Need help with AMD 3800 X2 upgraded CPU not working right

[BobS]

Wow.... quite a dissertation there Dale. And now that you have the problem
nailed down and you've humbled us all - why don't you tell him what the fix
is so we aren't guessing anymore?

I'm looking forward to that answer....

Bob S.

 

[Dale White]

Sorry you find my disagreement with your assement of the problem so
offensive.

 

[Dale White]

I wouldn't do a reformatted install, I would do a "repair install".
Anyone know how you do this with Vista.
I am very familiar with it in XP.

I've never done a repair, so I couldn't tell you. But I'm wondering if a
repair will do the trick or not. Since, a repair may only put it back the
way it was, prior to the upgrade. Though I guess if Vista is smart enough,
it might detect that it now has a different processor and update whatever it
is, that needs to get updated.

I was using XP only, when I upgraded from a 3800+ to the 4800+ X2 and all I
did was drop in the chip off I went. I'm sure Vista is suppose to work that
same way. It would appear obvious that Something did jive right and so there
is a problem.

I don't think you answered this, or I missed it. But your config does look
something like this right ?
http://images1.filecloud.com/401970/vista_cpu.jpg

Did you try the obvious already and un-install and re-install 3Dmark03.

There is an AMD driver, that's suppose to help optimize for dual cores. I
don't know that Vista needs it, but I just installed it for the heck of it.
It didn't crash or kill anyone, so you might give it a try and see if it
helps anything. You can get the update at.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_13118,00.html
I re-ran 3dmark03 and 06 after installing the patch and it didnt' seem to
make any difference. I might even suggest that if you already installed it,
you might try un-installing it.

Since someone doesn't think 3dmark03 is a valid test, you could try using a
program like SANDRA XL, which is officially supported by Vista, regardless
of your video drivers. From there you can compare you score with other CPUs,
they don't have a 3800+ listed, but they have a 4000+ and 3200+, so you can
get a feel for how close you are
http://images1.filecloud.com/402032/sandra.jpg.

You can get the freebie at http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=177

Finally, I have to ask. Were you doing any overclocking of the 3500 ? If so,
did you reset yor system to the system defaults when you switched. I seem to
think I was doing that when I upgraded and instead of kicking me to the
defaults, it kept the settings I had, which were technically slower then
what the 4800+ was suppose to run at 11x multiplier instead of 12x. If you
were OCing, then you probably should try setting the BIOS back to system
defaults and running the benchmark again.

 

[BobS]

Didn't find it offensive but if a vendor say's their test software doesn't
support specific drivers which the OP is trying to use - then that makes the
test suspect and it doesn't matter if it runs or not. The test results are
a moot point.

He said he didn't have any updated nForce 3 drivers and you criticized me
offering a link to the only ones available at the Nvidia site. Consider his
board is over two years old, the MSI site could have an nForce 3 driver
update (I didn't search it) and he most likely had some on the CD that came
with his motherboard. If that Alpha driver was a bad one - Nvidia would
have killed the link - they do that but they didn't and I suspect now that
it is most likely the same code that came with the Vista DVD.

The AMD 3500 single core and 3800+ dual core chips are significantly
different chips. I have the 3800+ in this system but I have no experience
with the 3500 - so I didn't go there and add confusion over suspect hardware
differences. When you read all the things he did, he pretty well covered
all bases - except - for verifying the benchmark program.

You want to defend that the benchmark is still valid after the vendor states
differently - that's your business. Just don't expect everyone else to
believe you. I hope he finds the solution and I'll bet it's the benchmark
software.

But if you know the answer - please tell him,

Bob S.