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AMD XP Problems?......

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by gary mintz

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Has anyone else out there had any problems w/ the AMD XP CPU'S? I have recently built several machines and after way too many hours of switching boards and cpu's I am ready to give up.

What happens in almost every case, the unit powers on for 3-5seconds and then shuts down completely. After removing power cord and waiting a few minutes....same thing..over and over and over. I have experienced this with both XP 1700 & 1800 CPU's and with ECS and MSI boards.

After a look on ECS's site it would appear I am not the only one having problems but havent seen any real solutions or anything. Can anyone offer any insight?

15 replies

by thechas

I use mainly A-Bit and Asus motherboards.
But perhaps, my experiances will be of benefit.

First, you do have a good heatsink and fan installed?

Athlon CPUs will burn up in seconds without a fan.

If you are using a thermal compound, such asArtic Silver, use just enough to do cover the top of the die. If the compound spreads over to the parts near the die, it can short out the circuits.

Also, if the fan presses down to tightly against the top of the CPU, you can crack the die, and ruin the CPU.

Secondly, I have had numerous problems with Athlon CPUs and clock / multiplier settings.
(predominately on SDRAM based motherboards)
For whatever reason, Athlon CPUs do not take well to underclocking.

I have been able to recover, and get into BIOS settings by removing both the power cord, and the CMOS battery.

Next, I have read of problems with the CPU core voltage setting. Seams that some motherboards set the core voltage to a lower value than what is stated.
If the core voltage is too low, the CPU will not run.
Too high, and the CPU burns up!

You may need to bump up the core volatege a bit in order to have the chipset deliver the correct voltage.

Next, you want to attempt to get at the power monitor section of BIOS settings.
If your CPU fan is not connected to the motherboard, or does not send out a proper speed signal, the motherboard may just shutdown everything to protect the CPU.
By default, the core volatge and CPU fan speed are monitored. Ifthe voltage is too high, or the fan is too slow, the BIOS will shut down the system.

Finally, try a different power supply.
You need a minimum of 300 Watts for an Athlon system.
I have seen several power supplies specify that they work for P4s and will not work with Athlon's.
I have had good luck with Leadman / Powmax and HEC supplies.

Chas

by cg it

I'm running a W2K server on a MSI KT3 Ultra ARU mainboard and a Athlon XP1800. No problems what so ever. I also have another computer running a Athlon XP 2000 on a MSI K7T266 RU mainboard again with no problems. I've always used MSI boards as most tech writeups [planethardware,overclocker cafe,Bjorn3d, state that with the VIA chipset, their very stable boards.

by cg it

To add: Athlon & Athlon XP cpu's require a heavyduty heatsink & fan to keep the cpu cool. The server I'm running has a Globalwin copperbottom heatsink, 60mm to 80 mm fan adapter and an 80mm [50cfm] fan. Keeps everything cool to about 105 degree F. [that is with 2 80mm exhaust fans and 2 80mm intake fan]. If the cpu temp gets to be about 125 degrees F, stability problems tends to pop up and manifests itself in the O/S doing weird things. This is not due to the mainboard but the cpu heat. Further, [I'm not sure this might be your case] but the somewhat older low quality SDram memory boards coupled with the VIA chipset and Athlon processors [didn't matter what mainboard] ran in an unpredictable unstable state. Mostly Micron memory boards caused this problem. MSI recommended high quality, low noise, 6 layer memory boards be used.

by cg it

For some more information about cpu cooling and some really top notch tech writeups, visit Overclocker Cafe Bjorn3D, or planethardware.

by dcosgrove

The only real problems I have encountered are setting the front side bus and improperly installing the heat sink. Most AMD processors I have used seem to have a VERY low tolerance for excess heat. I actually had one that desoldered the chips on the underside of the processor. If you ran this processor with no heatsink, even briefly, or didn't use the correct transfer compound or the wrong heatsink alltogether, I can almos assure you the chip is burned out.

by rcom

Reset the motherboard to the default settings. Then using the boards manual make sure all settings are correct. Try booting with only the video card installed and see if you get a difference. The power supply may have too much of a drain on it. I agree with what has been said about AMD and the heat issue. As mentioned, I have a bunch of AMD CPUs with discolored tops or bottoms from ceased or cheap cooling fans. Yes it takes just a few seconds.

To test; use freeze spray on the heat sink. If the system stays on longer then you know what the problem is. Try to spray close to the base of the heat sink. Sometimes you can keep it going by continuing to spray as the system is running. If moisture builds up use canned air to dry it off.

by richard_barsby

Hi your problem maybe the fan speed sense if you have a fan that plugs directly into the psu and not the mobo then the mobo thinks the fan is not working and shuts down, or the manual may list the fan connector incorectly.

Rich

by thechas

Gary, how about adding some details to your question?
Motherboard models
RAM
Video card
Power supply
Cooling fan

This can help us track down the problem.

1 other note, many motherboards have multiple fan connectors on them.
Make sure that the CPU fan is connected to the first CPU fan header.

Chas

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