Computer crashing

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jpdubay

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I just recently upgaded to an Athlon 2500 and my friends configured it to run faster. Whenever I run Sonar, the CPU usage goes up to 100% and the thing crashes after a while. This happens for other non audio programs too. I used to have a Pentium II and cakewalk ran on that fine. I realize this is more of a computer problem than an audio problem, but can anyone help?
 
They probably overclocked it.

If you want to go faster, buy a faster processor. If you want to hack with it, then overclock.

Yes, I know there are a lot of folks who over clock sucessfully. There are even more folks who successfuly run at box stock speeds.
 
I figured they overclocked it but i've read on this page that a lot of people have been running with this processor and their computers handle it fine
 
Depends how far they overclocked and what quality of memory. Lots of factors can cause a crash. You can go into the BIOS by hitting the delete key. Different mainboards have the settings in different places. You mainly wanna look for the CPU FSB. You probably don't want to overclock more than 185 MHz FSB without good memory and cooling. Some Bartons can go higher, but all the ones I've seen will run 185 FSB without problems.
I upped my 2500+ tonight to 190 FSB by upping the vcore volatege to 1.7. But I just got some CL2 PC3500 DDR. 2 hours of Video gaming and it's working great so far. Spent about 45 minutes messing with acid without problems as well.

Anyway, as long as they didn't they didn't go any higher than 185 FSB, check the memory settings in the BIOS. If you have PC2700 or DDR333 then you'll probably have to loosen the timings a bunch or run a .8 to 1 mem/FSB ratio. If they did go beyond 185 I'd turn it down a little or add some voltage if the CPU is idling less than 123 F or so. At 190 FSB my OC'd 2500+ is now sitting at 122 F idle after some case mods via dremel tool.

Dremel tools are really fun BTW.. :)

Try this, assuming PC2700 CL2.5 DDR:

Go into BIOS (hit the delete key during preboot POST)

Set the CPU FSB to 180 MHz
1. Leave the CPU voltage at 1.65v
2. Set the mem voltage to 2.6v
3. Set the mem timings to 6,4,4 CL3 or
.8 DDR to 1 CPU ratio at 6,3,3 CL2.5

GO back into the BIOS after a reboot and check the CPU idle temp. Should certainly be less than 125 F with these settings.
 
Thanks I'll have my friends that overclocked it try that out. I'm still a little confused because I ran a search and there were lots of people that are running the same processor and motherboard (Asus A7N8X-X) and they seem to be running ok even without overclocking. As I mentioned before I ran the same programs on an ancient Pentium II with 64 mb of ram and it NEVER crashed.
 
You right... Really, you don't need to overclock unless you're doing some 50+ track song with tons of plugins.... Could try to run it at norma speed and I'm sure it will be fine. I overclock because it's free speed.... as long as the computer can play games or record for hours on end without any probs.
 
thanks Daffy- just ran it at normal speed and its doing fine- until that 50 th track :)
 
i guess they never check for stability when the OC it, that 2500 barton should do 2.2 easily one way or another, stock votage or 1.8V wut ever but it should hit 2.2.
 
I got mine to 2.2 GHz by fabbing a 4" fan running 5v (low speed) and mounting it by the heatsink to get more cold air into the case. Then I upped the Vcore to 1.85. CPU health showed 1.81v so it's possible my Leadtek Nforce2 is undervolting a tad... It idled around 122 F which is good for that much voltage, but I was still kinda spooked by all the juice so I lowered it back to 1.7v at 190 FSB. Idles at 118 F now after moving the cd IDE cable out of the way so it gets a little more air on the heatsink.... Mine's an older unlocked chip that supposedly increases the odds of 2.2 GHz, but it wasn't running solid unless I really cranked up the voltage. I think 180-185 FSB is a nice safe overclock for the 2500+ though. They way I test after I make a change is run memtest86 to check for memory errors, then I run 3Dmark01. If it passes I'll run it a few more times. If it makes it thorough 3Dmark 01 several times without probs I leave it. Then run it for a few days and see how it works. So far 190 at 1.7v is solid and I've been using the machine a ton for the past 2 days with no crashes...
 
i have had similar problems with my p.c as well .Barton core 2500+ ,msi board with invidia chipsets. turned out that the memory was shot. worked great for a month then overnite it puked. do a memeory check ,look for stride 6 errors .

mine was working fine then it would go black and reboot. it would do this 8 times in a row then it would work fine for a night, i would not shut the computer down and the next morning it would be rebooted again.

also check your power supply. if it is the same one that you used in your pentium it probably wont be enough.
 
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