Old Mobo problems (gigabyte GA-7DPXDW)

FunkyCowie

FunkyCowie

FunkyCowie

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I have an old workstation computer that I am turning into a home theater machine.

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW
CPU: Two AMD MP 2100+
RAM: Unknown brand DDR PC2100 266mhz
GFX Card: PNY Geforce 4 Ti4400
and its not OC'd...

The cpus are running a little hot CPU0=60-65 CPU1=54-57, I have put this down to needing to get new heatsinks as the current Globalwin ones have a build up of junk that I can`t clean out, plus they are rather noisey (45+Db). I have just bought a Hanns-G 19' Widescreen monitor (which is wonderful by the way), and a new case (transfered the mobo over), am waiting on the new heatsinks.

Now I seem to be having a problem starting it, it does post but before it verifies DMI the screen will go black and display 'No video signal'. I have to switch off at the powersupply, turn back on and try again, next time I might see the windows screen before it does the same. And I might have to try fully 4-5 times before it will become stable enough to watch something. Its almost like it needs to warm up like an old car before I can get it going... (I tried replacing the onboard battery to no effect as it also says 'check system health' on startup)

Anyone have any ideaswhat might be the trouble?
 
Not too experienced with these things but sounds like the PSU might be having cold boot issues. Have you checked the voltages in the BIOS or with software monitoring?
 
I compared the rig in my sig to that of my problem rig and it fluctuates a lot more.

Problem rig:

Antec 480W
CORE A: between 1.69 and 1.85
CORE B: between 1.69 and 1.82
3.3V: between 3.18 and 3.32
5V: between 4.81 and 5.05
12V: between 11.67 and 12.09
-12V: between -12.11 and -12.61
-5V: between -4.98 and -5.25

Where as the voltages on my rig in sig (Enermax Noisetaker 600W) are almost rock solid. Maybe alters by 0.01 occasionally.
 
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Most dual Athlon MBs have CPU0 temperatures 2-5C more than CPU1 due to the layout of the board and air flow.

I have the same MB with a pair of 2800+ with thermaltake copper heatsinks giving (37C/42C).

The booting issue could be that the MB is not picking up both CPUs. It happened occaitionally with my MSI mb but after I switched MB to the gigabyte it only happened a couple of times before I updated to the latest Bios version. Also if the CPUs are modded XPs rarther than MPs that would also be a cause.
 
Wow thats much better temps than mine... the new heat sinks I got have done nothing much for the temps... I`m still getting into the high 50's on both CPUs... I did know that CPU0 is usually more dominant in such board and therefore has a high temperature. The chips are MPs not modded XPs. My air flow should be good, I have two 120mm fans infront drawing air in and one 120mm fan in rear as an exhaust with a 80mm fan on the side as an exhaust aswell.

flash.jpg



EDIT: I found that if I switch on and hit delete and let it sit in bios for about 3-4 minutes then reboot it starts perfectly... not really a solution though...
 
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Your Palmino chips will run hotter than my Barton ones but not that much higher.

In my system I have had to have the two HSF (80mm fans) touching, you seem to have a gap. You may need to adjust the heatsinks - if you do check them make sure you use AS5 as with such a small cpu die heat removal is paramount.
 
I am using AS5... I touched the sinks last night when it was running and they were hot so heat transference is happening. I will double check the positioning :)

Thanks a lot for the help and advice by the way :D
 
thats the temps it gets to in bios (CPU0=60-65 CPU1=54-57)... after it 'warms up'... I`ll have to test what its like under load.
 
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I've known the bios reading to be significantly different form those read in Windows, some of the socket A boards read an on board sensor in the bios, not the CPU sensor. This is because not all socket A cpu's have the internal sensor.
 
Under the BIOS the CPUs are effectively under full power as none of the low power cpu states can operate. When both cpus running at 100% my temps are 50-55C.

Try using everest (sandra etc) and look at the temps on idle.
 
In Speedfan the values are

CPU 0 = 59-62

CPU 1 = 57-61

These are on a new install of WinXP SP2 with nothing running.

Tried Prime95 and it crashes the computer even on the easier tests...
 
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Managed to get prime working on the first stress test and both cpus are at 50% and average temps are a worryingly

CPU 0 = 68
CPU 1 = 71

I`m wondering if the cpus are near the end of their life?
 
12V: between 11.67 and 12.09
Click to expand...
Yikes, that is a rather large variation, the figures themselves aren't a problem but imo that kind of variance is, if I was seeing that in one of my home machines I would still try a different PSU.
 
I've been so obsessed with temperatures I only just realized that the bios is not displaying any fan speed, the fans are rotating as they should. I`ll try a different psu and see what happens with the Vs. There is a lot of heat coming from the psu.
 
Played around with my Akasa Zen case and made some mods due to lack of air being able to be drawn into the case. The top 120 fan was unable to draw much air as I only have one drive in the top I removed the three 5 1/4 inch panels drilled a grill into them so air can be drawn through and now I have some nice cool air being drawn in. I also moved one 3 3/4 drive down a couple of notches so air from the bottom 120 fan can send air towards the cpus. The side fan pushes cool air into both heat sink fans which push air into the heatsinks as they should. As there is no floppy drive I have inserted another 80mm fan above the lower 120mm fan and also drilled holes in the drive panels. I also reseated both Heatsinks they still aren`t touching but it did drop my temps by a couple of degrees. Doing everything has dropped my cpu temps down by 10 Celcius but I`m still getting cold start problems, which must be PSU related. And my fan speeds won`t show up unless I hold a fan up to them to cool them down then it outputs the speed weird huh?

flash2.jpg


Only thing is I need some kind of mesh similar to what I have in my P180 to cover the holes to stop dust from entering the computer. Anyone know where I could get some?
 
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