new computer build constantly rebooting

[themightygeckoe]

I recently purchased an epox 8rda+ v1.1,an athlon xp 2100+, and 512 mb ocz 3200 DDR. I have a problem getting the thing to run stable. I have tried mutliple FSB's and modifiers for both the CPU and the RAM. The only time I got it to run kind of stable was by totally underclocking it witha 100mhz FSB for both the CPU and RAM giving me the blazing speed of an Athlon 1500 and 200DDR. If I set it at 133 and 133, default, it reboots. I am running XP pro and installed all of the windows updates, the via hyperion drivers, and video drivers for my geforce fx 5200.

it ran the sisoft sandra burn in test 10 times with no problems but for the most part, whenever I tried installing programs from either a CD or downloading, it would give me a CRC error. I tried reinstalling windows but it crashed, rebooted, and refused to reinstall properly. I then tried a format and install of windows. During this process, it would have an error installing some files, some it would allow me to retry successfully while others would not install at all.

I have tried placing the memory in different slots and installing windows from different DVD/CD drives, but I end up with the same problems.

I am needing some serious help on this. I am stuck...

I think that it could be the RAM or the Power supply. I am going to try the power supply tommorrow...All help is appreciated....

Specs:

Epox 8rda+
Athlon XP 2100+
ocz 512mb 3200 DDR
PNY Geforce FX 5200
IDE1: maxtor 80GB 7200; Western Digital 40GB
IDE2: Acer DVD; TDK CDR/RW

 

[mechBgon]

Welcome to the Forums themightygeckoe

What power supply are you using there, anyway? Quality is as important as wattage, or that's my observation anyway. If you get a new one, get a quality brand for sure, and 350W is a good place to start (Antec TruePower 330 would be nice too).

Just from the sounds of things, though, you might have a bad IDE cable too. Does it seem like only stuff involving your optical drives is giving you trouble?

Aside from that, it would be smart to go into the BIOS and manually set your memory to run at 100% of the CPU's FSB speed. That will bring it down to PC2700 speed, but also reduces the latencies and results in the best overall system performance. Use 2.77 volts on the RAM.

 

[themightygeckoe]

I skimped on the case and it came with a non brand 300w power supply....

I switched the ide cables also....I still had problems installing windows from the opticals and installing some software from the harddrives.

When I reset the cmos, it set both the cpu speed to 100 mhz FSB and the memory to 100%...and I tried most combinations of cpu and memory running at 133FSB and 166FSB and the memory at 200, 266, 333, and 400..

Didn't try changing the voltage...I will check that....

 

[0roo0roo]

whats your psu, not that your system seems to be a power monster anyways, i've run 1gb ddr and 2000+ on a 250watt


its either your cpu, your m/b, or your ram. only way to figure it out is to swap out parts one by one with identical or compatible parts to eliminate the problem. no magic fix. find a friend with xp chips and ddr ram

 

[NesuD]

another suggestion. double check to see that the heatsink is seated correctly sometimes a poorly seated heatsink can cause some of what you are describing.

 

[bjc112]

I think its PSU,

Can you check your voltages from the Epox USD program that comes on the CD...

 

[themightygeckoe]

If I can ever get the thing to install windows I will check the psu...what is psu, anyway....NOt a newbie but still some things I don't know...Would a memory problem cause me to be unable to install files from CD..in particular the windows installation...I can usually get to about 80% of initial setup and then one of the files will not install properly....

 

[mechBgon]

PSU means "power supply unit." The train of thought here is that your generic power supply may not be able to provide enough cleanly-regulated power to run your system. I'd go get a new Antec, they're good quality and easy to find at retail stores.

 

[0roo0roo]

its doubtful to me, that system doesn'tseem power hungry enough.

 

[0roo0roo]

its doubtful to me, that system doesn'tseem power hungry enough.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
its doubtful to me, that system doesn'tseem power hungry enough.

2 HDDs', 2 optical drives, 2100+...I agree with mech and think the powersupply just can't handle it. Especially if it is some cheapo unit.

 

[bjc112]

But if its a generic 300 it could be = to a decent 200watter...

I would grab a 350w sparkle from newegg for like $35...

 

[themightygeckoe]

ok...I went and it finally allowed me to install windows. ONly took about 4 or 5 tries. I switched all ide cables, turned off usb 2.0, 1394, and on board sound in bios, replaced with same power supply that I used in old computer that had the same hard drives and optical drives but duron 900 and 1gb of sdram...nothing seemed to work, so I connected just the 80 gb hard drive and the cdrw...that was when it allowed me to install windows but I had to run it at 100mhz FSB..It seemed to run ok for several hours, so I bumped the FSB to 133 and that seemed to work okay...still some weirdness like not being able to update using the atutomatic windows tools...it tells me that I don't have anything that needs to be updated....but it allowed me to play battlefield 1942 for about 30 minutes or so before I quit.

I then decided to up the memory fsb to 200 to give my 3200 the 400mhz it is supposed to run at...that is where the problems began...3dmark03 gives corruption errors and won't run...it also won't allow me to extract any other files, so then I change the memory fsb back to 133, same corruption errors,

Heat doesn't seem to be a problem, even after playing battlefield the cpu heat was at 43C and the system at 39C.

Is all of this still indicative of Power supply or could bad memory be the problem.

Here are my voltages using usdm:

vdd: 1.568
vcore: 1.632
vdimm: 2.736
+5v: 5.026
+12v: 12.160
-12v: -12.034
-5v: -5.200
vbat: 3.168
5vsb: 4.848

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

I then decided to up the memory fsb to 200 to give my 3200 the 400mhz it is supposed to run at...that is where the problems began..

You basically answered your own question there..Clock the memory back down to match the FSB of the processor and your problems should go away. You are not really gaining anything by having the memory running asynchronous from the processor. If you feel the need to run the memory at those higher settings, you will need to either bump up ram voltage or back down timings. You may actually be loosing performance that way as Athlon procs seem to run best with processor FSB and ram synchronous.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: GonzoDaGr8

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
its doubtful to me, that system doesn'tseem power hungry enough.

2 HDDs', 2 optical drives, 2100+...I agree with mech and think the powersupply just can't handle it. Especially if it is some cheapo unit.

my systems have always had 2 hdd's and 2 opticals guess i'm lucky. can't hurt to buy a nicer one, but i have my doubts.

 

[themightygeckoe]

now I am getting the same problems running both the cpu and ram at 133FSB with only a video card, hard drive, and cdr.

 

[Sideswipe001]

I really suspect the RAM.

Have you tried turning the CAS ratings down? (Make sure that it's set to 2.5-3-3 or so).

If the problems are related to the Power Supply, I'd think it would be unstable no matter what you have it clocked to. I don't trust OCZ RAM anyway; but try changing the RAM settings.

 

[themightygeckoe]

I have replaced the power supply with an antec 400 Watt and am still getting the same problems as before....

BSD's, file corruption errors while running 3dmark....

I have also noticed that the RAM does not get hot to the touch....Shouldn't it be hot?

 

[nick1985]

what are your temps at?

 

[waylman]

have you run memtest yet?
Edit: are you also running the newest BIOS available for the 8rda+?

 

[themightygeckoe]

I am running the newest BIOS and my temperatures got up to around 43C for the CPU and 39C for the System.

I have not run Memtest. I have RMA'ed the RAM and will see if new ram will help solve the problem.