Computer hanging up at 100% CPU load

[luma46]

I am looking for some help with my computer hanging up on me at full CPU load. A bit of a background.
I just recently upgraded to SOYO P4I865PE Plus Dragon 2 v1.0 motherboard to get support for my new AGP 8x card and new Celeron D (Prescott) 3.0 GHz processor. I have two 512 Mb, 336 MHz memory modules installed in dual channel mode. For general use, (like Internet browsing) everything works fine, I can even overclock both the CPU and the memory by about 10 to 12%. However, when running CPU intensive applications like encoding a DVD – computer hangs up. With Prime95 torture test, the computer will hang up in 30 seconds or sooner.
I tried the most relaxed settings, no overclock, memory running at 266 MHz - pretty much the same thing, hangs up with Prime95 in less than a minute.
To test it, I put in there my old Celeron 2.4 GHz – everything is rock solid even when overclocking by 20%. Unfortunately the mobo doesn’t have any options for voltage setting.
One note: SOYO has a bit of discrepancy for this mobo specs, in their product sheet they state Celeron support up to 2.8 GHz but then they refer to another table where they state support up to 3.06 GHz.
So my question is – should I be looking for a new CPU or for a new mobo.

 

[brady]

Run memtest/memtest86 and see what that tells you.

 

[CpuMan]

Check that you have the latest bios. I believe there was a bios update for Prescott cpu's when sp2 came out for that motherboard.



http://www.soyogroup.com/downloads/...oc_Intel+Pentium+4&col2=298&col3=BIOS+Upgrade

 

[luma46]

Yes, I have have the latest BIOS upgrade. I even tried two previous Bios versions - same thing, hangs up.

Luma46

 

[CpuMan]

I have the same motherboard but with a 2.4c northwood cpu. So I can not comment on how well it works with a Prescott. But my thinking is it should work.
Consider your self lucky you can overclock at all with this motherboard. If I try to overclock my 2.4c at all with this motherboard it will not post. But if I leave it at stock speeds its fine and runs prime95 for hours.

Are you still overclocking when running prime95?

As a last resort you could try re-installing windows with the Prescott cpu installed and then see if its prime95 stable. If that does not work you might want to think about testing the cpu in another motherboard.

 

[luma46]

As I said, I did try the mobo with my old 2.4 Celeron and I could overclock up to 2.8 GHz, over that it would not post. Funny part is that I had (still have) before an older SOYO board SY-P4I 845PE V1.0 (discontinued) which was excellent and had much more Bios setting options. With the old mobo, I was overclocking the 2.4 GHz Celeron at 3.0 GHz!!! This is why I am kind of suspecting the board.

 

[CpuMan]

Right, I would expect the motherboard to be the problem rather than the processor.

I myself am waiting for socket 478 865/875 chipset motherboards to come down some more. When they do I will be replacing my soyo board as well. Its been a stable board for me but it is useless for overclocking. It is kind of a waste having a 2.4c, one of the best Intel overclocking cpu's ever made and not being to overclock it.

 

[RicoDirenzo]

no...no.....no......Go to Run>type in msconfig> go to the startup tab. Uncheck every application other than your anitvirus software and systray. I will bet you that you have too much crap running in the background!!!!

 

[luma46]

No, it is not a crap in background, I often go in there and get rid of unwanted stuff.
I run some tests from DOS as 'bradybnmci' suggested. All memory tests progress without any error but all will sooner or later hang up the computer. At higher CPU speed and lower memory speed it seems to last/run longer. Same with CPU Burn-in v.1.0 test, it will hang up computer after 805000 iterations.
So, I am assuming that it is not the Windows causing the hang ups but the hardware. I really suspect that this board is not reliably capable of CPU speeds over 2.8 GHz. In fact the C2.4 I tested in it wouldn't post over 2.8.