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PC Freezes Booting Up

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by rickyrattlesnake

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Running Windows 98 on An Athlon 1 GHz CPU. Often, computer will freeze up just before "Verifying DMI Pool Data" message. Can't boot from floppy or to command prompt when this happens. All cards, connectors and RAM have been taken out and reseated and ribbons and cables replaced .The computer will boot occasionally, but will lock up if left unattended for a long time. HD is good, so are sound, network and video cards. Help?

9 replies

by thechas

I have seen a web post, and have personally fixed several Socket A system problems by manually setting the CPU clock and multiplier in BIOS settings.
I have only seen this problem on systems with SDRAM.
The BIOS detects the CPU properly, it just sets the bus and multiplier incorrectly.

Some BIOS's set the bus speed wrong, and thus under-clock the CPU.
For what ever reason, AMD CPUs don't respond well to being under-clocked.

If you have PC-133 SDRAM,
set the bus clock to 100MHz.
Set the multiplier to 10X.
Set the RAM clock to FSB + PCI, or 133MHz.

Chas

by rickyrattlesnake

Tried your suggestion, but no luck. Still happens. I replaced the motherboard and CPU for now while I try to figure this out.

by alpha-male

I agree with Chas completely....additionally, on many of the early Athlons, the systemboards do not detect the CPU voltages correctly. MAKE SURE that the voltage you are running at is correct for your processor. I can't tell you how many times I hadto change the autodetected voltages because they were running an Athlon with "too much juice".

Hope this helps!

by rickyrattlesnake

Voltage settings correct. I thought it was something simple I was missing or overlooking. Replaced motherboard and CPU, and HD booted, so I know it is something with one of these.

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