still chasing around stability, but getting somewhere...

Batch codes, RAM specs, BIOS settings, etc..
purrkur
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Post by purrkur »

cavity wrote:if it wasnt a smp kernel, then wouldnt i see one cpu doing all the work and the other idle?
Finding out if your Linux box has one, two or more cpu's is easy. Check out the file /proc/cpuinfo:

Code: Select all

davidt@lin10:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 7
model name      : Pentium III (Katmai)
stepping        : 3
cpu MHz         : 547.244
cache size      : 512 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 2
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse
bogomips        : 1081.34

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 7
model name      : Pentium III (Katmai)
stepping        : 3
cpu MHz         : 547.244
cache size      : 512 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 2
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse
bogomips        : 1089.53
or use a program like x86info to see more info on your cpu:

Code: Select all

lin10:~# x86info -a
x86info v1.12b.  Dave Jones 2001-2003
Feedback to <davej@redhat.com>.

Found 2 CPUs
MP Table:
#       APIC ID Version State           Family  Model   Step    Flags
#        0       0x11    BSP, usable     6       7       3       0x383fbff
#        1       0x11    AP, usable      6       7       3       0x383fbff

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU #1
/dev/cpu/0/cpuid: No such device or address
eax in: 0x00000000, eax = 00000002 ebx = 756e6547 ecx = 6c65746e edx = 49656e69
eax in: 0x00000001, eax = 00000673 ebx = 00000000 ecx = 00000000 edx = 0383fbff
eax in: 0x00000002, eax = 03020101 ebx = 00000000 ecx = 00000000 edx = 0c040843

Family: 6 Model: 7 Stepping: 3 Type: 0 Brand: 0
CPU Model: Pentium III (Katmai) [kC0] Original OEM
Feature flags:
        Onboard FPU
        Virtual Mode Extensions
        Debugging Extensions
        Page Size Extensions
        Time Stamp Counter
        Model-Specific Registers
        Physical Address Extensions
        Machine Check Architecture
        CMPXCHG8 instruction
        Onboard APIC
        SYSENTER/SYSEXIT
        Memory Type Range Registers
        Page Global Enable
        Machine Check Architecture
        CMOV instruction
        Page Attribute Table
        36-bit PSEs
        MMX support
        FXSAVE and FXRESTORE instructions
        SSE support

Extended feature flags:

Instruction TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way associative, 32 entries
Instruction TLB: 4MB pages, fully associative, 2 entries
Data TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way associative, 64 entries
L2 unified cache:
        Size: 512KB     4-way associative.
        line size=32 bytes.
L1 Instruction cache:
        Size: 16KB      4-way associative.
        line size=32 bytes.
Data TLB: 4MB pages, 4-way associative, 8 entries
L1 Data cache:
        Size: 16KB      4-way associative.
        line size=32 bytes.

Number of reporting banks : 5

Erk, MCG_CTL not present! :0000000000000005:

Bank: 0 (0x400)
MC0CTL:    00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           11000101 00011000 00000000 00000000
MC0STATUS: 00010000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
MC0ADDR:   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

Bank: 1 (0x404)
MC1CTL:    00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000001
MC1STATUS: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
MC1ADDR:   00000000 00110100 00110000 11111111
           00000000 00110100 00110000 11111111

Bank: 2 (0x408)
MC2CTL:    00000000 00110100 01000110 00000000
           00000000 00110100 01000110 00000000
MC2STATUS: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
MC2ADDR:   00000000 00110100 01000110 11111111
           00000000 00110100 01000110 11111111

Bank: 3 (0x40c)
MC3CTL:    00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000001
MC3STATUS: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
MC3ADDR:   Couldn't read MSR 0x40e

Bank: 4 (0x410)
MC4CTL:    00000000 00000000 00000000 00001000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00001000
MC4STATUS: 00100010 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00010001
MC4ADDR:   00000000 00110101 00100000 11111111
           00000000 00110101 00100000 11111111

Microcode version: 0x000000000000002a

Connector type: Slot 1 (242 Contact Cartridge)


MTRR registers:
MTRRcap (0xfe): 0x0000000000000508
MTRRphysBase0 (0x200): 0x0000000000000006
MTRRphysMask0 (0x201): 0x0000000fe0000800
MTRRphysBase1 (0x202): 0x0000000020000006
MTRRphysMask1 (0x203): 0x0000000ff0000800
MTRRphysBase2 (0x204): 0x00000000f4000001
MTRRphysMask2 (0x205): 0x0000000ffe000800
MTRRphysBase3 (0x206): 0x00000000ec000001
MTRRphysMask3 (0x207): 0x0000000ffc000800
MTRRphysBase4 (0x208): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysMask4 (0x209): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysBase5 (0x20a): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysMask5 (0x20b): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysBase6 (0x20c): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysMask6 (0x20d): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysBase7 (0x20e): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysMask7 (0x20f): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRfix64K_00000 (0x250): 0x0606060606060606
MTRRfix16K_80000 (0x258): 0x0606060606060606
MTRRfix16K_A0000 (0x259): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRfix4K_C8000 (0x269): 0x0505050505050505
MTRRfix4K_D0000 0x26a: 0x0505050505050505
MTRRfix4K_D8000 0x26b: 0x0000000000000000
MTRRfix4K_E0000 0x26c: 0x0000000000000000
MTRRfix4K_E8000 0x26d: 0x0000000000000000
MTRRfix4K_F0000 0x26e: 0x0505050505050505
MTRRfix4K_F8000 0x26f: 0x0505050505050505
MTRRdefType (0x2ff): 0x0000000000000c00


550MHz processor (estimate).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU #2
eax in: 0x00000000, eax = 00000002 ebx = 756e6547 ecx = 6c65746e edx = 49656e69
eax in: 0x00000001, eax = 00000673 ebx = 00000000 ecx = 00000000 edx = 0383fbff
eax in: 0x00000002, eax = 03020101 ebx = 00000000 ecx = 00000000 edx = 0c040843

Family: 6 Model: 7 Stepping: 3 Type: 0 Brand: 0
CPU Model: Pentium III (Katmai) [kC0] Original OEM
Feature flags:
        Onboard FPU
        Virtual Mode Extensions
        Debugging Extensions
        Page Size Extensions
        Time Stamp Counter
        Model-Specific Registers
        Physical Address Extensions
        Machine Check Architecture
        CMPXCHG8 instruction
        Onboard APIC
        SYSENTER/SYSEXIT
        Memory Type Range Registers
        Page Global Enable
        Machine Check Architecture
        CMOV instruction
        Page Attribute Table
        36-bit PSEs
        MMX support
        FXSAVE and FXRESTORE instructions
        SSE support

Extended feature flags:

Instruction TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way associative, 32 entries
Instruction TLB: 4MB pages, fully associative, 2 entries
Data TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way associative, 64 entries
L2 unified cache:
        Size: 512KB     4-way associative.
        line size=32 bytes.
L1 Instruction cache:
        Size: 16KB      4-way associative.
        line size=32 bytes.
Data TLB: 4MB pages, 4-way associative, 8 entries
L1 Data cache:
        Size: 16KB      4-way associative.
        line size=32 bytes.

Number of reporting banks : 5

Erk, MCG_CTL not present! :0000000000000005:

Bank: 0 (0x400)
MC0CTL:    00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           11000101 00001000 00000000 00000000
MC0STATUS: 00010000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
MC0ADDR:   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

Bank: 1 (0x404)
MC1CTL:    00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000001
MC1STATUS: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
MC1ADDR:   00000000 00110100 00110000 11111111
           00000000 00110100 00110000 11111111

Bank: 2 (0x408)
MC2CTL:    00000000 00110100 01000110 00000000
           00000000 00110100 01000110 00000000
MC2STATUS: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
MC2ADDR:   00000000 00110100 01000110 11111111
           00000000 00110100 01000110 11111111

Bank: 3 (0x40c)
MC3CTL:    00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000001
MC3STATUS: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
MC3ADDR:   Couldn't read MSR 0x40e

Bank: 4 (0x410)
MC4CTL:    00000000 00000000 00000000 00001000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00001000
MC4STATUS: 00100010 00000000 00000000 00000000
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00010001
MC4ADDR:   00000000 00110101 00100000 11111111
           00000000 00110101 00100000 11111111

Microcode version: 0x000000000000002a

Connector type: Slot 1 (242 Contact Cartridge)


MTRR registers:
MTRRcap (0xfe): 0x0000000000000508
MTRRphysBase0 (0x200): 0x0000000000000006
MTRRphysMask0 (0x201): 0x0000000fe0000800
MTRRphysBase1 (0x202): 0x0000000020000006
MTRRphysMask1 (0x203): 0x0000000ff0000800
MTRRphysBase2 (0x204): 0x00000000f4000001
MTRRphysMask2 (0x205): 0x0000000ffe000800
MTRRphysBase3 (0x206): 0x00000000ec000001
MTRRphysMask3 (0x207): 0x0000000ffc000800
MTRRphysBase4 (0x208): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysMask4 (0x209): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysBase5 (0x20a): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysMask5 (0x20b): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysBase6 (0x20c): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysMask6 (0x20d): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysBase7 (0x20e): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRphysMask7 (0x20f): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRfix64K_00000 (0x250): 0x0606060606060606
MTRRfix16K_80000 (0x258): 0x0606060606060606
MTRRfix16K_A0000 (0x259): 0x0000000000000000
MTRRfix4K_C8000 (0x269): 0x0505050505050505
MTRRfix4K_D0000 0x26a: 0x0505050505050505
MTRRfix4K_D8000 0x26b: 0x0000000000000000
MTRRfix4K_E0000 0x26c: 0x0000000000000000
MTRRfix4K_E8000 0x26d: 0x0000000000000000
MTRRfix4K_F0000 0x26e: 0x0505050505050505
MTRRfix4K_F8000 0x26f: 0x0505050505050505
MTRRdefType (0x2ff): 0x0000000000000c00


550MHz processor (estimate).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
WARNING: Detected SMP, but unable to access cpuid driver.
Used Uniprocessor CPU routines. Results inaccurate.

As you can see, using the "-a" flag and running as root will give you tremendous amount of info on your cpu's :)
2x533MHz@544MHz, 2.0V
640MB PC100 memory
Realtek RTL-8139 NIC
Maxtor 6Y080L0 80GB hdd
Debian Linux stable with 2.4.8 kernel
cavity
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Location: Victoria BC, canada
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Post by cavity »

the file /proc/cpuinfo is empty, but the performance monitor shows both cpus working.
i dont have enough free time anymore... college will do that.
I've learned from experience that hpt sucks
InactiveX
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Post by InactiveX »

cavity wrote:you guessed right, its a 7200, and i've got a fan under it now. with the fan it dropped 10c both under load and idle. at idle its 2c above room temp instead of 12. the highest it gets now is 27 while defragging, and it used to get near 40c.
A few days ago I removed the fan that blew onto my 60GB 7200RPM drive. Today I tested the drive with some big file copy operations.

After two minutes, the PC froze completely. I switched off and let the drive cool down.

Having re-installed the cooling fan, I can now do the same file copying without a hitch. I have been using Active SMART to monitor the HDD temperature, and it peaks at 32°C.

Those 7200RPM drives certainly get hot!
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davd_bob
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Post by davd_bob »

I've never thought of HD temps causing lockups or other problems before this thread.

Maybe I will add a fan to each of my systems and have less problems. My BP6 366@550 has given a few probs since rebuilding it and now I suspect its due to the way I configured the drives in the case.
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

No BP6s remaining
Athlon 2800
Sempron 2000
ViaCPU laptop with Vista.(Works great after bumping ram to 2Gig)
P-III 850@100
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Post by InactiveX »

I have a Sunon 80mm 12V fan running on 7V, blowing cool air from the front intake across the top and bottom of my HDD.
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Post by davd_bob »

InactiveX wrote:I have a Sunon 80mm 12V fan running on 7V, blowing cool air from the front intake across the top and bottom of my HDD.
thats what IM tawking 'bout
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

No BP6s remaining
Athlon 2800
Sempron 2000
ViaCPU laptop with Vista.(Works great after bumping ram to 2Gig)
P-III 850@100
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Post by purrkur »

InactiveX wrote:A few days ago I removed the fan that blew onto my 60GB 7200RPM drive. Today I tested the drive with some big file copy operations.

After two minutes, the PC froze completely. I switched off and let the drive cool down.
InactiveX: You didn't mention what manufacturer your harddrive comes from?
2x533MHz@544MHz, 2.0V
640MB PC100 memory
Realtek RTL-8139 NIC
Maxtor 6Y080L0 80GB hdd
Debian Linux stable with 2.4.8 kernel
InactiveX
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Post by InactiveX »

Whoops!

It's a Hitachi/IBM 60GB drive.
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Post by cavity »

it's a long read, still trying to figure out instability

well, its an update!
I've been using the same bp6 for w while now, and have narrowed the problem down somewhat... though i dont know what it means. I'm sure the temperture of everything is ok, and now i can cause an error every time.
Im also primarily using win2k now, though i still have linux and beos installed
error the first: nero extraction... attempts to extract the nero download always fail in similar spots, with many different versions of nero. new downloads of the latest trial version from many different mirrors, and old verions i still had laying around on drives. either the file is always being corrupted in the same spot every time i download it, nomatter what program i use or mirror i get it from... or there's a problem with the extraction program. but the same thing happens wether i let it self extract or use winrar on it. I have reinstalled winrar recently. any way i try to extract it i get similar files corrupted, but not always the same ones.
! D:\downloads\nero6601.exe: CRC failed in Common Files\AudioPlugins\Aac.dll. The file is corrupt
! D:\downloads\nero6601.exe: CRC failed in Nero Wave Editor\waveedit.dll. The file is corrupt
! D:\downloads\nero6601.exe: CRC failed in Nero BackItUp\BackItUp.exe. The file is corrupt
! D:\downloads\nero6601.exe: CRC failed in Nero BackItUp\NBJ.exe. The file is corrupt
! D:\downloads\nero6601.exe: CRC failed in Nero\nero.exe. The file is corrupt
! D:\downloads\nero6601.exe: CRC failed in nero soundtrax\SoundTrax.exe. The file is corrupt
! D:\downloads\nero6601.exe: CRC failed in WMPBurn\WMPBurn.exe. The file is corrupt
! D:\downloads\nero6601.exe: CRC failed in nero soundtrax\SoundTrax-Deu.nls. The file is corrupt
! D:\downloads\nero6601.exe: CRC failed in Nero\Trumpet1.wav. The file is corrupt
sometimes more corrupt files, sometimes less. but always a few.
ok, that was prolem the first, i can live with it. I've started using alcohol 120%

problem the second is what's really pissing me off. the computer likes to lock up solid without warning sometimes. absolutely nothing will move, the hdd light stays on, nothing but the power button will get the slightest response. sometimes this happens completely randomly, but not always.
The best way to make it lockup is to attempt an install of autocad 2005. it took 5 tries today before it worked without locking part way though, and it never did it in the same spot. since then its been quite stable.
I've tried running torture tests that use everything at once at the sime time as running prime95 and sisoft sandra... never acts up when i want it to.
the o/s makes no difference, it lockups just the same in win2k, winxp, debian, and beos.
but, once win2k gave me a message. something about a hardware failure and the system was halted. microsoft tells me this means some hardware failed, but nothing more.
I'm getting close to just buying a new board and building something that will be stable for weeks on end, because at best this bp6 cant last more than 17 hours without an error or 2.

long post, i'l edit later...
thanks,
chris
i dont have enough free time anymore... college will do that.
I've learned from experience that hpt sucks
Wolfram
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Post by Wolfram »

Is that at 66 Mhz FSB or is the board still overclocked?
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
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Post by purrkur »

My best recommendation is that you remove as much hardware from the machine as possible. Remove everything except for the harddrive and graphics adapter. Run some torture tests. Does it still give you headache? Well, then the components that you removed are not at fault at least. This would mean that something is wrong with the motherboard maybe. When you run into issues that are not easily reproducable then you have to start with the bare essentials and then work your way forward until something starts breaking again.
2x533MHz@544MHz, 2.0V
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Post by cavity »

wow, i just figured out how to reply... i have to logout to read any topics i've posted in... i keep getting the same error. anyway... the computer is still overclocked, but i tried running it at 66mhz for a few days and it still had just as many if not more problems. I think the next thing to try is removing the ram stick from slot 3, ive heard bad things about having 3 sticks of ram... and i can live with 256.
if that doesnt do it i'll just remove everything but the video card and do some tests with a livecd of linux.
Thanks for the replys, now that i know how to reply here i'll keep you posted :D
i dont have enough free time anymore... college will do that.
I've learned from experience that hpt sucks
Wolfram
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Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2002 3:19 am
Location: Germany

Post by Wolfram »

i keep getting the same error. anyway... the computer is still overclocked, but i tried running it at 66mhz for a few days and it still had just as many if not more problems. I think the next thing to try is removing the ram stick from slot 3, ive heard bad things about having 3 sticks of ram... and i can live with 256.
if that doesnt do it i'll just remove everything but the video card and do some tests with a livecd of linux.
Thanks for the replys, now that i know how to reply here i'll keep you posted :D
My BP6 is unstable with three 256MB sticks, and perfectly stable with two 256MB sticks, so that might solve your problem.

Aside from that, I would go with purrkurs recommendation and start with a minimum setup. That will save you a lot of time.
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
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Post by davd_bob »

If the HD heat issue has been addressed then I can only say one word.
CAPS CAPS CAPS.

My board is locking up in the bios page that displays the temps. I get to the page but cant even hit an arrow down even once before it locks up.
I guess I must be kinda stupid sometimes.
I only replaced the 8 caps, the two "4packs," but didn't do the ones around my CPUs. What was I thinking?
After those 8 I got scared and didn't want to risk any damage. The board was great for 4 months and now I am going to send it to ABIT via RMA for a correct repair.
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

No BP6s remaining
Athlon 2800
Sempron 2000
ViaCPU laptop with Vista.(Works great after bumping ram to 2Gig)
P-III 850@100
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Post by cavity »

I know someone who can replace caps, so i'll see what he would charge. Should some of the caps be replaced with bigger ones? or is a straight replacement ok.
i dont have enough free time anymore... college will do that.
I've learned from experience that hpt sucks
InactiveX
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Post by InactiveX »

davd_bob wrote:If the HD heat issue has been addressed then I can only say one word.
CAPS CAPS CAPS.
That's three words! :wink:
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Post by davd_bob »

D'oh!! :shock:
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

No BP6s remaining
Athlon 2800
Sempron 2000
ViaCPU laptop with Vista.(Works great after bumping ram to 2Gig)
P-III 850@100
cavity
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Post by cavity »

so far it's been stable without that third ram shtick. its been running since nov 30, 5 days ago. i think thats a new record. somehow in that time, the system idle proces has used 160 hours of cpu time... must be counting for each one.
anyway, its an improvement so im happy so far. :D of course by posting this im asking for trouble.
i dont have enough free time anymore... college will do that.
I've learned from experience that hpt sucks
cavity
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Post by cavity »

seems more stable now. its been running with just the 2 ram sticks for 7 days and 2 hours now. I've got 2 instances of prime95 runing on seperate cpus, and the one on cpu0 has been going without error for 36 hours now. the one using only cpu1 wont run for longer than about 6 hours before it gives a read from temp file error. I just restarted the second instance to see if it was some hard drive problem... but i dont know if that error could be caused by the cpu, or if its really the hard drive. cpu1 isnt getting any warmer then cpu0, they're both sitting at 37c. i dont have any other hard drives sitting around, but maybe i'll try running a live linux cd if i get the error again. I do have another celeron 400, but it would be a pita to pull it out of the firewall and put it into here.

any ideas? lemme know if its not very clear... I've got to go study for exams.
i dont have enough free time anymore... college will do that.
I've learned from experience that hpt sucks
Wolfram
Posts: 401
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2002 3:19 am
Location: Germany

Post by Wolfram »

cavity wrote:seems more stable now. its been running with just the 2 ram sticks for 7 days and 2 hours now. I've got 2 instances of prime95 runing on seperate cpus, and the one on cpu0 has been going without error for 36 hours now. the one using only cpu1 wont run for longer than about 6 hours before it gives a read from temp file error. I just restarted the second instance to see if it was some hard drive problem... but i dont know if that error could be caused by the cpu, or if its really the hard drive. cpu1 isnt getting any warmer then cpu0, they're both sitting at 37c. i dont have any other hard drives sitting around, but maybe i'll try running a live linux cd if i get the error again. I do have another celeron 400, but it would be a pita to pull it out of the firewall and put it into here.

any ideas? lemme know if its not very clear... I've got to go study for exams.
37°C shouldn't be too hot, even if the Celerons are heavily overclocked. Are they or are they back at stock speed?

Have you already played around with core voltages? I found my BP6 setups to be highly sensitive to voltage changes. A change from 2.0 to 1.95 or 2.05V might make a stable system unstable and reverse. I would go for a slightly higher voltage, 2.05 or 2.1V. My dual TBred (MSI K7D + 2x TBred A 1800+) also seems to like a slightly higher core voltage in SMP mode (1,6 instead of 1,5V).

Good luck!

Wolfram
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
cavity
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Post by cavity »

i just checked the core voltages, they where both at 2.1v already, so i'll try 2.05v before anything else.
i dont have enough free time anymore... college will do that.
I've learned from experience that hpt sucks
cavity
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Post by cavity »

i bumped them up to 2.2 now... and it ran 2 instances of prime95 for about 40 hours before one of them gave a reading from temp file error. after that i called it stable enough for my useage.
2.2 may be a little high, but i dont really care because its no use if the system is unstable just so the cpus last longer.
hope that makes sense... now to figure out this linux firewall problem
i dont have enough free time anymore... college will do that.
I've learned from experience that hpt sucks
Wolfram
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Post by Wolfram »

cavity wrote:i bumped them up to 2.2 now... and it ran 2 instances of prime95 for about 40 hours before one of them gave a reading from temp file error. after that i called it stable enough for my useage.
2.2 may be a little high, but i dont really care because its no use if the system is unstable just so the cpus last longer.
hope that makes sense... now to figure out this linux firewall problem
The instability might still be caused by some bad cap(s). Or the harddisk. Or multiple factors. Some boards you can never get entirely stable. My first Athlon board was that kind of nightmare, an Asus A7V133C, with a TBird 1333C. The first thing that happened that the board wouldn't boot, black screen. Then I found if you changed the CPU, you had to boot to that black screen, take the CPU out and put it back into the socket and then it would boot ok. Of course, that was only the beginning...

Prime should never give you that error, but if you say it's stable enough for you, it's ok, and maybe it'll never crash during normal use. Only danger might be creeping data corruption.

2.2V shouldn't be too much. I remember I read you shouldn't go beyond 2.3V, but that's only 15% above stock voltage. I've been running the overclocked Duron 1600 in my gaming rig at 2.3 GHz for 14 months now, at 1.85V, with a default vcore of 1.5V. That's 23.3% above default...
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
hugoc
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Post by hugoc »

I can confirm that Xandros does not install an SMP kernel. You would have to compile your own. Apparently, the business edition of Xandros will include SMP support, but I can't confirm that myself. I think this isn't a smart move, especially considering how many HT P4s are in use right now.

Regarding your three-memory-sticks problem, I have encountered the same thing. I have one 256MB and two 128MB modules. Any stick in any slot will pass Memtest 86's intensive tests without any errors. Any two sticks in any two slots will do the same. However, as soon as a third stick is added Memtest starts to report errors.

Apparently this isn't just the BP6. According to places like Anandtech and Tom's Hardware, Athlon XP/64 and P4 boards are doing it too, even big-name ones. Some memory brands are worse than others for this and it isn't always the big names who are better in this, either. This problem got so bad that THG published a guide to what memory works in what board for prospective buyers.
BP6, RU BIOS, 2*Celeron 366@550 1.9v
2*GlobalWin FEP32, 512MB PC100 CAS2
GeForce DDR, CMI8738 audio, Accton SMC2-1211TX NIC
Ubuntu Linux, Kernel 2.6.8.1-4-686-smp
hyperspace
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Post by hyperspace »

hugoc wrote:I can confirm that Xandros does not install an SMP kernel. You would have to compile your own. Apparently, the business edition of Xandros will include SMP support, but I can't confirm that myself. I think this isn't a smart move, especially considering how many HT P4s are in use right now.

Regarding your three-memory-sticks problem, I have encountered the same thing. I have one 256MB and two 128MB modules. Any stick in any slot will pass Memtest 86's intensive tests without any errors. Any two sticks in any two slots will do the same. However, as soon as a third stick is added Memtest starts to report errors.

Apparently this isn't just the BP6. According to places like Anandtech and Tom's Hardware, Athlon XP/64 and P4 boards are doing it too, even big-name ones. Some memory brands are worse than others for this and it isn't always the big names who are better in this, either. This problem got so bad that THG published a guide to what memory works in what board for prospective buyers.
This would example why some of us can use three sticks and others have only been able to use two. You wonder if mainboard manufacturers actually test ALL the memory slots. Maybe they only use the BEST memory when testing. :?
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