Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: oboe on October 17, 2008, 08:56:35 PM
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I think my old P4 2.8GHz chip finally died. Was out of town for a few days, and when I got back, the system won't boot and I get a voice (ASUS P4P800 mobo) telling me the CPU has failed. I had it overclocked 20% for the past year, trying to wring every bit of framerate out of AH that I could. The system had been acting flaky for a few months, locking up occasionally, etc.
I think I can still get a socket 478 Pentium IV from a local computer store, but it'll run $100 and change. Can I just drop a new CPU in? Would I need to reinstall Win XP? Or would the $100 would be just better spent putting it toward a completely new system?
I'm going to be travelling quite a bit from now on, and was wondering how a gaming laptop like the 17" Gateway FX7811 would handle AH2. 1900x1200 screen resolution, nVidia 9800M GTS graphics, 4 Gb ram and a 2.26 GHz CPU. Not sure about Gateway's reliability but this machine has pretty good specs for the price, and its portable enough I think I'd be able to play AH and work on skins when away from home.
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Yes you can just add in a new chip w/o installing Windows etc. I'd check out ebay for used CPU's. I found some P4's for $30 or so. Granted, its ebay, but there are some good sellers out there (and bad).
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Isnt it probable that if you cooked the CPU that some of the supply side circuits are also cooked?
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Isnt it probable that if you cooked the CPU that some of the supply side circuits are also cooked?
I really don't know Chalenge - is there a way to tell, or check it?
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I really don't know Chalenge - is there a way to tell, or check it?
Is the anything burned/discolored on the motherboard? Can you smell burnt plastic? If not, it may be that the CPU just crooked. If yes, then its likely the motherboard toasted along with the cpu.
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You're seriously wasting your money if you buy a new P IV socket 478. For a few bucks more you can get an asrock cpu+motherboard combo running at 3Ghz core2duo. Take this as an opportunity to upgrade your dated box.
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You're seriously wasting your money if you buy a new P IV socket 478. For a few bucks more you can get an asrock cpu+motherboard combo running at 3Ghz core2duo. Take this as an opportunity to upgrade your dated box.
Right, but you have to figure his Socket 478 board still has an AGP slot and is more than likely still using DDR. So tack on a new video card and some ram. $30 would be worth it for the time being IMO.
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Just curious. When you overclocked did you change the voltage to the CPU? Just thinking that if it's not getting enough voltage that would cause problems similar to those you're experiencing.
One way to check would be to bring the clock settings back to stock and see if it boots.
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Just curious. When you overclocked did you change the voltage to the CPU? Just thinking that if it's not getting enough voltage that would cause problems similar to those you're experiencing.
One way to check would be to bring the clock settings back to stock and see if it boots.
He says the system won't boot and I take it as he can't even get to the post screen. I.e. his monitor probably says 'No Video Input.'
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He says the system won't boot and I take it as he can't even get to the post screen. I.e. his monitor probably says 'No Video Input.'
Before you do anything else reset the BIOS on the motherboard and try booting again.
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How do you reset the BIOS on the motherboard? I cannot get into the BIOS menus at all - comp. doesn't get that far in the boot. It just hangs, no video output, and the hard drive access LED is lit steady.
I didn't change voltage to the CPU; but my overclocking had worked fine for months.
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How do you reset the BIOS on the motherboard? I cannot get into the BIOS menus at all - comp. doesn't get that far in the boot. It just hangs, no video output, and the hard drive access LED is lit steady.
I didn't change voltage to the CPU; but my overclocking had worked fine for months.
If i remember, to reset BIOS you have to remove the Battery for 30-60 seconds.
As for possible dead CPU it certainly sounds like it. My 4 month old (give or take a month) AMD Athlon 64 X2 recently died, due to my own doing i think, but the same things happened. I could power the PC on, but no video would appear, but everything else seemed to be working. Got new AMD Athlon X2 and now it works great. :aok
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To reset the bios, refer to your motherboard manual. If you don't have it anymore, just go the the MFGers website and download it. It varies by motherboard on how to do it. Like on my current one, I have to remove a jumper, take the battery out for 30 seconds, put the jumper on and then put the battery back in.
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Usually CMOS reset is done by removing the battery, shorting the CMOS reset jumper for a second, reseting the original jumper position, re-insterting the battery and rebooting the computer. Advice can be found in every motherboard manual.
I usually do it without removing the battery shorting the CMOS reset pins just for a microsecond. Sure it drains the battery a bit but hey I'm lazy and it worked every time :)
The biggest risk in my method is to drain the battery -> need to replace it. It won't affect the booting of the computer tho it will just complain about reset bios settings on every boot untill the battery gets replaced.
Also in practise it's not necessary to wait for several seconds after removing the battery - the memory gets cleared practically instantly. Just remember to unplug your powersupply before doing anything else.
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The CR2032 lithium batteries shouldn't get drained that much. It takes a minimal amount of power to keep the clock and system running. I've had old motherboards in storage for 4-5 years and I've pulled the CMOS battery and it still tested at 3.2 volts (3.25-3.3 is new condition voltage, anything around 3.0x and lower is considered bad).
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The CR2032 lithium batteries shouldn't get drained that much. It takes a minimal amount of power to keep the clock and system running. I've had old motherboards in storage for 4-5 years and I've pulled the CMOS battery and it still tested at 3.2 volts (3.25-3.3 is new condition voltage, anything around 3.0x and lower is considered bad).
When you short cirquit one it can empty in a couple seconds. That's what shorting the CMOS pin effectively does to clear the CMOS. That's why you need to be quick if you are too lazy to remove the battery.
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Close to your battery you should see the jumper. It is a 3 pin config(you will not see all 3 pins with the jumper on, just 1 next to the jumper. The jumper is covering 2 pins). The jumper should be blue. Follow MrRips advise. Pop out battery, Take the jumper and move it to the other side
. . . <<<<<dots signify the 3 pins(original config with jumper on 2)
^^
. . . <<<<<DOTS SIGNIFY CONFIG WHEN BATTERY IS OUT(move jumper over)
^^
. . . <<<<<<RETURN JUMPER TO ORIG. CONFIG AFTER BATTERY RE-INSTALL
^^
BOOT COMPUTER
check this link
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-501&va=reset+bios+jumper&sz=all
The picture in the center(2nd line) shows a YELLOW JUMPER. Enlarge the pic. Your jumper will most likely be blue. You will see the 3 pins. Follow above instructions but refer to your motherboard manual 1st. Moving the jumper grounds the mb and drains the power. This resets bios to original config.
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GOOD LUCK! let us know.
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Thanks for your help. I dug out the manual and found a jumper called "Clear RTC RAM" which had a reset procedure exactly as you guys described - power off, remove battery, change jumper to alternate pin setting for 5-10 seconds, replace battery and power up. This procedure is supposed to clear CMOS memory of date, time, and system setup parameters according to the manual.
Battery checked out at 3.10V. Anyway, did all that, powered up again, and now I don't even have the voice report on the POST. Just constant hard-drive access, which sort of worries me - don't know why it would want data from the harddisk if it hasn't even made it through the POST yet.
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Here's one other thought: When you power up do so with the side panal off and make sure the CPU fan is running. A CPU can build heat very quickly and if the fan's not running it might be doing so to the point that it's shutting itself down.
That's probably not it but at least it's worth a look.
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Thanks for your help. I dug out the manual and found a jumper called "Clear RTC RAM" which had a reset procedure exactly as you guys described - power off, remove battery, change jumper to alternate pin setting for 5-10 seconds, replace battery and power up. This procedure is supposed to clear CMOS memory of date, time, and system setup parameters according to the manual.
Battery checked out at 3.10V. Anyway, did all that, powered up again, and now I don't even have the voice report on the POST. Just constant hard-drive access, which sort of worries me - don't know why it would want data from the harddisk if it hasn't even made it through the POST yet.
Next step is to remove every unnecessary add-on card from the computer. Leave _one_ stick of ram, displaycard and cpu. That's it. Try to reboot.
If it won't work, switch another stick of ram. Retry.
And when you get tired to joking around, buy a new motherboard / CPU / integrated graphics combo for $150 and continue playing ;)
Asrock makes new AMD/ATI based motherboards with integrated graphics that swipe the table with similarly priced add-on graphics.
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Oh, I'm already tired of playing around with it!
Looking at upgrading CPU/MoBo/video card - might as well get a new hard drive cuz they're cheap, too.
I have a Antec Sonata II case that I like but think the 380W PSU might not be enough for a new 8800+ class vid card.
I'll have to check out the Asrock mobos with integrated video - thought that was a no-go for graphically intensive programs like AH2.
I'd like to get a system where I can max out every graphic feature and option.
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Oh, I'm already tired of playing around with it!
Looking at upgrading CPU/MoBo/video card - might as well get a new hard drive cuz they're cheap, too.
I have a Antec Sonata II case that I like but think the 380W PSU might not be enough for a new 8800+ class vid card.
I'll have to check out the Asrock mobos with integrated video - thought that was a no-go for graphically intensive programs like AH2.
I'd like to get a system where I can max out every graphic feature and option.
You're gonna need to set a budget first and foremost. What can you afford? Integrated will 'get you by', but don't plan on maxing out any graphics on a game unless it was 5+ years old. When you're figuring out your budget, get a list of items you can carry over to the new system to help cut costs. Such as CD/DVD drive, case, keyboard etc.
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power supply should be "OK"
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Depending on the card, I'm guessing the PSU will not be okay mainly for a lack of amps on the 12V. That is if you're looking for a card that has some horsepower to it (7600 or newer nvidia's, 3850+ ATI. I'm basing this off of the possible age of the PSU and its lower wattage output. If it is a PSU that's getting up there in years, I'd recommend replacing it anyways and parts don't last forever.
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power supply should be "OK"
Without knowing the exact component configuration of his intended machine or the amperage output of his PSU it is impossible to make that statement.
Most modern video cards call for 400-450W power supplies and there are PSU's in that range that will still not run them.
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Been looking at Asrock boards, and they have an interesting one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157115
I could get a Core2 Duo or Dual Core CPU with this $60 board and use all of my other components, I think. My video card is the old AGP type - a nVidia 7600GS.
I think total repair cost then would be around $200, depending on the particular CPU I settle on. Thoughts?>
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I've been using that board for close to a year now. I've had no issues so far but it is limited for overclocking. You can't raise vcore to the cpu. I'm currently running an Allendale 4500 at 2.6 with the stock heatsink.
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Also note, that that motherboard has a PCI-E 4x slot, not a regular 16x slot you find on most boards. So if you do upgrade in the future, even if you get that big expensive card, you'll be limited in performance by the 4x slot being slower.
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Oboe wouldn't recommend that board. Memory is maxed at 2g and video 4x/ $30 more gets you twice the board.
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What kind of board would you guys recommend? One option would be to get new mobo/cpu/video card/hard drive and probably PSU.
I had priced out an example at Mwave using a Gigabyte EP45-DS3L board, 2 Gig Crucial DDR2 800, E8400 Core 2 Duo CPU, XFX 9800 GT, a 250Gb Seagate SATA drive, and an Antec 500W PSU for around $550. Keeping only my case, keyboard/mouse, and optical drives. Its almost a completely new build - it's tempting to spend a couple hundred more and do that.
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I had priced out an example at Mwave using a Gigabyte EP45-DS3L board, 2 Gig Crucial DDR2 800, E8400 Core 2 Duo CPU, XFX 9800 GT, a 250Gb Seagate SATA drive, and an Antec 500W PSU for around $550. Keeping only my case, keyboard/mouse, and optical drives. Its almost a completely new build - it's tempting to spend a couple hundred more and do that.
Something like this is probably the best bet. Either direction you take look at the low-end Gigabyte motherboards. They seem to own the low end of the market.
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You're gonna need to set a budget first and foremost. What can you afford? Integrated will 'get you by', but don't plan on maxing out any graphics on a game unless it was 5+ years old. When you're figuring out your budget, get a list of items you can carry over to the new system to help cut costs. Such as CD/DVD drive, case, keyboard etc.
There are a couple new integrated chipsets which give relatively good performance. Sure they're no 4870x2 but I think the best are knocking 7600GT performance levels already. That's pretty cool considering you don't have to pay extra for it. And most importantly afaik that kind of power already runs AH2 fine.
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When you posted about the integrated video chipsets, I browsed Newegg for a few minutes and couldn't find any integrated boards with anything I found as a powerhouse. Mainly 7050 or Radeon 3xxx series chipsets. Can you find one? It seems like an interesting idea.
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When you posted about the integrated video chipsets, I browsed Newegg for a few minutes and couldn't find any integrated boards with anything I found as a powerhouse. Mainly 7050 or Radeon 3xxx series chipsets. Can you find one? It seems like an interesting idea.
Well the Radeon 790GX chipset includes HD3300 chipset - I'm not sure if that is enough to run AH2 properly but I know from the previous generation product (690) that it can do surprisingly well in gaming. My kids are playing titles like Madagaskar and Wall-E on it solely on the integrated graphics.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_15337_15742,00.html
If this quote from tomshardware is any indication AH2 might run fine, too:
Here’s an easy one. Even at 1024x768, all three of our integrated platforms offered enough graphics performance to keep Flight Simulator X pegged at its vsync cap.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-integrated-790gx,1988-9.html
In fact I'll run a test on the 690G chipset and report what kind of framerates I can get with Core2duo 2.6Ghz + 690G integrated on AH2.
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nvidea 9600gt is around $120 if you search. Nice upgrade from 7600