Uncommanded shutdowns with AMD XP Athlon

[Guest]

I'm beginning to think AMD may have a problem with their Athlon chip, based on many of the posts I'm reading.

I just installed a new DFI LANPARTY KT400A motherboard (400MHZ FSB) and an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton Core CPU. To make a long story short, it shuts down on my without warning and without error messages.

I've replaced the power supply (now a 430 W Antec power supply). Didn't fix the problem.

I've checked the temperature ... a bit high at 50C, but I don't think outside limits.

I completely reformatted my harddrive. Makes XP professional run a lot faster, but doesn't solve the shutdown problem.

I've clocked the computer down ... and that seems to work. The motherboard /CPU combination should work fine at 166/333 MHz settings. It typicallys shutsdown within a couple minutes under Windows XP (runs forever under DOS) at that setting. I clocked down to 133/266 MHz and it shutsdown after about 10-15 minutes of operation. I clocked back to 100/200 and it seems to run fine, but obviously a lot slower than it's designed to run at.

I've communicated with DFI and AMD to no avail. Before I send the board/CPU back, I was wondering if anyone has any ideas. I'm wondering if perhaps a new CPU fan (Thermal take silent boost and artic silver) might help. Apparently tht fan should keep the CPU at less than 40 degrees centigrade. I'm running at about 50 degrees right now. I don't think that's why it might be shutting down though.

Any thoughts?

 

[Sharon F]

I clocked back to 100/200 and it seems to run fine,

If the board is running well with more conservative settings, that's where
it should be left at. Or replace the board if you want more ambitious
settings. Hard to say based one what you've posted (and probably without
testing each component physically), if the board does not work well when
overclocked or if the problem is with one of the components added to it
(RAM, video, etc).

I just have a little old Athlon TBird 1100. If it was running at 50 C., I
would be inside of the case cleaning out dust. If that didn't help, I
replace the heatsink and fan. Have lots of pets here so periodically find
myself doing one or the other. Your processor may run hotter than mine
though. What do other users with the same chip normally see for temps? May
want to check around the various hardware and motherboard forums that are
on the internet to find out.

 

[Guest]

Sharon F

Thanks for the response. I have posted on the AMD board, looking at hardware issues. I posted on the Windows XP board trying to figure out if there was a known software problem. To make a long story short, AMD is stumped.

Just for a clarification though ... I'm not "overclocking" when I try to run at 166/333. The CPU (AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton Core) is supposed to run at a 333MHz FSB speed. The motherboard is designed to run at 400MHz FSB. I certainly could leave it at 100/200, but that's substantially below design, and to be more blunt, substantially below what I paid for. If I was satisfied with those speeds I would have bought an XP 1500+ (and a correspondingly cheaper motherboard).

I've tested the memory, power supply, and video board. I don't have a way to test the CPU and Motherboard.

Anyway ... I won't bother this board anymore ... since I'm pretty confident it's not a software problem, as I've already completely reformatted my drive and reinstalled XP Pro ... trying to eliminate software conflicts.

Have a great day!

 

[Sharon F]

Thanks for the response. I have posted on the AMD board, looking at
hardware issues. I posted on the Windows XP board trying to figure out
if there was a known software problem. To make a long story short, AMD
is stumped.

Just for a clarification though ... I'm not "overclocking" when I try to
run at 166/333. The CPU (AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton Core) is supposed
to run at a 333MHz FSB speed. The motherboard is designed to run at
400MHz FSB. I certainly could leave it at 100/200, but that's
substantially below design, and to be more blunt, substantially below
what I paid for. If I was satisfied with those speeds I would have
bought an XP 1500+ (and a correspondingly cheaper motherboard).

I've tested the memory, power supply, and video board. I don't have a
way to test the CPU and Motherboard.

Anyway ... I won't bother this board anymore ... since I'm pretty
confident it's not a software problem, as I've already completely
reformatted my drive and reinstalled XP Pro ... trying to eliminate
software conflicts.

Have a great day!

You're welcome, Falcon and good luck with this.