[geoffreys]

Here are the particulars:

PIII 667
ASUS P3V4X motherboard, jumperless, all dip switches set for jumperless operation
Win98SE

Allright, my bro sent me this puter, it worked when he shipped it. When I power it up, the POST screen shows PIII 333e proc. It then immediately goes into the BIOS setup, which shows PIII 667, but a warning that during last boot up the system hung due to improper CPU settings. Keyboard then freezes so I can't change anything. Tried different keyboards, no luck.

Any ideas where I should go next? Thanks in advance!

 

[SPEEDO]

Welcome to TSF geoffreys..............................

Have you tried clearing the CMOS then setting up defaults.

 

[geoffreys]

Thanks for the welcome!
Clear CMOS how--by removing the battery?

 

[SPEEDO]

Do you have the manual for this motherboard?

 

[geoffreys]

Yes, I have the manual. I tried disabling the jumperless feature and setting the jumpers as directed in the manual, but it still doesn't work.

I replaced the CMOS battery with a known good one, I took the machine apart and put it back together again, and still have the same problem. POST still reads 333e, BIOS reads 667. Keyboard allows me about five keystrokes in BIOS before it freezes. Then I have to wait about 5 minutes before it will even go into the BIOS screen--otherwise it just boots into a blank screen. Very weird.

 

[SPEEDO]

Yank the CPU out and see what it really is, I'm going to check the manual.

 

[geoffreys]

I've pulled the CPU, but don't want/know how to remove the heatsink to see the actual chip. I'm pretty darn confident it's a PIII667 since my brother in law has been using this for a couple of years and I've actually seen it running before.

 

[SPEEDO]

Whoops, Hang on...............................

 

[SPEEDO]

Where the jumpers set like the following for jumper mode?

 

[SPEEDO]

 

[SPEEDO]

 

[geoffreys]

Hi, Speedo,

You've been busy!

I had the JEN set to 2, 3 when I was trying the jumperless mode, and all dip switches set to OFF.

Then I tried setting the JEN jumpers to 1, 2 and set the dip switches to 1, 4 and 5 ON, all the rest OFF. Seemed to make no difference whatsoever.

So, what are you thoughts? Would this be a processor problem or a motherboard problem? I was thinking of upgrading the processor, anyway. I think the board supports up to PIII 1 ghz.

Thanks for your help and time, but I'm kind of at the end of my rope for this. If I had another system I could test the processor on, that might help to isolate the problem. I'm thinking I might have to take it over to a repair shop so they can figure it out, much as I hate to do that.

 

[SPEEDO]

Try clearing the CMOS by shorting the two solder dots to the left of the battery with a screwdriver for a couple of seconds.

 

[geoffreys]

That's a cool tip! I'll give it a try...