I've recently swapped in a Duron 650 to replace a burned-out Duron 750 in an
old-ish computer. Since this, I've been experiencing a lot of unreliability;
random crashes, XP blue screens of death in seemingly random modules -
sometimes the computer won't even boot past the BIOS screen. I'm at a loss,
any ideas?

K7SEM mobo
256MB RAM
250W PSU
GF4 MX 420

(Also, I tried swapping a Duron 1100 in - with that, the computer won't even
so much as power up. Can I assume the processor is dud?)

"Ken Gast" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:qXB_a.17858$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Check your mobo docs and see what the limits for processors are on it some
> processers arent supported

It says nothing about which are supported - I know it can support higher
than a 650, since it was working fine for 2 years with a 750.

Wayne Marsh wrote:
> I'm at a loss,
> any ideas?

Probably you just got three bad CPUs in a row. Happens all the time. If
you try a fourth one that is really expensive maybe that will work. I'm
kidding!

Probably the same problem with PSU or mobo or other component damaged
all three or is just preventing any of them from working. Or maybe you
have failed to set some jumpers or BIOS parameters?

Try to get methodical about it.

Strontium wrote:
> Might, also, be a failing PSU. Stranger coincidences have happened. I'd
> say that 250W is marginal, at best, anyway for your hardware. Although...
> the fact that it ran fine, with the 750, one would conclude that it's not
> the PSU.

The first problem he noticed was that the system did not run fine with
the 750.

"Matt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Strontium wrote:
> > Might, also, be a failing PSU. Stranger coincidences have happened.
I'd
> > say that 250W is marginal, at best, anyway for your hardware.
Although...
> > the fact that it ran fine, with the 750, one would conclude that it's
not
> > the PSU.
>
> The first problem he noticed was that the system did not run fine with
> the 750.
>

No it wasn't, Strontium was right. The Duron 750 burned out when my heatsink
fan failed overnight.

"Strontium" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3M2dnXdBp-UMc6eiRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Might, also, be a failing PSU. Stranger coincidences have happened. I'd
> say that 250W is marginal, at best, anyway for your hardware. Although...
> the fact that it ran fine, with the 750, one would conclude that it's not
> the PSU.

250W is quite poor, I agree. This really is a cheap-o-skank system, and will
just tide me over until I can afford to build a decent machine. I thought
the same thing about ruling out the PSU as the problem, since the 750 was
running fine for almost 3 years.

>Have you tried a repair install of XP?

Yep - in fact, I had to do a full reinstall of XP due to a coincedental
unrelated problem soon after I installed the new CPU. It crashed twice even
during the install of XP.

> CMOS is detecting the chip, correctly, and that it didn't reset to some
> settings that might be causing problems?

The CMOS reports the speed correctly, and I went to the trouble of checking
every CMOS setting individually. I even tried turning the CPU's cache off
and running it like that for a while.

> Might also, just for sake of
> argument, try reseating the video card and memory. As well as
reinstalling
> the video card drivers

I took out the GF4MX to lighten the load of PSU and used onboard video
instead, but it was still just the same.


Thanks all for your suggestions. I think it's just a case of a random faulty
component somewhere.

-
Wayne Marsh stood up at show-n-tell, in (E-Mail Removed),
and said:

>
> "Strontium" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:3M2dnXdBp-UMc6eiRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Might, also, be a failing PSU. Stranger coincidences have happened.
>> I'd say that 250W is marginal, at best, anyway for your hardware.
>> Although... the fact that it ran fine, with the 750, one would
>> conclude that it's not the PSU.
>
> 250W is quite poor, I agree. This really is a cheap-o-skank system,
> and will just tide me over until I can afford to build a decent
> machine. I thought the same thing about ruling out the PSU as the
> problem, since the 750 was running fine for almost 3 years.
>
>> Have you tried a repair install of XP?
>
> Yep - in fact, I had to do a full reinstall of XP due to a
> coincedental unrelated problem soon after I installed the new CPU. It
> crashed twice even during the install of XP.
>
>> CMOS is detecting the chip, correctly, and that it didn't reset to
>> some settings that might be causing problems?
>
> The CMOS reports the speed correctly, and I went to the trouble of
> checking every CMOS setting individually. I even tried turning the
> CPU's cache off and running it like that for a while.
>
>> Might also, just for sake of
>> argument, try reseating the video card and memory. As well as
>> reinstalling the video card drivers
>
> I took out the GF4MX to lighten the load of PSU and used onboard video
> instead, but it was still just the same.
>
>
> Thanks all for your suggestions. I think it's just a case of a random
> faulty component somewhere.

Sorry about that. Seems there must be 'some' logical explanation. But,
I've had to bite the bullet and just buy new components before... Your
replacement CPU may be the culprit. I've had that happen, more than once,
back in the K6-2 days. Also might try upping the core voltage (if you can)
by a tenth of a volt.


--
Strontium

"You may be right! It's all a waste of time! I guess
that's just a chance I'm prepared to take....A danger
I'm prepared to face.....Cut to the chase." - RUSH

Used to be able to set it, in CMOS, on a few motherboards, that I've had. I
think most are moving back to dip switches, on the boards, themselves.
You'll need your motherboard manual, if you do have dip switches, on the
board for voltage. Then, again, some boards won't even allow adjustment of
core voltage BIOS or otherwise.

-
Wayne Marsh stood up at show-n-tell, in (E-Mail Removed),
and said:

> "Strontium" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:Ys-dnVmns-ACvqCiRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Sorry about that. Seems there must be 'some' logical explanation.
>> But, I've had to bite the bullet and just buy new components
>> before... Your replacement CPU may be the culprit. I've had that
>> happen, more than once, back in the K6-2 days. Also might try
>> upping the core voltage (if you can) by a tenth of a volt.
>
> Thanks - that I'm not familiar with though. Would it normally be done
> through the BIOS?

--
Strontium

"You may be right! It's all a waste of time! I guess
that's just a chance I'm prepared to take....A danger
I'm prepared to face.....Cut to the chase." - RUSH

"Wayne Marsh" <wayneATwaz5.net> said:
news:76-(E-Mail Removed):

> I've recently swapped in a Duron 650 to replace a burned-out Duron 750
> in an old-ish computer. Since this, I've been experiencing a lot of
> unreliability; random crashes, XP blue screens of death in seemingly
> random modules - sometimes the computer won't even boot past the BIOS
> screen. I'm at a loss, any ideas?
>
> K7SEM mobo
> 256MB RAM
> 250W PSU
> GF4 MX 420
>
> (Also, I tried swapping a Duron 1100 in - with that, the computer won't
> even so much as power up. Can I assume the processor is dud?)
>
>
Sounds like the mobo doesn't support 1100, see if a BIOS upgrade is
available.
As to the 650, sounds like a heat problem. CPU's either work or they don't.
I'd persist in getting the 1100 working.





--
Gene P

Why not just get an Athlon XP1900+ Thoroughbred, a decent 300 watt
power supply, a new motherboard that takes ddr ram, and a 256 mg
stick of ddr ram? You could probably get all that stuff for around $160
or so?

Wayne Marsh wrote:

> I've recently swapped in a Duron 650 to replace a burned-out Duron 750 in an
> old-ish computer. Since this, I've been experiencing a lot of unreliability;
> random crashes, XP blue screens of death in seemingly random modules -
> sometimes the computer won't even boot past the BIOS screen. I'm at a loss,
> any ideas?
>
> K7SEM mobo
> 256MB RAM
> 250W PSU
> GF4 MX 420
>
> (Also, I tried swapping a Duron 1100 in - with that, the computer won't even
> so much as power up. Can I assume the processor is dud?)