Help with Prime95 result

[iangreen]

I've been having a lot of trouble with a new build (I thought it was an XP problem but I think it's more serious). I started a thread in the operating systems forum a few days ago regarding the BSOD after installing SP2. Since then I've re-installed XP Pro, installed Via 4in1.53 and DirectX9. When I installed the ATI drivers I got the BSOD or a message saying that no ATI driver was installed. So, I've uninstalled the ATI drivers and Control Centre (they were in Add/Remove programs even though they weren't detected on startup) and I've run Driver Cleaner.

I then run Prime95, the results are below. The first Fatal Error was for the blend test, the second for small FFTs and the third for In-place large FFTs. Sadly, none of it means anything to me, I was hoping that somebody here could translate what it means to a newbie. Thanks in advance.

By the way, I've run 27 cycles of Memtest86 overnight with no errors reported, so I don't think it's the RAM.


[Thu Jan 01 03:01:57 2004]
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
[Thu Jan 01 03:18:28 2004]
FATAL ERROR: Resulting sum was 4824770274528982, expected: 4783911357986830
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
[Thu Jan 01 03:27:24 2004]
FATAL ERROR: Resulting sum was 2.127499356798022e+016, expected: 2.149919008690115e+016
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
Compare your results to other computers at http://www.mersenne.org/bench.htm
That web page also contains instructions on how your results can be included.

AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2800+
CPU speed: 2104.42 MHz
CPU features: RDTSC, CMOV, PREFETCH, MMX, SSE
L1 cache size: 64 KB
L2 cache size: 512 KB
L1 cache line size: 64 bytes
L2 cache line size: 64 bytes
L1 TLBS: 32
L2 TLBS: 256
Prime95 version 23.8, RdtscTiming=1
Best time for 384K FFT length: 30.789 ms.
Best time for 448K FFT length: 35.879 ms.
Best time for 512K FFT length: 38.418 ms.
Best time for 640K FFT length: 50.505 ms.
Best time for 768K FFT length: 60.140 ms.
Best time for 896K FFT length: 71.569 ms.
Best time for 1024K FFT length: 79.827 ms.
Best time for 1280K FFT length: 108.591 ms.
Best time for 1536K FFT length: 126.319 ms.
Best time for 1792K FFT length: 156.614 ms.
Best time for 2048K FFT length: 169.114 ms.
[Thu Jan 01 03:33:40 2004]
Compare your results to other computers at http://www.mersenne.org/bench.htm
That web page also contains instructions on how your results can be included.

AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2800+
CPU speed: 2104.60 MHz
CPU features: RDTSC, CMOV, PREFETCH, MMX, SSE
L1 cache size: 64 KB
L2 cache size: 512 KB
L1 cache line size: 64 bytes
L2 cache line size: 64 bytes
L1 TLBS: 32
L2 TLBS: 256
Prime95 version 23.8, RdtscTiming=1
Best time for 384K FFT length: 30.781 ms.
Best time for 448K FFT length: 35.647 ms.
Best time for 512K FFT length: 38.391 ms.
Best time for 640K FFT length: 50.639 ms.
Best time for 768K FFT length: 60.442 ms.
Best time for 896K FFT length: 72.147 ms.
Best time for 1024K FFT length: 80.022 ms.
Best time for 1280K FFT length: 108.526 ms.
Best time for 1536K FFT length: 126.744 ms.
Best time for 1792K FFT length: 155.821 ms.
Best time for 2048K FFT length: 166.877 ms.

[mrmister1]

Did you have any problems before installing SP2

[iangreen]

I have not yet installed SP2 for this fresh install.

[Redfallon]

Is it overclocked? Even if you didn't overclock it, did it detect all the correct settings for the CPU?

[mrmister1]

Check the BIOS as Redfallon said.

It may also be a problem with the motherboard.

[iangreen]

Thanks for the replies. CPU isn't overclocked, although when I first went in to the BIOS it was detected as a 2500 (it's labelled as a 2800). I will try running it at 2.5Ghz, if that doesn't work I've got an Asrock K7VT4A motherboard I can try everything in.

[sigmaseven]

dude, the xp2500 or xp2800 DO NOT RUN AT 2.5 GHZ or 2.8GHZ!!!!! Those are just designations! Their clock speeds should be around the 1.8 to 2 GHZ range!

[iangreen]

Yeah, I know that, it's just what it was recognised as in my BIOS.

[Redfallon]

It was recognized as a 2500? But what GHz speed is it running at? If it's running at 2.5ghz that's why you're getting the errors. What is the FSB (front side bus) set at? What is the core voltage for the CPU set at? Also, are the RAM timings set to default (by SPD)? Also what brand is the RAM? What voltage is it running at? Some RAM (notably GeIL) doesn't like to run at the stock voltage of most boards (2.5~2.6 volts) and you should be able to set it up to 2.7~2.8 without any danger if it's from a reliable mfr. That rounding error usually points to RAM, the other two I think lean more towards CPU.

[iangreen]

OK, this is what I mean. When I go in to the SoftMenu in my BIOS, I am given the following choices: User Define, 2500+(333), 2600+(333), 2800+(333), 3000+(400), 3000+(333), 3200+(400). These speeds relate to AMDs CPU naming, not the actual FSB or multiplier. What I meant was when I entered the SoftMenu, the box next to 2500+ was checked, meaning that it had been recognised as an XP2500+ CPU. I think that it is a flakey CPU, it's been running Prime95 fine when underclocked as a 2600+.

For information, CPU core voltage is 1.65V, RAM timings are set to default (by SPD), RAM is Kingston running at 2.65V. Can't remember the FSB and multiplier, but the actual speed was in the 2.0 - 2.2Ghz range.

Now that I've established that the CPU is flakey, I can move on to the next problem - how to get my graphics card driver recognised instead of VgaSave.