I'm about to strap a bomb to my computer. Please Help!

[catattack]

Ohhhh man.... Ok so I remember back a little while ago when I asked why my computer kept shutting down out of no where and you guys helped me really well and we had solutions well, I think I tried about every single one. I just baught a brand new motherboard and zalman heat sink and I slapped that on, I also baught a brand new thermaltake tsunami dream case. The case itself has 2 very large fans and 1 side fan on the window which would seem like an overheating of the computer wouldnt really happen. Anyways, I endured 4 long hours putting the computer back together in my new case and I thought that it wouldnt shut down because the north bridge (I think) had a heatsink and was getting extra breeze to it. Well I was wrong and it shuts down just like before, just as fast to. What in Gods name is going on?!!! I just baught about $200 for this computer and its still not even working.

Anything helps guys! Thanks for your time.

NF7-S V.2
AMD Athlon 2400 XP
Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
2x256mb 3200 corsair memory
WD 60gig 7200 rpm
Lite-on 54x32x54
CD Drive 52x
True Blue antec 480w (that or either 420w)
And Brand new case shown on html... http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase...mi/bwa/bwa.htm

Oh and one more thing. My case had 2 leds in the front of the case that are supposed to light up as blue. Well I have those connected and I tried to connect those with other connectors as well and they still dont light up. What's that about?

[catattack]

Ok this just happend, my computer stopped working then went to a blue screen saying this BAD_POOL_COVER. I'm pretty sure that's right. Then the bottom said "Beginning memory dump". Now what the heck is this?

[Chunky]

how old is it buddy?
mines started playing up but its second hand mostly and over a year old

i get memory dump (so if its an old pc dont worry, you prollly just need new ram)

isnt memory dump related to the ram?

not sure how good that case is cause i cant see it at all
but i doubt simple buying a new case would help it much, do u have your system overclocked at all? if so go in bios (if you can and put it down to stock)

try again
check all the connectors and recheck them again, have you plugged the extra four socket motherboard power supply in? as well as the big one?
becuase that cpu needs extra power.

one more thing chk for dust everywhere on the components
cant really help you any more cause i dont know much about north bridges

Chunky

[Kumagoro]

You need to run that computer with as little in it as possible,
Do you have onboard graphics if so use that. If its still buggering up then you need
to try other bits, borrow a stick of ram of someone or buy some dirt cheap small stick second hand.

[JimmyBoy]

yar, make sure the bios is set to default, try running ur ram single channel or just one stick if its duel channed...
just basically make sure everything is running at stock,

or make sure the ram is underclocked, u got sum pc3200, but ur cpus fsb is 133 ?? if its a 2400+ that basically means the correct ram for the cpu is pc 2100

have a look

[Ferral]

If you take a look about in the bios there may be an option to set the ram at a different speed to the cpu fsb. On my board itself I have to set the fsb and the bios controls the ram. I have a Barton core running at 166 (effective fsb 333), in the bios I have my memory matching as I have the right speed but I do have the option to set it to 266 (133) or 400 (200).

May be worthwhile double checking the core on the Athlon XP you have and make sure the fsb is set to the correct ratio

[catattack]

Hey I dont have my memory running underclocked, I have the 3200 type memory and I have 2400XP cpu. Where and what do I do to change it to the right setting?

[Ferral]

I would say that the processor has a 266 fsb so it wants setting to 133 on the board or in the bios, newer models have the 333 fsb (166). Not sure if the standard XP chips had that though, believe the 333 started with the Barton core.

Memory is 400 Mhz (200 basically) so in the bios set that to the relevant speed.

If you havnt the option to set both at different speeds, knock down the speed of the ram to 266 (133 - same as the processor) and see how that goes and let us know.

To find how to change stuff on the board and bios refer to the boards manual in the first few pages it will have how to set the cpu's fsb etc. Not all boards have physical jumpers (mine does, guess I'm lucky with that one) and it may need doing within the bios.

Before you start doing anything in the bios though I would power down the machine completely and reset the bios via the jumper on the board and start again from scratch.

[catattack]

I somewhat get that... Can you umm give me a step by step look on how to get there and change it because I didnt see any mhz settings in the bios for my memory.

Thanks!

[Ferral]

Get the the boards make and model number and I will have a scoot about the manufacturers site for the manual and see if we can figure out whats going on and resolve the issue

[catattack]

umm NF7-S v2.0?

[Ferral]

I take it this is an A Bit board, sorry not overly sure as I have one of the new AS Rock boards in mine that supports the Semperon as well as the XP chips. Will pull down a manual for iit now. Give me 15 mins or so

[Ferral]

Firstly it states to put the DDR ram in from socket 3 to 1, so put the ram in sockets 2 & 3.

Make sure both the ATX connectors are put onto the board (standard ATX and also the 12 Volt smaller one)

Go into Softmenu III in the bios and make sure the processor is set to the 2400+

also in the same menu :

CPU FSB / DRAM Ratio set that to SPD instead of auto

Make sure cpu interface is set to disabled so it uses the standard settings, if optimal is set it overclocks the cpu

What this 2nd part does is makes the dram operate at its settings and not match the cpu fsb.

Try this and let me know how you get on

[catattack]

you helped me with 3 things man! I had the memory in the wrong spots, I never ever in my life connected that little ATX 12v connector and I changed the ratio set to SPD.

Lets see if this works, which it does look like it.

Thanks for all your help guys! Thanks especially to you Farral.

[Ferral]

Thats what were here for at the end of the day, aint HEXUS a great community !

[JimmyBoy]

woohoo

glad u got it fixed mate