New Athlon 1.2 SLOW

[bobcat]

I just built a new Athlon machine and am currently trying to install Windows 2000 Pro on it, but it's incredibly slow. Here's the specs:

Gigabyte GA-7DX rev 2.2
Athlon 1.2 ghz 200FSB
256MB PC2100 DDR RAM
3dfx Voodoo3 2000 PCI
Quantum Bigfoot 6.4 IDE
Kingston PCI NIC

The motherboard FSB is set to 100mhz.

The only thing I noticed that was weird was even though the heatsink/fan (amd cert) is on there correctly (i think), the CPU temp in the bios is very high (~100 C). I would think that by now the processor would be toast if it were actually that high, or at least I'd be getting a ton of random restarts rather than just being slow in general.. hopefully it's just a mess up in the bios.

This is my first Athlon install, so I may be goofing something up.

Any ideas?

Todd

 

[Vansplatter]

That is IMO way to high of a temp. I would recommend reseating your heatsink and fan make sure you apply a thermal compound or remove the tape covering the compound prior to installation. I would not run the PC with the CPU at this temp. Refer to the installation manual for the proper way to apply the heatsink, it can be intimidating the first time due to the amount of pressure needed to appply it. Best of luck.

 

[bobcat]

I don't think the CPU is actually at this temp. I've read in other posts how the heatsink can disrupt the temp sensor on some motherboards. It's been running since 10:00 last night. If it were really at that temp it'd already be burnt up.

Todd

 

[fenris]

Did you get w2k installed on it? I heard that the install process sometimes slows down the cpu to pentium speeds if it can't detect the mobo and cpu. It is supposed to return to normal after the install is completed.....

Thats what I heard, I don't know if it is true or not, but something to think about Troy Williams B.Eng.
fenris@hotmail.com

 

[paparazi]

I know that the onboard sensors are not that accurate, but they are not that inaccurate either!
If it really says 100c and not 100f then you have got a MAJOR problem!
Have you got the heatsink 180 degrees out????
Most Athlon heatsinks have a machined ridge to avoid the socket! if you put it the wrong way it props the cooler up slightly, giving a partial CPU contact!
Get that sorted first! and come back to the Post if you have further problems. Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[Kows]

OK if it were off it would've burned up a LONG time ago... trust me, I've done it.
I would say it is either Active Desktop or low quality ram.
Good Luck

 

[Guest_imported]

um you guys are all wrong. for a 1.2gigahertz PCU temp to reach 100 is fine. 130 fine and 160 is where you worry. if you look in your cpu or mobo manual you will find they are using examples "bios photos" look closely youll find some nice old 125 degress pics

 

[bobcat]

Ok, turns out the heatsink was backwards. But, if pcbrains is talking Celcius and not F, then the CPU should be fine. Besides, usually when there's heat problems the PC would be rebooting every 5 seconds or just not turned on at all.. so I don't think the heat was the major problem here. Reguardless, the problems still persist even with the temp being closer to 90F now. I finally got Win2k installed, but it gets stuck at the Loading Windows 2000 screen, so it's useless.

One thing I did, I got a little DOS program that tests to see how fast your processor is (actual performance, not just reading the BIOS) .. booted off a floppy and ran the program. According to it my 1.2 ghz processor is computing at the speed of about a 33 mhz 486. This doesn't mean the CPU is clocked down that far, it just means it's acting like that. So, now I'm wondnering what is the problem. I've tried replacing everything I could in it to narrow it down to the processor, the motherboard, and the memory (I didn't have any spare athlons, mbs, mem to try).

Any ideas which one it probably is? Right now my order of suspision goes 1) CPU 2) Motherboard 3) Memory.

Thanks,
Todd

 

[paparazi]

To pcbrains, read the post before you put your pcbrains into action! Us guys wern't wrong! Merry christmas to you all!
Glad to see I helped! Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!