Unstable Shuttle SN45G - advice?

[ruppy666]

Hi all,

Hoping someone may be able to help me. I bought & built a shuttle a few months ago, specs:

Nforce2 Ultra
AthlonXP 3200 400Mhz FSB
2 x 512 Mb Crucial DDR 400Mhz
Maxtor 120 Gb
Lite-on CDRW
GF3 Ti200 64Mb
200 Watt PSU
XP Pro

I had serious grief getting the PC to run at stock speeds and after much fiddling finally sorted it by up'ing the voltage to 1.75. Understandably it now runs quite hot (48-56 oC) - not exactly the quiet PC I hoped for. I have assumed up until now that the 200 W psu wasn't up to it (even Shuttle claim the SN45G supports it). So I've just purchased a 250 W silentx and also upgraded the graphics to a Gainward FX5900Xt ultra GS/1100. Fitted them last night & also reinstalled XP Pro. I hoped that would solve the problems, however, the processor still needs at least 1.725 V to boot to XP, so I guess not.
Previously I've ran memcheck for 4 hours with no errors, so it's not the memory.

Symptoms with voltage set to auto (or lower that that stated above) are failure to startup, with the PC resetting just before the login window appears.
Any ideas? Is it a bad chip? Or too power hungry?

I've seen a few articles on using Athlon XP-M 2500s in PCs as they are low voltage & unlocked. I'm beginning to wonder if I should throw in another £70
and try one of these (the missus would do her nut though!)

It's really pi**ing me off, especially as even when running at the higher voltage, the PC will lock up during games.
e.g. I got Battlefield Vietnam & updated the Graphics drivers as required. Bf:V crashed frequently, sometimes to desktop, sometimes freezing PC. I figured it was the game as there were lots of reports of this, although my GPU at the time was a paltry GF3 Ti200. Recently patched it and even with the new 5900XT it still freezes or crashes to desktop....
have the same problem with Americas Army and Steam Games (DoD, CS etc..).

Any ideas much appreciated....want any more info, let me know.

Cheers,

R

p.s. I have the latest nvidia software IDE driver (and system drivers) installed and for while wondered if it was to do with those....

[Flash]

get a multimeter on that mate to ensure the PSU is giving you solid rails, even though you changed this it could be a issue motherboard side.

[ruppy666]

Thx,

errrr....ok, I have a multi-meter, but it's been 4 years since I went on the hardware support course teling me what to do with it!

I need to stick it down one of the power couplings right?

Any hints appreciated!

Ta,

R

[ruppy666]

Well,

I've now resorted to underclocking to get stability....CPU now idenities as an XP2500, with 166FSB set. I'm petty sure I can get it up a little higher without increasing the voltage, but it's fair to say I'm not best pleased.
Still played BF:V for 4 hours last night with no probs!

Laters,

R