My computer barely runs. On startup, within 10 minutes of turning on the power, starting Windows 98 or Windows XP restarts the computer like pressing the reset button, and sometimes even the boot manager restarts or freezes. When the computer is charged up, I can start Windows 98 but not XP. Mozilla products crash and start the bug report wizard. Windows illegal operations and blue screens. Multimedia restarts the computer. Programs sometimes say "linked to missing export whatever.dll." Scandisk finds errors. This stuff started with minor errors in May and keeps getting bigger. Turning off the cache in CMOS reduces the errors dramatically (to nothing except when I tried to reinstall Windows XP, and then the computer was running for 4 days straight because it took so long), and I suspect it might have something to do with slowing the computer down.
SiSoftware Sandra reports:
Chipset 1
Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT8753 Apollo P4X266 System Controller
Bus(es) : ISA AGP PCI USB i2c/SMBus
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 133MHz (532MHz data rate)
Maximum FSB Speed / Max Memory Speed : 4x 100MHz / 2x 133MHz
Width : 64-bit
IO Queue Depth : 8 request(s)
Temperature Sensor(s)
Board Temperature : 39.0C / 102.2F
Power / Aux Temperature : 34.0C / 93.2F td (are these normal?)
Voltage Sensor(s)
CPU Voltage : 1.50V
Aux Voltage : 2.53V
+3.3V Voltage : 3.28V
+5V Voltage : 5.11V
+12V Voltage : 11.48V
-12V Voltage : -11.87V
-5V Voltage : 3.59V
Standby Voltage : 4.97V
Battery Voltage : 3.42V
Performance Tips
Warning 2541 : FSB exceeds Chipset rated speed. Reduce FSB.
Warning 2520 : PCI bus speed is too high. Reduce FSB speed or FSB/PCI multiplier.
Warning W2541 - FSB exceeds chipset rated FSB. If youre over clocking the system just be aware that it may not be as stable as you may think.
Fix: Reduce the FSB in the BIOS settings/jumpers to the rated FSB.
Warning W2520 - The PCI bus speed is too high. The PCI bus speed should not be increased over 36MHz. While most PCI cards may work, some hard drives, CD-ROMs, network cards and other cards may not and you could get data corruption without knowing.
Fix: Make sure the FSB is not higher than 68MHz. While 75, 83 or 90MHz give you higher performance the data loss may not be worth it. If the chipset supports asynchronous PCI, enable this option to keep the speed at 33MHz, independent of FSB.
CMOS says the FSB and CPU are 133MHz, but I think that's standard for P4. The manual doesn't show any FSB jumpers, just a CPU jumper that can be set to autodetect/100/133.
TL Eric: well I couldn't find 8233A on soltek's site, but all the P4X266E motherboards they list have P4 Northwood (which would be socket 47
2.4ghz as 'OK', and indeed is listed 18x133 as per the specs
I'm nearly 100 percent sure your HDD needs to be replaced, my brother in law's diagnosis is the same, but he says that there is a very slim chance it might be the memory and to run memtest from www.memtest86.com/
Jimro
Thanks, but it's apparently not the HDD. I booted another HDD and then disabled the IDE the main HDD is connected to and Windows or the boot itself restarted the same way. Memtest requires a drive so I need to obtain a disk.
If it's not the HDD then I'd try taking it apart and cleaning everything with compressed air.
Jimro
Wait, I went through your post again,
-5V Voltage = 3.59V
If that is the case, have the power supply replaced, that voltage is way off, 8.59 volts off to be exact. The +/- 5 and 3.3 volt circuits power the motherboard, which supplies power to the RAM and Processor, so that would explain the erratic behavior.
Anyways, I hope it's a typo and that your powersupply is good.
Jimro
Yeah, I was thinking power supply, without even noticing the power reading. If this has been going on for a long time (which it appears to have been), then the rest of your hardware may be damaged as well and you'd be better off getting a new one. Have it replaced under warranty and be sure to backup your data.
