"Stuart" said:
Please help.
I have installed an Asus P4S533-MX motherboard with a Intel Celeron 2.4ghz
128kb 400mhz Socket478 Retail Boxed, I have installed Windows XP Pro. But
the system is very unstable, The system shuts down (no time limit - could be
1 Min 2 Mins or 120 Mins), and restarts with a warning saying system
recoverd from a critical error. but no error code. Any help as to what it
could be please be gental with me as I am a newbie
thanks in advance for your help.
Stuart...
Have you looked in the Event Viewer ? Maybe the error is logged there.
When I build a computer, I have a list of stuff I like to test.
To start, I recommend getting a copy of memtest86+, from memtest.org
The program contains a floppy diskette formatter, and when you stick
a blank floppy in your computer, the downloaded file from memtest.org
can be used to format the floppy and put a test program on it.
(Use another computer to prepare the test floppy...)
When you later boot the new computer using this special floppy, the
computer runs just the test program. You don't need a hard drive
connected and so you don't even need to have an OS installed at
this point. (Note - you cannot list the contents of the floppy,
as there isn't an ordinary file system on the diskette.)
Your computer memory must be error free, when the memtest program
is run overnight. If it isn't, you need to figure out why the
errors are happening. For PC3200 memory (DDR400), the memory voltage
should be 2.6V or slightly more (say up to as much as 2.8V). This
helps stabilize high performance memory, but not all motherboards
have a provision for the user to change this value.
You can also try adjusting memory timings, but that is an advanced
topic (and I still haven't succeeded in writing up a recipe on
how to do it - that means I don't know how to do it either
)).
Normally, if the BIOS is reasonably mature, the automatic settings
that extract timing info from the SPD chip on the memory DIMM are
good enough.
Other issues can be which slots the memory DIMMs are plugged into.
In the case of your board, I hope you aren't mixing memory types,
as either two DDR DIMMS can be inserted or two SDRAM DIMMS can
be inserted, but not mixtures of them.
So, try running memtest86 first, and post back with your results.
It would also help if you could give some info on the make and
model number of the memory you are using, just in case it isn't
a good match for what you are trying to do.
Paul
