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Athlon XP 3200+ problem

eeper

eeper

eeper

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10 Mar 2005
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Hi all,

I have just got hold of an AMD Athlon XP 3200+ CPU to replace the 2600+ currently running on my MSI K7N2 Delta.

When I try to set the FSB to 200 in the BIOS and then reboot, the system just hangs with a black screen (no signal) on the monitor. If I leave the FSB at 100 or 166 the system boots fine. The BIOS and CPU-Z report the processor as running at 1.1GHz when I am sure it should be at 2.2GHz.

Whats going on? Have I been ebayed a duff processor? Or is there some sort of jumper/BIOS setting that I am missing.

Thanks in advance
 
I used to have this mobo and it ran fine with a 3200+
Make sure the Ram isnt on a divider, because on that mobo you can make the ram run faster than the cpu.
Look in the manual for the FSB jumper on the mobo. There is a jumper for max of 133 I think

MC_Bob
 
I also had that same board.

Its a demon and every bit on par with the NF7S and DFI LP for clocking inspite of what many say.

Anyway, the barton 3200 should run at 200FSB stock, and you should not have to adjust the FSB to 200 manually... Try clearing the CMOS and it should set it itself... If your BIOS is seeing the Barton as only 166FSB then its not a 3200.

Agreed on the BIOS... Maybe if its an old BIOS it will help.

Also are you sure its a 3200? I know that sound like a silly question, but perhaps its an XP2500 as they can nearly all run at 200FSB, but perhaps you dont have one capable?

I have had a number of Bartons 2500's and they all luckily ran at 200FSB, one needed volts to be stable, but otherwise ran fine, anther needed volts to even attempt it, while *** other 2 were happy as larry on stock Volts.

Volts IIRC are 1.65v stock, but will be ok to 1.8v ( Dont quote me ) on the Barton 2500 & 3200 I am fairly sure of that.

Also the crucial RAM runs lovely in this board, but just in case, try it with only one stick at a time.
 
Rakoon,

Its not a stupid question at all - one of my first fears was that I had been sold a duff processor. 3DMark05 reckoned it was only a 2500+, but I ripped out the processor again and it does have the magic digits 3200 on it, so I guess it is 3DMark that is confused.

Anyway, the story so far...

I have been getting some advice on another board at the same time and they suggested clearing the CMOS , which I duly did. In user mose the BIOS now reported the CPU running at about 1.5GHz. Hurrah, I thought and set the FSB to 200.

POOOOFFFF...

System dies and refuses to restart. After 3 minutes of me frantically hammering the power button the system powers up and then shuts itself down seconds later.

I now think that I have an overheting problem. From what I understand a CPU not properly in touch with the heatsink can overheat in seconds. Anyhow, I used jumpers to force the sytem to boot up in 100 FSB mode and it now boots up ok, altjhough the CPU is running in the high 50s. I have a new heatsink/cooler on order from OC and this will hopefully sort it out.

Does my diagnosis sound fair? Anything else you can suggest. Am I likely to have ruined my CPU permanently?
 
From my experience, which isnt much compared to some on here, but it seems a general rule of thumb, that if a CPU works, then it works.

Its either dead or alive, and there does not seem to be an in-between.

I know isnt 100% true, but the chances are, if it still works, it will be ok.

Listen... Run the CPU at a safe setting.. 166 obviously, and use the MSI Updater to get a new BIOS, and let that update it tothe latest version... I use it all the time, I have updated my BIOSes on all my PCs using the live way and I have been lucky I suppose but I have never had a failure yet. At least you know it wotn be the BIOS then!

Alternatively, you could snatch some other RAM and try that. I know you have Crucial, but that does not meen your board likes it...

I no longer have my MSI Delta but the lad who does have it, has an XP2500 @ 3200 in it right now... If you want, I could Email you a copy of the BIOS and you will know that the BIOS will happily run 200FSB... In fact, that very BIOS has run an XP17 @ 245FSB and the XPM25 @ 238 just fine!

Just one other thing...

My board was the older RED BOARD. I sold a newer one to a friend, and it was black... They are both MSI Delta K7N2 Boards, but his simply hated me trying to overclock his Sempron3000 in it, and would only go as far as about 186FSB... Maybe thats another thing to consider too!

If you not in any real rush, I got a number of clocking Socket A Boards here... NF7S, DFI LP, Gigabyte ( Crap, but does 200FSB fine ) so if you want, send me the CPU and I will check that the CPU can do it.

Just thoughts.
 
Rakoon,

You, sir, are a gentleman <doffs cap>.

If this new heatsink comes to naught then I may have to take you up on your offer. The BIOS is the most current version - I used LiveUpdate succesfully. Overheating is the most likely culprit I think.

Thanks for all your help everyone...
 
Hmmm, with it displaying no signal on screen... It's not doing something dodgy like automatically upping the AGP frequency when you increase the FSB is it ??

IIRC AGP freq should be locked at 60 (could be wrong on that though)
 
No, AGP is at 66 stock.

PCI at 33, AGP at 66

It seems a general rule of thumb that a lot of boards seem to not lock the AGP at 66 so if you nudge it up to 67 it will lock.

At least thats what I have done with my A64 systems anyway
 
Hurrah, success. One new heatsink and a nice dose of Arctic Silver and the system boots up fine at 200FSB. The only problem now is the frequent blue screens of death that I am encountering. The Windows fault reporter says that it is a RAM problem and suggests I run a memory diagnostic tool, but that tool has found no errors.

Any suggestions? The RAM is 2xCrucial DDR PC3200 512Mb sticks.

Thanks for all your help and support so far.
 
Which tool did you use?

I'd recommend memtest. Don't use the windows version though and leave it for a few hours as sometimes it doesn't find faults straight away
 
Thats true. Leave it overnight if need be.

Prime95 is also a good one too! - Although to be honest, I have had great RAM cause errors in some boards, although if the RAM really is bad, it will fail it on any system.

Anyway.

What timings are your RAM set to?

Maybe slacken them a little perhaps?
 
I ran memtest for about 3 and a half hours and it didn't find a thing. The RAM is set to standard settings:

Latency 3.0
RAS to CAS 3
RAS Precharge 3
TRAS 8

I have no idea what any of that means BTW ;)
 
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