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#1
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How reliable are motherboard monitors?
After working fine for over a year, this SOYO KT-600 & AMD 3400
(Sempron?) started rebooting spontaneously. Once in a while. When I swapped in 2x1GB memory in place of 2x512MB, it would reboot constantly, until I backed off the overclock, back to stock ratings. The motherboard monitor shows this: http://www.cycleorings.com/soyovolts.jpg Sometimes the +12V drops to 11.51. I'm guessing the power supply is on its last legs, so I bought a Corsair 550W unit (hasn't arrived yet). The question is, how reliable is the information these motherboards put out? The CPU temp seems to stay at 187F no matter what. The +3.3 seems too low to even function. |
#2
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How reliable are motherboard monitors?
Robert Barr wrote:
After working fine for over a year, this SOYO KT-600 & AMD 3400 (Sempron?) started rebooting spontaneously. Once in a while. When I swapped in 2x1GB memory in place of 2x512MB, it would reboot constantly, until I backed off the overclock, back to stock ratings. The motherboard monitor shows this: http://www.cycleorings.com/soyovolts.jpg Sometimes the +12V drops to 11.51. I'm guessing the power supply is on its last legs, so I bought a Corsair 550W unit (hasn't arrived yet). The question is, how reliable is the information these motherboards put out? The CPU temp seems to stay at 187F no matter what. The +3.3 seems too low to even function. The labels should probably be switched on the AGP item and the the +3.3V item. That would make your 3.3V, at a reading of 3.13V, right on the edge of -5%. The 12V is still passing, as -5% would yield 11.4V and you've got a reading of 11.64V. The only way to really know about these, is to use a multimeter. My multimeter isn't an expensive one, and is only accurate to about 1.5% on some ranges. Yet, it reads my power supply rail voltages as being very close to nominal, and not matching the hardware monitor values. My hardware monitor always shows my +12V on the high side - the meter shows the value is perfectly normal. So the only benefit of the hardware monitor, is as a reminder to buy a multimeter :-) Your temp of 187F is also a bit high (86C). If the temperature is diode based (diode inside CPU), that would be harder to make sense of with a multimeter. It is pretty hard to fit anything that will give an accurate CPU temp, but a lack of stability on your processor should tell you that the overheat is for real. Take off the heatsink, clean off the interface material currently present, then apply some fresh thermal paste. Then take another reading. If the interface is currently "dry", that would explain it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100009 Paul |
#3
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How reliable are motherboard monitors?
Take off the heatsink, clean off the interface material currently present, then apply some fresh thermal paste. Then take another reading. If the interface is currently "dry", that would explain it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100009 Paul Thanks for the reply. When I did that (clean surfaces and reapply heatsink compound) the system wouldn't POST anymore. I assumed (ooh, bad word!) that I didn't exercise enough ESD care and killed the CPU. So it's off to ebay to pick up a couple of CPU's (one 3300+ and one mobile, for hobby purposes). Well, it wouldn't POST with either of the 'new' CPU's either. The only guess remaining was a dead motherboard. Removed same from case and tried it breadboarded with a new PSU. No POST with any of the CPU's. (I'm now able to install these blindfolded). Just for yucks, before I put the motherboard in the trash, I pull a memory stick. No change. I pull the 2nd, and reinsert it in the other slot. It POSTs just fine. WTF? I install the second memory stick. Still POSTS fine. Reinstall the original 'dead' CPU. POSTs just fine. Reinstall motherboard into case. Notice that of the 5 screw mounting spots, only 4 contact the motherboard tray. Hmmm? Install these 4 screws. 5th screwhole is now about 3/8" above the mounting hole/pylon. WTF? Hooked it up and it POSTs fine, runs fine. Figure I'll just leave that 4th screw out -- everything seems to be OK without it. Apparently the motherboard is warped. I'm guessing the warpage is what caused some poor connection somewhere. Who knows? Last step: Order new motherboard, CPU & memory, all one generation newer, and sell all the pieces on ebay. |
#4
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How reliable are motherboard monitors?
Robert Barr wrote:
Take off the heatsink, clean off the interface material currently present, then apply some fresh thermal paste. Then take another reading. If the interface is currently "dry", that would explain it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100009 Paul Thanks for the reply. When I did that (clean surfaces and reapply heatsink compound) the system wouldn't POST anymore. I assumed (ooh, bad word!) that I didn't exercise enough ESD care and killed the CPU. So it's off to ebay to pick up a couple of CPU's (one 3300+ and one mobile, for hobby purposes). Well, it wouldn't POST with either of the 'new' CPU's either. The only guess remaining was a dead motherboard. Removed same from case and tried it breadboarded with a new PSU. No POST with any of the CPU's. (I'm now able to install these blindfolded). Just for yucks, before I put the motherboard in the trash, I pull a memory stick. No change. I pull the 2nd, and reinsert it in the other slot. It POSTs just fine. WTF? I install the second memory stick. Still POSTS fine. Reinstall the original 'dead' CPU. POSTs just fine. Reinstall motherboard into case. Notice that of the 5 screw mounting spots, only 4 contact the motherboard tray. Hmmm? Install these 4 screws. 5th screwhole is now about 3/8" above the mounting hole/pylon. WTF? Hooked it up and it POSTs fine, runs fine. Figure I'll just leave that 4th screw out -- everything seems to be OK without it. Apparently the motherboard is warped. I'm guessing the warpage is what caused some poor connection somewhere. Who knows? Last step: Order new motherboard, CPU & memory, all one generation newer, and sell all the pieces on ebay. Sometimes, a failure to POST can be caused by having a standoff installed, that doesn't have a matching plated hole on the motherboard. There was an Nforce2 board, where if you leave a standoff installed on the computer case, it shorts out one channel of sound on Lineout. On other motherboards, there have been cases where a power supply rail gets shorted. So standard advice, is to only install as many standoffs, as there are plated holes. A full sized motherboard might have 9 holes, and since some are narrower than standard, those have 6 holes. Install standoffs to match the holes. The plated holes are at ground potential. The standoffs are at ground potential. That is why it is safe for a metal standoff to touch a plated hole. PCB warpage is bad, in the sense that when the motherboard is flattened against the tray, the solder joints will be placed under stress. It is surprising that computer PCBs take the abuse that they do, without more trouble. Paul |
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