I have a question. I'm really sick of buying stuff for my PC, and I want to know once and for all what I should do.

Okay so apparently my 'northbridge' chip's fan on my motherboard went out and I didn't know until i got a few BSOD-reboots for no apparent reason. I replaced the fan, but I belive it was too late.

At the same time i heard that having two different speeds of ram made big problems and deteriorated the ram. I've gotten other people saying that it only cancels out any extra speed from the faster one and makes it work as if it was the same as the slower one. So i bought a new pc2100 512MB stick of ram and put only that in there, and had the same problems, so I pretty much cancelled out the ram being dead as the problem.

So I have come to the conclusion that it is the motherboard's fried chip that is casuing it to BSOD-reboot. My dad had an idea that it could be a chip in the board where a connection is made, and the connection is broken after it gets to a certain degree and expands/moves.

Here is my current mobo:
http://www.soyo.com.tw/products/proddesc.php?id=147

Here is the one I am looking at buying:
http://www.gearxs.com/gearxs/product_info.php?cPath=75_107&products_id=1532

So now I sit here, looking at motherboards, and I just want to know if getting a new mobo is the way to go? And if that is the problem, is the one I am looking at buying going to be a good replacement for the old one? It's got the same specs from what I can see, and my processor is a 1.4Ghz AMD.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

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There are two asses in Massassi... and I'm one of them.
The Matrix Unplugged|The Valley of the Jedi Tower|Smaug's Lair

Oh and I am low on funds as of now, so buying a new PC is not an answer. Neither is getting anything else more than about 70 dollars.

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There are two asses in Massassi... and I'm one of them.
The Matrix Unplugged|The Valley of the Jedi Tower|Smaug's Lair

If I were you, I would try and save up some money and go for a board with nForce 2 chipset.

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Official Staff of Massassi Temple:
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Moral to the Story: Don't Mess

Heat = BAD!!!!

Now I am trying to clarify something here, you say your "Northbridge" chip's fan stopped working, but in looking at the MOBO you claim to have, there is no cooling fan on the chipset... Was this the CPU fan that stopped, or is this a different version of your MOBO that does have a Chipset cooling fan?

The main reason I ask is this, if it was the chipset fan that stopped, you might very well have killed your MOBO, basically you are right, heat causes uneven expansion in IC causing problems. Usally you will simply start by getting BSOD's, lockups, and random restarts when you run your computer for any duration of time, this just means your chip is overheating. If however, this fan has been dead for a while, or you have been pushing your system then you might had permanently damaged the chip, in that case, esta Muerto , some of the connections are now permanently messed up, and there may even be structural damage. The same applies if it is your CPU, only more so. I have actuall seen CPU's crack in half because of too much heat. IF you killed the one of the Chips built into the MOBO, yes, you will need a new MOBO, if this is the CPU you speak of, you will need to buy a new CPU...

As for what to buy, don’t ask me, I have bad luck buying computer parts. I would recommend an N-force board as they are considered by gamers to be the best board available, but personally I would never use one, I don’t trust them. The best boards in my opinion are the actual Intel manufactured boards, not just boards with Intel chipsets, but actual Intel boards... Those things DONT die, and they can do almost anything, the only catch is, they often cost more, and dont overclock terribly well...

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"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”

http://www.sorrowind.net/tmu/cpu%20002.jpg [edit]heh, yeah, there's no more dust, now. We had the same problems after it was cleaned so there's another possible problem taken out[/edit]

That's a pic of the inside. The orange fan (the CPU fan) is working, and always has. The small one with the soyo sticker on it is the 'northbridge' (coolmatty told me this term... i dont know wtf it is). I checked the bios after it would BSOD-reboot and the CPU temp was never over 120F. I am told 115 is a normal temp for it.

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There are two asses in Massassi... and I'm one of them.
The Matrix Unplugged|The Valley of the Jedi Tower|Smaug's Lair

[This message has been edited by Cazor (edited January 10, 2004).]

Ok, that is the Chipset fan, and if that fan stopped, you might have killed your MOBO... But there are a few thing I need to mention, first CLEAN YOUR CASE! Buy a $2 can of air, and blow all of that dust out of there, around your chipset fan you can see dust deposits. Allot of dust will cause the bearings in your fans to wear out faster. As for the 'Northbridge' term, I guess it is correct in some situations, usually we call it the actual Chipset chip. That chip is pretty much what runs the motherboard. As for the CPU temp that is high, but once again CLEAN YOUR CASE! Dust is also not good. Oh, and also you can never trust thos CPU temp monitors, they are usually very inaccurate, My last board had a CPU temp sensor that said my chip was allays over 200F, trust me, it was not that hot. I would also recommend just checking your other hardware before you buy another computer. Some chipsets actually dont produce THAT much heat, some do... Your problem might be related to something else, so as a rule: before you buy new hardware, test out your current stuff in another MOBO to make sure they all work... The last thing you need to do is lay down $70 and NOT solve the problem...

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"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”

Well im pretty good on funds right now but unfortunately i cant help you out. I just hope it doesnt interfere a lot with TMU. That one looks okay though (even though i dont know jack-sh** about mobos).

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Madquack and Firbnic have a signature.
*Remnant Temple beta almost done*
Light And Darkness

Yeah, there's no dust anymore. I have been told the telp is normally just 5 degrees off at max, and that around 115 is a normal tempurature. (I am told these things by the guy at my dad's work who makes sure all the PCs are running well, so i hope he has some idea of what's what)

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There are two asses in Massassi... and I'm one of them.
The Matrix Unplugged|The Valley of the Jedi Tower|Smaug's Lair

Actually, I am a bit supprized your computer is running that hot in general, with a thermaltake volcano (I think its a volcano, it certanly looks like one), on the CPU, and two fans at the back, your temp should be on the low side of average unless you are overclocking. I am also runing a 1.4 GHZ AMD athlon, and even with only a stock heatsink and fan on mine It barely hits 120F.

As for trusting the Temp monitor, I dont know, I personally dont, but then again I have bad Computer Karma and have been jaded by my experiances with past Temp monitors...

But either way, if your chipset fan is the one that died, and it still generated allot of heat, you might just have to say good bye to your motherboard...

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"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”

Also, is that a GF4 I spot in the AGP Slot? TRAITOR!

Actually I just want to warn you to keep an eye on that fan, GF4's were shipped with what is called the Blue Orb fan, and those fans are notorious for dying and allowing the card to overheat... So you will certainly want to keep an eye on that fan, keep your case well cooled and dust free…


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"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”

The Northbridge usually controls the CPU, Ram, and sometimes the onboard ports (PS/2, Parallel, etc). The Southbridge controls the AGP/PCI/ISA slots, and sometimes the IDE controller. (Although the IDE controller is it's own chip, it runs under the Southbridge)

At least, that's how I've come to know it as. Anyway, the Northbridge is usually the chipset with the heatsink/fan since it runs much hotter, due to it's higher bus speeds (The front side bus is the speed.). Southbridge runs at a much lower speed, usually at the AGP speed. Since it's usually the fastest part on it's architexture.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong or something though...

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.hack//SIGN - The World - Just Believe

(Yes, This is Cool Matty)

Yeah, that sounds about right. Ive always know them as the Chipset controller, and the Bus (slot) controller, not entirely accurate, but it works... I think someone used once taught me that they were the Northbridge, and the Southbridge, but I guess I never really used those terms... I dont know why, Looking back at them, I quite like it. From this day forth I shall make it a point to use Northbridge instead of Chipset controller...

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"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”

So let's just take a final vote on what would be the best for me to do:

A) replace my mobo

B) other (give short explaination)

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There are two asses in Massassi... and I'm one of them.
The Matrix Unplugged|The Valley of the Jedi Tower|Smaug's Lair

B. Test all parts in a known good MOBO, if all parts work, then A.

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"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”

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In rememberance of MaDaVentor...
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RiP MaDa. You will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.

Yeah, but the problem is that i can't get my hands on a motherboard that would run properly with the other harware i have without buying a new one. But there is a 30 day return on the one i was looking at (and it's included for free) so i could use that one to test, and if it isnt the problem... i could return it.

Also, I don't think i said that the PC wont get past the XP loading screen without a BSOD-reboot. I can't really see what it says on the BSOD because it only flashes it very quick. To make sure it wasnt a driver or software confiliction problem, i took a new hard drive and tried to format it and install XP pro onto it, but a few stages before it asked me if i should format the hard drive (a few steps after the 6 boot floppy discs) it BSOD-rebooted on me. So i can't really check my RAM, but the place that I ordered it from tested it before it was shipped, so I am somewhat sure that it is working correctly.

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There are two asses in Massassi... and I'm one of them.
The Matrix Unplugged|The Valley of the Jedi Tower|Smaug's Lair

West Wind, you wouldn't get an nForce board because Intel made boards are better? Can you point me to some motherboards Intel has made for Athlons?

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

I never said intel boards are better, just that I have seen them do incredible things that no other board could do (withstand things of great remarkablity without faltering). NForce boards might be better, at least by the common standards, but outside of performance I have not been impressed with them...

As for the AMD thing, your right. I am a religious AMD user, and would love to have Intel make an AMD board, but its never going to happen.

Ideally This is what I would have, an Overclocked AMD in a Nforce for performance, and a good solid dual Proc. Intel server board. One for the high end flash and games, and one that will NEVER die!

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"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”

Where are you getting your information? Really, 'cause I've never known a motherboard to die just because it's not made by AMD or Intel. Sounds like you're just paranoid. I mean, would you buy an ATI built card over one made by Sapphire or something, even if the chipsets are identicle? The Sapphire or other third party is usually highly superior.

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

What???

I think you’ve lost me Emon.
Things as I seem them

Proc.
AMD: Better, faster, Less stable, Cheaper
Intel: Slower, More Stable, Insanely expensive

Motherboards
NForce: Fast, high performance and over clocking
Intel: Invincible! I have not been able to kill one, slower, more versatile.

As for the ATI analogy, your right, the chipset alone is the same, but the actual card (PCB) is often manufactured to different standards (but still often in china). Sapphire might spend more money to try to make a card that is on average better, and as such less likely to have hardware problems. Same thing with Intel boards. When I say invincible, I mean I have seen Intel boards take heat, ESD, voltage, and physical conditions most motherboards would not be able to take and still operate properly. Not to mention the number of dead Intel boards I have seen compared to any other make. Not to mention with Motherboards there is allot of variability, to you put extra capacitors on the Voltage lines to regulate current, but increase complexity and production cost?

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"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”

Rubbish. Intel's are faster, period. The P4 EE beats the Athlon 64 FX (albet 32-bit tests). There is no trying to deny it, Intel's CPUs have been, for a very long time, faster. Not significantly faster, butr faster. And what do you mean by "less stable"?

I'm not saying Intel boards aren't as good as you say. It just seemed like you were making a pretty poor assumption. You assume that just because Intel can take that, that nothing else can, e.g. the ones you don't even know about. It's like the, "Oh, pfft, well NOTHING is better than this, I KNOW that just NOTHING can beat it!" attitude.

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

Yeah. The truth is, Intel is better in PRETTY much everything MOSTLY. However, it's more expensive. So the same money will get you more AMD than Intel. Right?

Last benchmarks I saw had the Athlon FX ahead of any Intel offerings. Of course it is insanely expensive. Below the Athlon FX level though I think Intel has has the lead for a year or so (which is why I got a P4 2.8).

Anyway I think it is good that AMD is bouncing back a bit. Having two quality rivals is a good thing for us buyers......and on that competition note I also hope Nvidia regains it's footing with it's next line

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Cantina Cloud | BCF | The Massassian 1 & 2 | Gonkmeg
Corrupting the kiddies since '97

Maybe if all you do is encode Windows Media stuff. Otherwise, that's a definate no. AMD 64's are known to be the fastest 32-Bit chips out there right now, end of story. (Fastest 64bit also, but that's only because of no competition)

As for Nforce boards, they are faster, and helluva lot more stable than VIA chipsets. My god, VIA + Win2k/XP + AGP Video Card = Crashes without resolve.

As for intels, they are very stable, but their onboard hardware is utter crap. I mean, really, really, crap.

Also, Emon, I got the built by ATI Radeon 9700 Pro, simply because it had the best warranty. I ended up needing it when I had to send it back due to near-melting the card (Playing UT2003 + having a screw in the fan jamming it = not a good idea). They took it and gave me a replacement within a week, no questions asked. Gotta love it.

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.hack//SIGN - The World - Just Believe

(Yes, This is Cool Matty)

Can we get back to the actual problem other than what is better than what, please? Thanks.

Oh and i get this on the XP loading screen:

http://ut2k3net.com/cazor/bsod.jpg

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There are two asses in Massassi... and I'm one of them.
The Matrix Unplugged|The Valley of the Jedi Tower|Smaug's Lair

*evil grin*
YEEEEEEEEEEEESssssssssssssssssss...

IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

My mortal enemy returns again...

*cheezy kung-fu musak*

Many years ago you scared me one, but now I am the master of hex stop codes!

*more cheezy kung-fu Musak and raging kung-fu fight sounds*

HA HA!!! You have been defeated! What!!! Where did you go!

*evil laughter from the shadows*

I will find you some day, and I will defeat you!!!!


On a more serious note:
IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL errors are one of the most common 2000/XP stop errors, at least one I see very commonly. Usually they are associated with one of two things.

A: You need to re-format your hard drive as your drivers and or system files have probably become corrupt.

B: Your motherboard, proc., or memory is now officially dead, or at least leaking guts.

Sometimes you can make them go away by simply re-installing all of your drivers, but they WILL be back! It is also very probably that this message is associated with your dead Northbridge (almost said chipset) fan... Doctors, Do you concur?

Also I would like to note, that in my previous thread concerning stupid computer moments, That is the same error message I got when I merged a complete registry from a different OS installation into my current registry...

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"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”

Well the last one I saw had it the other way around in most tests. But still, prior to that, Intel's were almost always slightly faster overall.

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

Ha...
Ha ha ha...
HA HA HA HA...
HA!! HA!! HA!! HA!!...

NO!!!

A year and a half ago I ran a comparison between Intel and AMD processors using a sample size of 20+ computers running between 1.4 and 1.8 GHz with identical system specs. I used a Pascal based mathematics and simulation program specifically designed to test the Mathematical, transformational, and memory access aspects of the processors. IN ALL TESTS EXCEPT ONE the AMD chips out-performed the Intel chips in fact an AMD 1.4 benchmarked better than an Intel 1.8 in every test except that one! The only test in which the Intel did better than the AMD was in random number generation. However I, along with several others, think that this might be because the Intel uses a weaker algorithm for random number generation (we back this because despite the fact that it generated random numbers faster, the Intel chips still managed to lose to the AMD chips when performing Monte-Carlo integration, which relies on a true distribution of random numbers). I should also note that this program was designed to run INDEPENDENT OF OTHER HARDWARE! So these results are strictly based on the CPU!


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"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”