Damn Damn Damn...

[IrishSS]

Ok, how to start...

I got some new cooling stuff for my rig tonight. I got a couple of nice case fans, and a ThermoEngine. I slapped some Thermal paste on the die, and put the TE on. I booted up, and W2K gave me some weird ass error. So I rebooted, but it now says there is a corrupted file on my HD, and I need to repair it. It also is only recognizing 256MB of my 512 RAM. So I took the TE off, and I had accidently moved the damn thing around and spread thermal stuff all over it. So, I cleaned it off, and tried it again. Same results. I put the old stock HS back on, and same results.

BUT...

if I reboot, and change the FSB to 100mhz instead of 133mhz, it boots up fine and dandy. But it still ignores that I have 512 RAM, and only sees 256. Now both chips of RAM are ok, as I swapped em just to check.

So my question... WTF is wrong?
1. I have an Athlon 1200 266mhz. My chip get fried a lil bit when the thermal stuff got smeared around? It wasnt metallic based, so I wouldnt think it would/could short anything out.

2. My MB get fried somehow? I have the Asus A7M266. Dont see any charred or fried resistors or the like. I DID slip with the screwdriver a few times and hit the MB aroudn the RAM slot, but never hit the RAM slot, and I cant see any damage to any of the bus lines, so... Plus, I had hit teh damn thing before when I was first installing it, and it didnt do anything.

3. RAM go kaput? I have (2) Crucial PC2100, 256MB chips. WOuldnt think this would hinder the MB ability to run @ 133 FSB though.

Whew... Any help/suggestions woudl be greatly appreciated. I'm going to borrow my friends CPU and RAM tomorrow to see if I can rule either of those out.

Thanks

Ian

[revil]

too much heat could have fuxored it over. I remember an article somewhere saying the P3's shut the processor off once it's reached a certian temprature, so it doesn't fry itself. the P4's slows itself down to get a resonable temprature (instead of shutting off). Now the newer AMD's are supposed to shut themselves down, but because the temp probe is off die, it doesn't work so well. and older AMD's have no temp monitering. But if your comp still posts, i would think the processor is ok.

as for your ram, make sure it's one your mobo supports. I had the same problem with a 256meg stick of ram. the mobo only saw it as 128megs. found out that brand wasn't compatable with the mobo.

[sbp]

About what ReverendEvil was saying about cpu's burning up: http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1000870861

Keep us updated IrishSS

[fakesurfers]

watch the video... very interesting

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q3/010917/heatvideo-05.html#download_the_first_toms_hardware_test_lab_video

[IrishSS]

I know the RAM is compatible, as before I started screwing with everythign, my system was fine. Saw 512 PC2100 RAM no prob whatsoever.

[revil]

Just a hunch, may work. I dunno. Reset your Bios.

[IrishSS]

Originally posted by Reverend Evil
Just a hunch, may work. I dunno. Reset your Bios.

Done and done. I called Asus tech support, and they dont have a fricken clue. The person I spoke with has no computer knowledge whatsoever, and wanted me to send the board in and have it looked at without receiving a replacement. Or he said I could get a new BIOS chip at my expense. Sure. I'll get right on that. I asked to speak to his supervisor, and he said he is busy and will call me back in an hour.

Sheesh...

[IrishSS]

Well well... guess what? Asus never called me back. Big surprise. So I called up Newegg(where I got it from), and the lady I spoke with said sure thing, well send ya out a new one right away. But alas, now My MB wont allow my PC to boot at all. So now Im back to the old machine till sometime next week. Damn. Im already missign my Morpheus....

[IrishSS]

Ya, I gotta say, NewEgg has been more than generous with their service to me. Although they wouldnt cross ship to me becuase of the tiem perios Ive had it, they were mroe than happy to replace it. Excellent CS in my opinion.