Unstable?
 

I have recently built myself up a new system. (BartonXP 2500+, Legend 512 ddr400, MSI K7N2 Delta L, GeCube Radeon 9550XT) Anyway so i used to run prime95 on my P3 system and it ran well. But now i keep getting the same error over and over again dueing the first blend test. Something about 0.5 was expecting 0.4blahblah. My Cpu ain't overheating as MBM5 reports it at 38C odd degrees.

Whats going on? All the equipment is brand new, no unknown brand crap.
Any Ideas?

Geoff

Try getting the most recent BIOS update. Then the most recent device drivers. Then do Memtest on your Ram.

If overclocked, make stock.

Ok i check on another post with similar effects and the reply said to disable External L2 Cache in the bios. My bios only says External Cache (so i'm not sure if this is both L1 & L2 or what) so i disabled it. Then the error changed from 0.5 expected 0.4blahblah to 0.48blahblahblah expected 0.4blahblah.

I'm go try the drivers and updated thing. But if anyone can think of something else please say so.

Thankx

Went to MSI and i've already got the lastest bios and drivers. I'll still go try the memtest when i get home.

Anyother ideas?

Ok heres the update. I ended up not having the lastest bios update so i did that and i ran a memory test using memtest86 (all test). I passed the memory test with flying colours. But still no happiness with the blend test in Prime95 2.

Try lowering the overclock (or underclock it). Try slower memory settings (CAS, RAS, etc). Try increasing the voltage slightly. Try running the in-place and small FFT test instead of the blend test.

Letting us know what works and doesn't work might help us figure out which part isn't working right.

Ok i just upgraded my cpu again from 2.5 to 3.0 so here are my specs and errors:

AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 333fsb Barton
Coolermaster CP5-6J31C (max 54C, idle 38C)
MSI K7N2 Delta L, bios 5.8 (lastest)
Gecube Ati Radeon 9550XT 128mb
Western Digital 80gig 8mb ATA100
IBM 15gig (very old) ATA66
LG 52x32x52x16 Combo Drive
Procase with 300Watt PSU (I think)
Windows XP Pro SP1
Prime95 23.8.1

System is running stock with memory timings on auto (8,3,3,3)
Small FFT torture test: Run stable for 10hours.
Large FFT or Blend test: Error after 1 minute.
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4

After disabling External Cache in bios, i still get the same error.
After under clocking my system to 200fsb with standard multiplier, i still get the same error.
I have used Memtest86 and run stable with all tests on for 10 hours.

Try the torture test in the safe mode (I mean, restart Windows in safe-mode and run the test). If it passes, then the problem must be with the drivers. It could be also the PSU (300W might be too little for such a system, or the PSU isn't good enough).

Update your device drivers also.

If you can get another motherboard, try that. It could be the motherboard's chipset is starting to fail.

Disable Fast Writes; Try with AGP4X only

If your machine continues to be unstable, you might consider trial-factoring. A fast Athlon processor like yours would be a great addition to any factoring project, such as LMH or regular TF. I have two machines with Athlon processors (a 900Mhz Athlon and an Athlon64 3000+), and these two machines have saved GIMPS several thousand years of LL testing by finding factors, even though they have only done TF for a total of two years. While TF doesn't carry with it the same prestige as LL testing, it is still an invaluable part of the process.