Topic: CPU,Mobo or overheating problem?

[kevinho]

Hi, 2 weeks ago I got a new pc built to my spec. It consists of ....
AMD Athlon xp300+ cpu, MSI K7N2 Motherboard, 512mb DDR 400 Ram and a serial ATA Maxtor 200gb HD, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra graphics card, LG DVD ROM and an NEC DVD RW running Win XP Pro SP1.

I have consistently been experiencing the same problem since day one, that is, the my pc will just power off completely. No warnings,no beeps,no blue screen, just shut off as if there has been a power cut. I have checked all the electrical connections and set it up in a different enviroment away from home and still the same shut off. It has been back to where i bought it from on 3 occasions now with the same fault only to return with the same fault.

I had it back for the 3rd time this weekend and was pleasantly surprised that it stayed on long enough this time for me to load various applications and all seemed to be well until i noticed that the cpu was showing as a 1.3 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP and of course an immense degrredation in performance.

 First of all thought that the cpu had been changed and hence thats why it was sluggish. Well after a little research i found out that it was the cpu FSB clock that was responsible for this and that it had in fact been "Underclocked" to 100mhz and that was why it was still staying on. The place where i bought it assure me that the pc left there running at and rcognising an XP300+.

 To cut a long story short when i increase the cpu bus to 166Ghz it is infact recognised as an XP300+ but i still get the same problem the machine just switches off. To have any use of the pc i have to "underclock" it to 133mhz  and get the performance of 1.73ghz AMD if there is such a thing Current cpu temp is 58c it gets to over 62c when running at 166mhz FSB and recognised as an XP300+ trouble is it then switches off but not always at that temp. Max i have seen it go to is 65c.
I have 2 extractor fans on a superflower case with of course the fan on the cpu. Bios is up to date, cpu warning temp is disabled and system temp is currently 40c.

Any ideas as to what the problem could be?

[Sandra]

Hi kevinho and

I assume you mean you have a XP3000+ cpu not a 300.
If you reset it to BIOS defaults what does it set it at then ?
 

[kevinho]

Thanks for the welcome and the quick reply  
Ooops yes it is a 3000+ :-[ I think the bios default is 100mhz showing it as a 1.3ghz AMD Athlon XP.

[Sandra]

I have just looked up the specs of the XP3000+
I think that you may be overclocking it  
It should run at :

2.167GHz / 333FSB / 13.0x multiplier

I wish AMD would call the name of their cpus the actual speed in the approximate mhz as it caused me some problems recently when I set a Barton 2500 to run at 2200 as that was the highest option in the bios and it only really runs at 1833mhz.

[kevinho]

Have a look here.. http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=965This is where i got the info from and its probably a lot easier than me trying to explain  .

When i set the motherboard bus frequency to 166mhz the cpu is recognised as an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ but the computer swithches off yet when i run it at 133mhz it stays on. Am I making sense? I am confused as well and totally out of my depth here :-[ It should be running at 166mhz but wont.

[Sandra]

Its beginning to look like a faulty cpu/heatsink/fan combination or possibly mobo fault.
It sounds like it needs to go back to the shop again and for them to let you see it actually running hapily as a XP3000+  

[kevinho]

Thanks Sandra I will certainly want to see it running happily just concerned that if the cpu is changed there is still a possibility that it could be the mobo that is causing the problem and i will have to go through all this again with them  . In your experience what is more common a dud cpu or a dud mobo?

[Sandra]

I have never experienced any on a new build, only faulty graphics cards, dvd writers and cd writers, and ram.
Having said that I havent built that many brand new pcs, I usually upgrade or fix them  

[kevinho]

Is it possible for the FSB frequencies to "change" themselves, not via the bios? As that is what is claimed by the place i bought it

[Adept]

Hiya Kev, Glad you finally got the time to post

I've done some Googling and it looks like there may be two versions of the XP 3000+ - a 166/333 and a 200/400 version:-

Athlon XP 3000+
Type: Barton
FSB: 166/333MHz (1)*
FSB: 200/400MHz (2)
Socket A
OPGA Package
OPN: AXDA3000DKV4D (1)*
OPN: AXDA3000DKV4E (2)
Core: 13nm
Die size: 101mm²
Transistors: 54.3 million
Speed: 2.167GHz(1) 2.20GHz(2)*
Cache L1 Instructions: 64KB
Cache L1 Datas: 64KB
Cache L2: 512KB
Operating voltage: 1.65V
Multiplier: 13(1) - 11(2)°
Power (max): 68.6W
Die temperature (max): 85°C
CPU data bus width: 64-bit

Have you got a 200 FSB speed on your mobo Kev? Might be worth a try seeing as you have that nice fast 400 memory

[kevinho]

Hello  ;)determined to get to the bottom of this now!

I've been told its a FSB: 166/333mhz

It has got an FSB 200 on the board then i would be over clocking!

[kevinho]

Had a new cpu fitted and so far it is all working well  

  for your help.

[Simon]

Thanks for letting us know, Kevin.