Freezing Up, K7VZA Motherboard or 800 Duron Causing It?

[JHodges611]

Hello,

I recently built a computer with a K7VZA ECS motherboard and AMD 800 MHz Duron.

Installation went fine, and I was able to install a few programs. But then it started freezing up, especially when I would go online. It would happen at different sites and at different times.

I pulled my soundcard and used the onboard soundcard. And I replaced the video card with an older one. And I've tried almost every setting in the BIOS.

My hard drive works fine in another computer. And I used GoldMemory 5.07 to test the 128 Megs of Ram I have for it.

I think that leaves me either the motherboard or chip. I also used a heatsink and fan from CoolerMaster, DP5-5G11A. Their website said it was rated up to 900 MHz. AMD recommended the 5G11B model, not the 5G11A. AMD also doesn't recommend the K7VZA ECS motherboard, but I bought them as a combo deal.

I noticed when I took the computer apart that the rubber strip thingy on the heatsink had melted a little around the chip. I know this could be bad, or what the rubber is supposed to do. I'm not really sure. I do know the onboard temp stuff in the motherboard never seemed to go over 39 Celsius. But while Win 98 (1st edition) was up, and I was running the VIA monitor stuff, it would give me a Hysteries or Hypersteries warning if I had "warn on Hyperseries" checked. I'm not sure of the spelling or what that was.

So, does anybody have any ideas as to why it's freezing up? Is it the chip and an over heating problem? Or is it the motherboard?


Thanks a Lot,

Jason Hodges
JHodges611@aol.com

[pot]

Jhodges611,I,m running the same board and cpu 800@848,and have not had any
problems{touch wood}yet.The melting of the heatsink patch well you could
start there.Maybe clean your chip up{not removing the thermal pad on cpu}
remove the remenants of the pad off the heatsink,reapply a thin layer of thermal compound on the heatsink/cpu.Re-seat cpu/ram.Does your harddrive
support UltraUDMA,are you running it as master on IDE 1? As for the Hysteresis
I don,t have any alarm box,s checcked.
Hope this is some help. Regards Pot........

[JHodges611]

Originally posted by pot Jhodges611,I,m running the same board and cpu 800@848,and have not had any problems{touch wood}yet.The melting of the heatsink patch well you could start there.Maybe clean your chip up{not removing the thermal pad on cpu} remove the remenants of the pad off the heatsink,reapply a thin layer of thermal compound on the heatsink/cpu.Re-seat cpu/ram.Does your harddrive support UltraUDMA,are you running it as master on IDE 1? As for the Hysteresis I don,t have any alarm box,s checcked. Hope this is some help. Regards Pot........

Yes, it supports UltraUDMA and all that stuff. I switched from 66 to 33. I ran it as master, as slave, as single on IDE 1 and 2. I'm convienced it's not the hard drive.

And I am getting an newer heatsink with compound. But I do think it's the board now. I've found people who love it because it works well for them. And I've found people who are having trouble with it.

[babylon5guy]

Does your mobo have the VIA KT133A /VIA 686B chipset and soundblaster live card?

[JHodges611]

Originally posted by babylon5guy Does your mobo have the VIA KT133A /VIA 686B chipset and soundblaster live card?

Yes, it has that chip set. And I do have a sound blaster live card. But I tried it with and without the card.

[babylon5guy]

Hi JHodges611,

I built a computer for a friend with this chipset and she has all your problems plus a few more. Although this problem was originally thought to be connected to the soundblaster live card (and it does seem to be worse with one) it has turned out that this is a bug in the first batch of KT133A chipsets VIA turned out, no matter what kind of sound card you use. I have done a lot of research on this due to the fact I'm responsible for getting my friends computer to work the way it is suppose to. I'm sure you have installed the latest BIOS update and 4 in 1 drivers (4.32) so I won't go into that, by the way that does not always fix the problem. If you have done everything try and setting it to run at 100 Mhz FSB, this will either fix your problems or make them better. It has greatly improved or eliminated many of the problems on my friends PC. However who wants to run at 100 Mhz FSB when you paid for 133? IMHO you need to return the board for a more recently manufacturered one or one with a different chipset. That is what I'm going to do with my friends. From what I have researched there is no way to totally get these things to work correctly. My computer has the KT133 chipset and I built 3 others with the KT133A and have not had these problems (although I think all VIA chipsets need an inordinate amount of tweaking and will never buy another mobo with a VIA chipset). The one I am having trouble with now was purchased as soon as they released the KT133A chipset and I'm sure I have one of those out of the first batch they made.

If anyone has had their sound card start crackling after doing the lastest BIOS update for this wonderful VIA KT133 series of chipsets let me know I have the fixes.
Good Luck JHodges611

[JHodges611]

Originally posted by babylon5guy Hi JHodges611, I built a computer for a friend with this chipset and she has all your problems plus a few more. Although this problem was originally thought to be connected to the soundblaster live card (and it does seem to be worse with one) it has turned out that this is a bug in the first batch of KT133A chipsets VIA turned out, no matter what kind of sound card you use. I have done a lot of research on this due to the fact I'm responsible for getting my friends computer to work the way it is suppose to. I'm sure you have installed the latest BIOS update and 4 in 1 drivers (4.32) so I won't go into that, by the way that does not always fix the problem. If you have done everything try and setting it to run at 100 Mhz FSB, this will either fix your problems or make them better. It has greatly improved or eliminated many of the problems on my friends PC. However who wants to run at 100 Mhz FSB when you paid for 133? IMHO you need to return the board for a more recently manufacturered one or one with a different chipset. That is what I'm going to do with my friends. From what I have researched there is no way to totally get these things to work correctly. My computer has the KT133 chipset and I built 3 others with the KT133A and have not had these problems (although I think all VIA chipsets need an inordinate amount of tweaking and will never buy another mobo with a VIA chipset). The one I am having trouble with now was purchased as soon as they released the KT133A chipset and I'm sure I have one of those out of the first batch they made. If anyone has had their sound card start crackling after doing the lastest BIOS update for this wonderful VIA KT133 series of chipsets let me know I have the fixes. Good Luck JHodges611

Well. The computer now works fine until I try to go online using a network card. That's when the freezing up begins.

Tonight, after hours of trying to change IRQs and such, which I was able to do, I came to the conclusion that I just needed a new video card. The ones I have are PCI and not AGP. I thought that might be causing IRQ troubles with the network card. But, I was able to get the network card on different IRQs than the video card. But I am hoping to find another answer than "it's the motherboard."

Do you think an AGP video card would fix this? Because, right now, it doesn't freeze up unless I'm online. (And I ask in vain because I know I'm going to buy another board. I just can't afford it right away, and I'm looking for any solution I can get.)

Also, I use a Sound Blaster Live card normally. I hate it, but it's what I have. The onboard sound cart on the K7VZA I think is terrible. But I've just been using it, trying to keep things simple. But on my other computer, the one I'm using now because I can't get the other one working, I sometimes have that evil distortion from the sound card.

[babylon5guy]

I don't know if it would help to use a AGP Video Card. If you are putting your PCI video card in PCI slot 1 it is the same IRQ as the AGP slot. I do know this chipset has trouble with certain video cards, just make sure you have the latest driver's for your vc. It certainly wouldn't hurt to try another vc. My computer was freezing up all the time at boot up, then when Creative Labs came out with a new video driver for my vc (GeForce 2 mx) it cleared up. I know you said you have gotten the IRQ's straightened out but this is my setup which seems to work, I have an agp video card, the sound card in PCI slot 2 (regular soundblaster not the live), a PCI modem in PCI Slot 5 (she needs this to dial into work), and the nic in PCI slot 6 (roadrunner). This results in only one shared IRQ the nic with the usb controllers and that doesn't seem to cause any problems. Try this setup if you haven't already, and if it doesn't straighten it out the only thing I can think of is the built in sound may be interfering with the assignment of IRQ's. Have you tried knocking down the FSB to 100 Mhz? What nic card are you using, mine is a linksys and it isn't freezing up. Using the KT133A chipset you couldn't have bought this mobo too long ago, how come you can't return it for another one? I know it is probably older than the 30 days most places give you but this is a unique situation and a good company should take it back or exchange it. If your other PC's soundcard is working crappy and it is any flavor of the KT133 chipset I do have the BIOS settings that correct them. I don't have them off the top of my head but they are written down at home and I am at work now. If you need them let me know, but it is for the KT133 chipsets only.
Good Luck

[JHodges611]

Originally posted by babylon5guy I don't know if it would help to use a AGP Video Card. If you are putting your PCI video card in PCI slot 1 it is the same IRQ as the AGP slot. I do know this chipset has trouble with certain video cards, just make sure you have the latest driver's for your vc. It certainly wouldn't hurt to try another vc. My computer was freezing up all the time at boot up, then when Creative Labs came out with a new video driver for my vc (GeForce 2 mx) it cleared up. I know you said you have gotten the IRQ's straightened out but this is my setup which seems to work, I have an agp video card, the sound card in PCI slot 2 (regular soundblaster not the live), a PCI modem in PCI Slot 5 (she needs this to dial into work), and the nic in PCI slot 6 (roadrunner). This results in only one shared IRQ the nic with the usb controllers and that doesn't seem to cause any problems. Try this setup if you haven't already, and if it doesn't straighten it out the only thing I can think of is the built in sound may be interfering with the assignment of IRQ's. Have you tried knocking down the FSB to 100 Mhz? What nic card are you using, mine is a linksys and it isn't freezing up. Using the KT133A chipset you couldn't have bought this mobo too long ago, how come you can't return it for another one? I know it is probably older than the 30 days most places give you but this is a unique situation and a good company should take it back or exchange it. If your other PC's soundcard is working crappy and it is any flavor of the KT133 chipset I do have the BIOS settings that correct them. I don't have them off the top of my head but they are written down at home and I am at work now. If you need them let me know, but it is for the KT133 chipsets only. Good Luck

I am in the process of trying to return it. The place I ordered it from isn't being helpful. They're sluggish and have been giving me the run around. I'm two steps away from reporting them to the Better Business Bureau.

I'm using a D-Link NIC. The cable company gave it to me.

And I did try two video cards, my Chromatic Research, and an ugly Diamond Viper 550.

I was able to get the NIC card on an empty IRQ. But that didn't solve the problem.

And the FSB has been at 100 the whole time. And I disabled the onboard sound first by a BIOS setting, then by a jumper on the mobo.

I have since ordered a new mobo, an Abit KT7E (it's blue)that uses the KT133E chipset. Every single board I could find in my price range that wasn't crap used KT133A. And I also ordered a geForce MX 200 AGP. That was another thing that made me go with the KT7E. It was the only one within my price range with an 4x AGP slot.

I really, really hope this new board was a good idea.

[babylon5guy]

I know what you mean, we got ours from mwave and are contacting them today, I can hardly wait to see what they say. They seem to be a good company I hope they don't give us a hard time. I'll even let them take a crack at making it work properly. I haven't heard anything about the KT133E chipset I hope it's better than the A. I think I would've gone with one with the AMD 761 chipset. I don't think I'll ever buy a mobo again based on the VIA chipset. You've paid your dues I sure hope this one works out for you.

Good Luck!

[JHodges611]

Originally posted by babylon5guy I know what you mean, we got ours from mwave and are contacting them today, I can hardly wait to see what they say. They seem to be a good company I hope they don't give us a hard time. I'll even let them take a crack at making it work properly. I haven't heard anything about the KT133E chipset I hope it's better than the A. I think I would've gone with one with the AMD 761 chipset. I don't think I'll ever buy a mobo again based on the VIA chipset. You've paid your dues I sure hope this one works out for you. Good Luck!

I tried in vain to find a mobo with an alternative chipset within my price range with an AGP 4x slot. And everywhere I looked it was just VIA or one with only a 2x AGP.

I think we've all paid our dues. Good luck to you. Good luck to us all.

[wedor]

Little or nothing to be gained with 4x anyway, I've used nothing but VIA based models for years now, can't complain.

[babylon5guy]

Hi JHodges611 just to let you know I contacted Mwave today and they are sending me another board when I return this one. I wanted to get a different board but since it's been 2 months since I bought this one they would only exchange it for a new one which is pretty good I thought. People on this board have recommended Mwave as a good company to deal with and this has sure been borne out. I expected to have trouble returning this board. I thank everybody who recommended this company, they back their products, most places won't talk to you after 30 days. I hope you have success returning yours.

Hi wedor I agree with you on the 4X. But have you ever used the VIA KT133A chipset? On the abitmb.com discussion board, which I was directed to from here there are a lot of complaints about this chipset. I kept reading about other people having all the problems I was having. It does have mainly to do with the first batch of this chipset. Maybe most of the other chipsets by VIA are fine, but I sure have had trouble with this one. I built 3 other PC's with this chipset and they have been fine (they were built later on and probably were not from the first batch of chips), but they did take some tweaking to get them running stable, and still get the bsod more often than I ever got with my intel systems. I like the cost performance level of AMD, I just wish the supporting cast was as good as intel's. Even the person I talked to at Mwave inadvertantly indicated they had a high return rate for mobo's with this chipset especially Abit's and Asus.

[glc]

I have had excellent luck lately with the Epox 8KTA3, which is a KT133A chipset - as long as you use the 4.28A 4 in 1's. I haven't tried to get a SB Live working in one yet, but there's always the SB 512 PCI or the TB Santa Cruz.

[WJWheels]

I recently built a new system for my wife on an 8KTA3. I've got a SB Live card running a fine Harman-Kardon HK-595 speaker system - it's got the cool 4 prong connector to the card. The install here went without a hitch.

GO FIGURE!!!

[babylon5guy]

Hi glc,

Do you recommend using the 4 in 1 driver 4.28A over the most recent one, 4.32? When our replacement board comes in I want to use whatever is going to cause the least problems.

Thanks

[babylon5guy]

Hi WJWheels I tried to get the 8KTA3 from Mwave but they would only exchange it for the same board, I'm glad it has worked well for you. In reading posts I saw glc recommended this board a couple of times, apparently Epox did a better job of implementing this chip set than Abit and Asus. I'm hoping now Abit has corrected what is wrong with it's board. I'm going to have Mwave pretest the new board before they send it out.

[wedor]

Yes, I have used many KT133a boards, I have 2 running at home now and at least 10 running at clients offices, and the only problems I have had were self induced.

[glc]

Okay - here is the scoop on the 8KTA3. I have done 2 of these recently. The first one I used the 4.31 Via drivers (the 4.32 wasn't out yet) and they installed without a hitch. The second one I tried 4.32 and they did not cooperate - VIAGART errors, flagged bridges, the whole mess. I uninstalled them and used the 4.28A off the Epox CD and it worked perfectly.

Conclusion: Use the drivers on the CD, whatever version they happen to be. However, expect SB Live hassles with 4.28A. Neither board I did has a Live - the first one has an ISA AWE64 and the second one has a SB 128 PCI.

Theoretically - you should be able to flash the board to the latest BIOS and use the 4.32's - and eliminate the Live hassles......but I haven't had the need or opportunity to test this.

Now do you see why I really prefer to work with Intel iron? I really like AMD processors, but nobody has built a decent chipset for them yet.

[WJWheels]

Originally posted by babylon5guy Hi glc, Do you recommend using the 4 in 1 driver 4.28A over the most recent one, 4.32? When our replacement board comes in I want to use whatever is going to cause the least problems.

I've built 2 systems this month using the 8KTA3 - my wife's and also one being used in a real estate appraisal business. He has a scanner, 2 printers, and a photo card reader attached. One has SB Live and the other is using the onboard AC97 sound. Both have the 4.32 4in1's installed and have shown no problems.

I agree whole-heartedly though with glc. Compared to an AMD system, an Intel almost builds itself. Those AMD chips are so *^&%$ cheap though, they're hard to stay away from. Hmmmm.. I see AMD stock dropped 25% today!!!!!

[babylon5guy]

Thanks wedor I feel a little better about setting up this replacement board.

[babylon5guy]

Thanks glc, I'll try the 4 in 1 drivers on the CD first. She just has a regular soundblaster not the live so that should not be a problem. I agree the AMD Processor is as good or better than Intel especially price wise, but it does need a better supporting cast.

[babylon5guy]

Thanks WJWheels, you and wedor have made me a liitle more confident about installing this replacement mobo, I just wish I could have got the 8KTA3 mobo.