Memory, CPU, or Powersupply problem?

[bruce]

Hello all,

Almost two years ago I built my first Asus/AMD system.
It was agreat learning experiance.

This is the system I have:
Asus Mobo: a7s333 Sis745 Chipset DDR333Mobo
ACPI BIOS Re 1004
AMD Athlon XP 1600
The Power supply is 300W or 350W
256 MB of RAM from Samsung DDR333 PC 27 or 2100 DDr module
Prime Master WDC WD 40 GB
The case is an ATX e-Power Classic Midi tower

About three weeks ago, I started experiencing Blue screen stops errors
(0x00001E) and they were supposed to be memory dumps. Upon restart, I
would get an error stating that "Systemced is corrupted or missing". I
thought that this could have been an OS issue so I got out the Windows
2000 pro CD and my ERD floppy.
When I tried to restart again, the Hardware Monitor of the BIOS would
say the "Hardware Monitor found an error. Enter power setup for
details."
I looked at the BIOS and I noticed that in the Power menu under
hardware monitor, my +5Vcore setting was red and reading at 3.xxV
voltage. It seemed to be under the parameter not outside of it. The
other vcore voltages seem to be ok.
I wasn't sure what to do, so I just got out of BIOS and tried to
restart again. No go. So I went back in to fiddle with some BIOS
settings.
First, I set vcore in hardware monitor to ignore. This allowed me
restart but only to get as far as getting my w2k CD boot. But as it
tries to load files, The CD begins to hang. I restarted into BIOS
again and this time I took my CPU speed down to 1050.
This seemed allowed the w2k CD to load and I was able to repair the
damaged files.
After a full day of use, I get the Bluescreen again the following day
and upon restart I'm get the corrupt or missing file error again.

I started off with Award Bios version 1003 and upgraded it to 1004.
No change. I began to note when I would get the stop errors in Windows
usually after tcp/ip services load, so I thought maybe it was my NIC.
I never got the chance to figure this out, because two weeks and two
rebuilds and ten OS repairs later, I am now at a point where I cannot
get past the "Cannot find/i386/ntkrnlmp…error4 error when I try to
repair or rebuild from the w2k pro CD. At this point I can I have
decided to no longer wade in denial and turn to the possibility that
it could be (gasp!!) the hardware. Possibly Memory and or CPU. Before
the last time I was able to see the sweet face of my desktop, I
installed ASUS Probe to get some idea that maybe there are problems
with the Mobo. The only thing I remember seeing was that AP was
warning me of the power supply fan or chassis fan running below
minimum level.
Then the blue screen popped up. As far as the blue screen stop errors,
I cannot remember the 3 addresses inside the parenthesis. I have
written down the whole blue screen page, at one point, I just have to
look for the paper and I will post more detail. I learned this weekend
that the addresses in the parenthesis consists of device drivers and
such. I did not know this before. And this could give me a clue to
what device is being a pain in the butt.
I have opened the PC again to poke around. I reseated my memory and
even relocated it to another slot. The power supply doesn't seem to be
physically damaged. I ran Memtest86 but no errors popped up after the
2nd pass. I'm not sure what to do.

Has anyone ran across this problem? Could it be a virus of some kind
that attacks the BIOS or chipset? Can memory or a CPU just go bad
after 2 years?

 

[Blaedmon]

theres are only suggestions:
Firstly , i would check is the cpu overheating - take off your case side and
chuck a room fan in there - bring down your temps. See what happens, if you
can boot and all is rosey, theres your problem. Check your cpu heatsink
hasnt, over the years, accumulated a nice blanket of dust n stuff, bringing
your cpu temp up.
Secondly, it also sounds like a memory problem, as Ive had your symptoms
before and found it to be fubar memory (cheap stuff). If at all possible,
try some other memory.
Thirdly, grab a dos-level virus scanner, if only to rule that possibility
out. Norton antivirus or something. If youve another pc, scan via lan to
avoid having to make floppies n all that crap.
Good luck

 

[P2B]

Hello all,

Almost two years ago I built my first Asus/AMD system.
It was agreat learning experiance.

This is the system I have:
Asus Mobo: a7s333 Sis745 Chipset DDR333Mobo
ACPI BIOS Re 1004
AMD Athlon XP 1600
The Power supply is 300W or 350W
256 MB of RAM from Samsung DDR333 PC 27 or 2100 DDr module
Prime Master WDC WD 40 GB
The case is an ATX e-Power Classic Midi tower

About three weeks ago, I started experiencing Blue screen stops errors
(0x00001E) and they were supposed to be memory dumps. Upon restart, I
would get an error stating that "Systemced is corrupted or missing". I
thought that this could have been an OS issue so I got out the Windows
2000 pro CD and my ERD floppy.
When I tried to restart again, the Hardware Monitor of the BIOS would
say the "Hardware Monitor found an error. Enter power setup for
details."
I looked at the BIOS and I noticed that in the Power menu under
hardware monitor, my +5Vcore setting was red and reading at 3.xxV
voltage. It seemed to be under the parameter not outside of it. The
other vcore voltages seem to be ok.

If the power supply +5V rail is really around +3V, that is almost
certainly your problem. Check the power supply voltages with a meter, or
simply try a known-good power supply.

 

[DaveW]

Either your power supply unit or your motherboard itself is failing, most
likely. Try substitutuing a known working power supply unit of adequate
power output as the first step in tracking down exactly what's wrong.

 

[bruce]

Thanks everyone I think I will go with getting a new powersupply first
and I will get a new Case fan. (The old one was REALLY old and may not
have been doing its job.

Thanks

 

[Milleron]

Please don't forget to post your results here if the new PSU works.

Thanks everyone I think I will go with getting a new powersupply first
and I will get a new Case fan. (The old one was REALLY old and may not
have been doing its job.

Thanks

Ron

 

[bruce]

Hello all, just wanted to post an update.
I purchased a 430w PS to replace the 300w.
It's been a week since I bought it and the PC is running fine.

Thank for all your suggestions. I will continue to monitor the VCore voltages.

 

[None]

Hello all, just wanted to post an update.
I purchased a 430w PS to replace the 300w.
It's been a week since I bought it and the PC is running fine.

Thank for all your suggestions. I will continue to monitor the VCore
voltages.

You described correctly as a power problem and i am happy you solved it.
Just a warning to you, you wrote that you uppgraded the bios, do not take
such a chance on an unstable system as you might not be able to start it
again.... without sending the bios to be reprogrammed by your hardware
dealer.
The power supply supply-voltage to your motherboard will not be altered by
the bios as the bios controlls the voltage regulators on the motherboard,
if you see a supply voltage from the power supply that is to low or wrong
you can be shure it is the power unit(The +-5V and +-12V should not be
wrong nor should they variate much over time (The more stable the better)).

Good luck with your system.