Processor speed and booting

On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 19:43:16 -0700, Denny Wheeler
<dennyw.DeleteThis@TANSTAAFL.zipcon.net.INVALID> wrote:

 >On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 14:06:48 -0500, ghordy <spam.DeleteThis@no.soup.for.you>
 >wrote:
 >
  >>I've got a KT-400 with a 2000+ running XPsp1 and there's a strange
  >>problem with the processor speeds. If I do a cold boot the processor
  >>speed shows correctly in the system properties of control panel as
  >>1.67 GHz.. If I restart the system (warm reboot) it'll show the speed
  >>as half and the system is sluggish. If I shut down the system totally
  >>and wait a few minutes then turn it on, it's back to normal. I've
  >>checked the capacitors and they look and smell okay. I'm suspecting
  >>the power supply. Is there something else I should check? I'm a little
  >>vexed with this.
 >
 >What PS? What total load on it?

It's a cheapo 320 watt that came with the case. The load I would think
is light... just a couple hard drives and a CD-ROM. The board has been
working flawlessly for nearly two years and powered on constantly for
that time also. I checked the BIOS settings and they're correct. It
has 512 MB of PC2700 RAM running at 333 MHz (DDR). The system runs
fine from a cold boot. I can even have a session of UT2003 without
incident. It's just that if I restart, the OS then thinks it's a 800
MHz processor and reacts accordingly. Only from a cold boot will it
work right. Beats the hell outta me!
--
rgds,
ghordy<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Processor speed and booting 

ghordy <spam.TakeThisOut@no.soup.for.you> wrote in
news:9a2igvg37rprhkq0kb9k11vv2c4eo09o13@4ax.com:

 > On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 19:43:16 -0700, Denny Wheeler
 > <dennyw.TakeThisOut@TANSTAAFL.zipcon.net.INVALID> wrote:
 >
  >>On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 14:06:48 -0500, ghordy <spam.TakeThisOut@no.soup.for.you>
  >>wrote:
  >>
   >>>I've got a KT-400 with a 2000+ running XPsp1 and there's a strange
   >>>problem with the processor speeds. If I do a cold boot the processor
   >>>speed shows correctly in the system properties of control panel as
   >>>1.67 GHz.. If I restart the system (warm reboot) it'll show the speed
   >>>as half and the system is sluggish...
  >>
  >>What PS? What total load on it?
 >
 > It's a cheapo 320 watt that came with the case. The load I would think
 > is light... just a couple hard drives and a CD-ROM. The board has been
 > working flawlessly for nearly two years and powered on constantly for
 > that time also...
 > --
 > rgds,
 > ghordy
 >

It could well be the power supply if it is several years old: the older
supplies were designed to provide the most current on the 5 volt rail.
The newer XP+ AMD chips and Pentium IV's require the current from the 12
volt rail instead. I have to replace my supply also when moving to an
XP+. It provided adequate current at 5 volts, but is limited to only 9
A. at 12 V. You want one that is "Pentium IV" certified and that can
provide a clean 20 A. minimum at 12 V.

--
Dennis Roark

denro.TakeThisOut@earthlink.net
Starting Points:
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.home.earthlink.net/~denro" target="_blank">www.home.earthlink.net/~denro</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Processor speed and booting 

The power supply thing is something to look at. Also, I beleive there was a
firmware upgrade that may deal with lost bios settings.
Joe
"Dennis Roark" <denro DeleteThis @NSPAMearthlink.net> wrote in message
news:Xns93B170FF94773denroearthlinknet@207.217.77.21...
 > ghordy <spam DeleteThis @no.soup.for.you> wrote in
 > news:9a2igvg37rprhkq0kb9k11vv2c4eo09o13@4ax.com:
 >
  > > On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 19:43:16 -0700, Denny Wheeler
  > > <dennyw DeleteThis @TANSTAAFL.zipcon.net.INVALID> wrote:
  > >
   > >>On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 14:06:48 -0500, ghordy <spam DeleteThis @no.soup.for.you>
   > >>wrote:
   > >>
   > >>>I've got a KT-400 with a 2000+ running XPsp1 and there's a strange
   > >>>problem with the processor speeds. If I do a cold boot the processor
   > >>>speed shows correctly in the system properties of control panel as
   > >>>1.67 GHz.. If I restart the system (warm reboot) it'll show the speed
   > >>>as half and the system is sluggish...
   > >>
   > >>What PS? What total load on it?
  > >
  > > It's a cheapo 320 watt that came with the case. The load I would think
  > > is light... just a couple hard drives and a CD-ROM. The board has been
  > > working flawlessly for nearly two years and powered on constantly for
  > > that time also...
  > > --
  > > rgds,
  > > ghordy
  > >
 >
 > It could well be the power supply if it is several years old: the older
 > supplies were designed to provide the most current on the 5 volt rail.
 > The newer XP+ AMD chips and Pentium IV's require the current from the 12
 > volt rail instead. I have to replace my supply also when moving to an
 > XP+. It provided adequate current at 5 volts, but is limited to only 9
 > A. at 12 V. You want one that is "Pentium IV" certified and that can
 > provide a clean 20 A. minimum at 12 V.
 >
 > --
 > Dennis Roark
 >
 > denro DeleteThis @earthlink.net
 > Starting Points:
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.home.earthlink.net/~denro</font" target="_blank">www.home.earthlink.net/~denro</font</a>><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Processor speed and booting 

On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 16:03:58 GMT, Dennis Roark
<denro.TakeThisOut@NSPAMearthlink.net> wrote:

  >> It's a cheapo 320 watt that came with the case. The load I would think
  >> is light... just a couple hard drives and a CD-ROM. The board has been
  >> working flawlessly for nearly two years and powered on constantly for
  >> that time also...
  >> --
  >> rgds,
  >> ghordy
  >>
 >
 >It could well be the power supply if it is several years old: the older
 >supplies were designed to provide the most current on the 5 volt rail.
 >The newer XP+ AMD chips and Pentium IV's require the current from the 12
 >volt rail instead. I have to replace my supply also when moving to an
 >XP+. It provided adequate current at 5 volts, but is limited to only 9
 >A. at 12 V. You want one that is "Pentium IV" certified and that can
 >provide a clean 20 A. minimum at 12 V.

Thanks for the replies! I'll swap out the PS to see if that doesn't
take care of matters. I'll post the results. Thanks again!
--
rgds,
ghordy<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Processor speed and booting 

This is pretty interesting. I have a Dragon Plus! board I've been running
with an Athlon XP 1700+ since January 2002. It's worked just
fine--flawlessly. Until about six months ago, when I started getting random
reboots due to varying types of bugchecks.

For the longest time, I thought it was bad memory, since memtest would
return errors in test #5. I've finally discovered that the problem only
comes when I resume from a suspend-to-ram (S3) sleep. In that case, the CPU
voltage is down to 1.48V from its normal 1.76V, and the processor is running
at about 1180 instead of 1459.

In this situation, I do exactly what you do--cold boot. When it restarts,
it's rock solid. I'm running an Antec 300W power supply, by the way. I've
sent for one of those extra-quiet Sonata cases with the built-in 380W PS,
but I'm not sure it'll help this problem.

I sent an inquiry to Soyo technical support about a week ago, and of course
I haven't heard--nor do I expect to.


"ghordy" <spam DeleteThis @no.soup.for.you> wrote in message
news:g4sggv0qnf4n367f9o47jfc2mfjs598d95@4ax.com...
 > I've got a KT-400 with a 2000+ running XPsp1 and there's a strange
 > problem with the processor speeds. If I do a cold boot the processor
 > speed shows correctly in the system properties of control panel as
 > 1.67 GHz.. If I restart the system (warm reboot) it'll show the speed
 > as half and the system is sluggish. If I shut down the system totally
 > and wait a few minutes then turn it on, it's back to normal. I've
 > checked the capacitors and they look and smell okay. I'm suspecting
 > the power supply. Is there something else I should check? I'm a little
 > vexed with this.
 > --
 > rgds,
 > ghordy<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Processor speed and booting 

"Cat Carson" <medeaton.DeleteThis@nospam.yifan.net> wrote in message news:<2ZsOa.9386$iG6.6573398@news3.news.adelphia.net>...
 > For the longest time, I thought it was bad memory, since memtest would
 > return errors in test #5. I've finally discovered that the problem only
 > comes when I resume from a suspend-to-ram (S3) sleep. In that case, the CPU
 > voltage is down to 1.48V from its normal 1.76V, and the processor is running
 > at about 1180 instead of 1459.

As I recall, the memtest docs say that it isn't unusual to see
random and sporadic errors in test #5, this in systems that don't
show any memory-related symptoms. The manual seems to say 'this
isn't great, kind of should be fixed, but seems to usually be
harmless in real life.'

Greg<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Processor speed and booting 

Greg,

I'm sure that's true; but I think it *is* telling that I only get those
memtest errors when the voltage and CPU speed are unnaturally low. And I
only get the random reboots under those conditions, too.

I would think low vcore is a condition that could easily cause lockups and
reboots (and eventually damage components). I just wish I could get Soyo to
tell me whether this is a BIOS microcode issue, or a power supply issue.

"Greg B" <greg.RemoveThis@bullough.org> wrote in message
news:63ac2e63.0307080649.1b914be1@posting.google.com...
 > "Cat Carson" <medeaton.RemoveThis@nospam.yifan.net> wrote in message
news:<2ZsOa.9386$iG6.6573398@news3.news.adelphia.net>...
  > > For the longest time, I thought it was bad memory, since memtest would
  > > return errors in test #5. I've finally discovered that the problem only
  > > comes when I resume from a suspend-to-ram (S3) sleep. In that case, the
CPU
  > > voltage is down to 1.48V from its normal 1.76V, and the processor is
running
  > > at about 1180 instead of 1459.
 >
 > As I recall, the memtest docs say that it isn't unusual to see
 > random and sporadic errors in test #5, this in systems that don't
 > show any memory-related symptoms. The manual seems to say 'this
 > isn't great, kind of should be fixed, but seems to usually be
 > harmless in real life.'
 >
 > Greg<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Processor speed and booting 

Just to follow up...it's not a power supply problem. I moved everything into
a case with an Antec 380 True Power PS. I still have the same problem with
low vcore after resume from suspend.

Is anyone from Soyo reading this? Is this a known problem?

"Cat Carson" <medeaton RemoveThis @nospam.yifan.net> wrote in message
news:gxBOa.9407$iG6.6676604@news3.news.adelphia.net...
 > Greg,
 >
 > I'm sure that's true; but I think it *is* telling that I only get those
 > memtest errors when the voltage and CPU speed are unnaturally low. And I
 > only get the random reboots under those conditions, too.
 >
 > I would think low vcore is a condition that could easily cause lockups and
 > reboots (and eventually damage components). I just wish I could get Soyo
to
 > tell me whether this is a BIOS microcode issue, or a power supply issue.
 >
 > "Greg B" <greg RemoveThis @bullough.org> wrote in message
 > news:63ac2e63.0307080649.1b914be1@posting.google.com...
  > > "Cat Carson" <medeaton RemoveThis @nospam.yifan.net> wrote in message
 > news:<2ZsOa.9386$iG6.6573398@news3.news.adelphia.net>...
   > > > For the longest time, I thought it was bad memory, since memtest would
   > > > return errors in test #5. I've finally discovered that the problem
only
   > > > comes when I resume from a suspend-to-ram (S3) sleep. In that case,
the
 > CPU
   > > > voltage is down to 1.48V from its normal 1.76V, and the processor is
 > running
   > > > at about 1180 instead of 1459.
  > >
  > > As I recall, the memtest docs say that it isn't unusual to see
  > > random and sporadic errors in test #5, this in systems that don't
  > > show any memory-related symptoms. The manual seems to say 'this
  > > isn't great, kind of should be fixed, but seems to usually be
  > > harmless in real life.'
  > >
  > > Greg
 >
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Processor speed and booting 

In article <eQUOa.9519$iG6.6875318@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
medeaton DeleteThis @nospam.yifan.net says...

 > Just to follow up...it's not a power supply problem. I moved everything into
 > a case with an Antec 380 True Power PS. I still have the same problem with
 > low vcore after resume from suspend.

Which Dragon Plus board do you have? Have you updated to the latest BIOS
for the board?

Doug<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Processor speed and booting 

On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 14:06:48 -0500, ghordy <spam DeleteThis @no.soup.for.you>
wrote:

 >I've got a KT-400 with a 2000+ running XPsp1 and there's a strange
 >problem with the processor speeds. If I do a cold boot the processor
 >speed shows correctly in the system properties of control panel as
 >1.67 GHz.. If I restart the system (warm reboot) it'll show the speed
 >as half and the system is sluggish. If I shut down the system totally
 >and wait a few minutes then turn it on, it's back to normal. I've
 >checked the capacitors and they look and smell okay. I'm suspecting
 >the power supply. Is there something else I should check? I'm a little
 >vexed with this.

Well, I picked up an Antec 350w Smart Power (it ain't true but it's
smart), and it seems to have corrected the problem. I've re-booted the
system a dozen or more times since Saturday, and the processor speed
is reported correctly in the system properties. This is one of those
weird problems that you can't figure out. I could bash my head against
the wall doing BIOS upgrades, checking memory, replacing the battery,
etc., and it turns out to be this! Kinda like the time when I spilled
a little bit of beer in my keyboard without knowing...
--
rgds,
ghordy<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Processor speed and booting