Dramas with Giga K8VT800 board and AMD64 2800+

  • Thread starter Thread starter bloke
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bloke

Hi All!

This is my first foray into PCs, having been a Mac user for a long time but
tired of paying big prices for hardware :-)

Anyway, on the *advice* of others I purchased a AMD64 2800+ CPU matched with
a Gigabyte GA-K8VT800 motherboard. For two days the machine ran sweet, then
suddenly restarted out of the blue. The machine then either:

A) Powers on, but no start beep, no video
B) I can get to the BIOS screen, reset the BIOS (even reflash it), but does
not restart
C) Freezes after the ram check

I have two different brand ram chips (A-Data and Navaya) at 512meg each
(both DDR400). An older Radeon 7000 video card, a WD 40Gb IDE hard drive
and a WD 120Gb SATA drive (which I can't get Windows XP to recognise on
installation).

This machine is really giving me hell, after saying PCs were crap for so
long ;-) Have I bought I dud board? Any ideas what I can do to get the
thing going? Any recommendations on other boards?

Seeya

Rod!
 
Do you know what version of the bios you have? ( early versions had many
problems, as an early adopter - I have a Giga K8VT800M and an MSI
NEO-FIS2R ) I have had many problems that bios updates made go away. Alot
of K8 mobos have serious ram incompatibility issues ( especially with
DDR400 ). First, try booting with only one or the other ram module
installed and see if it will go. If you have less than the F7 version of
the bios you should seriously consider updating it, especially if it is far
less. You don't have any kind of overclocking enabled do you? Also, this
may sound stupid, but you could try switching the slots that your ram
modules are installed in.
 
Do you know what version of the bios you have? ( early versions had many
problems, as an early adopter - I have a Giga K8VT800M and an MSI
NEO-FIS2R ) I have had many problems that bios updates made go away. Alot
of K8 mobos have serious ram incompatibility issues ( especially with
DDR400 ). First, try booting with only one or the other ram module
installed and see if it will go. If you have less than the F7 version of
the bios you should seriously consider updating it, especially if it is far
less. You don't have any kind of overclocking enabled do you? Also, this
may sound stupid, but you could try switching the slots that your ram
modules are installed in.
Click to expand...

I managed to get it updated to version F7 (I have only had the machine
running for 2 days before it died :-( I have tried rotating ram slots, one
at a time. Tired of pulling out the CMOS battery, as this board doesn't
have a CMOS clear jumper!

When I go into work on Saturday I'll try out some quality PC2700 ram instead
of 3200.

Seeya

Rod!
 
I don't know about the F7 bios, but in others I had cmos corruption - I had
to get into the bios setup and choose the "safe" defaults and save as
quickly as possible - then I could go back in and set things piecemeal.
Stupid huh? On my MSI board that tweaked me the longest, but it went away
when I updated the bios... ( well, finally - initial bios version updates
did nothing - I use Corsair DDR400 ) Sigh... The only other things that I
can think of are the CPU fan and the power supply... ( I once had spurious
failures reoccur incessantly, and came to find that I had accidentally
shorted the motherboard usb connector ).
 
This is my first foray into PCs, having been a Mac user for a long time but
tired of paying big prices for hardware :-)

Anyway, on the *advice* of others I purchased a AMD64 2800+ CPU matched with
a Gigabyte GA-K8VT800 motherboard. For two days the machine ran sweet, then
suddenly restarted out of the blue. The machine then either:

A) Powers on, but no start beep, no video
B) I can get to the BIOS screen, reset the BIOS (even reflash it), but does
not restart
C) Freezes after the ram check
Click to expand...
What PSU?
 
What PSU?
Click to expand...

Its a 400W model, but I could not tell you the brand. Accordingly to the
supplier, it is a *quality* brand and he stands by it. In saying that, I
have tried another PSU and got the same results.

I am figuring the CMOS keeps getting corrupted, but unsure what is actually
causing it. I'm leaning towards ram at this stage, but I have been reading
on other forums of people having all sorts of problems with this board.
Unfortunately the supplier is convinced its not the board :-(

Seeya

Rod!
 
Its a 400W model, but I could not tell you the brand. Accordingly to the
supplier, it is a *quality* brand and he stands by it. In saying that, I
have tried another PSU and got the same results.
Click to expand...
I've got A Jetway S755MAX and A64 3000+. The 400W psu that powers my not
sold old XP system crashed soon after boot up, when it booted on the 64
system. Replaced it with a 500W noname and all is well. Your problems
sounded ver ysimilar to mine.
I am figuring the CMOS keeps getting corrupted, but unsure what is
actually causing it. I'm leaning towards ram at this stage, but I have
been reading on other forums of people having all sorts of problems with
this board. Unfortunately the supplier is convinced its not the board
:-(
Click to expand...
What size was the other PSU you tried? Another 400W? Yep I got cmos
errors. crashes.etc.The one thing I could see when I could get to the PC
health was the flucuation of the voltages and that they would go low. If
that sounds familiar, then....
 
I've got A Jetway S755MAX and A64 3000+. The 400W psu that powers my not
sold old XP system crashed soon after boot up, when it booted on the 64
system. Replaced it with a 500W noname and all is well. Your problems
sounded ver ysimilar to mine.

What size was the other PSU you tried? Another 400W? Yep I got cmos
errors. crashes.etc.The one thing I could see when I could get to the PC
health was the flucuation of the voltages and that they would go low. If
that sounds familiar, then....
Click to expand...

Well, I bought an Antec PSU today (450W) and when it is plugged in and
turned on, the PSU cuts out after a second. I figure this is the built in
protection the PSU has against power problems into the PSU and on the board.
I have pulled everything out of the case (thinking there may be a short
somewhere), but the same thing happened. Tried quality (Hynix) ram today
and a different video card. Looks like a stuffed Motherboard!

Any other thoughts?

Seeya

Rod!
 
Well, I bought an Antec PSU today (450W) and when it is plugged in and
turned on, the PSU cuts out after a second. I figure this is the built in
protection the PSU has against power problems into the PSU and on the board.
I have pulled everything out of the case (thinking there may be a short
somewhere), but the same thing happened. Tried quality (Hynix) ram today
and a different video card. Looks like a stuffed Motherboard!

Any other thoughts?
Click to expand...
None here. If you got the PSU localy, I might exchange it just to be sure.
Stranger things have happened.
 
bloke said:
Hi All!

This is my first foray into PCs, having been a Mac user for a long time but
tired of paying big prices for hardware :-)

Anyway, on the *advice* of others I purchased a AMD64 2800+ CPU matched with
a Gigabyte GA-K8VT800 motherboard. For two days the machine ran sweet, then
suddenly restarted out of the blue. The machine then either:
Click to expand...
Ron,
I had a similar problem with an AMD64-3000 and an MSI K8T NEO MB. I
e3vidently had a flakey CPU and after it was replaced, things worked OK.
I also had a problem with the memory and returned it, too. I bought
Crucial brand DDR400 and all is well now.

MacTheKnife
 
Ron,
I had a similar problem with an AMD64-3000 and an MSI K8T NEO MB. I
e3vidently had a flakey CPU and after it was replaced, things worked OK.
I also had a problem with the memory and returned it, too. I bought
Crucial brand DDR400 and all is well now.

MacTheKnife
Click to expand...

Its back off to the supplier on Tuesday. He wants the CPU and ram with the
board, as he says there haven't been any problems he has encountered with
the board.

BTW, what's with the naming convention of AMD processors? I have a 2800
thinking that it was 2.8Ghz. Is it really below 2Ghz?

Seeya

Rod!
 
BTW, what's with the naming convention of AMD processors? I have a 2800
thinking that it was 2.8Ghz. Is it really below 2Ghz?
Click to expand...
The Arthlon 64 line is based on performance ratings (PR). The 2800+ means
it's the same speed as a 28.GHz P4 or faster. Most things it's faster by a
good margin. Some things it's not, like HT apps, and rendering.
 
On 7/25/04 5:40 AM, in article (e-mail address removed), "Dick
Click to expand...
BTW, what's with the naming convention of AMD processors? I have a 2800
thinking that it was 2.8Ghz. Is it really below 2Ghz?

Seeya

Rod!
Click to expand...

I bought a Chevy Impala once. Only had one horn and no legs.

Check the specs before you buy; don't go by the name/marketing hoopla.

Bill
 
I bought a Chevy Impala once. Only had one horn and no legs.

Check the specs before you buy; don't go by the name/marketing hoopla.

Bill
Click to expand...

I guess I lead with my chin a bit there ;-) I'm used to a PowerPC saying
that 500 is 500Mhz!

But, as explained by Wes, it refers to something to do with P4 speeds.

The supplier is looking forward to the challenge of working out why my board
doesn't work. I hope he finds out, as I have had a total of 2 hours in 2
weeks with this PC working :-) I'm busting to play some decent games that
aren't available on the Mac!

Seeya

Rod!
 
On 7/26/04 3:37 AM, in article (e-mail address removed),
Click to expand...
I guess I lead with my chin a bit there ;-) I'm used to a PowerPC saying
that 500 is 500Mhz!
Click to expand...

Hmmm, PowerPC around here is the Microcenter house brand. They're usually
pretty good about straitening out any kit they sell.
But, as explained by Wes, it refers to something to do with P4 speeds.

The supplier is looking forward to the challenge of working out why my board
doesn't work. I hope he finds out, as I have had a total of 2 hours in 2
weeks with this PC working :-) I'm busting to play some decent games that
aren't available on the Mac!

Seeya

Rod!
Click to expand...

Shouldn't take to long since suppliers have the wherewithall to do massive
parts swapping. Here's to your having bags under your eyes from staying up
late playing those games. :)

Bill
 
Its back off to the supplier on Tuesday. He wants the CPU and ram with the
board, as he says there haven't been any problems he has encountered with
the board.

BTW, what's with the naming convention of AMD processors? I have a 2800
thinking that it was 2.8Ghz. Is it really below 2Ghz?

Seeya

Rod!
Click to expand...

Hi All!

The supplier has discovered the motherboard is dead. Its back off to the
Gigabyte distributor in Melbourne, and I have to wait 2-3 weeks for another
board to return. Very annoying, but what can I do? I'll give Apple one
kudo, when something is within a 2 week DOA period, it is replaced on the
spot.

Oh well. Gives me a chance to get a new video card and a digital tv tuner
in the meantime!

Seeya

Rod!
 
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