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[Erthe]

Ok, been struggling with this one for a few days now and as there is a lot of computer knowledge floating around in this great site of ours I thought I would ask for help.

I am upgrading 3 family PC's and decided to put AMD 64x2 4600 chips in them with new motherboards and RAM. I bought the gear for them and decided to spend yesterday and today building them.
Well I built 2 of them with no problems at all. Installed XP and they run like a dream  

But the 3rd system.....it is a nightmare. It is identical to the one I am using myself (and as you can see from the fact that I am posting it works ok). Same power supply, case, graphics etc etc..the only difference being that I am using a SATA HDD on mine and an IDE 80GB on the other.

When I try to install XP it sometimes will crash at random spots and just reboot itself. I have managed a complete install but then find that it wont open device manager or random other programs etc....very unstable.
I have installed to the IDE HDD on this machine and all seemed well, tranfered said HDD to the other machine and I get the instability again very soon. I have tried various HDD and just about every combination possible to try an eliminate what the fault could be....but no joy.

My PC knowledge is very limited when it gets this far in and I am at a loss to figure what is going wrong  

Worse still this is S.W.M.B.O's PC that we are talking about...she is not a happy bunny!!

My thoughts (please ignore the ignorance of a non tech mind)

1)   Could it be XP related? using SP1 but a 64x2 chip? (32 bit as opposed to 64bit)
2)   Could it be the IDE HDD? (although it seemed to work in my pc)
3)   Could it be an instability on the motherboard? How could I tell?
4)   Could it be that I should throw the PC out and concentrate on my Omega instead?

Any advice would be appreciated as I really dont have a clue   :-/

Dave

[TheBoy]

Welcome to naff AMD stuff  

Seriously, look for IDE driver....

[Erthe]

So your thoughts are that IDE drivers would help stabalise the system? how would that help with the initial install? or do I just use trial and error till I actually get a working instalation (however unstable) and then update IDE drivers?

Sorry if I am being thick  :-/

[TheBoy]

So your thoughts are that IDE drivers would help stabalise the system? how would that help with the initial install? or do I just use trial and error till I actually get a working instalation (however unstable) and then update IDE drivers?

Sorry if I am being thick  :-/

First bit of install, during text mode, where screen first goes blue, press F6 so install other disk drivers....

[Taxi_Driver]

Welcome to naff AMD stuff  

Seriously, look for IDE driver....

have you found Sammy yet TB? Might be needed  

[TheBoy]

Welcome to naff AMD stuff  

Seriously, look for IDE driver....

have you found Sammy yet TB? Might be needed  

I think Sammy has run away, never to return  

[Erthe]

Sammy was a definate option earlier today!

Thx, will try that   (the F6 option ofc)

[Taxi_Driver]

Welcome to naff AMD stuff  

Seriously, look for IDE driver....

have you found Sammy yet TB? Might be needed  

I think Sammy has run away, never to return  

 

[Ken T]

You might want to try using an IDE HD instead of SATA. I have been using AMD processors for many years, and they have always worked great. I use several Asus A7V8X MBD's and they have all been fine, until I added a SATA drive to one. It should work, but has been unreliable. Its not the drive, its the add-on SATA interface to the standard motherboard chipset that is not reliable/fully developed. With PC's sometimes the idea of testing one bit at a time helps, then add another part and test for a while. I recently found some laptops using INTEL processors were crashing because the processor heatsink compound was spread on too thick (INTEL processors tend to run very hot). If you can fit a small IDE HD, load up some OS and run it for 24 hrs then this shows that this configuration is working OK. Then add another part and do same again, until you reach the stage where it starts to fall over.

[Andy B]

Welcome to naff AMD stuff  

Seriously, look for IDE driver....

have you found Sammy yet TB? Might be needed  

Erthe's post lost me by the end of the first sentance, :-? so Sammy would definitely been by first choice of weapon!  

[TheBoy]

You might want to try using an IDE HD instead of SATA. I have been using AMD processors for many years, and they have always worked great. I use several Asus A7V8X MBD's and they have all been fine, until I added a SATA drive to one. It should work, but has been unreliable. Its not the drive, its the add-on SATA interface to the standard motherboard chipset that is not reliable/fully developed. With PC's sometimes the idea of testing one bit at a time helps, then add another part and test for a while. I recently found some laptops using INTEL processors were crashing because the processor heatsink compound was spread on too thick (INTEL processors tend to run very hot). If you can fit a small IDE HD, load up some OS and run it for 24 hrs then this shows that this configuration is working OK. Then add another part and do same again, until you reach the stage where it starts to fall over.

I think he was using IDE. The one using SATA was stable.

Intel processors, esp the current crop, run cooler than equiv AMD.  It was the P4D about 4yrs ago that run hot, much improved in P4E. The P4E in my MCE is cool enough to be (nearly) passively cooled, using just the airflow from PSU. Core range chips, much cooler.

[Erthe]

Yeah, SATA is stable....just the IDE that is giving me grief...

Still struggling now  

Question is, what is the next move? new MB? New SATA HDD?

Having already purchased the CPU and MB I need to get this running but without too much more outlay.
If playing with the IDE drivers does not work, what do you suggest?

[TheBoy]

Yeah, SATA is stable....just the IDE that is giving me grief...

Still struggling now  

Question is, what is the next move? new MB? New SATA HDD?

Having already purchased the CPU and MB I need to get this running but without too much more outlay.
If playing with the IDE drivers does not work, what do you suggest?

Contact the supplier, stating issues. They may try to fob you off to manufacturer, but ensure they give you a proper contact....

Worth checking that the drive settign matches the cable - then often supply Cable Select IDE cables with new mobos now. That wrong can cause instability.

SATA may be best option though, smaller cables help with cooling.

[Erthe]

Well I shall get hold of them tomorow morning and play hell

If your confident that it should not be a motherboard problem (you will not be quoted hehe)
then I will probably just order a new SATA HDD.

Thx for the advice, much appreciated  

[TheBoy]

Well I shall get hold of them tomorow morning and play hell

If your confident that it should not be a motherboard problem (you will not be quoted hehe)
then I will probably just order a new SATA HDD.

Thx for the advice, much appreciated  

Hang on, did that IDE disk build ok in an identical motherboard OK?