this could be possible if the system is booting but .. with some people anythings possible .. you may have your powersupply connected incorrectly... as crashman mentioned it could be a faulty ps ... GOOD luck

I am a goober.. with just enough knowledge to be dangerous .. .. will you hold this for a sec?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by tyrefunk on 01/10/02 11:28 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[AndrewT]

Use the jumpers, I like them more than setting it in the bios. 133 CPU external frequency, 10.5 CPU core bus (your board different so calculate it using the choices you got, for me it's 10.5x133) frequency, 1.75 volts CPU core voltage, VIO (ram voltage) 3.30 volt

My box was unstable like crazy, just realized it I left the VIO on default 3.45, now all the voltages are stable, no more crash, corrupted files reports, or random reboot. duh I can be dumb sometimes.

<font color=red>Handsome A7V133 looking for long term relationship with a XP CPU. Prefer non smoker.</font color=red>

 

[Guest]

I decided to wipe the HDD and do a fresh install, one piece at a time. With only the vid card and drives installed (nothing in PCI slots), I formatted the HDD and began reinstalling the OS (windows me). It froze halfway through.

So I reformatted and tried again. Crashed with an error that said it couldn't find the required files on C:

I did this 3 times with a different error every time. So I gave up and its now at my local computer repair shop. I feel like a failure (this is my second pc, built the first one with zero problems), but at least they will be able to tell me which part is giving me problems. I am suspecting the mboard at this point, since I have used this HDD with another mboard in the past and it worked flawlessly.

 

[Guest]

i'm just curious. when your computer will be fixed please tell if your problem was mb or memory. i think was the memory and you shold try to disable your quick test and see if you have an error message. and my advice is to change your memory modules with one 512M