Bios issue

hey guys,
a couple years back, i built my comp centered around an amd 2700+ and an abit at7-max2 motherboard. the bios needed an upgrade in order to run with the 2700+. so on initial start up of the system, i set the bios to 2700+ and it fires up and i don't question anything, does run a bit hot though.. around 52C. but in all the cpu id programs, and in windows properties, and in bench marking software, everything says i'm running a 1500+. is this just an issue with windows reading a default setting somewhere from the motherboard - pre-upgrade?

last night, i ran wcpuid with the real time clock and it was runnin at 1305 MHz. after much confusion, i went into bios, and set it to 1500+.. now i'm runnin at 1333.89 MHz and the cpu temp is down to 42.5 C. what are the odds that i got sent the wrong cpu, and what effects will this have on my system. this thing has been runnin like this for 2 years straight.. meaning i never turn my comp off.. cept for the damn power failures.

i sent the online store a message with a screen shot stating all this and i got an email saying that i needed to change my front side bus settings 166.. shouldn't the bios do this automatically if i change the settings to 2700+?

thanks for the help guys, screen shots when i get home tonite.
dez

 

It does sound a little fishy, but there is basicly no way they sent the wrong chip. Since you'd never over clock an AMD chip that much. Although, I don't know what you mean by you set the chip to 2700+ in the bios. The bios still configures itself according to GHz, which for a 2700+ is 2.167 GHz. There shouldn't really be a 2700+ option, although I suppose some boards may include that in the default settings, so long as you don't touch any of the advanced stuff.

If that is the case, and you've got the bios set correctly, sometimes it's just a bios error, and flashing the bios will resolve it. Around the time these chips came out there was a handful of boards that had some minor issues and needed a flash to work correctly.

 

on most motherboards that run AMD cpu's, there are 1 of 2 possibilities.
1. you need to change the bios settings for the fsb or
2. you need to look for a jumper near the pin connections for power

 

where would the jumper be? what a pain.. i just went back into bios and this is my screen setup:

Cpu operating speed: 2700+(333) 1500+(266)
x-cpu fsb clock (mhz) 166 133
x-multiplier factor x13 x10
x-enhance for benchmark Disabled Disabled

Power supply Default Default
x-cpu core voltage 1.650V 1.650V
x-ddr voltage 2.55V 2.55V

Cpu fast command decode at Fast at Fast

...
if i set the operating speed to a 1500, the numbers change to the second column...

i went and changed the speed back to 2700+ and it crapped out on me. wouldn't even turn bios on until 5 manual restarts. when it would come back on, it tells me the cpu is unworkable or has been changed... so, i check it and anytime i enter into bios change to the appropriate, on exit, it wont restart. so this time, i started it up.. and now this is my wcpuid report...
the clock speed dropped to 1299.07... what do i do
:

[ WCPUID Version 3.3 (c) 1996-2004 By H.Oda! ]
Processor #1 : AMD Athlon XP (Model 8) / 12212B0D
Platform : Socket A (Socket 462)
Vendor String : AuthenticAMD
CPU Type : Original OEM Processor (0)
Family : 6 (7)
Model : 8 (8)
Stepping ID : 1 (1)
Brand ID : - (-)
APIC : ----
HT Log.CPU Cnt : ----
Name String : AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1500+
Internal Clock : 1299.07 MHz
System Bus : 199.86 MHz DDR
System Clock : 99.93 MHz
Multiplier : 13.0
L1 I-Cache : 64K Byte
L1 D-Cache : 64K Byte
L1 T-Cache : ----
L1 Cache : ----
L2 Cache : 256K Byte
L2 Speed : 1299.07 MHz (Full)
MMX Unit : Supported
SSE Unit : Supported
SSE2 Unit : Not Supported
SSE3 Unit : Not Supported
MMX2 Unit : Supported
3DNow! Unit : Supported
3DNow!+ Unit : Supported
Host Bridge : 1106:3189.00 [VIA Apollo KT400/A]
South Bridge : 1106:3177.00 [VIA VT8233A]
VGA Device : 1002:4E48.00 [ATI RADEON 9800 PRO]
Memory Size : 1536M Byte
Memory Clock : ----
OS Version : Windows XP Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2
-------------- : -----------------------------------

##--- Date 02/21/2005, Time 22:21:23 / 2.0.0.2

the clock speed dropped to 1299.07... what do i do

 

i was just playin with the bios... it seems that i can set the operating speed to anything up to the 2600+(266) with a clock of 133... anytime i go up to the 166 clock, bios won't even load up and it kicks back to the default- even goin to the 2600+(333) it wigs out... now, i'm on the 2600+(266) and im runnin 2134.22 MHz.... any ideas of why?

 

If the BIOS settings are correct and the CPU is what it is labeled to be, my only guess would be the RAM you are using, what make, model and type is it? More importantly is it a supported model and type?

 

Also for resetting your BIOS:

Is this your mobo? >>> http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/large.php?model=1

If you here is the link to its user manual in adobe acrobat format:
http://file-us.abit.com.tw/pub/download/manual/english/at7-max2.pdf

Page 33 shows the layout of the mobo.

Hint about the BIOS/CMOS reset switch:
If one exists, it would be nearby the BIOS battery (see diagram, if the circled is your BIOS battery then the blue arrow is pointing to your BIOS reset switch)
The switch will have 3 pins and the jumper would be sitting on pins 1&2 in the normal operation mode and on 2&3 to reset the settings (when moving this jumper, shutdown the PC, remove the power cord and touch the PSU after opening the case then move the jumper to the reset position for a few secs and then back to the normal position again!).

 

yeah, that's the mobo... i know where the cmos jumper is, just didn't know that was what was being talked about... gonna try that in a second, but i've done it a couple times already ...

i have 3 sticks of 512 pc3200 ddr 2 of them are giehl, ant the other one is a generic.. i think it's an ultra

would this be a mobo issue?

 

Although Geil is not a bad brand, I do NOT recommend it for Abit and Asus mobos. They are known to cause problems with some models of these 2 brands.
In any case, take the generic RAM out and test it. Never ever mix generic and brand name RAMs! It makes all RAM sticks perform like generic RAM, even worse, your system could experience stability issues and odd errors.

 

the generic has been the one in there from the build date... when i set the system up, it only had that one stick of 512... and it ran alright.. but i remember, it still had the issue with showing 1500+... how can i test that stick?

 

None of the RAM testing software would expose that issue if that was indeed the case. Try running the system on the GEIL memory alone, preferably use only a stick of Geil as well and see how things look. Also try each RAM slot on the mobo, one of my systems has a defective RAM slot (Slot #1 ) but other slots are fine, so play around to narrow down the possibilities.

 

with a defective slot like that, would it still read that slot as an active part of the ram? every check that it runs picks up 1.5 gig- which it should... man i love computers...

 

No, if the slot was defective then it'd be like there was no RAM inserted in that slot. If it sees all the sticks inserted that it could be:
a) total amount of physical RAM is not supported by the mobo (BIOS might need an update)

b) One or more of the RAMs is not supported by mobo (wrong type)

c) The RAMs are not compatible with each other (different brands, CAS timings, etc.)

d) Generic RAM is used and after things get a little too hot, the generic RAMs are known to cause data read failures.

Again try each RAM alone and see what happens, you should try these steps, you have to do some logical troubleshooting regardless of what 'used' to work before..

 

i'll give it a whirl and see what happens... will post back later.. thanks

dez