[jgionet]

Hi all, (my firt post here! hooray!)

I decided to upgrade some components on my Asus P4P800 Deluxe board I've been runnging for the past year with no problems. I had 1 gig of Generic PC2700 RAM, a Intel P4 2.26 CPU and a Ati Radeon All-In-Wonder 8500 video card. (SATA 160GIG WD drive)

Now I just upgraded everything except the motherboard/HDD since it still supported the newer compnents I was interestd in. I replaced the CPU with a P4 3.2 CPU, the video card with a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, replaced the RAM with 1 gig Corsair PC3200 RAM and added a Creative Audigy 2 ZS sound card (disabling the sound card onboard the motherboard)

Now after re-installing WindowsXP Pro (with SP2 - slipstream) my system seems very unstable. When running applications my system/software seems to freeze where I'll get a "NOT REPONDING" message from the application. Then about 20 to 30 seconds later the system reponses again. This is VERY frustating and happening quite frequently.

I have the latest BIOS/Drivers for every component and latest WindowsUpdates installed.

I also install Thermalright XP-90 cpu fan to ensure nothing would overheat. I don't O/C so I don't see that as being the problem. According to PROBE my CPU temp is 38C/100F and the MB is 33C/91F.

I have a Antec Case/PowerSupply with TruePower 430W PSU so I know I have enought juice. ( I checked http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supply_Calculator.php?cmd=INTEL just to make sure)

I'm stomped. I can't figure out why my system is acting this way.

Any help would be greatly apreaciated.

Thanks
-J

 

[jgionet]

anybody? :4-dontkno

I've been running memtest for 14hrs now and I haven't had a single error yet. (not sure how long I should leave that test run??)

 

[twajetmech]

While your Antec 430 is a decent psu it is not adequate for your newly upgraded system. I would suggest an Antec truepower 550 as a better alternative. I know you said you looked at the psu calculator, but often they are a bit off in real world application, nor do they take into account voltage/amperage draws on bootup and under load. Thus it sounds like when your harddrive spins up to load your application you are getting power fluctuation causing your hangup. I would also suggest you look through the forum for bios update info for your mobo and bios tweaks that may also aid in stability. Also make sure all your drivers are up to date. I ran the calculator...and even being "generous" it spit out 316W as a psu for your system....316W or even 380W might get that system to post but not run well if at all, an Antec 430 would just about be enough to get in trouble with !

 

[jgionet]

While your Antec 430 is a decent psu it is not adequate for your newly upgraded system. I would suggest an Antec truepower 550 as a better alternative. I know you said you looked at the psu calculator, but often they are a bit off in real world application, nor do they take into account voltage/amperage draws on bootup and under load. Thus it sounds like when your harddrive spins up to load your application you are getting power fluctuation causing your hangup. I would also suggest you look through the forum for bios update info for your mobo and bios tweaks that may also aid in stability. Also make sure all your drivers are up to date. I ran the calculator...and even being "generous" it spit out 316W as a psu for your system....316W or even 380W might get that system to post but not run well if at all, an Antec 430 would just about be enough to get in trouble with !

thxs twajetmech for the reply

wow.. I really didn't think I'd be running low on juice with a 430W PSU.
it must be that though since I can't find any other reason.

well I ran memtest84 for 14 hrs yesterday and it ran through 50 passes. During that entire time not a single error was detected.

I also ran the WD test on my 160GIG Sata drive andit didn't report any errors.
Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WDC WD1600JD-00GBB0
Serial Number: WD-WMAES2092631
Firmware Number: 200.D520
Drive Type: IDE
Capacity: 160.04 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 00:55:32, October 09, 2005

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number: WDC WD1600JD-00GBB0
Serial Number: WD-WMAES2092631
Firmware Number: 200.D520
Drive Type: IDE
Capacity: 160.04 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 12:31:40, October 09, 2005

I guess I have to start shopping for another PSU.. what a bummer
I'll try searching the forum for some other ideas/suggestions/solutions in the meantime..

what baffles me though is it seems to happen mostly using Firefox 1.0.7 while I'm surfing... I don't think I've had this happen in IE yet. hard to tell.. everything in the task manager seems fine..

thxs

 

[jgionet]

another quick questions regarding PSU's.. which Antec TruePower 550 model would my system require? I see 4 models listed on Antec's site. http://www.antec.com/us/pro_powerSupply.html

Thanks
-JG

 

[twajetmech]

The True550 will work wonderfully with your mobo.

 

[jgionet]

The True550 will work wonderfully with your mobo.

which one?
this one:
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=22550
or this one:
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=20550

I'm a little confused between the 2. I just want to make sure it'll suupport my P4 CPU.

thxs again

 

[twajetmech]

The bottom one...you don't need SLI support.....nothing wrong with being cautious

 

[jgionet]

thxs again

after searching around for somebody who sells that model online in Canada it's kinda hard to get since it's an older model..

would the other model still work with my P4 system?

thxs

 

[twajetmech]

Sure it will....what psu's are available easily....list the ones you can find in your local stores and maybe I can reccomend one of them instead.

 

[jgionet]

Sure it will....what psu's are available easily....list the ones you can find in your local stores and maybe I can reccomend one of them instead.

I'm going to try and order the trueII550 from NCIX (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=16184&vpn=TPII-550EPS12V&manufacture=ANTEC)
and see if that'll solve my freezing problems.
I saw another thread on here with the same symtoms I have.. and almost the same specs..
when I turn ON CPUID it doesn't seem as bad.. (the freezing) and if I turn OFF HyperThreading the problem goes away complely. Maybe it is the Audigy 2 Card drivers?
Here are my PC PROBE stats right now:
CPU Temp: 39C/100F
MB Temp: 39C/102F
PowerFan: 1638
+12: 11.977
+5v: 5.053
+3.3V 3.296
+VCorE: 1.424

Are there some settings in this BIOS I should be checking? I have the CPU Configs set to STANDARD and TURBO set to AUTO. I'm using the latest BETA bios for this board.

I'm still going to try ordering the PSU since I'm sure it's part of my problems. What weird too is it seems like it's Firefox that's affected to most by this "freezing".

Thanks again
-JG

 

[jgionet]

well I just installed my new Antec 550W TruePower 2.0 and my system is still hanging Like I mentioned it's not the entire system that freezes. It's application like Firefox which stops responding for abot 30 seconds then comes back to life. I've ran the diagnostics and everything comes out OK. What else could it be? Again I have all the latest drivers for windows/ati & Creative and the BETA of the latest ASUS bios. (since the other versions were doing the same things)
Are there some tweaks/settings in the BIOS I should check or set? I have the DEFAULT BIOS options loaded at the moment.

CPU Temp: 25C/78F
MB Temp: 35C/95F
PowerFan: 932
+12: 11.977
+5v: 5.053
+3.3V 3.344
+VCorE: 1.424

Thanks

 

[please]

@ jgionet
We have very similar systems :smile: . A couple things I might suggest. I would consider flashing back to the latest non-beta BIOS. Beta BIOS' can have unknown bugs..that's why the are beta.
Another thought, did you completely uninstall the ATI video drivers from your old card before installing the new ones? I had some trouble doing that myself and it took several tries to get the job done correctly.
You might want to run some anti-spyware programs like ad-aware and spybot. I run them both as they seem to sometimes catch things the other doesn't..they are free, just google for them. Also run your antivirus program.
You don't say what connectors/controllers your HDDs are attached to, but I am assuming they are connected to the Intel controller and its 'SATA1' or SATA2' connectors and NOT the 'SATA_RAID1' or 'SATA_RAID2' connectors. Particularly your HDD with WinXP should be on the Intel controller.
Concerning your HyperThreading, in 'device manager' under 'computer' is yours listed as being 'ACPI Multiprocessor PC'? That is what it should be.

BIOS settings to check:
under advanced chipset
spread spectrum=Disable
ich delayed transaction=disable
mps revision=1.4<<<this is at 1.1 at default and 1.4 improves Hyperthreading support. If this is at 1.4 and you have the 'multiprocessor' listed in device manager',then enabling hyperthreading in BIOS is good. Because disabling HT fixes your problem, I suspect one of these things is not as it should be.

have a look at The Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide from Adrain's Rojak Pot for more info on your BIOS.

 

[jgionet]

Hi @please,

Thanks for the reply!
I will try again and revert back to my previous "released" version of the Asus bios which was also causing my freezing griefs.

As for the ATI drivers & Spyware I "know" it's not that since once I installed ALL the new hardware I did a complete format/re-install of my OS. Even before I did the re-install I booted up Windows and it had detected/replaced my configs to work with the new hardward, however it was freezing up at that time too. That's why I decided to format/re-install just to make sure I had no conflics/garbage sticking around such as old drivers & spyware.

As for the SATA1 drive it's connected directly to the SATA1 port built-in to the Asus board. (where it was before) I have also made sure SATA RAID is disabled in the BIOS.

I checked WinXP Devices and it does show "ACPI Multiprocessor PC". I've also checked the Event Logs and there doesn't seem any aparent problems/errors logged.

I will try applying the release BIOS and tweaking it as per your recommendations and see what happens.

I will post my results afterwards.

Thanks for the help

-JG

 

[111]

VCore seems a bit low. Maybe someone here knows what the "standard" voltage should be. My guess for this processor is about 1.53v. I don't have this motherboard, but I believe there should be a BIOS setting for Vcore.l

 

[linderman]

Hello:

I am running the same board P4P800-E dlx my cpu is a prescott 3.2 and the Vcore = 1.4 my set-up is stable as hell so I dont think thats your problem / good thing to check though >>> above poster

sounds to me like your entire problem is more of a software situtation than hardware / especially if you can run memtest for 14 hours

I know you probally dont think so / but the PSU upgrade was a damn smart move >>> is it just me or is your system running cooler after the PSU swap ???
430 watt psu is only capable of delivering 330 watts at FULL LOAD / the asus manual tells you the system needs a minimum of 300 watts to run / not a 300 watt PSU !! same thing with the power calculator / it does not tell you to get a 400 watt PSU / it states approximately what watt demand you system needs to run / you must add 30 % to those calculations to factor in the efficiency loss of PSU's (generally about 30% - some high end models boast 75% efficient at FULL demand !!

I would try uninstalling the sound card drivers / and uninstall the sound card / return to the onboard sound / just for evaluations sake i remember seeing some similar troubles by others with this and the P4c800-E boards and using a pci sound card. you may need to hunt for others drivers

also when you installed the new OS / did you quick format or full format ????? quick formats only re-write or prepare the data area needed for a windows install its very possible to have data fragments left behind to booger up your OS ?????

on the bios updates / what method did you use AFUDOS is much more reliable by FAR than the other versions / and you must use the more recent AFUDOS version on the asus website >>> version 2.11

keep us posted >>> @ Please has some excellent suggestions in his post as well >> I would not overlook them >>> worth re-reading !!!

regards

joe

 

[jgionet]

Hi linderman,
Thanks for the reply :smile:

I suspect its software base as well since when I boot up my Linux SUSE 10 install I don't seem to be having this problem. (from what I can tell at least)

Even though I've discovered that PSU wasn't necessarily the problem at this time I do NOT regret upgrading my PSU to a 550w :smile: I have noticed that my temps have gone down! I should be good for a little while with this puppy -razz:

When I re-installed WinXP/Linux I did a FULL format (NOT quick).

I re-flashed my bios with the latest STABLE version using AFUDOS as you recommended. (no problems)

I've also updated my Audigy 2 ZS drivers with the latest BETA drivers from Creative. So far my system "seems" to be running stable. Honestly I haven't had much time to do some more tests to make sure. Hopefully throughout the week I'll get a chance. I just ordered Quake 4 the other and can't wait to test it out my new system!

Thanks everybody for the help/advice/recommendations. I will report back in a few days to let you all know the situation.

-JG :grin:

 

[linderman]

JG:


if its doesnt burp when running Quake 4 / then you got it licked that horse will be ready to ride !!!!


I'll be on the side lines keeping my fingers crossed >> waiting to hear from ya



cheers >>. good troubleshooting

joe

 

[jgionet]

JG:

if its doesnt burp when running Quake 4 / then you got it licked that horse will be ready to ride !!!!

I'll be on the side lines keeping my fingers crossed >> waiting to hear from ya

cheers >>. good troubleshooting

joe

UPDATE - NO MORE FREEZING!! JOY!

well after a week I'm happy to report that everything "seems" to be running very smoothly! No freeze ups & Quake 4 runs like a charm (with the exemption of the video/cut scenes.. might be a ati driver issue though) I can run the game in hi res at 1024x768 -razz: (pretty sweet)

Thanks a million everybody! Really apreaciate the great help. I hope I can contribute eventually so as to return the favours :wink:

-JG :smile:

 

[linderman]

Now your cooking !! glad to hear you got the beast ironed out !!



cheers


joe :wiggle2: