Starting issues.

[lazerman]

Well I am overclocked right now, and I have no stability issues according to sisandra burn in, but everytime I start the computer I have to try several times before it will boot. What could be causing this? Also if I get a better hsf and my cpu temp drops significantly, would I be able to overclock more then I am now and still be stable? If I go much higher it starts locking up. Also my fsb is 266=133x2 and my pc2100 memory only supports 266 or less so does that mean I have to get faster memory in order to overclock more stabily? If so I could just get some pc2700 and get more performance out of my fsb?

 

[Demalii]

uhm.. first off you need to use Prime95 and run it for a day straight, that's usually a great test... What temp is your chip at now? And!... *drum roll*, What happens when it doesn't boot up correctly? If this just started because of the overclock.. then welcome to the term "instability" =)

 

[lazerman]

Well, when it doesn't boot up, it's more like the monitor activity light doesnt turn on and neither does the monitor. If I turn the monitor off and then back on it says "Is the Cable Connected?".
And I am pretty sure my system is stable, I did sisandra flawlessly, and that's usually where I get instability issues. I also played a couple games. Right now I'm at 47 degrees C.

 

[lazerman]

The system boots up, I just can't see anything on there. The card I'm using now sucks arse, it's a S3 ViRGE, I'm thinking about throwing my bro's pci card in mine and giving him this one. Here are the specs:

SiSoftware Sandra

Video Adapter
Model : S3 ViRGE
Chipset : S3 ViRGE
RAMDAC : S3 SDAC
VGA Compatible : No
Total Memory : 4MB (4MB Video)
Texture Memory : 4MB

Video BIOS
Date : 08/02/96
Version : 1.00

Current Video Mode
Mode : 1024x768 64K HiColour (16-bit)
Current Refresh Rate : 60Hz
Virtual Desktop Size : 1024x768

Video Driver
Model : s3m.sys
Version : 5.1024.329.02
Expected Windows Version : 4.00
Video Acceleration : Yes
Screen Saver Active : No
Low Power Saving Active : 20 minutes(s)
Power Off Saving Active : 20 minutes(s)

Supported Video Modes
Mode 0 : 640x480 256 colours (8-bit) 60Hz
Mode 1 : 640x480 256 colours (8-bit) 72Hz
Mode 2 : 640x480 256 colours (8-bit) 75Hz
Mode 3 : 640x480 256 colours (8-bit) 85Hz
Mode 4 : 800x600 256 colours (8-bit) 60Hz
Mode 5 : 800x600 256 colours (8-bit) 72Hz
Mode 6 : 800x600 256 colours (8-bit) 75Hz
Mode 7 : 800x600 256 colours (8-bit) 85Hz
Mode 8 : 1024x768 256 colours (8-bit) 43Hz
Mode 9 : 1024x768 256 colours (8-bit) 60Hz
Mode 10 : 1024x768 256 colours (8-bit) 70Hz
Mode 11 : 1024x768 256 colours (8-bit) 75Hz
Mode 12 : 1024x768 256 colours (8-bit) 85Hz
Mode 13 : 1152x864 256 colours (8-bit) 60Hz
Mode 14 : 1280x1024 256 colours (8-bit) 43Hz
Mode 15 : 1280x1024 256 colours (8-bit) 60Hz
Mode 16 : 1280x1024 256 colours (8-bit) 75Hz
Mode 17 : 1600x1200 256 colours (8-bit) 48Hz
Mode 18 : 640x400 256 colours (8-bit)
Mode 19 : 640x480 64K HiColour (16-bit) 60Hz
Mode 20 : 640x480 64K HiColour (16-bit) 72Hz
Mode 21 : 640x480 64K HiColour (16-bit) 75Hz
Mode 22 : 640x480 64K HiColour (16-bit) 85Hz
Mode 23 : 800x600 64K HiColour (16-bit) 60Hz
Mode 24 : 800x600 64K HiColour (16-bit) 72Hz
Mode 25 : 800x600 64K HiColour (16-bit) 75Hz
Mode 26 : 800x600 64K HiColour (16-bit) 85Hz
Mode 27 : 1024x768 64K HiColour (16-bit) 48Hz
Mode 28 : 1024x768 64K HiColour (16-bit) 60Hz
Mode 29 : 1024x768 64K HiColour (16-bit) 70Hz
Mode 30 : 1024x768 64K HiColour (16-bit) 85Hz
Mode 31 : 1280x1024 64K HiColour (16-bit) 43Hz
Mode 32 : 640x480 64K HiColour (16-bit) 60Hz
Mode 33 : 640x480 64K HiColour (16-bit) 72Hz
Mode 34 : 640x480 64K HiColour (16-bit) 75Hz
Mode 35 : 640x480 64K HiColour (16-bit) 85Hz
Mode 36 : 800x600 64K HiColour (16-bit) 60Hz
Mode 37 : 800x600 64K HiColour (16-bit) 72Hz
Mode 38 : 800x600 64K HiColour (16-bit) 75Hz
Mode 39 : 800x600 64K HiColour (16-bit) 85Hz
Mode 40 : 1024x768 64K HiColour (16-bit) 43Hz
Mode 41 : 1024x768 64K HiColour (16-bit) 60Hz
Mode 42 : 1024x768 64K HiColour (16-bit) 70Hz
Mode 43 : 1024x768 64K HiColour (16-bit) 85Hz
Mode 44 : 1280x1024 64K HiColour (16-bit) 43Hz
Mode 45 : 640x480 16M TrueColour (24-bit) 60Hz
Mode 46 : 640x480 16M TrueColour (24-bit) 72Hz
Mode 47 : 640x480 16M TrueColour (24-bit) 75Hz
Mode 48 : 640x480 16M TrueColour (24-bit) 85Hz
Mode 49 : 800x600 16M TrueColour (24-bit) 60Hz
Mode 50 : 800x600 16M TrueColour (24-bit) 72Hz
Mode 51 : 800x600 16M TrueColour (24-bit) 75Hz
Mode 52 : 800x600 16M TrueColour (24-bit) 85Hz
Mode 53 : 1024x768 16M TrueColour (24-bit) 43Hz
Mode 54 : 640x480 16 colours (4-bit)
Mode 55 : 800x600 16 colours (4-bit)

Enhanced Video Settings
Animation Effects Enabled : Yes
Full Windows Drag Enabled : Yes
Font Smoothing Enabled : No
HighContrast Feature On : No

Device Mode Characteristics
Physical Medium Width : 320 mm, 13 in
Physical Medium Height : 240 mm, 9 in
Recommended CRT/Panel Size : 20 in
Horizontal/Vertical Resolution : 96x96 dpi
Colour Bits/Planes : 16 / 1 bit(s) pp
Brushes : 4294967295
Pens : 4294967295
Colours/Shades : 4294967295
Pixel Width/Height/Diagonal : 36 / 36 / 51

Driver Clipping Capabilities
Can Clip Output to Rectangle : Yes
Can Clip Output to Region : No

Driver Raster Capabilities
Supports Banding : No
Supports Fonts Larger than 64Kb : Yes
Can Transfer Bitmaps : Yes
Supports Bitmaps Larger than 64Kb : Yes
Supports Device Bitmaps : No
Supports DIBs : Yes
DIBs on Device Surface : Yes
Flood Fills : Yes
Supports Windows 2.x : Yes
Stretch/Compress Bitmaps : Yes
Stretch/Compress DIBs : Yes
Supports Scaling : No
Palette-Based Device : No
Saves Bitmap Locally : No

Driver Curve Capabilities
Can Draw Circles : Yes
Can Draw Ellipses : Yes
Can Draw Pie Wedges : Yes
Can Draw Chord Arcs : Yes
Can Draw Wide Borders : Yes
Can Draw Styled Borders : Yes
Can Draw Wide, Styled Borders : Yes
Can Draw Rounded Rectangles : Yes
Can Draw Interiors : Yes

Driver Line Capabilities
Can Draw Polylines : Yes
Can Draw Styled Lines : Yes
Can Draw Wide Lines : Yes
Can Draw Wide, Styled Lines : Yes
Can Draw Markers : Yes
Can Draw Polymarkers : Yes
Can Draw Interiors : Yes

Driver Polygonal Capabilities
Can Draw Alternate-fill Polygons : Yes
Can Draw Winding-fill Polygons : Yes
Can Draw Rectangles : Yes
Can Draw Scan Lines : Yes
Can Draw Wide Borders : Yes
Can Draw Styled Borders : Yes
Can Draw Wide, Styled Borders : Yes
Can Draw Interiors : Yes

Driver Text Capabilities
Supports Stroke Clip Precision : Yes
Supports Stroke Output Precision : Yes
Supports Character Output Precision : Yes
Supports 90° Character Rotation : No
Supports Any Angle Character Rotation : No
Supports Independent X-Y Scaling : No
Supports Doubled Character for Scaling : No
Supports Integer Multiples for Scaling : No
Any Multiples for Exact Scaling : No
Can Draw Double-Weighted Characters : No
Can Italicise : No
Can Underline : Yes
Can Draw Strikeouts : Yes
Can Draw Raster Fonts : Yes
Can Draw Vector Fonts : Yes
Cannot Scroll Using BitBlt : No

Performance Tips
Tip 301 : Install more video memory. Modern video cards need 4MB or more for optimum performance.
Tip 314 : Video BIOS is too old. Check for an update.
Tip 319 : A refresh rate of at least 75Hz is recommended. Increase it if possible.
Tip 325 : Turn off window animation to reduce delays.
Warning 313 : Font smoothing reduces video performance.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

 

[Nubius]

Its CPU instability....when the computer starts up..all power to it...but it sits there and does nothing..no post...no beeps..no bootup....it means your motherboard is having problems with the CPU....so chances are its not as stable as you think. This happened to my system and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. I installed the D-link bracket that came with the board and it has LED's indicating system procedure to help troubleshoot....when I had the problem you were describing...the 4 LED's were red....first thing on the list...CPU DAMAGED OR INCORRECTLY INSTALLED.....upon removing the heatsink I saw that the guy who replaced my CPU for me was a fuxoring moron and put WAY too much grease ontop of a thermal pad at that...so grease was all over my pins next to the core. Reseat your HS and see if anything of that sort has happened. Remember in terms of grease...less is more....you don't want the stuff to squish off the sides after applying. After I reapplied my HS properly I havent had the same troubles.

You may think your system is stable but it sounds quite unstable my friend. My first guess is its your CPU. While it may not be fried..you could be getting close to it.. Try reseating your HS and fan and apply the compound carefully. Take off the existing compound with a lint free cloth of a q-tip and 70% up to preferably 99% isopropynol alcohol (rubbing alcohol) I used 99% and the grease and thermal pad came off easily.

Conclusion: Try a different CPU if you got a spare one or just reseat the HS and crap.

 

[lazerman]

But wouldn't it happen everytime? It only happens once and a while.

 

[Nubius]

Not necessarily...computers are fickle like that...mine would act completely normal and stable then next thing I knew next day when I tried to bootup it wouldn't...just power on and fans spinning and clearing CMOS isn't doing anything....wasn't until I cleaned off my heatsink and CPU Core and reapplied the junk has it now returned to stability. Dude who switched out my CPU put grease ontop of an existing pad and the grease was all globbed over my circuits near the core =/

 

[lazerman]

Yeah well I don't think I did that bad of a job with it. Also resetting the cmos does work for me. It may be instability, but, It runs stable whenever its up and running. I can get through the prime95 benchmark without locking up. But that torture test is something else lol.