Gigabyte GA-7VAX, New Athlon XP 3000+ = No boot :(

[cil]

Just upgraded to a "new" Athlon XP 3000+, 333FSB CPU on a Gigabyte GA-7VAX
rev1.1 m/b
and no boot. The FSB dipswitches (SW1) are set to 166FSB and clock
multiplier is set to
auto. On power-up the hard drive light and optical drive light briefly
lights, then there is a
very short single speaker beep then the whole sequence keeps repeating until
I power down.
Re-installed original CPU (Athlon XP 2800+) with no dipswitch changes and
boot-up happens
normally. I also tried to set the clock multiplier dips to >12.5 (Athlon XP
3000+ has a 13 clk ratio)
but still got the same looping sequence stated previously. The 3000+ chip
info shows
"AXDA3000DKV4D" which id's the chip as 333FSB. PC BIOS was recently flashed
to
the most current one available off the Gigabyte website (F13 I think) so
BIOS support should be present.
Sorry for lengthy post but want all facts available @1st pass. . .
Would these facts add up to a defective CPU or am I missing something here?
tia. . .cil

 

[Bob Adkins]

Sorry for lengthy post but want all facts available @1st pass. . .
Would these facts add up to a defective CPU or am I missing something here?

Give the RAM voltage a slight upward tweak in the BIOS. I've had that solve
a lot of mysteries, especially using 2 sticks in dual channel.

 

[kony]

Just upgraded to a "new" Athlon XP 3000+, 333FSB CPU on a Gigabyte GA-7VAX
rev1.1 m/b
and no boot. The FSB dipswitches (SW1) are set to 166FSB and clock
multiplier is set to
auto. On power-up the hard drive light and optical drive light briefly
lights, then there is a
very short single speaker beep then the whole sequence keeps repeating until
I power down.
Re-installed original CPU (Athlon XP 2800+) with no dipswitch changes and
boot-up happens
normally. I also tried to set the clock multiplier dips to >12.5 (Athlon XP
3000+ has a 13 clk ratio)
but still got the same looping sequence stated previously. The 3000+ chip
info shows
"AXDA3000DKV4D" which id's the chip as 333FSB. PC BIOS was recently flashed
to
the most current one available off the Gigabyte website (F13 I think) so
BIOS support should be present.
Sorry for lengthy post but want all facts available @1st pass. . .
Would these facts add up to a defective CPU or am I missing something here?
tia. . .cil

Set the FSB switches to a lower FSB, not because that's what
you what to use eventually, but rather to see if the board
can get the chip to run at all at this underclocked setting
which will put more margin in buses and power.

I have to wonder why the effort to switch from XP2800 to
XP3000? It's hardly worth the time to open the case, pop
off the heatsink, chip, then reverse the procedure. If
anything the "3000" part designation should have a higher
resale value and if you need enough performance to spend the
time, better to liquidate the parts and change platforms.

 

[cil]

Thx for your insight Bob, I'll give it a try!

Give the RAM voltage a slight upward tweak in the BIOS. I've had that
solve
a lot of mysteries, especially using 2 sticks in dual channel.

 

[cil]

Set the FSB switches to a lower FSB, not because that's what
you what to use eventually, but rather to see if the board
can get the chip to run at all at this underclocked setting
which will put more margin in buses and power.

I have to wonder why the effort to switch from XP2800 to
XP3000? It's hardly worth the time to open the case, pop
off the heatsink, chip, then reverse the procedure. If
anything the "3000" part designation should have a higher
resale value and if you need enough performance to spend the
time, better to liquidate the parts and change platforms.

Thx for your insight kony, I'll give it a try!

Regarding your comment on an XP3000 being worth the upgrade effort, you
might be right.
I would never pay full retail for a new boxed XP3000+ but an auction
purchase below $80 for a new XP3000 is doable for my PC budget. Also
starting to dabble in DV editing and DVD creation with the piles of 8MM & DV
tapes I've accumulated through the years. The video editing got me started
looking for a little more
multitasking oomph from my current PC rig. . .

 

[kony]

Regarding your comment on an XP3000 being worth the upgrade effort, you
might be right.
I would never pay full retail for a new boxed XP3000+ but an auction
purchase below $80 for a new XP3000 is doable for my PC budget.

I think you misunderstood. I mean, even if someone gave you
the CPU for free, upgrading from 2800 to 3000 isn't worth
the time alone to open the case, take off the heatsink,
throw the new chip in then reassemble. If you can sell your
2800 for more than you paid for the 3000, then maybe
worthwhile. There is a reason 2800 and 3000 are so close in
number, because they are so close in performance too. If
performance upgrade is worth the bother you should aim
higher than a single-digit percent improvement in a few apps
(those not bottlenecked by something else).

Also
starting to dabble in DV editing and DVD creation with the piles of 8MM & DV
tapes I've accumulated through the years. The video editing got me started
looking for a little more
multitasking oomph from my current PC rig. . .

Often that means adding memory, though A64 and P4 are both
better at many modern video editing tasks than Athlon XP
was. XP was good for many tasks but editing was it's weak
point, unless you were using an old app not optimized for
modern CPUs, or a codec that was likewise non-optimized. It
will do the job though, but if you find you have jobs qued
up taking hours to finish, a newer P4 might come near
cutting the time in half with modern software/codecs.