M
Marty
I am running a P4PE-X with a P4 2.4GHz 800MHz FSB and one PC3200 DDR 512MB
DIMM.
I started with a Keton DIMM and had horrible lockup problems until I updated
the BIOS to level 1005, and later beta 1006.001. This improved the situation
to where I could at least get WinXP Pro installed, but I still had frequent
lockups.
I found that by slowing down the external CPU clock speed from 200MHz to
about 196MHz, I was able to achieve decent stability, but I was not
satisfied, because all the parts I bought claimed they could support the
full 800MHz FSB. I am not trying to overclock anything.
I found the memtest86 utility and determined that even without Windows, the
machine would still lock up in memtest unless I slowed down the CPU clock.
It did not report memory errors - it would just lock up.
Later I tried a Centon DIMM, but it was exactly the same as the Keton. I
then tried an expensive DIMM which the sales guy told me was a Micron
(doesn't have Micron sticker on it though). This DIMM is much better and
allows me to run the full WinXP Pro install at full speed (200MHz clock) and
I have run memtest at full speed for over 14 hours (23 passes through all
tests) with no lockups. Hooray!
However, I can still get Windows to lock up without too much effort,
especially on the welcome screen where you select which user you want to be.
All I have to do is make a few figure-8's with the mouse pointer around the
user icons, so that they fade in and out several times, and before long, it
will lockup.
I have little experience with XP, and what I have has been Home, not Pro. I
have not encountered these lockup problems with XP Home. Is this a common
thing with XP Pro? I have SP1 applied and all critical updates.
I wonder now if I am beyond the hardware problem and into "normal" Windows
problems. My Win2K machines virtually never lockup. Maybe I am into
different hardware problem, perhaps the video card, such that the simple
text mode of memtest does not lockup but the Windows GUI does?
Thanks.
-Marty
DIMM.
I started with a Keton DIMM and had horrible lockup problems until I updated
the BIOS to level 1005, and later beta 1006.001. This improved the situation
to where I could at least get WinXP Pro installed, but I still had frequent
lockups.
I found that by slowing down the external CPU clock speed from 200MHz to
about 196MHz, I was able to achieve decent stability, but I was not
satisfied, because all the parts I bought claimed they could support the
full 800MHz FSB. I am not trying to overclock anything.
I found the memtest86 utility and determined that even without Windows, the
machine would still lock up in memtest unless I slowed down the CPU clock.
It did not report memory errors - it would just lock up.
Later I tried a Centon DIMM, but it was exactly the same as the Keton. I
then tried an expensive DIMM which the sales guy told me was a Micron
(doesn't have Micron sticker on it though). This DIMM is much better and
allows me to run the full WinXP Pro install at full speed (200MHz clock) and
I have run memtest at full speed for over 14 hours (23 passes through all
tests) with no lockups. Hooray!
However, I can still get Windows to lock up without too much effort,
especially on the welcome screen where you select which user you want to be.
All I have to do is make a few figure-8's with the mouse pointer around the
user icons, so that they fade in and out several times, and before long, it
will lockup.
I have little experience with XP, and what I have has been Home, not Pro. I
have not encountered these lockup problems with XP Home. Is this a common
thing with XP Pro? I have SP1 applied and all critical updates.
I wonder now if I am beyond the hardware problem and into "normal" Windows
problems. My Win2K machines virtually never lockup. Maybe I am into
different hardware problem, perhaps the video card, such that the simple
text mode of memtest does not lockup but the Windows GUI does?
Thanks.
-Marty