Yes, it's another 'please help' from me, sorry :(

[tensim]

Don't worry chaps, I'm as annoyed as you (may be) with my frequent questions! But you're all so damn helpful and I'm having so many problems Probably all of my own making, perhaps...

Anyhoo, I've sorted out my optical drive issue, just replaced the two Samsungs with a new Optiarc, it's working fine (for now). At the same time I added in another 2 x 2GB of RAM (taking me up to 6GB, since 1 of my original 2GB sticks seems to be faulty... well, I get a BSOD when i try to boot with it in there ) First question then, is there a problem with having 3 sticks of RAM (ie. an uneven number of DIMM's being used?)

Second question, for some reason my CPU fan now won't spin up to full speed of 1300RPM... it just spins around at between 180-240RPM... it was working fine until I added the new drive and RAM.

I've checked in the BIOS and I don't have Fan EQ enabled for this fan, so it shouldn't be that. If I plug it into another AUX fan point it spins up to full speed no problems, so I don't think it's that the fan is broken, it's just that the CPU fan header is somehow set for the wrong speed...

BTW, I've downloaded Speedfan and it's showing all my fans running at 0RPM for some reason (they're definitely spinning ) Everest reports them fine though. Any ideas on why Speedfan isn't?

Finally, I have been paying around with overclocking the CPU (I've switched everything back to default now, don't worry ). One thing I've found with my CPU is that it's VID when set to auto is 1.325 and to get it anywhere above 3GHZ (like 8 x 400) I have to bump this up to 1.35V... does this mean I have a poor chip?

Cheers all, I do appreciate your help, one of these days I might actually learn enough to be able to answer other peoples questions on here!

[peterb]

===snip====

Finally, I have been paying around with overclocking the CPU (I've switched everything back to default now, don't worry ). One thing I've found with my CPU is that it's VID when set to auto is 1.325 and to get it anywhere above 3GHZ (like 8 x 400) I have to bump this up to 1.35V... does this mean I have a poor chip?

=====snip=====

No - you have a chip that is guaranteed to work at a stated speed at a stated voltage. Anything outside that is not guaranteed and you are on your own!

Can't help with the other bits, but unless you are using a 64 bit OS it is pointless having more than 4GB of RAM

[tensim]

Howdy peterb... ya, I get that I'm playing outside the guaranteed range of the chip, but reading around the interweb (and this forum) it seems that I'm having to go to quite a high voltage to get a relatively modest OC... I can't get anywhere near 3.6ghz, pc just crashes every time ah well, I am happ y with 3-3.2ghz as this makes a noticeable improvement to the system.

Now if I can just get my fan to work properly again!

[TAKTAK]

Howdy peterb... ya, I get that I'm playing outside the guaranteed range of the chip, but reading around the interweb (and this forum) it seems that I'm having to go to quite a high voltage to get a relatively modest OC... I can't get anywhere near 3.6ghz, pc just crashes every time ah well, I am happ y with 3-3.2ghz as this makes a noticeable improvement to the system.

Now if I can just get my fan to work properly again!

it's because not all CPUs are made equally () this means that some are better than others at overclocking etc..

[tensim]

Hmmmm.... seem to have sorted my fan problem. Just did a 'deep' reset of the mobo (taking the battery out, switching the jumper etc). Reboot and all is fine now... aaargh I hate this computer stuff, I have no idea why things happen!

Goes to show that the old IT adage of 'have you tried turning it off' really does work But why though???

ciao for now