A7N8X-E Deluxe unstable at 400 FSB. Athlon XP 3200+

[Larry]

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe with Athlon XP 3200 + (retail)

Two sticks Crucial PC-3200

WD 36GB SATA Raptor

ATI Radeon 9600XT

Antec True Blue 430 power supply

Sony CDRW drive

Latest Asus BIOS (1013)

Latest Silicon Image SATA driver

Latest ATI driver

Windows XP Pro + SP2 and all updates as of about May 29.

Nothing else connected at this time. No problems for a year when the WD
drive developed problems. WD replaced drive. Asus tech service decided that,
based on what I have done, the board was at fault, so it has been sent to
Kentucky.

Machine was restarting several times during the boot process, frequently
with the verbal "overclocking" message. Never overclocked. I set BIOS for
200 X 11 for 400 FSB and had to drop to a 100 setting to get consistent
stable boots. Ran MemTest86+ 10 passes with no errors reported.

Situation now: I'm going to build a new system for my daughter, so I ordered
another A7N8X-E Deluxe and two more sticks of Crucial PC-3200. You guessed
it, I'm getting the same unstable boots with this board and RAM except that
I am running the new board at 133 to get stable boots. Incidentally, an
unstable boot takes 4 to 5 minutes and may go to the SAFE MODE screen where
I select "Last Known Good Configuration." Once booted, there are no further
problems.

Summary is that I'm running the new board and RAM with the original CPU,
video card, power supply and CDRW drive.

Question: What is the chance that the CPU or the video card could be the
problem?

I just plug in the AGP card; never mess with settings.

 

[Fen]

i have the same board and i have problems at 200fsb...you say that your
running 400??

 

[Larry]

Hi Fen,

Yes, the Athlon XP 3200+ runs at 400 MHz FSB which requires a BIOS setting
of 200. The actual buss speed is two times the FSB setting. To get mine to
boot properly, a have FSB set at 133 or 266 MHz FSB.
Larry