CPU problems...

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Zaireeka

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I've got a CPU problem and I also need some advice...

Firstly, I had been noticing poor performance from my PC recently and then I suddenly realised while booting that the clock speed was displayed at 1150MHz. This a bit odd considering it has been running comfortable at 1533MHz for about the last three years...

Current spec:

AMD Athlon XP 1800+
MSI KT3-Ultra mobo
900Mb DDR 333
GeForce 4 MX420
40Gb IDE HD

(Windows XP pro + Debian GNU/Linux Sarge)

Since building this PC I havn't really paid much attention to the hardware and the CPU multiplier in the BIOS is set on Auto.

Any ideas why the clock speed has become incorrect?

Secondly, I know my PC is getting a little rusty and am planning a new one currently. I'm thinking AMD Athlon 64 3000 (SKT 939 so it'll be upgradable in the future) I know the Venice core is praised on overclockability but it seems few motherboards have a BIOS installed with "out of the box" support for Venice. Am I better going for Winchester core? ..and can anyone suggest a decent (cheapish) mobo with AGP for these processors?
 
Kray said:
Try cleaning out the dust

I'm hoping that you're kidding.

Dust will just decrease cooling efficiency, raising the temperatures. It won't downclock the processor unless you're running something that will downclock when temperatures get too high for safety. I haven't even heard of such a thing.
 
Nothing running which should reduce the clock speed...

I tried messing about with the CPU multiplier, but anything other than auto ended up with my computer failing to boot up and me having to reset the BIOS.

Any suggestons appreciated

maybe pulling the processor out and putting it back in would fix it??
 
My initial thought was that the mutiplier was warg'ed, but if you reset the CMOS and even changed the multiplier to a specific value, then something must be very wrong.

What's the multiplier range in your bios?

Do a CPU-Z check and post the results of the CPU page here.
 
CPU-Z Output:

Name: AMD Athlon XP
Code Name: Palomino
Package: Socket A
Technology: 0.18
Voltage: 1.744v

Family: 6
Model: 6
Stepping: 2
Ext. Family: 7
Ext. Model: 6
Revision: A5
Instructions: MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE

Core Speed: 1150MHz
Multiplier: 11.5x
FSB: 100MHz
Bus Speed: 200MHz
L1 Data: 64Kb
L1 Code: 64Kb
Level 2: 256Kb

I'll post the multiplier range shortly...
 
I tried this but my system doesn't boot at all unless the multiplier is set to auto. When I set it to 15x (or anything else for that matter) I end up having to reset the BIOS.

Is there some sort of update can install for the BIOS to fix this issue, I can't think of any reason why this should have happened.

I still intend to use this computer for linux once I build my new one so I'm keen to get this sorted but can't think how to do so :(
 
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