Bios\cpu issue - Asus P4B533 1

[garebo]

I'm running xp pro with 256 mb pc 1600 ram, the mobo takes only 1600 or 2100, on an Asus P4B533 (no other letters with it).This is a new build. It will start up, run for a while and freeze. Then it wont boot at all. If i wait a while it will boot right into the bios and i get a message in the bios stating that the bios has re-set itself as there
is an error. I forget the exact message but it is cpu related.

I have a P4 1.8A socket 478. Asus says the mobo can take up to P4 3.2ghz. It also states that 1.8A is acceptable cpu and must have bios #1002. I have bios #1014 (3/19/2003) installed.

Now i am not into overclocking and barely know what i am doing, but i am pretty sure i havent set up anything weird. If you dont mess with the jumper switches on the mobo and you have a certain jumper on certain pins, it tells the mobo that any changes will be done in bios,and that is what i have set up. When it boots to the bios i have the fsb set at 100. Where the cpu number goes it always says manual. When i set it to 1800 and save or if i leave it
at auto and save, it will boot up fine but it will freeze up later when in win xp pro.

I checked the faq and other sections at Asus and there is nothing.

One more thing, when i originally tried installing xp pro it wouldnt, threw me an error message which turned out to be related to the ram i had installed, so i put in another stick and xp pro installed. So i am guessing that its not a ram issue at this point, since xp pro is up and running?
Guess i could run memtest but the bios keeps pointing to the cpu.

Hope someone can help me with this.

thanks

 

[ski]

You're welcome.
Glad to hear that you fixed the problem, and thanks for posting back with what worked.

Apparently one or more of the Auto settings in BIOS had things configured incorrectly, and that may have been the reason why you were getting the error message.

 

[garebo]

And that is exactly what you were thinking when you suggested those changes, to set things the way they should have been in the first place, so,yes, looks like mobo\bios didnt quite get the settings correct on auto setting.

I stopped by a computer shop where i deal and the tech there tells me he has a lot of trouble with recent Asus boards, he says he switched to MSI because of it. I cant say if i agree or disagree, i think they are both good mobos, i built a few Asus P4B533's when they were new and never had a prob. This is my first prob with that board.

I think the prob is that too many of us think we are techs and we are only parts installers, like me, lol.
But i dont pretend to be a tech, i only try and help where i think i have some expertise, but its certainly not in this area. If i were a tech, and really knew what i was doing then i wouldnt have needed to post this prob, i would have made those changes myself! But im not, so i'm glad you are!

thanks again.

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi there, sorry for my late input here, as I only have around an hour or so on the NET a day... (Darn tough when you're on a budget...)

As far as I am informed about the FSB on a P4 is that all of them are 133mhz (Quad pumped 533mhz) or 200mhz (quad pumped 800mhz) and that Celerons (less CACHE, same instruction set) are factory wise set at 100mhz (Quad pumped 400mhz)... FSB is basically the speed at which the CPU is transfering data back and forth to the CHIP SET on the MOBO, the lower the less performance etc. ...

but I am glad that someone was able to help your dilema and got you fixed up right... SKI good call...

Ben

PS - I am no TEKKIE but a Hardware FREAK, got good working knowledge, but learning still going on... and here I've found one of the best FORUMS to do so...

 

[ski]

Thanks, Ben.

The reason why I told garebo to set the CPU freq. at 100 MHz was because his RAM runs at that same freq., and thus both freq's would be in synch for better overall performance.

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi Ski, yes you are correct, I am going from my mainboard (ASUS P4PE-x) and it allows me to set the RAM speed seperately to either Double the FSB (FSB 100mhz Ram speed at 200mhz) or Asyncswise (Ram speed at 267mhz PC2100/DDR266) even though I am using DDR400/PC3200...

but I would suggest to Garebo to try to exchange the RAM for faster modules (PC2100/DDR266, PC2700/DDR333 or above)... as this would take care of the bottleneck... this can be disregarded if the said PC is being used as per say a OFFICE-Desktop, as performance isn't the main point on these systems but stability...

Ben

 

[ski]

Yep, I agree. Faster RAM is always a good thing.

 

[garebo]

well, probs started all over again.

The bios re-set itself, undid all the settings i had made that ski told me to do, wouldnt even recognize the h drive for a bit, neede prodding but it boots to xp pro again, but i still seem to have a prob.

Wonder if i should start this thread all over again, its pretty long here?

I am going to check the battery but i doubt that is the prob, fairly new mobo, but it can happen. Course the bios date doesnt change so the battery is likely ok?

im getting pretty annoyed at this darn asus board, its either the board or me. Without your help i could certainly blame me but with your help i should be able to do this!!!!
Not should, i can!!
I just got a p4 1.8 in, maybe i will swap it for the 1.8a, see if that helps any?

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi there, Garebo, my feeling on this is an incompatibility between the RAM sticks, Mobo, and CPU in use... MOBO and CPU are fine but the RAM isn't compatible for the board...

Post what brand of RAM you are using? and do tell us what happens once you switched the CPU...

Ben

PS - and YES I know you can, especially if I can then mostlikely everyone else can too... I am an old AMIGAN user, still got one and it purrs away at 400mhz (PowerPC)...

 

[garebo]

Sometime today i will be trying the 1.8 in place of the 1.8a that i am using now, and will report back on that.

As for the ram, the ram i have installed is:

Crucial PC1600U-2220-B1
256MB DDR 200 MHZ CL2

I believe thats pretty good ram and the mobo and bios accept it.

I have 2 other sticks that the mobo and bios dont accept, i have the asus talking bios reporter and it either says that the ram is not acceptable or some error message and when i put the crucial 256mb ram in then it will fire up. 2 sticks that i tried, one at a time, that wont work:

Infineon 64x64 PC2100U 512 mb
no-name 256m - 266

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi there,

yep crucial is fine... but I am wondering that the Infineon isn't accepted other than that it is busted... btw I am using on my PC Samsung (best accepted as per ASUS) and on a friends PC Infineon (2 sticks at 512mb a piece 64x64 in dual channel mode)...

Ben

Keep us posted as to what you get from the cpu exchange...