My recapped BP6 locks up!

Tim_K · Post by **Tim_K** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:34 pm

I recently recapped my BP6 motherboard with the Jackcon caps I got way back in April or something like that. I replaced EVERY capacitor on the board, all with new Jackcon caps.

Here's the problem. It will now lock up sometimes, and the only way out it is to hit the reset button and start over. I can't have it like this.

Normally the computer only does folding@home work for me, as it has done all year long, and it's usually fine. About once a week I'll come home and the computer is OFF, I just hit the power button and it's back on. This has only happened after my recent recap job.

I went on the internet today to try it out, and I made it about 8 minutes before it locked up.

WTF? I have all the caps I took off the board from the Abit RMA recap, maybe I should put a select few back on? "Only" 2 were bad 4 months after the RMA!

As it is right now, there are 6.3 volt 2200 uF caps around the CPUs (#'s 7,8,9,2,13,14,1,5,15,11,4,6), 16 volt 1500 uF caps on EC10, 12,16,26,27, and 6.3 volt 1500 uF caps on 3,17,28,31,18,19,22,23,20,21,24,25. The tiny little caps on 29,30,32,33 retain their stock values.

Yes, the polarity is correct on every cap.

Maybe I over-capped something?

Any ideas on what to do here?

InactiveX · Post by **InactiveX** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:06 pm

I would start by monitoring the voltages, either by looking at the readings in the BIOS setup, or by using Motherboard Monitor.

Best of luck.

Dave Rave · Post by **Dave Rave** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:22 pm

check the psu too
if it's fan is dead the psu will overheat and fail

Tim_K · Post by **Tim_K** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 6:41 pm

The power supply fan is running good.

I have MBM 4.18 installed on this system because it'll monitor dual CPUs.

I noticed that the CPU temps were up about 3 degrees Celsius each. And the case temp was up about 4 degrees. That's the first unusual thing.

Here's the voltages it gives me on the UP/DOWN (high and low extremes) screen:

CPU 0 - 1.95 to 2.05 volts
CPU 1 - 1.98 to 2.05 volts
3.3 volt line - 3.30 to 3.34 volts
5 volt line - 4.87 to 4.92 volts
-5 volt line - -5.44 to -5.29 volts
12 volt line - 12.34 to 12.52 volts
-12 volt line - -12.68 to -13.01 volts

I think it was more stable with the old caps.

These readings are taken with both CPUs folding at 100%, not going on the internet at all yet.

I emailed the dickhead who runs the badcaps.net site, and he gave me a real asshole response - "You used Junkcon caps" was about all he said. He's probably just pissed that I didn't buy from him. Well, if he would've emailed me a mailing address instead of a PayPal address like I asked, I would have! It's his own dumb ass fault.

InactiveX · Post by **InactiveX** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 7:59 pm

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 9:51 pm

It would be interesting to see the VTT voltage "stats" over time...

Dave Rave · Post by **Dave Rave** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:47 am

did u mention yet ?
overclocked ?
std FSB will cope with 1.85v
if you overclock, it needs to be more

Tim_K · Post by **Tim_K** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:04 am

The 533 Celerons run at 2.00 volts, they always have. I didn't raise the voltage to them when I overclocked them to 600 (8X75) because they were always stable even at 600.

Which one is the VTT? I listed all the voltages that MBM 4.18 provides.

Dave Rave · Post by **Dave Rave** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:23 pm

change the voltage type off of the BP6 type back to the normal type

the second CPU voltage will then show 1.50v instead of 2.0v
that's the VTT rail

voltage at normal fsb is 2.00v nominally, though they will run as low as 1.85v
if you overclock, you will need to up the voltage.
you have at 2.00v
try 2.05v

Tim_K · Post by **Tim_K** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:57 pm

I switched MBM 4.18 back to show the VTT rail in place of the CPU1 voltage. Then I went on the internet and played some Windows Media video to give it some changing loads. It's in the range of 1.47 to 1.55 volts.

Is that good, or is that fluctuating too much?

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:05 am

Tim_K wrote:I switched MBM 4.18 back to show the VTT rail in place of the CPU1 voltage. Then I went on the internet and played some Windows Media video to give it some changing loads. It's in the range of 1.47 to 1.55 volts.

Is that good, or is that fluctuating too much?

That looks pretty good.

Hmmm...

Tim_K · Post by **Tim_K** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:08 pm

Removing the overclock helped.

I had the 533 Celerons running at 600 (8X75 FSB), and MBM 4.18 wouldn't stay on the screen for more than 10 minutes. I'd set it, go in the other room for a bit, come back and check, and I'd have to reopen it.

So I tried pulling the CMOS battery and resetting the clear CMOS jumper briefly. Once everything was back in place, I went into the BIOS and reset the CPU speed to 66 with the 8 multiplier, for the stock 533 Mhz speed level.

After that, MBM 4.18 stayed on (all night, in fact), and it hasn't locked up on me since!

Only NEW annoying trick is that on boot up, I'll get an error message saying that Smc.exe has generated errors and has been closed by Windows (2000 Pro).

WTF is Smc.exe, what does it do, and should I care?

If it's not one problem, it's another. Fix one thing and another starts screwing up.......

InactiveX · Post by **InactiveX** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:58 pm

Tim_K wrote:WTF is Smc.exe, what does it do, and should I care?

showed that it is part of the Sygate Secure Enterprise firewall.

Tim_K · Post by **Tim_K** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:47 pm

Okay, maybe I can just reinstall Sygate and it'll magically fix itself.

davd_bob · Post by **davd_bob** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 5:18 pm

Tim,
Do I understand that you replaced the caps on a board received earlier this year from Abit RMA?

What lead you to taking that action?
David

Dave Rave · Post by **Dave Rave** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:03 am

with celerons, I found 75 was pretty much the stable limit.
I think I managed 78 and even 80 but I don't have great cpu coolers or a cool room to run in so at std room temp (you in summer time still) 75 was def a 2.05-2.10v
plus good coolers and much flow through and a coolish room

also, you didn't mention cpu temps yet (did i miss it?)

purrkur · Post by **purrkur** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 8:12 am

Tim,

Just a quick question: Are you sure that the 1000microF caps that were originally on the board were 6.3V?

Mine were 10V. If you replaced 10V caps with 6.3V ones then that might explain your problems (depending on what voltage these caps are working under).

I am wondering what exactly to do with my EC 3,17,28,31,18,19,22,23,20,21,24,25 since I only have 6.3V caps lying around and not 10V like the ones I have removed from the board. (See http://www.bp6.com/board/viewtopic.php? ... ht=jackcon)

Are you still having stability problems by the way?

Dave Rave · Post by **Dave Rave** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 8:40 am

also, no-one is giving me any satisfaction about the state of their hard drives.
installed HDD Health yet ?

purrkur · Post by **purrkur** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 8:51 am

HDD health? What is that?

I use Linux so what I do is install smartmontools (for interfacing with S.M.A.R.T on the drives) and talk directly to the drives to ask them about their health. I schedule this type of hdd checkups and the result of the checkups appears in my system logs. Convenient and easy.