GA-7VAXP+athlonXP2000 issue

[mathieu_durand]

Hi,

I have bought a few days ago a GA-7VAXP motherboard. I used it with an athlon XP 2000+ and I think I have a frequency issue.
My processor is supposed to run at 1666Mhz, I let all the switchs on the board on the default position (100Mhz bus and don't manage processor clock), but when I start my PC, on the first black screen there is 1250Mhz instead of 1666Mhz for my processor running frequency, Windows XP also told me that I used a 1250Mhz CPU. I try to change the core frequency over the bios but every time I attempst to control the CPU clock frequency, my PC don't want to boot!
Can you help me please?

 

[o1die]

You may have a 133 fsb jumper. If that's not an option, I would try bumping up the cpu vcore by .025 volts.

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Ack, I have that board too. Make sure you have your multiplier set to 12 and the FSB jumper block (3 different settings 100, 133, or 166) to 133Mhz. You have to have the FSB jumper block set right, otherwise by switching the frequency in the bios, you're trying to overclock the multiplier with a 100Mhz bus (not possible)

Soon enough, Intel will make the i845s...imagine dual channel Sdram...*shudder*

 

[mathieu_durand]

Thanks for your help, do you think there is a potential risk for the CPU to set the board switchs to 133Mhz and x12.5?
I

 

[Quetzacoatl]

no risk, that is the correct setting for a 2000+ (1666Mhz)

Soon enough, Intel will make the i845s...imagine dual channel Sdram...*shudder*

 

[ejsmith2]

You might also think about unlocking that XP, and kicking your FSB up to 166. It kicks some serious ass with the response time of the system.

In fact, you might even consider dropping .5 off the multiplier, and moving that FSB up to around 175. Still close to spec on the cpu, the PCI stuff has another 2 mhz to play with (35mhz on the PCI bus), and your northbridge can handle it if you have a side panel case fan.

[Jedi mind trick] You LOVE Palladium. [/mind trick]

 

[mathieu_durand]

It seems that there was anyway a risk... I blow up my CPU and maybe my motherboard! I just set the first jumper to 133Mhz bus and the other to *12.5: my computer don't boot.
I tried then all the multiply factor (12 11.5 11...) and my PC never booted! So I set back the first jumper on 100Mhz and the other one to "CPU clock free", and try over the bios.
I choose in the bios 110Mhz for the bus speed, and this time, it was working! But my CPU steal run at a frequency lower than what was expected... Thus I choose 120Mhz, I booted my computer and other time, and after 20s, my computer stop... definitively!
From this time, I can't reboot my pc whatever I tried. I think the CPU is out of order, and I really don't understand why!
The maximum frequency reached during my (disastrous)tests were 1.4Ghz, and the first black screen on boot told me that I have a 1800+ athlon. After, there was the crash...
What do you think about that?

 

[berto]

Mathieu, I'm having exactly the same problem as you are.
I just upgraded from a GA7-ZXE to the GA7-VAX (same as the VAXP except no IDE RAID - I use IBM SCSI RAID.
The board refuses to boot on ANY setting (133, 166 MHz)except 100 MHz FSB, with the result that my CPU is reported as a 1250 MHz unit. I use PC 3200 (DDR400 Mhz) DIMM, tried various modules but no luck. Setting the dips to auto or manual 12.5 multipler makes no difference. Playing with the voltage & overclocking settings no diff either ! Even tried to roll back the BIOS revision back to F4 (board was shipped with rev F5) but still no joy.
Even putting in a different make GeForce 4 card made no difference. Last week I sold a GA7-VAXP with Xp2000+ chip to one of my customers and it's running at 2000+, but keeps on crashing and overheating.
How is it possible that a company like Gigabyte can ship products with such glaring faults? Or is it the Via KT400 chipet that's at fault? Shades of the Intel i820 chipset here, it seems...

I'm taking it back to the distributor, maybe the 333 DDR VRX/P board is a better bet - THG reckons there is NO difference between DDR333 & DDR400 anyway performance wise,
so is VIA suckering us ?

 

[Kieran]

Mathieu:

I had a similar problem with my system on first boot. It booted, but only with SW1 set to "100MHz" and the cpu auto-detected as 1250MHz, instead of 1.736 GHz (Athlon XP 2100+). I went into the BIOS and changed the DRAM Clock to "166-DDR333", and shut down. I left the CPU clock ratio DIP switch at the "auto" setting. I then put SW1 DIP switch to the 133MHz setting. Upon rebooting, the system recognized the cpu as a XP2100+ at 1.74GHz, and the memory is stable. I have not yet tried the "top performance" bios setting... all timings, CAS setting etc., are still at default. But the system is running stable. I only JUST installed the mobo cpu memory and video last night, so I'm still tweaking.

-Kieran

 

[ejsmith2]

Personally, I think the board was a good buy for the price I got it.

But it's now obvious that it's not for folks that haven't built and kept up with all the nuiances of cards and features.

I didn't realize how much trouble this board would cause.

I'm going to put the entire blame back on Gigabyte. It's not VIA or AMD. It's GA.

And their piss-poor documentation. I can understand them defaulting the FSB to 100. There's people who still buy the old tbirds.

But they should have labeled SW1 *in the manual* for what it is. Tell people exactly what it does, not "what it should be set to", and the added little fscking bonus that it gives when you set it.

They basically wanted to cut down on tech support calls. Which means you don't have many controls put in the bios. That's why the "advanced" functions are "hidden". I can understand and sympathize with that.

I'd still subject the people who wrote the manual to 50 lashes, out in the middle of the town square, in front of their spouses and mothers.

Preventative medicine.



"I personally think filesystems should be rewritten from scratch every 5 years..." --- Hans Reiser

 

[berto]

Kieran

That 'top performance" setting is a bit of a misnomer -
it should be something like "dud setting for inducing blue screens", so don't even waste your time.
I swapped my brand new GA7-VAX for other GA7VAX boards - the local distributor tried FOUR units plus my original one, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM will not recognise an XP2000+ CPU.
Finally I opted for the VAXP and that runs perfectly - until you enable the 'top performance' setting.

I've seen this 'top perfomance' setting before, on the Gigabyte GA6 VXE Pentium III boards (VIA chipset) and it had exactly the same problem - like bloody Deja Vu.
Maybe in a year they'll release a BIOS update that would *remove* this useless setting...

Berto

 

[ejsmith2]

No.

But that "Top Performance" only works with the absolute, top of the line memory.

It turns the CAS to 1.5, the timings down to 2-5-2. All the other wait states to 2 or 1.

If you paid $280 for a 128meg stik of PC2700 memory, that top performance will work perfectly.

"I personally think filesystems should be rewritten from scratch every 5 years..." --- Hans Reiser

 

[berto]

Thanx for the info EJ. Actually, I'm using a 512 Mb PC3200
but I guess it's an el cheapo @ $ 200...
How would you define 'top performance' anyway, since
1) no DDR400 standard has yet been defined, and 2)
the THG test showed little or no performance difference between PC2700 & PC3200 DDR ?

 

[Quetzacoatl]

he's referring to the "top performance" option in the BIOS, it essentially sets the memory timings very strictly, such as 2.0 clock latency, and various charge timings. Doesn't matter if DDR 400 Standard has been approved by JEDEC yet, Corsair XMS as well as a couple other manufacturers can develop ram modules at that high speeds. Besides, this way, you can run very strict memory timings at a lower FSB, such as 166Mhz or 183Mhz

Soon enough, Intel will make the i845s...imagine dual channel Sdram...*shudder*

 

[ejsmith2]

"you can run very strict memory timings at a lower FSB"

Yep.

"I personally think filesystems should be rewritten from scratch every 5 years..." --- Hans Reiser