In article , "DS" wrote:

As a further to my original post:

I tried changing the cpu ext freq setting from 166 to 133. Now it runs
prime95 fine. The voltage levels do the same as before ie next to nothing.
Now prime95 actually runs, the cpu temp goes up to 58C but seems to run at
that temp without problems.

Does this suggest it is the cpu and or mobo at fault rather than the psu?

Thanks
D

As Kylesb suggested, I would examine the CPU heatsink/fan. Check that
the fan is running freely, no noise coming from it indicating imminent
bearing failure. Second, remove the heatsink fan from the CPU and do
a visual check. Look at the bottom of the heatsink for signs of heat
damage. There could be a burn mark, either on the heatsink or on the
body of the CPU. It is possible the CPU "cooked" itself.

The contact between the Athlon and the heatsink/fan is quite sensitive,
in the sense that, even if a portion of the silicon die is not making
good thermal contact with the heatsink, a portion of the die can
get hotter than the rest of it. This puts a great stress on it, and
can lead to premature failure. That is why, if using thermal grease,
you should have a regular maintenance plan, to pull the heatsink,
clean off the old grease, and apply a thin layer of new grease. The
amount of grease is not enough for a significant amount to squish
out (you don't want the product to get on the bridges), but has to
be a bit more than the thinnest layer you can make. The purpose of
the grease is to fill voids, so a little grease should appear near
the edge of the die, to ensure the voids did get filled.

Many heatsinks can be installed rotated 180 degrees from the proper
position. The contact patch (square area of metal) must align over
the center of the Athlon die. When you rotate the heatsink 180
degrees, the whole die doesn't contact metal, and that is another
way you could damage a processor.

As for the power supply voltages, the spec for those is +/-5% on
most power supplies, and your 4.865 is still greater than the
4.75 minimum. Due to possible measurement error, I would replace
the supply if the voltage drops to say 4.5 or 4.6 volts.

If, after re-doing the HSF, you still aren't any better off,
it is time to swap out the power supply. While the "average"
voltage measured by the monitor appears OK, it is possible the
transient response of the PSU is bad, so not all power supply
problems are apparent until you swap it out.

HTH,
Paul


"DS" wrote in message
...
Hi

My pc has been stable for about 2 years, but now i get several problems a
day. When using normal apps such as Borland Delphi i have been getting
access errors, when running games such as C&C Generals, it will get to
loading the beginning of game 5 (USA) and hang every time. I have also
seen
the screen saver crash. This has started happening in the last week. I
have
not installed any new hardware, software or changed system settings for
several months. The machine has recently been connected to a HP laserjet
4000 printer and is networked to another pc on a peer to peer.

I have tried a scan disk, and looked at system info, used the DirectX
tests,
but nothing appears to be wrong.

I have tested the 2 sticks of 512 memory, but the system passes both
memtest86 and the Microsoft windows memory tests. However, if I run
prime95,
it will crash instantaneously on the benchmark tests and produce various
symptoms (hang, do a bit and hang etc, stop after 100 warnings for illegal
sumout) on the torture test.


I have tried using the ASUS mobo Probe utility to watch what happens to
the
voltage as prime95 is run:
normal running prime95
12v 12.416 12.416
5v 4.945 4.865
3.3v 3.392 3.424
vcore 1.696 1.712

mobo runs at 28C - cpu at 51C

The system is:
Aopen h600a case
ASUS A7N8X Delux
AMD xp2600+
1 Gb of Crucial memory (2x512Mb pc2700)
120Gb Maxtor SATA drive connected to mobo SATA port


UBER BIOS (ASUS Bios was not working with SATA harddisk reliably, a year
ago
the UBER bios was recomended)
settings:
cpu ext freq 166Mhz
cpu freq multiple setting AUTO (12.5x)
memory freq [by spd]
sdram CAS Latency 2.5T
cpu vcore [auto]
ddr ref volt 2.6v
agp vddq volt 1.5v
chip voltage 1.6

Can anyone suggest what the problem might be or how to procede?
Thanks
D