[RESOLVED] ATHLON

[VT2000]

I'M TRYING TO BUILD A NEW SYSTEM W/ K7-650
ABIT MOTHERBOARD; SOUND BLASTER LIVE!; 128 WONDER PRO (32M);DVD-CDR; CD-ROM; 300W POWER SUPPLY! FORMAT AT LEAST 10 TIMES....REINSTALL
WINDOWS 15+...! eVEN TRY W/ CHEAP OLD PCI VIDEO CARD.....SAME TRBL.....SYSTEM DETECT
REGISTRY ERR....RESTART AND BACK IT IT SELF...THEN ILLEGAL OPERATION FOR eXPLORE...
THEN WINDOWS NEVER LOAD AGAIN!

i HEAR THAT POWER SUPPLY HAS TO BE UL RATED????

HELP!

[tecman]

I had an ABIT board that did the exact same thing. It would work with two of the four memory slots filled (before SDRAM), but with four of four, would do exact same thing as you describe. I would try a)different memory, then b)new board.
Good luck

[EvilKlown]

Just as a point of reference it is always a good practice to make sure you are using UL listed components. If not you might as well use parts you find in someone's trashbin.

[jmlozan]

Try different brand of memory. Athlon is very specific with memory. Also make sure that the Athlon is well cooled.

[sMAckT]

I recently purchased an Athlon w/ Asus K7M, SB Live, Blah Blah. I hope this info helps. Are you running PC-100 or 133??? What does the BIOS say about your memory speed. If your board can handle PC-133 and thats what you are running, try under-clocking the memory back to 100mhz. Did you reset your BIOS back to default settings??? Does the video card require an IRQ??? Is your USB enabled??? I am not familair with the ABIT, but if it is anything like the ASUS it is finicky http://www.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smile.gif Also, Win98SE is finicky, which I am sure you know. These are just thoughts.

[VT2000]

Thanks all your help!

I got this system wrks! I exchanged differ
mem brand (only 100Mhz)!

Thanks
VT

[protechpc]

Sorry I'm late........ Building an ATLON can be a pain. Some things I have learned from Atlon support and other techs. Bad memory will cause the problems you are describing. PC100 works fine. The most important thing I learned was that the BIOS option for "optimal performance" must be selected prior to installing anything. As well, using the K7V I had to install the AGP mini ports drivers prior to the remaining options. Following this order got it running like a speed demon without errors.

------------------
Don't take life too seriously -- It isn't permanent

www.protechpc.com

[DuhTech]

I have built about 6 Athlon systems to date and protechpc is correct as regards the order of setup and installation. It is my understanding, from AMD and other techs, due to certain timing issues of the Athlon processor high quality RAM is required. I have found Corsair memory, although more expensive, to work flawlessly.

[GilStuart]

The most overlooked Athalon item is that the PS must supply at LEAST 20A on the 5V lines the more the better, typically a PS with a overall rating of 350W should suffice.

[msn_tech]

I've built Athlon/Duron's with 230W power supplies and had no problems but had problems with the motherboards and memory configurations. The Socket A chips run around 70-90C vs. the old K6's ran at 40-50C. The motherboards seem to be a bit buggy at this point and the RMA process is ongoing. RMA the motherboard or memory and see what happens.

[Tech666]

Makes me happy im an intel man http://www.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smile.gif

but seriously , wouldnt you think they would've tested for those issues BEFORE they released this technology?

no , i am NOT in any way saying intel is any better than AMD , just seems like most of their stuff has been perfectly stable in the last few years (820 mth's not withstanding b/c intel didnt actually produce those).

[techs]

Originally posted by Tech666:
Makes me happy im an intel man http://www.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smile.gif

but seriously , wouldnt you think they would've tested for those issues BEFORE they released this technology?

no , i am NOT in any way saying intel is any better than AMD , just seems like most of their stuff has been perfectly stable in the last few years (820 mth's not withstanding b/c intel didnt actually produce those).
AHEM. didn't intel ship rambus based boards to dell or compaq only to have them refuse to sell them because of memory problems? and haven't the greater than 1 ghz chips been recalled?
Intel products remind me in some ways of the old compaqs that were "secretary proof" where the bios could be left off the hard drive, so only the techs could make changes. the people who are buying boards like asus are looking for bios tweaking and features that should be extreme enough to cause problems, or else how would you know you exceeded the limit for your machine? if you really want to compare buggy hardware, compare amd and intel on oem computers from the same company. are compaq athlons more problem prone than pentium compaqs?
As for me my previous athlon 500 with cas 2 ram smoked every computer i worked on up til three weeks ago. Now i have an asus a7v with a t-bird 800, and when i work out the tweaks it will be smoking oem 1ghz machines.

[MAYHEM]

I don't mean to start an argument here but I now have two machines running on Asus CUC2000 MoBos with the 820 chipset. They are teo of the most stable and best performing machines I have ever owned. I think some of the cheaper manufacturers had problems with the 820 chipsets but the boards I've used from Intel and Asus were great.

------------------
Who the hell is General Protection and why is he messing with my comuter?

[Tech666]

Ahem....

[Tech666]

Ahem....

[Tech666]

Ahem....

They shipped 820's with the MTH (used SDRAM) , and those were recalled , the 820's have native support for RDRAM.

(if you know of something i missed , send me the link ,and i will be glad to eat those words http://www.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smile.gif)

as far as systems from OEM's , how many of my customers bought Athlons from gateway only to turn right around and ship them back , and buy an intel based system from me?

how many IBM aptiva's with k6-2's have been in my shop with the only real issue being chipset problems??

how many (and dammit , i stil love abit) Abit VA6's have been bought at computer shows only to come into my shop anbd be replaced with BH6's or BE6-II's?

Too Many for it to be a fluke...

Look , I like competition. I think its great that AMD is beating the **** out of intel on the FPU power frontlines , but these seem to be pretty consistent problems with the core logic, and i for one , am still happy to be an intel man http://www.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smile.gif

[Darren Wilson]

Someone else who agrees with me!!!!!!

My PIII 500 smokes nearly all the higher speed Athlons that I have seen in the shop. The only ones it doesn't smoke (but comes damn near though ) are the Athlons running at over 900Mhz!!!!

If AMD could get the chipset problems out of the way then Intel may well be worried but until then I wil sell Intel based systems only and have a lot of time free to surf the net in the shop whilst other shops are having to deal with the problems that they have with their supplied Athlon systems.

------------------
why are our jobs so interesting??????

For a different ' angle ' on life visit my NEW homepage @ The Carpers Lodge - The UK's No.1 Non-Commercial / Independant Carp Angling Website (http://www.carperslodge.co.uk)

[Nighthand]

I have built P3s and I have built Athlons. I have to say Athlons tend to be faster but are much more finicky. The P3 is more stable, like I understand is the same difference between the Duron and Celeron (I have not built either one yet). I think Athlons are for more experienced users, whereas the P3 is a little more idiot proof. As far as OEMs, I have seen most custom built machines beat OEMs in a pound for pound comparison. OEMs tend to use crappier parts to keep costs down. Not to cause any problems with anybody

[pga]

AMD=Bus Speed advantage + low price + poor quality control

Intel=cache advantage + stability + compatibility + reliability + quality control

AMD + Intel= a competitive market so we can buy intel cpu's at a reasonable price

While I admire AMD and usually go for the underdog, intel is my choice for building systems... less headaches for myself and my customers

[techs]

Originally posted by Tech666:
Ahem....

They shipped 820's with the MTH (used SDRAM) , and those were recalled , the 820's have native support for RDRAM.

(if you know of something i missed , send me the link ,and i will be glad to eat those words http://www.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smile.gif )

as far as systems from OEM's , how many of my customers bought Athlons from gateway only to turn right around and ship them back , and buy an intel based system from me?

how many IBM aptiva's with k6-2's have been in my shop with the only real issue being chipset problems??

how many (and dammit , i stil love abit) Abit VA6's have been bought at computer shows only to come into my shop anbd be replaced with BH6's or BE6-II's?

Too Many for it to be a fluke...

Look , I like competition. I think its great that AMD is beating the **** out of intel on the FPU power frontlines , but these seem to be pretty consistent problems with the core logic, and i for one , am still happy to be an intel man http://www.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smile.gif
First lets start with the ibm k6-2 machines. they failed at an alarming rate, i must agree. But maybe it had something to do with the 140watt power supply!!!
On to the Gateway. My first computer was a Gateway p233mmx with 32 mb sdram. Very fast. Very good quality, Intel chipset, great case(though custom made). However, my ensoniq audio card never worked right. 20 calls to gateway, still no luck. I went to aplus classes(5days) studied for 6 weeks, passed the exam. Two weeks later I had the Ensoniq card working. My point is that Gateway is an assembler with great help on simple problems, but no real technical expertise. so they bought amd, didn't know what they were doing, and they had problems. If Dell decided to sell AMD they would have the problems worked out before they sold them(didn't they catch the Rambus problem?) If AMD gets the acceptance of Intel, outside manufacturer support will help them with compatibilty. On the other hand how do you get that support without having the quality?
Dollar for dollar AMD systems, made by me, at least, smoke Intel. I choose my parts carefully, because i know most every one designs for intel first, amd second.this is not AMD's fault(BTW noice that Microsoft says the 350mhz win95 problem was theirs, not AMD's). So lets get in there, help AMD to become an even more viable alternative, and we will be able to sell better systems for less money, more reliability and keep the customers happy.