Un-Stable NF7-S and Xp-M2400+

[GAteKeeper]

Ok I have this system:

NF7-S v2 std 25bios
Athlon XP-M2400+ @200*12.5 (1.8v)
2*512 sticks of twinmos with winbond @2-2-2-11 (2.9v)
9600XT 128Mb (sapphire ithink)
Dlink GT520 wireless PCI
Netgear gigabit ethanet card PCI
ITU non-Raid PATA controller card
Antec truepower 430W PSU
Pioneer DVD-119 and DVR-106
WD 200JB, 80JB, 200JD(SATA), 200JD (SATA)
IDM 46Gb Deathstar(TM) 75GXP

Cooling:
Custom CPU waterblock
Hydor L30 pump
120.3 equivelent rad
3 YS-Tech 120mm fans @7V

Problem:
I was getting random crashes of both programs and sometimes windows so I downloaded and ran memtest 3.1 and prime95.
Memtest ran for 2 passes (over 50mins) without an error at 200FSB with the tight timings
Prime wont run for more than 20mins before the torture test errors!
The only time it ran for more than my paience was at 100*10 with 11-3-3-3 timings. even at 166*10 with 11-4-4-3 timings it had rounding errors.

Now i did have the nVidia IDE driver installed for a while (never had a problem with it on my A7N8X-Dlx) but that was rolled back to the microsoft original so it could be that my install is slightly corrupt BUT that doesnt explain the prime issue.

mmm long post

Any suggestions?

GAteKeeper

[Snow-Munki]

hmm strange..

have you tried higher chipset voltages ?

also maybe that's the chips limit.. unlikely but possible ?

oh and i've installed the newest nforce 2 drivers and work fine, including the IDe drivers...

[daniel_owen_uk]

1.8v seems a littel low for 2.5gzh, thats probably your problem (and why prime wont run).

[BUFF]

1.8V in BIOS or as reported by ABITEQ, MBM etc?
NF7's usually undervolt compared to BIOS setting.

[Apex]

Is this the ram i sold you ?

[Shogun]

Want me to come round and have a look at it?

[Flash]

dont forget the NF7S undervolts by 0.05 so 1.8 is more like 1.75

[GAteKeeper]

MMM perhaps I didnt make things clear:

I have tried prime at 166*10 (1.8V bios) 200*5 (1.8V bios) and 200*10 (1.825v bios)

it isnt even stable at what i would call stock (the motherboard has no idea what stock is and nor do i 133*something I think)

Apex - yeah its your ram - dont think its the ram after running into problems at low frequencies and slack timings.

I put the chipset voltage to the max (1.7V bios ithink) before i started playing 'find the stable settings' but i havent volt modded it yet.

Shoogun - sure Y not, got nothing better to do - bring SP2 final with ya if you have it

GAteKeeper

[yamangman]

All I can say is revert everything back to it's stock timings and clocks, and incrementally overclock using Prime95 as a test from there. It's probably 133 * 10 the stock speed for your CPU.

[Shogun]

MMM perhaps I didnt make things clear:

I have tried prime at 166*10 (1.8V bios) 200*5 (1.8V bios) and 200*10 (1.825v bios)

it isnt even stable at what i would call stock (the motherboard has no idea what stock is and nor do i 133*something I think)

Apex - yeah its your ram - dont think its the ram after running into problems at low frequencies and slack timings.

I put the chipset voltage to the max (1.7V bios ithink) before i started playing 'find the stable settings' but i havent volt modded it yet.

Shoogun - sure Y not, got nothing better to do - bring SP2 final with ya if you have it

GAteKeeper

Sure, just contact me on msn the next time you are online

[GAteKeeper]

Right after much hair loss and increased eating of junk food I think I have it 'stable'

I tried the system without anything but the gfx and main HDD - still no joy but since I had the case to bits i started to play with more variables:

I have re-seated the waterblock with some AS2 in place of the AS ceramic and I started to move the memory about: (all tested at 200FSB 12.5 mult 2-2-2-11 timings and 2.9Vdimm, 1.7Vchipset, 2Vcore)

1 DIMM in slot 1 - fails after <5mins
1 DIMM in slot 2 - I stopped it at 23mins without errors - figure this is semi-stable
2 DIMMs in slots 2&3 - been running now for over 30mins still not fallen over!
2 DIMMs in slots 1&3 (original config) - fails after <5mins

Now either I hadnt got the DIMMs seated properly or using slot1 makes the system unstable

Going to give it a good test the start pushing the OC and reducing the core - bit too high for my tastes!

Happier GAteKeeper

[Willy]

I think it was Agent who mentioned a possible instability of the DIMM1 slot on the NF7-S. Saying that though, i'm happily using all three slots without a problem, and did utilise 2DIMMs in both slots 1&3 and 2&3 previously without any problems. I'll have a dig around for you, as im sure I have a link somewhere to more information on this problem.

How long have you had the random crashes?

[GAteKeeper]

Ever since i built the system couple of weeks ago.

Having said that I had fixed the problem it seems thats its back after I put the system back into the case - may have moved the ram or it could be a dodgy mobo.

GK

[acidrainy]

Yeah, I would agree, Ram slots 2 & 3 are the best to use for the dual channel.
Think thats one of the first things you read in the manual


Glad to hear its working now though!

[GAteKeeper]

To cut a long story short:

Fubar Motherboard!

Nice new shiny AN7 and we are cooking with gas again and SCAN are getting a nasty email.

GAteKeeper