Help on Self built computer.

I recently bought new parts for my computer. The parts in self were a new motherboard, processor, video card, sound card, memory, ethernet card, harddrive.
Here is what I have upgraded to.

• System Manufacturer: NVIDIA
• BIOS: Award Module BIOS v6.00PG
• Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) Xp 2500+(but only shows 1500)
• Memory: 512 mb RAM
• DirectX: v9.0
• Video Card - GeForce4 MX 4000 128mb
• Motherboard - Gigabyte Nforce2

I am running Windows XP Pro with Service pack 2.

I have had this problem when I first got the items, and I am curious to where the problem leaks. Anytime I try to play a game, the game will horribly cause problems like the following.

Counter-Strike Source
Main screen - flashing of letters and background.
In game - Very very horrible Fps. Its like I am lagging, but you can't lag on your own LAN. I run a solid 59-60 Fps consist, but i can't move at regular speed at all. Maps will have patches in walls and on ground from the map not being processed fully or smoothly.

Diablo II LOD
Sound will lag and cut out, but no on screen problems. Sound will randomly go in and out, or make a noise seconds after it is suppose to.

Halo PC
Main Screen - Background flickers mad. Lighting is ridiculous, and in game 75% of time map doesn't show, just text. Other 25% map is textured wrong, or just black holes are there for me to fall through.

Things I have done to recorrect:

• This is the third Video Card I have tried.
• Downloaded and Installed new drivers on each new harddrive.
• Bought new harddrives.
• Cleaned and reinstalled each game, after cleaning harddrive and reinstalling Windows XP.
• Bought new Sound card.

Problems my father and I have found and fixed.
Cooling fans weren't working properly. I currently have fans on the outside blowing into the computer to keep cool.
CD-Drive from my old compact was incompatible with new system, and disconnected to allow computer to run. It didn't allow me to open disk tray without it closing automatically, or read disk, so we disconnected the harddrive cables.

Basically I am just curious given all that information, What in the heck is wrong with my system. I basically aquired everything brand new a computer would need, yet I can not play three games I have had and rebought to be sure they worked. Flash games on the internet do not mess up after fixing fans and disconnecting harddrive cables from bad CD-ROM.

 

Yea, my father has updated every driver he could find for this. It linked him to a bad CD-ROM drive I had, but I am wondering if its a compatibility problem.

 

Here are the specs i got from Everest in case i forgot anything


Computer
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack -
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)


Motherboard
CPU Type AMD Athlon XP, 1343 MHz (13.5 x 99) 1500+
Motherboard Name Gigabyte GA-7NF-RZ(C) (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 3 DDR DIMM, Audio)
Motherboard Chipset nVIDIA nForce2 400
System Memory 512 MB (PC2100 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award Modular (07/15/04)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM2)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display
Video Adapter WinFast A180B (128 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
Monitor Dell E771a [17" CRT] (8J8541C2807N)

Multimedia
Audio Adapter Creative SB0410 SB Live! 24-bit Sound Card
Audio Adapter nVIDIA MCP2 - Audio Codec Interface

Storage
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive WDC WD800JB-00ETA0 (74 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive PHILIPS CDD4801 CD-R/RW (8x/4x/32x CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions
C: (NTFS) 76308 MB (66052 MB free)

 

As the Major asked, got MOBO drivers installed?
Got sound card drivers installed?

Your CPU, Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) Xp 2500+(but only shows 1500, should be running in BIOS at 11 x 166
There may be other BIOS settings that need adj, several settings have direct effect on graphics, Here's Bios guide:
http://www.rojakpot.com/freebog.aspx

The Video card is bottom of line stuff, Have Dad buy you 6600gt or similar.

 

Seeing your Everest Info, Dad should have bought you PC2700 memory to match the speed of your CPU.
Everest show your CPU running at the wrong Multiplier & FSB
An XP 2500+ Barton cpu runs at 1833Mhz, set multiplier to 11 x 166 fsb

Just looking I see Sempron 2500 runs at 1750 Mhz
If you have a Sempron 2500+ the multiplier might be 10.5?? I'd have to check to be sure.

What CPU do you have? regardless of which your running at the wrong speed.

 

That's what caught my eye too. I second Asus's opinion.

 

I have to ask, is your video card AGP? I don't intend it as an insult, but I had a friend who was very computer savy, except he thought that PCI was faster than AGP. He thought that AGP was some kind of LAN port.

 

adjust the bios for the processor as stated above...make sure chipset drivers are up to date and get some 2700 memory....1gig would be best for halo

 

Well two things. I have three video cards still here that i just switched when i thought it was that problem.

The other 2 are a 128 mb Sapphire Radeon9200 SE and a ATI Rage Pro 64 mb card. The first one i got was the Rage pro, then I bought the Radeon, and i just got my lil brothers to c if it worked as a third, would you guys say the Radeon is the better go to? or just get a new one?

The other thing is i have no clue how to change the processor speeds. I did my best looking at the link previously given to me, and I couldn't find anything relevant, but then again I'm not well versed in this. I went into my bio, and I was able to change the 100 fbs to 166 fbs, but I had no idea how to change the 13.5 to 11. I hate to ask how to do something already given to me, but I can't find the right sublink on that page, and I want to make sure I do this right. My dad is of no help right no, so i'm on my own.

Also is the memory difference to my processor going to make a big deal? Or is it ok right now?

 

You need to be careful adjusting setting you know nothing about can result in damaged hardware.
In Bios CPU/memory settings are in the Advanced Chipset Features section.

The Link I posted is Bios Guide, the intent is to help you understand your Bios settings, I would review all settings & adj acording to the guide & your Hardware.
Many of the settings requires some Knowledge of your Hardware, example CPU you need to know what exact model you have, without that info you cannot properly set your Mulitiplier & fsb, same goes for memory.

Do you have a Motherboard Manual?
I looked at Gigabyte web search for manual turned up zero, Odd, unless wasnt released in the US market, I guessing here.
This may be one in Japanese, er link to find one, cant tell I dont speek the lingo:
http://www.gigabyte.co.jp/nippon/7nf-rz/7nf-rz-m.html

If you have changed your FSB to your CPU & not reduced the Multiplier then your system is mostlikely OCed, this is risky.
If you changed your FSB for your memory to 166 then you have OCed your Memory, again risky.

 

This is the dad. I found the manual online. http://america.giga-byte.com/FileList/Manual/motherboard_manual_7nf-rz_e.pdf
Page 24 says set fsb to 166MHz and set memory frequency to 120%. Is this the same as you were telling us above?

 

No, the 11 is the multiplier.

166 is the FSB, times the multiplier of 11, gives you the CPU's real clock speed.


You need to correctly identify your CPU first before making any changes.

 

Still having problems. We installed a new power supply (480 watt), evga 6600 video card, and 1 gig ram. Everythings seems OK until a game is started (not just 1 game, all of them). The games that have been tried are SWAT3, and Counterstrike. I am sure there are more but I don't know what they are.

The following is the information from Everest, someone asked about the CPU.

Field Value
CPU Properties
CPU Type AMD Athlon XP, 1800 MHz (13.5 x 133) 2200+
CPU Alias Thoroughbred-B
CPU Stepping B0
Instruction Set x86, MMX, 3DNow!, SSE
L1 Code Cache 64 KB
L1 Data Cache 64 KB
L2 Cache 256 KB (On-Die, Full-Speed)

CPU Physical Info
Package Type 453 Pin PGA
Package Size 4.95 cm x 4.95 cm
Transistors 37.6 million
Process Technology 6Mi, 0.13 um, CMOS, Cu
Die Size 84 mm2
Core Voltage 1.50 - 1.65 V
I/O Voltage 1.6 V
Typical Power 44.0 - 64.0 W (depending on clock speed)
Maximum Power 48.5 - 74.3 W (depending on clock speed)

CPU Manufacturer
Company Name Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Product Information http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118,00.html

CPU Utilization
CPU #1 0 %

What can I try next?

 

Based on Everest & the other info provided, You have a:
AMD Sempron 2500+ Thoroughbred 333MHz FSB 256KB L2 Cache Socket A Processor
Your Multiplier & FSB are set wrong! They should be: Multiplier of 11 x 166 FSB = 1750MHZ or 1.75Ghz , Everest may read it as something like 1743 MHZ which is normal

I would also recommend checking to see that your Memory is running at the correct speed but change the CPU first then save & exit BIOS, some MOBO will auto configure based on the cpu speed.

After the above then try your games again, If still having problems few things to check, Test your new PSU, What brand is it? Run mem test, do you have all MOBO chipset drivers installed? Video card drivers installed? or try different drivers, the newest arnt always the best, remove any old drivers first.
Check for heat problems, what's your CPU/video card temps??

 

Damn! cant edit, frigging time limit.

Sorry
Correction:
Multiplier 10.5 x 166 = 1750




( my AMD XP 2500+ Barton cpu is 11 x 166 at 1833 MHz) 11 is just embedded in my Brain

If I were a Mod I could fix it,( the post not my Brain) But I'm not

 

I found how to change the FSB to 166 in the bios but have not found out how to change the multiplier. How do I do this?

 

I read through the manual online. It says nothing about setting the multiplier. Here's a link to the manual http://tw2005.giga-byte.com/Download/Download.asp?DownloadPath=/MotherBoard/FileList/Manual/manual_7nf-rz_e.pdf

 

I'm looking at your manual, The Bios settings are a bit limited.

The first thing I wounder, Does your MOBO support a Sempron CPU, I know it can it just sometimes it requires a BIOS update.
Something to check at Gigabytes Web, each BIOS update should have a description as to the fix or changes aquired by the update.

The other problem, your using PC2100 memory, the Best system performance would be achived by using Memory that matches your CPU FSB of 166, which is PC2700/DDR 333MHz

MOBO Manual Page 8, Set system clock, set switch to On:Auto (the switch is on the MOBO)
In Bios, Advanced chipset Features (Page 24 of MOBO manual) make the following system changes:
System Performance "Normal"
FSB Frequency "166"
Memory Frequency Try both of these " By SPD" & "Auto" Both probably will have same result
AGP Frequency "Normal"

I just checked for BIOS update, Version F3 provides support for Sempron CPU's
If your not running F3, ya need too:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=1825

Also keep in mind after BIOS update, your BIOS will revert to Default settings, so after an update, re enter BIOS make necessary changes then save & exit

 

The processor is an Athlon XP, 2250 MHz. I upgraded the memory to 1 gig PC 3200, Changed the FSB to 166, Memory freq set to 120 (I saw this in the manual page 24), and the bios version is F4. I am attaching a new Everest report. I had a glitch over night, while looking for a way to change the multiplier I changed something in the bios. Had to clear/reset and go back and set it all up again. It is back up and running ,the settings shown above and the Everest report are current. Still having the same problems.

 

In Bios, "Advanced Chipset Features" are there greyed out settings/Features?
Go back in & try
System Performance: set to "Manual" then see if you can manually set your Multiplier/FSB for your CPU

I'm also woundering , what exact CPU you have? an AMD XP2500 Sempron?
One way to be sure is to look at the top of your CPU chip, but that requires you to remove your HS

The next thing I would try is maybe flashing the F3 Bios, if you truly have a Sempron 2500 (the F4 version that you have should have the Sempron thing covered but who knows)

After your CPU/memory speed is resolved we can figure out your other problems

 

Here are the settings in my BIOS

System Performance Manual
FSB Frequency 166 MHz
CPU Interface Optimal
Memory Frequency By SPD
Resulting Frequency 400 MHz Grayed Out
Memory Timings Normal
T (RAS) 8 Grayed Out
T (RCD) 3 Grayed Out
T (RP) 3 Grayed Out
CAS Latency 3.0 Grayed Out
FSB Spread Spectrum 0.50%
AGP Frequency Normal
AGP Fast Write Capability Enabled
CPU Thermal-Throttling 50.0%
USB Park Mode Enabled
USB Perf Mode Compatible
USB Read Requests From ISO Queue

I haven't got the heat sink off yet to check the processor yet but when I boot up the screen says it is an Athlon XP 2800+

I have been checking on the internet and found a site that said the Sempron is a relabled Athlon.?????

So far I have only been able to change System Performance to Manual and FSB Frequency to 166 MHz. Everything else I have tried won't allow the system to boot up, have to clear/reset the CMOS.

 

I found a site that has info about the Athlon XP 2800+ Thoroughbred processor. The following is a link to that article.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlonxp-3000.html

 

O.K.
Then your Multiplier 13.5 x 166 MHz is correct.

Your son said he or you bought a 2500 atleast that is sorted out.
(When in doubt read the marking on top of the chip under the HSF)

Your memory setting's are greyed out because Memory frequency is set by "SPD"
You can change to manual, if you do you may be able to tighten up your Timmings, should keep at 166Mhz to match CPU
I'd recommend leaving at SPD

"FSB Spread Spectrum" Disable it
"CPU Thermal Throttling" Disable as well

I previously posted a link for BIOS guide, it's a great guide, it will help you understand most of your Bios settings & recommend settings.
There are some Bios settings that will affect your Graphics/game play, Check it out
Here's the BIOS Guide Link again:
http://www.rojakpot.com/freebog.aspx

 

I made the changes you said to make and looked at the BIOS guide. The guide does explain what the settings in the BIOS do. I wrote down some of the suggested settings and went into the BIOS but I don't find where the graphic settings are so they can be changed.

 

Not all BIOS have the same options, nor will you have All the settings listed within the Guide, hence Guide.
But
I just remembered Most Gigabyte MOBO's have Advanced Hidden Bios Options, To Gain access Enter Bios, then press "Ctrl+F1"

 

I found that out earlier and what I have posted above is all that comes up after I do a CTRL+F1. I talked to eVGA and they think it could be a problem with the RAM. I am running Prime95 per their suggestion. They said the next thing to do is get a hold of Gigabyte and see what they think. I think I am running out of things to try and I'm not one to let a problem like this go on without being resolved. By the way, thanks for helping me. Do you have any other ideas?

 

What is a floating point error?

 

How did Prime95 do?


What exact problems are you having now? provide as much info/detail as possible, any error messages post them too.

Reviewing whats been posted, I suspect driver problems as you/your son have run both Nvidia & Ati video cards, also of older technology, which probably would run better on older drivers not the latest, and to top off if you did not completely remove the previous drivers that would be a problem.

It's very important to remove Old drivers before installing New

I'm not really a gamer, more of a tweaker but I doubt any of the cards posted would play games very well at least not newer ones.
Another thought or suspect the possibilty of faulty video cards

Another thing, NF2 chipset drivers, I would run the latest version 5.10, but dont install the SW IDE driver it causes problem's on some systems.

 

Well it's about 3930 links on a Google search

Is that from Prime95?

I'm looking at some of those links

 

Prime95 ran for 33 hours and got to about 99% complete then started coming up with warnings but no errors. Then I looked for another program to try. I downloaded "Fresh Diagnose" and ran all the Benchmark tests. The Processor, Memory, Display Adaptor and Network benchmark tests all came up withan error- Floating Point Overflow (Eoverflow). I have noticed that sometimes when I am looking around on this site a notice pops up and says there is a floating point error.

 

I was told to run 3DMARK05 to do a benchmark. Everytime I tried Internet Explorer to download the program it would shut down. It would say there was a problem with FLASH8a.OCX. I uninstalled Macromedia Flash 8 and got a copy of ver. 7. After installing it I was able to download 3DMARK05. The first time I ran it the computer crashed and rebooted. The next two times it made it through and got scores of 2305 and 2309. I did notice while 3DMARK05 was running the display showed the same type of problems as when we run games. You could see it more when it ran slower (1 - 2 FPS). Some of the screen went black, some of the textures went away and then came back. I went back and ran FreshDiagnose and teh same errors came up. The Processor, Display adaptor, Memory, and Network all showed Floating Point Overflow (Eoverflow). The more I check things out the more I think the hardware is ok but there is some kind of conflict or driver problem (like you said). I'm just not sure how to go about finding out what is causing it.

 

Try uninstalling all Video drivers,
Try this Utility for removal:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3214.html
Then install new, if you have the original disk for your Video card try that driver, or look to the Video card Manufactures web for newer, just remember to uninstall the old before running new, Which is best? you have to try em & see.

I use prime95 & 3DMark for stability testing, Prime I run Torture test using blend setting.
I'll run for Prime for a minimum of 8 hrs (without errors)
I will also run one or more of 3Dmark2001SE & 03 or 05
If I can do the above than I consider the system stable

You might also try this Utility " BigFix" it might find bugs or conflicts within your system and offer solution's & updates:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=677