at the end of my rope/IDE cable :)

(Steve Rennick) wrote in message . com...
hi again jamotto!
posting from work now...and i've found smartdoctor..looks like it's a
vidcard monitoring utility, and, since i have an ASUS vid card, will
download it tonight and run it.
oh, I forgot to mention that it was a graphics card monitor. My
fault.

i phoned the local computer shop
here, and priced out a new chip...looks like the lowest end they have
is an amd 2000 pro or a 2500 barton...at 119 and 149
respectively
$149 for a 2500 Barton????
umm, try here http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...=BROWSE&depa=1

or here(this is more on the expensive side though)
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...ory_Code=amdxp

...but i'd like to make sure it's not the mobo.
I would too.

correct
me if i'm wrong, but it could still be the mobo couldn't it...
Yes, If you have not removed all unneeded components then a resource
conflict remains possible.

that
just given the fact it can run a chip with a lower clock speed doesn't
necessarily means it's OK, does it
Yes, by lowering the clock speed and putting in a Duron you have
reduced the electrical load on the voltage regulators etc on the
motherboard.

...and running smartdoctor to check
the voltages going to the vidcard is one way of ascertaining that,
right?
Yep, it gives you one more window into your computers operating
condition. Smartdoctor should beable to give you the voltage being
fed to the graphics card if it varies to much then something is wrong
with the graphics card or the motherboard(more likely of the two).

In any case I would start backing up data that you need while it is
running with the Duron.

so definitely NOT over
was running my usual stress-test (diablo 2) and the 1.2 duron rebooted.
WOOHOO...
just when i thought it was safe to go back in the water.
on some other advice from the group, gonna now swap out the videocard..a
geforce4 ti4200 for a geforce2mx (the g4's the only new thing in the box
since the reboot started...the g2 was a good stable card for quite a while).
let's see what happens now
steve

The fact that your PC usually locks up or reboots during a game
suggests that the issue is probably related to the graphics card or
the sound card. Especially since the graphics card is the only new
addition. Is the AA and vsync off?

didn't check...but i usually don't enable those...to much of a performance
hit...

I know you installed the latest
nVidia drivers for your card, but are they specific to the card's
manufacturer?

i've swapped out the videocard for an old generic geforce2 i had with older
drivers...we'll see how that goes

Also have you updated your Audigy drivers?

Yes.

Apparently you Ihave/I to buy decent RAM for this board. It
really has to be 2700. If you reset all the memory timings in the
BIOS to the slowest (highest) number you might have some luck. While
you're in there, try disabling your fast writes and changing the
graphics aperture size to as high as it'll go (probably 256mb).

already done to all of the above...

NT and jamotto have the right idea about running the system with the
bare minimum of components, adding gradually until you identify the
problem. If you remove the soundcard and the problem goes away, you
could try putting the soundcard in a PCI slot further away from your
AGP slot to eliminate noise. If you put the soundcard (or modem) in
PCI slot #2, I think you're 'sharing' the slot with the onboard sound,
so PCI slots #3 & #4 are better options. Probably a good idea to
check whether onboard sound is still active in the BIOS as well.

right now i've got the network card in pci 2 which is shared with onboard
audio...but i've disabled the on-board audio both using the jumper and in
the bios. my soundblaster is in pci3 (unshared). the agp slot shares
with pci 1...nothing in there. i do have both usb's enabled...but they
share with PCI's 4/5 which i have nothing in.
I guess you've already checked the seating of both video and
soundcards to see that they're firmly screwed in and that there is no
dust in the slots.

yup...

Also if you moved house there is the [small]
possibility that the mobo has shifted and is intermittently coming
into contact with the plate. If this is the case, make sure the board
is well insulated and that you use plenty of well placed risers when
you reassemble.

i think i'm ok here...

Also, check your CPU. Might be that all it needs is a quick clean and
some Arctic Silver paste.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/instructions.htm

actually just re-did that tonight when i swapped the 1.2 duron back into my
son's pc...it was actually pretty stable with the duron in it, but i got the
same reboot while playing diablo, followed by several following as i tried
to surf the net (IE6) and get some email (OE). anyway, i've now swapped out
my vid card..we'll see if the machine's still running in the AM

Please post your results and I'll see if I can help any further.

Regards,

Ratched

will do...thanks ratched...

$149 for a 2500 Barton????
yup dude i'm in canada

In any case I would start backing up data that you need while it is
running with the Duron.

i'm WAY beyond that...a week or so ago, before i started this process, i
fdisked, formatted, then reinstalled the OS on the chance it was windows
related

"Steve Rennick" wrote in message news:2C3Lb.19501$ts4.2934@pd7tw3no...
so a couple of questions, jamotto my friend
first off, downloaded smartdoctor...only way i could get it running was by
uninstalling my nvidia drivers, installing the asus ones...but it would seem
i don't have full functionality with smartdoctor. what it mean is when i
run it, i have very limited setup options, and no way to access the voltage
and smart-cooling features. i'm assuming it's either because of my OS
(win98, therefore can't run smartdoctor 4.0) or my vidcard (it's a vanilla
asus geforce 4 ti4200). the reason i REALLY want to run it now, is cuz i
came home from work today, and the computer had crashed again! looks like
it tried to reboot, but hung at a flashing prompt (no c...just a cursor).
now, i'd left asusprobe running all day. so i started asusprobe
again...went upstairs for supper...and the computer had rebooted (got all
the way to the desktop this time tho . now, i'm thinking it more likely
had something to do with asusprobe, but i want to be able to rule out mobo
entirely...and was hoping to get smartdoctor to monitor the voltage to the
GPU like you did. i'm running asusprobe again right now...voltages all look
good tho...like nothing freaky that would signify any problems going to the
mobo...but i guess i need to see what the mobo's giving to my parts.
anway..any suggestions with smartdoctor? are there other utilities to
monitor videocard voltages?
thanks again!
steve
ps no warranty for my processor...local computer shop only does a year, and
i've had it a year and a bit. lowest end new cpu i can get is a 2000+, for
either 109 at the shop i vowed never to frequent again or 119 at the
other one. and you hit it right on the head on the money-issue..my wife's
off on maternity leave right now, and we're pretty broke...so i may be stuck
with a borderline system for a while now sigh

I would use an older version of smartdoctor I have been using the one
provided on the driver CD any newer version just never worked
properly.(thought it was just my computer's problem). I don't know of
any other program that can do what Smartdoctor does.

experiment with the older video card is done...it TOO crashed. so i've
reinstalled the geforce4...using latest nvidia reference drivers. i'm
gonna slowly start eliminating stuff...starting with the USB ports on the
mobo. on the other a7s333 mobo i have, i never could get the mouse working
properly (i.e. the computer refused to boot in anything but safe mode) in
the USB slot, so i had to use the adapter to plug it into the PS2 port.
will leave PC on today...see if it's still running when i get home
another difference between this board and the other one (aside from my boy's
machine having nothing plugged into the USB slots), is i've got palmpilot
cradle plugged into a com port. maybe i should pull that as well, and
disable the com ports? following that, i'll be pulling everything out of
the machine and putting the pieces back in one by one...i know you suggested
a minimum config earlier jam...what was that again? vid card, floppy,
keyboard..that was pretty much it, wasn't it?

I would use an older version of smartdoctor I have been using the one
provided on the driver CD any newer version just never worked
properly.(thought it was just my computer's problem). I don't know of
any other program that can do what Smartdoctor does.

ps, only way i can get smartdoctor to work is by installing the asus
drivers...which are a HUGE pain in the butt to completely wipe off your
system. but maybe by using the OLDEST version i can find, i can get around
that. but it seems to look for an asus .dll file when installing...

"Steve Rennick" wrote in message news:HbeLb.25753$X%5.20011@pd7tw2no...
experiment with the older video card is done...it TOO crashed. so i've
reinstalled the geforce4...using latest nvidia reference drivers. i'm
gonna slowly start eliminating stuff...starting with the USB ports on the
mobo. on the other a7s333 mobo i have, i never could get the mouse working
properly (i.e. the computer refused to boot in anything but safe mode) in
the USB slot, so i had to use the adapter to plug it into the PS2 port.
will leave PC on today...see if it's still running when i get home
another difference between this board and the other one (aside from my boy's
machine having nothing plugged into the USB slots), is i've got palmpilot
cradle plugged into a com port. maybe i should pull that as well, and
disable the com ports? following that, i'll be pulling everything out of
the machine and putting the pieces back in one by one...i know you suggested
a minimum config earlier jam...what was that again? vid card, floppy,
keyboard..that was pretty much it, wasn't it?

I would use an older version of smartdoctor I have been using the one
provided on the driver CD any newer version just never worked
properly.(thought it was just my computer's problem). I don't know of
any other program that can do what Smartdoctor does.

ps, only way i can get smartdoctor to work is by installing the asus
drivers...which are a HUGE pain in the butt to completely wipe off your
system. but maybe by using the OLDEST version i can find, i can get around
that. but it seems to look for an asus .dll file when installing...

Yes, all you need for minimum config is vid card, keyboard, don't
really need a floppy drive either just be sure to turn off all floppy
related entries in the BIOS.

No, big deal if smartdoctor won't work. If the computer still crashes
after taking every thing not needed out. Well then you have ruled out
the graphics card, the memory?(seem to recall you ran memtest86),
Processor, the O/S(when you reinstalled it, however if it were to
crash in the bios setup screen this would be even better)

I think that just leaves the motherboard.

Yes, all you need for minimum config is vid card, keyboard, don't
really need a floppy drive either just be sure to turn off all floppy
related entries in the BIOS.

No, big deal if smartdoctor won't work. If the computer still crashes
after taking every thing not needed out. Well then you have ruled out
the graphics card, the memory?(seem to recall you ran memtest86),
Processor, the O/S(when you reinstalled it, however if it were to
crash in the bios setup screen this would be even better)

I think that just leaves the motherboard.

dunno if this means anything BUT computer ran all day with the USB ports
disabled, and my mouse plugged into the PS2 port. given the struggles i
had with the other a7s33 i have (could only boot in safe mode with the mouse
in the USB port)....
who knows...
i may have just gotten lucky
steve