Pentium 933 0 flakey with BSOD

[bob_s]

A friend has a problem with A Pentium 933.
I told him to run WCPUID on it.
Here's the results.
Everything looks OK (I'm not a Pentium person), except.......
A 58C reading for the CPU core??????
That sounds real fishy.

Here's what he sent me, any comments welcome:

<snip>

I've spent a few more hours experimenting on the system now.
Here are the results of running WCPUID. (Incidentally, I can't believe
this utility doesn't have an option to save the info as text, only as a
graphics bitmap. Quite bizarre... I had to copy all this down by hand.)

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WCPUID Information:

Processor: Pentium III Brand: 2
Platform: Socket 370 (PGA370 Socket)
Vendor String: GenuineIntel
CPU Type: Original OEM Processor 0
Family: 6 Model: 8 Stepping ID: 6 (Standard)

Internal Clock: 930.95 MHz System Clock: 132.99 MHz
System bus: 132.99 MHz Multiplier: 7.0
L1 I-Cache: 16K L2 Cache: 256K
L1 D-Cache: 16K Full
L2 Speed: 930.95 MHz

MMX: Supported MMX+: Not supported
SSE: Supported 3DNow!: Not supported
SSE2: Not supported 3DNow!+: Not supported

Windows 98 Version 4.10.2222 A

Chipset Info:

Host Bridge:
Vendor 1106 Device 0691 Revision C4 SubSystem 00000000
VIA Apollo Pro133A

South Bridge:
Vendor 1106 Device 0686 Revision 22 Subsystem 06861106
VIA VT82C686A

VGA Device:
Vendor 102B Device 0525 Revision 04 SubSystem 9010102B
Matrox Millenium G400/G450

AGP Spec 2.0 Enabled
Data Rate 1x 2x 4x Command 2x
Fast Write Not supported
4 Gb Addressing Not supported
Side Band Addressing Supported (Enabled)
Graphics Aperture Size: 256 Mb

BIOS Information:
American Megatrends INc
Version String 62710
Release Date 03/15/2001
ROM Size: 256 Kb

Motherboard information:
Gigabyte Technology
Product String 6VX7-4X / 6VX7B-4X
Version String: 1.0

D:*.* S:2.3 V:F
-----------------------------------

I've installed the latest BIOS, video drivers, motherboard drivers,
and IDE bus-mastering drivers from Via (the 4.29 four-in-one driver set).

The current problem is that after a couple of boots, the system will get
itself into a state where it bombs out with a blue screen reporting
an exception at 0028:C00743E5 in VMM. Once this occurs, it's difficult to
get it to vanish on subsequent reboots. I have a saved partition image
which I can restore, and this appears to get rid of it for another couple
of boots. However, I haven't had time to confirm this definitively (each
iteration takes around 20-30 mins to test properly).

I thought I had noticed a pattern where the blue screens happened when
there was a CD-ROM in the drive during bootup, and not when the drive was
empty (I did seven boots in a row that followed this pattern). However,
I've since seen the blue screen even on a bootup with the drive empty, so
I've discounted this for now.

It seems possible, even likely, that the bus mastering drivers are somehow
at fault here. Unfortunately, I have to use them -- this system is for
video editing, and the drives don't operate fast enough in non-bus-master
mode to keep up with incoming video when capturing to disk.

Installed cards are:

- 3COM 3C905C 10/100 ethernet
- Matrox G400 video card + RT2000 capture card
- Soundblaster 16 PCI
- SCSI card for scanner (disabled in Device Manager)

Motherboard audio and modem are disabled in the BIOS.

Installed IDE devices are:

- Dual IBM 60 Gb 75GXP drives running on IDE Primary bus (ATA-66)
- Pioneer DVD and Plextor 8/4/32 CD-RW running on IDE Secondary bus
(ATA-33)

Memory is 512 Mb. (Tried dropping down to 256 Mb without much success.)

I've considered internal temperature as a possible cause of the boot
failures. However, checking the BIOS CPU health screen on a regular basis
shows essentially no variation regardless of whether the system is working
or not: CPU temperature is 58'C while system temperature is 37'C.

Any thoughts welcome. Meanwhile, I'll keep plugging away.

Eddy

<snip>

PS: He's in Ireland, so communication is slow.

Thanks for any insights or help.

Bob S


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Bob S

[ynd69]

58c is way too hot for idle temps. Tell him to get a better HSF, that will definetly help the stability of his system..

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[bob_s]

Originally posted by ynd69:
58c is way too hot for idle temps. Tell him to get a better HSF, that will definetly help the stability of his system..

Yeah.
My first impression was that he didn't have any cooling at all!!!!
Pentiums are supposed to run cooler than Athlons, and it's a 933 not being OC'ed in any way.
I was unsure if that temp was THAT bad, as I understand that some Pentiums have the thermistor right on the die.
But, I know little about INTC stuff.
Except 8088s of course ;-)


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Bob S

[bob_s]

Originally posted by bob_s:
Yeah.
My first impression was that he didn't have any cooling at all!!!!

OK, now he's hotten convinced that he's found a problem with the graphics driver.

Here's what he's sent me.

<snip>

After lots of iterations and comparing of filesystems and files,
I tracked the problem down to a single registry entry: AGPFallback=0.
Apparently the Matrox video driver uses this to control the way
it uses the AGP bus (1x, 2x, 4x mode). If it's unhappy with something,
it will set this back to 0 as it boots. Unfortunately, a value of 0
makes the system crash.

The correct value that makes things work (at least on this motherboard)
is AGPFallback=2, so I've added a line to the AUTOEXEC to force it
to this value whenever it boots. We'll see how well the system
behaves with this in place.

<snip>

Errr.... The registry is something I stay away from at all costs, so I can't help there.
He seems convinced that the registry setting is causing a BSOD at random times.
I still think tht it is temperature.
Does anybody know what the AGPFallback registry entry does????
And whether it could cause this???

thanks,
Bob S


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Bob S

[FaTs]

The way i see it is..

1) The cpu fan is off, P3's will take a hell of a beating before they lockup so that could explain the 1hr or so before the lockups

2) He has a heater next to his computer

3) He needs to reinstall windows...

4) Motherboard could be overheating. And he needs to install some case fans.

Family: 6 Model: 8 Stepping ID: 6 (Standard)

This means it's a cC0 stepping cpu, therefore it isn't a problem with the cpu itself.



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[RPG Junkie]

HOLY SHITE, that is freakin hot, oh yeah whats with the SSE and MMX+ not being supported ???

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PIII 450@630
Gigabyte GA-6VXE+
PC-100 128 RAM
Hercules 3d Prophet 2 MX @ 200/200 /w 7.76 Detonators
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3dMark 2000 score: 4373

A girl once said "Dont look at me in that tone of voice" and that confused me ever since


My system specs at SamMaster's site

http://members.nbci.com/samuelbrunet/rpgj.html

[RPG Junkie]

Have him go to a local Best Buy or something so he can buy himself a cooler for now and then just go to www.millisec.com or something like that and get yourself like a WBK38 or FOP38 cooler. I *think* that they are for all socket370's not just athlons/durons

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PIII 450@630
Gigabyte GA-6VXE+
PC-100 128 RAM
Hercules 3d Prophet 2 MX @ 200/200 /w 7.76 Detonators
Soundblaster 16
3dmark 2001 score: 2105
3dMark 2000 score: 4373

A girl once said "Dont look at me in that tone of voice" and that confused me ever since


My system specs at SamMaster's site

http://members.nbci.com/samuelbrunet/rpgj.html

[bob_s]

Originally posted by RPG Junkie:
HOLY SHITE, that is freakin hot, oh yeah whats with the SSE and MMX+ not being supported ???

I don't know about the SSe and MMX not being supported.
This IS a Pentium 933, afterall.

But, that's hardly the problem.
Now, he tells me:
OBTW, there's no case fan on this thing.
!!!!!!!!
That explains the high temps all around.
37C system temp? Holy Stuff!
HOWEVER,,,,
He's stuck on this AGPFAST thing being the cause of the problem.
I've said that it is an artifact, not the REAl problem, but..... there's no convincing some people.
Anyways, one more piece of advice to get WAYYYYY better cooling, and I'm done with it.

Bob S


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Bob S

[FaTs]

Originally posted by bob_s:
I don't know about the SSe and MMX not being supported.
This IS a Pentium 933, afterall.

But, that's hardly the problem.
Now, he tells me:
OBTW, there's no case fan on this thing.
!!!!!!!!
That explains the high temps all around.
37C system temp? Holy Stuff!
HOWEVER,,,,
He's stuck on this AGPFAST thing being the cause of the problem.
I've said that it is an artifact, not the REAl problem, but..... there's no convincing some people.
Anyways, one more piece of advice to get WAYYYYY better cooling, and I'm done with it.

Bob S

OMG hahahahahaha

A cpu fan does usally help


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