Asus P3B-F motherboard problems?

[me]

I have an Asus P3B-F rev 1.04 motherboard flashed with the latest non-beta
bios revision. The problem I am having is that I get random fatal freezes
while using the computer. I have swapped all components out with known good
components and the problem is still there. It is not the power supply as I
have also swapped it out with a known good one. I have closely examined all
caps on the mobo for leakage and cannot find anything out of the ordinary.
Nor can I find any irregularities on the motherboard in the form of burn
marks or traces. Current setup is:
450mhz P3,
128 meg of 100mhz ram-non-ECC,
SB live value,
ATI 128 vid card
350 watt p.s.

I also should add that I have reloaded both Win98 and XP pro and the
condition surfaces under both O\S's. I have also made sure that the drivers
are all up to date, although sometimes I must reboot a few times because the
random freeze interrupts a driver update.

Could anyone offer any suggestions on anything else I can check to help get
to the bottom of this issue?

Thanks in advance,

 

[daytripper]

I have an Asus P3B-F rev 1.04 motherboard flashed with the latest non-beta
bios revision. The problem I am having is that I get random fatal freezes
while using the computer. I have swapped all components out with known good
components and the problem is still there. It is not the power supply as I
have also swapped it out with a known good one. I have closely examined all
caps on the mobo for leakage and cannot find anything out of the ordinary.
Nor can I find any irregularities on the motherboard in the form of burn
marks or traces. Current setup is:
450mhz P3,
128 meg of 100mhz ram-non-ECC,
SB live value,
ATI 128 vid card
350 watt p.s.

I also should add that I have reloaded both Win98 and XP pro and the
condition surfaces under both O\S's. I have also made sure that the drivers
are all up to date, although sometimes I must reboot a few times because the
random freeze interrupts a driver update.

Could anyone offer any suggestions on anything else I can check to help get
to the bottom of this issue?

For a start, update the bios to version 1.08-beta4.
You can get that at the ASUS Germany site...

/daytripper

 

[john]

I have an Asus P3B-F rev 1.04 motherboard flashed with the latest non-beta
bios revision. The problem I am having is that I get random fatal freezes
while using the computer. I have swapped all components out with known good
components and the problem is still there. It is not the power supply as I
have also swapped it out with a known good one. I have closely examined all
caps on the mobo for leakage and cannot find anything out of the ordinary.
Nor can I find any irregularities on the motherboard in the form of burn
marks or traces. Current setup is:
450mhz P3,
128 meg of 100mhz ram-non-ECC,
SB live value,
ATI 128 vid card
350 watt p.s.

I also should add that I have reloaded both Win98 and XP pro and the
condition surfaces under both O\S's. I have also made sure that the drivers
are all up to date, although sometimes I must reboot a few times because the
random freeze interrupts a driver update.

Could anyone offer any suggestions on anything else I can check to help get
to the bottom of this issue?

Thanks in advance,

If you've checked everything else, maybe you should replace the cpu
fan. I've seen them slow down to half speed but not stop.

PS sometimes problems can be traced to the last change you made before
the problem started.

 

[Roy Coorne]

For a start, update the bios to version 1.08-beta4.
You can get that at the ASUS Germany site...

Yes - the 1008 Beta 004 BIOS is stable.
Set BIOS values to default before _and_ after flashing.

Did you try the Jumper Mode for processor settings? (Sometimes it's
more stable than Jumper Free.)

Did you try clearing the CMOS (> battery and CLRTC on the mainboard)?

The SB Live! is sometimes difficult. Did you check the IRQ assignment,
try another sound card?


HTH - Roy

 

[me]

Ok, I loaded the newest Bios and reset to defaults immediately after.
Still, the random freezing was there. I was running the motherboard in
jumper mode but it would ALWAYS report the cpu as a 550mhz instead of the
450 that it is. I went through the jumper settings at least 20 times
verifying the correct setting. It wasn't until I set the cpu at 366mhz and
the FSB at 66mhz that I noticed almost complete stability. The bios was
only displaying two processor speed settings.....366mhz and 500mhz? A
question I have is why I cannot set the internal cpu multiplier in the bios?
It is locked at 5.5 which corresponds to a 550mhz PIII which really stumps
me.

I haven't cleared the cmos as I saw no real need but it is worth a shot. As
far as the soundblaster live card goes....it is all I have (figures I have
two of the same). I also verified the IRQ as having no conficts. The final
freeze I saw after setting the cpu, in the bios, was while I was messing
with Windows Media Player sliding the song position bar back and forth to
different spots in the song. I almost at wits end with this issue. Thanks
for all the advice so far from everyone that has responded.

 

[daytripper]

Ok, I loaded the newest Bios and reset to defaults immediately after.
Still, the random freezing was there. I was running the motherboard in
jumper mode but it would ALWAYS report the cpu as a 550mhz instead of the
450 that it is. I went through the jumper settings at least 20 times
verifying the correct setting. It wasn't until I set the cpu at 366mhz and
the FSB at 66mhz that I noticed almost complete stability. The bios was
only displaying two processor speed settings.....366mhz and 500mhz? A
question I have is why I cannot set the internal cpu multiplier in the bios?
It is locked at 5.5 which corresponds to a 550mhz PIII which really stumps
me.

I haven't cleared the cmos as I saw no real need but it is worth a shot. As
far as the soundblaster live card goes....it is all I have (figures I have
two of the same). I also verified the IRQ as having no conficts. The final
freeze I saw after setting the cpu, in the bios, was while I was messing
with Windows Media Player sliding the song position bar back and forth to
different spots in the song. I almost at wits end with this issue. Thanks
for all the advice so far from everyone that has responded.

Updated the graphics driver yet?

 

[me]

Did that immediately after the load of XP.

Updated the graphics driver yet?