FSB and Memory Frequency in Bios

[ekÆsine]

Starcat actually if I'm understanding you correctly, the problem is not your memory or CPU. If you are getting crashes during UT2004 that points to a video card problem. I would set it all back to default like you had it in the first place (11x, 200Mhz cpu ext freq, memory by spd) and start troubleshooting the video instead. Did you already install the lastest video card drivers?

What were you refering to when you said processor-intensive activity? "it gets unstable and either freezes or crashes when playing a game or other processor-intensive activity." if it's crashing outside your 3D games maybe you should try underclocking your CPU ext freq down to 190Mhz or so.

 

[Raekwon]

have you got DirectX9.0 installed? or, like ekÆsine said, the latest video card drivers? try running another game and see if it crashes

 

[Starcat]

Thanks for the replies. I do have Directx 9.0 installed and believe we've got the latest drivers for the video card. What's interesting to me is that we've been running this machine (at the 100mhz CPU freq) for a couple of months now with no problems at all on any applications or games. This is my son's "game machine" which we built specifically for him, pared down to barebones (e.g., disabled a bunch of services, only one dvd drive, on-board sound, etc.).

So, if it worked fine running at 100mhz - and I mean no problems whatsoever - and if the only thing changed was through the bios to get the CPU to run at its rated speed (2.2ghz=100mhz x 11 multiplier) and take advantage of the 400 fsb and PC3200 400mhz memory, then why would it all of a sudden be a video driver problem?

I will take your advice, though, and try and trouble-shoot the video card. I have checked with Asus, too, and we have the latest bios. Have sent them in a tech support request, so we'll see what they say.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[ekÆsine]

Starcat not to make you feel ridiculous, but are you 100% positive that your processor is an XP3200+? if it worked while your CPU was underclocked than what you should try is to keep underclocking your CPU ext freq down from 200Mhz until the point the games stop crashing. go in increments of 5 or 10 or so and when it starts working fine you can fine tune it down to the nearest 1Mhz. Some people have said this fixed a problem similiar to this before.

 

[Starcat]

Lol! Thanks. No, I need no help in feeling ridiculous, quite capable of that myself. It's a legit question, but yes I'm sure - in fact, when I set it to 200mhz and then check both the bios splash screen during boot up and the sys info in XP, it properly id's the CPU by name, even. Good idea, to be methodical and step it down in increments. The ASUS tech folks responded and suggested it's a memory problem and that I set everything I can to user definable, set the CPU to 200mhz, but set the memory freq to 83%. If the system is still unstable, they suggest setting the CPU vcore to 1.7v. Sound reasonable?

Thanks again for all your assistance.

 

[ekÆsine]

Yeah I agree with them that it's a memory issue. Getting more compatible memory might fix your problem. I suggest trying what they said about adjusting your memory freq down to a point that it stops crashing and increasing vcore up to a max of 1.75. Underclocking the CPU might be something to try if that doesn't work. My initial suspicion was your RAM, I still feel it is. I don't suggest going out and replacing it if you can fix it though. Some motherboards are very picky about what RAM you use. You might want to check the supported memory list at the asus website to find out what RAM has tested working with the A7N8X-X

 

[Starcat]

Yep, thanks. Did the check on supported memory on the Asus site before I bought the mobo and memory. Said the Kingston single 256mb was supported, but I took a chance and got 2x512mb - wasn't sure I could get to 1gb using the 256. Perhaps that's the problem.

Going to try the Asus solutions this evening and will give an update later. Thanks

 

[jolancer]

how did memtest checkout? did u try running it at 200 fsb with 1 ram stick at a time?

 

[Starcat]

Haven't run memtest yet, that's the next step after trying the Asus solution.

 

[Starcat]

Just an update...I made the changes that the Asus tech suggested - CPU External at 200mhz, Mem Frequency at 83%, and it seems to be working fine so far - no freezes or GPFs. Yet. Looks like what ek suspected is correct - a memory issue. I will continue to work with it awhile and see if it remains stable. And run memtest, which I haven't gotten around to yet.

So, is this normal? I mean, the Asus site stated that a particular type of Kingston memory (pc3200, 256) was tested with this board, and I got Kingston memory, but of a different kind (pc3200, 2x512). Are mobo's really that picky? Should I choose to change this later and buy the specified Kingston mem, can I get up to 1gb using 256mb chips? Seems to me with 3 slots I could only get up to 768mb.

This really kind of annoys me, since I bought this in a bundle (mobo, CPU, memory) and it was supposed to have been tested thoroughly. That'll teach me.

As usual, I have learned a lot from the kind folks here, and I tip my hat to you. Thanks.