Athlon2400+ running as 1800+ 1

[andrew4728]

Hey all, I had my computer for like 2 years now, and havn't had any hardware problems at all. All of a sudden, I reboot it one day and notice that it shows Athlon 1800+ instead of an Athlon 2400+ and the cpu was running at 1500 MHZ instead of 2000MHZ like it should be.

First thing I did was hop into the bios, and it appeared like the BIOS reset itself or something, because my boot disk order was set back to default Floppy, CDROM, HD0, instead of just SCSI like I had it set before.

I immediately went and checked the FSB on the bios, and sure enough it was at 100MHZ, so I was feeling better at this point. I set it back to the 133MHZ that it should be, and saved settings and rebooted.

The computer still showing at 1800+ with 1.5GHZ
going back into the bios still showing 133mhz FSB!

I've done searches on this problem, and others have similar problem, but the forums I have read all just say change FSB back to 133, which isn't fixing my problem

Any ideas?

Thanks all!

Andrew

 

[mikker]

Try replacing the lithium battery for the CMOS on the motherboard. But usually they last about 10-15 yrs. Make sure it is properly seated. Everytime the CMOS gets cleared , everything in the BIOS goes back to default. That's why I suggest to check the battery.

 

[micker377]

In BIOS setup, what is your multiplier? Some mobo's set it automatically, some you have to set. My XP2200 reads 1800 (multiplier 13.5 x 133).
You might have to get your manual out to see what the multiplier should be. If your battery fails (or gets corroded), you will lose ALL your settings. I've seen them fail after a few years, and I've pulled them out of an old 10 year old board for temp use, you never know. For $5.00, change it.

 

[paparazi]

micker377
I think you might be a little generous with your battery life estimation, in my experience the average is around 3/4 years but I have seen these Lithium CR2032's (3.3volts)last as little as 9months and as long as 7years.
Below 3 volts, change it for the sake of $4.
Your problem does seem strange, given that you havn't physically changed anything (jumpers etc) and have reset bios correctly to 133 (266fsb)
I would be tempted to flash the bios to the latest, as this information directly effects the visual bios display and should cure the problem.
I would also reseat the CPU.
Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[cdogg]

Where in Windows is it telling you that you're still at 1800+ 1500MHz?

Your CPU should be using a multiplier of 15. Without modifying your setup, this multiplier is not adjustable and should stay at that setting. If the FSB is truly running at 133MHz, then that would bring you to 1995MHz.

What speed does the BIOS report your CPU at? I recommend you try using this utility in Windows"

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

You can also take a peek in the DirectX utility by going to Start -> Run, typing dxdiag and hitting OK.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[andrew4728]

I never looked in windows to see what it showed, but I just did look in DXDIAG and it shows 1500mhz as well.

The bios shows the following info :

Under Advanced chipset features :
Current CPU Clock : 1500MHz
System Performance : Auto
CPU FSB Clock 133MHz

Frequency/Voltage Control
CPU Ratio : By H/W
CPU Vcore Select : By H/W

It's an MSI Mobo as well..
I did pull the battery and put it back into the mobo when the problem started, and it didn't make any change The settings on the mobo are staying when I power it down, unplug power cord, and such..

would it possibly be a Vcore setting or something that could affect it? It's been so long since I built this machine I don't remember what troubles I had to deal with when I put it together..

Also does anyone know where i can find a page that displays the correct Vcore setting for AMD chips?

Thank you all for your help

Andrew

 

[cdogg]

What's the model of your MSI motherboard? I'd like to take a peek in the manual.

And just to make sure, you didn't change any jumpers on the motherboard that you're aware of did you?

I'm sure that there is another setting in your BIOS somewhere that needs to be tweaked. For example, I've worked with Gigabyte mobos that had an extra setting that said "Turbo", and another that paralleled the FSB setting. Unless both were properly set, the AMD CPU wouldn't run at full speed even if I had the FSB properly set.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[stallard]

This site shows everythign you need to know about Athlon setups.

http://fab51.com/index-e.html

 

[andrew4728]

MSI mother board K7N2
Nothing was physically changed on the pc (jumpers) except AFTER the problem occured, I took the battery out and put it back in.

Thanks for your help all..

 

[Freestone]

The manual shows two jumpers having to do with FSB speed. I will admit it's not clear to me how these relate to BIOS settings, but I suggest checking them and ensure that they are firmly seated, especially J11:

J11:
Open 100MHz Closed (i.e. jumpered) 133MHz/166MHz

J10:
1-2 User mode (default) 133MHz
2-3 Safe mode 100MHz

 

[mikker]

You said that you did pull the battery out and put it back in. did you put the same battery back in or a new one? If the battery is dead then pulling it out and reseating it won't fix the problem. I would buy a new one. Couldn't hurt anything.

 

[mikker]

I just built my mother in law a new system. A pentium4 instead of athlon though. I had a very similar problem. Everytime Windows XP tried to load it would restart on its own and everything in the BIOS was set back to default. I checked the battery first thing, it was good. I finally figured out what my problem was, though my motherboard was brand new and never used it still had a corrupted BIOS.And there was no way to disable the SATA Raid in the BIOS. So I found the latest BIOS update and Flashed it. Went back in the BIOS and there it was I could finally disable the onboard Raid. My problem was solved.

 

[IBey]

Hey Andrew,

I had a similar problem. I just installed a +2400 (266 Thoroughbred core 2.0 Ghz) on a Gigabyte K7V880 mobo. When ever I booted my system it read as a +1800 running @ 1500 Mhz. I went into BIOS and reset my multipler and fsb to 140 (now its oc'd to 2.1 Ghz). Now although its overclocked to 2.1 Ghz, when I run Sis Sandra it still reads as amd +1800.

Although the cpu is now running at a higher clock speed, this is only due to tweaking via BIOS (simple overclocking). Processor is not being seen as a true +2400. I think that I will flash the BIOS to a more current version.

 

[andrew4728]

OMG! This makes no sense!

Thanks to Freestone for posting the 2 jumpers, I think I have it fixed. Jumper J11 was CLOSED which it should be, but Jumper J10 was on 2-3, instead of 1-2.

It makes no sense because nothing was physically changed on the mobo for 2+ years since I built the PC!

After changing the J10 jumper to 1-2, the CPU was showing as 2400+, but windows would not boot. I had to set the Vcore to 1.65 and it booted up fine!

You guys ROCK! Thank you!

Andrew