Black Display after Restart - CPU & BIOS updated recently.

[PaulAlexander]

HI Guys,

At first I would like to wish you a Happy & Prosperous New Year. I find Tek-Tips a very interesting site indeed with lots of worthwhile PC troubleshooting Info.

Would you be so kind as to respond to the following PC problem I've encountered in the last few days:

1. My PC System details.
a) Mobo : MicroStar K7T Turbo (MS6330 Ver 3.0)
b) This Mobo is an AMD CPU platform capable of operating in a range (640 MHz - 1500 MHz).
Chipset the VIA KT133A, System Controller VT8363A (552 pin BGA) and the VT82C686B (352 pin BGA). The first controller manages 3 SDRAM sockets where 168 pin DIMMs are seated (32x8).
c) Total SDRAM memory on board : 384 MB(PC133 SDRAM)
d) Initial CPU : AMD Athlon 1200 MHz (Thunderbird)
e) AWARD BIOS : Initially Ver 3.06
f) 2 HDDS 40GB each(Primary Master&Slave config)
g) HDDs are Western Digiral 40GB
h) DVD Hitachi 7500 (Secondary Slave connection)
i) Display "Vibrant" type.
j) Graphics Card: GeForce2 MX400 using NIVIDIA chip
k) DirectX 8.1 and "full 3D Acceleration installed.
l) OSystem: Win Me. Mobo is capable of ACPI & RAID.

Problem description:
I decided to replace the AMD CPU 1200MHz with an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ . I was adviced to upgrade the AWARD BIOS from ver 3,06 to the latest Ver. 6.0 so that the K7T Turbo Mobo can recognize the new CPU. I have done so.
Next I replaced the old CPU with the new AMD XP 1800+ but during BOOTING the new CPU frequency wasn't displayed properly (~1150 MHz displayed). I realized I had to increase the FSB frequecy from 100MHZ to the upper limit of 133MHz by using the Mobo's relative jumber.

After doing so when I rebooted, the right CPU frequency 1800MHz + was finally displayed & the speed of the PC improved remarkably! Everything seemed to operate normally until I decided to do a Soft or Hard "RESTART".
Then I noticed that although the RESTART steps were followed by the system up to the point where the Screen becomes black, the display remained black without any reinitialisation text on it!!
The Monitor's green light turned to orange while the PC's HDD light indicator was constantly ON ! In some occasions an Infinite series of Beeps are heard!
The only way I could come out of this PC freeze & Black screen situation is to Switch Off the PC. Leave it for few minutes and then Switch ON directly from the external POWER SUPPLY switch found on the back PC panel! Not even the front PC switch (although working) helps during Switch ON. It appears that the PC continues from where the switch off took place!! That's how I finally reactivate the system entering finally Windows. I notice nothing else after that and all programs appear to function OK. But I'm unable to restart the system ending with a BLACK display no matter how many times I try!!!
Any help & suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks for your time. PaulAlexander.

BIOS settings: Freq. multiplier (11.5 to 15) adjustable
Mobo clock frequency =133 MHz.adjustable(133 to 144)
Plug & Play-disabled, Bank Interleave=enabled
Proper AMD CPU frequency is = 1532 MHz.
Vicore CPU Voltage:Initially 1.55 V now 1.65V

 

[Win98User]

Hi,
Having read your thread, either I am wrong (hopefully) or I bring sad tidings.

The part were you mention, "After doing so when I rebooted, the right CPU frequency 1800MHz +..." please don't say that the machine was now going at 1800Mhz.

The 1800+ chip has a frequency of 1533Mhz (133FSBx11.5multiplier).

If you have set the multiplier to 13.5 you have fried your chip - it will have been running too hot.

Hopefully, as I said, I read your thread wrong.

All the best. Running a PC without backups is like driving a car without a seatbealt. Your knack'ed when you crash!

 

[rockerfellerz]

Check over the power management setting in the bios setup screen. These were most likely reset to defaults by the bios flash. If you can't find anything funny in there that may be causing the problem I would try a different power supply or case switch either one could be bad. If you're going through Hell...keep going... (Winston Churchill)
RocKeRFelLerZ

 

[Win98User]

But, on a brighter note, I believe the Core Voltage should be 1.75 ;-)

Regards. Running a PC without backups is like driving a car without a seatbealt. Your knack'ed when you crash!

 

[gargouille]

Translation pending, I take it you didn't do what Win suggested.
IF I'm right, I'm thinking you have a problem with either the motherboard or the power supply.
You may have to strip it down to basics...cpu, video, monitor connected, disconnect power and IO cables from all drives, leave the RAM in and try the normal case switch to start things. It should boot to the BIOS and allow restarts. If you have to use the power supply switch to control things, I'd suspect the motherboard malfunctioning. If it works okay that way, the PS is the prime suspect.
IF you have access to another known-good PS or a meter, either swap them out or test the power supply to see what the outputs are.

 

[PaulAlexander]

At first sorry for being late by almost a week plus to follow your threads. I had to be away for work.
My PC still presents the inability to RESTART after SWITCH ON.

To: Win98User
Thanks for advising to increase the Core Voltage to 1.75V. This is the first adjustment I have done after returning back. The CPU temp also has gone up to 51 Celsius.
As far as the 1800+ implying 1800 MHz real freq. I doubt it since the + is an indicative parameter of performance similarity between an AMD Athlon at 1530 MHz and an Intel running at 1800MHz.
Fortunately I haven't fried the frequency CHIP !!

To:Rockerfellerz

I have checked at least twice the BIOS settings. Unless I'm missing something I think everything is OK.
Mentioning the PSU, Do u think that the newly installed AMD Athlon XP1800+ requires a new PSU when compared with the replaced AMD thunderbird 1200MHz?

To: garguille

I very much appreciate your hardware approach which I feel must be the only one if everything else fails.

At this point I must let you know few more points.

It appears to me that the non RESTART problem is TEMPERATURE or VOLTAGE sensetive !! This because, when I switch ON the PC after being OFF for a long time, and restart it as soon as I can use the cursor, the PC RESTARTS OK. If the PC is left ON for some time then the "RESTART" action fails. I can't figure though whether this is caused by temperature or a Voltage pin failing to reach the trigger level required to initialise the VIDEO & ie Monitor!!

I would be glad to hear your points of View on the above.
Thanks to all of You.

 

[PaulAlexander]

Hi Guys,

Unfortunately the problem of a series of beeps during "RESTART" persists after the PC has been working for sometime.

I have checked the case of Power Supply overloading by disconnecting every peripheral device in turn including PCI cards.
I have also checked the RAM sticks by taking them off one at a time and reseating them cleaning first the area.

I noticed that the 128Mb RAM sticks are PC133 SDRAM made by Micron Technology but I'm sure that they indicate a time response of 20 nsecs??
I wonder whether 20nsecs RAM sticks can handle an AMD CPU upgrade from 1200MHz to 1530MHz ??
Shouldn't this RAM be accessed in the region of 7.5 nsecs??

I also wonder whether the CMOS battery could be failing - my PC is almost 2 & 1/2 yrs old. Not to mention that I have tried to reset the BIOS through the MOBO jumber !

I have also checked the Mobo Capacitors and they look all OK. I have even added a cooler fan on the GeForce2 MX400 card in case the Video Card was running hot!!

The only time a soft or hard "RESTART" works is when the system has been left to cool down for more than 5 minutes and force a restart very soon after switch ON !!

With the CPU temp at around 49 Celsius and the system working for more than 10 minutes a SOFTW or HARDW RESTART will lead to a hangup with a contineous series of BEEPS and a MONITOR detecting no VIDEO !!

Any ideas or thoughts will be very much appreciated.
Thank You.