Stumped, Please Help

First, it would be nice if you told us what the last cable was that you didn't connect.

Re the black resdiue, if it was from burning, there is virtually always the characteritic odor that goes with it.

I know nothing about RDRAM, but I would think that the speed of that RAM determines the front side bus speed. I don't know if it gets two reads per clock or not, so I'm not sure about the FSB issue.

Did the system ever run at 800 MHz FSB? Should it with your memory??? If it is 400 to 800 that would mean that the 400 or 800 would be determined by what speed memory that you have.

I would think the running at only 100 MHz is a default safety mechanism, built in, such that if a bad shutdown is detected the system defaults to a very safe setting. [although I really think that it would be 200, unless that is the memory bus and it is double clocked like DDR and 100 memory bus is called 200 at the FSB]

Describe a PSU tester that somehow catches a bad floppy connector, wild! If you are only running at 100 MHz FSB, the CPU is likely running slower and thus consuming considerably less power. Possibly your Power Supply can't hack the full power configuration anymore. They do degrade, and 300 Watts doesn't give a lot of margin.


Really need to know what the last cable's function is.

You sure the "black sustance" is soot then you a real problem. If its just dust then clean/blow out and check the cpu setup is clear of any build-up. As for the black sustance, it maybe a blown cap, which can go but still boot-UP. However, if you reach a ceratin theshold, it fails as its overwhelmed. Find the true source of the black sustance, closely inspect and see any obivous damage, google for "bad caps" to see a picture of what to look for. Plus, if you didn't smell something burnt, maybe you're lucky and it's just bad looking dust.

As for your system 100 showing, check the bios area and reset to where it should be. It still quite possible the Compaq power supply still neds replacing as it maybe too stressed and fails when *all* connections are present. But, check the last connection(device) for possible failure itself.

tada -----Willy

To start, the bad cable I believe is called a 4 pin mini power connector. I have two of these, one for the floppy and the other for a PCI Firewire and front USB access card. It was the one connected to the PCI that was bad and left disconnected.

As for the residue, it is scorch black. I looked for any visible sign of a burned component like a cap but didn't find any, and I never heard that all too clear boom that tends to go along with blown caps. The residue sits on the case, in a gap between the edge of my mobo and the bottom vents of my PSU. There was a burnt smell, kind of like a cross between burnt wires and when you firs turn on a new electronic equipment (think new tv, theater sys, vcr, etc.) But the odor is now discipating.

About the RDRAM, it is supposed to go up to 800, both the modules and the PC specs confirm this, but every sys info tool that I use tells me I'm at 400. I stopped asking about this a while back because I kept getting differet answers, including the double clock that you mentioned. But in the end it just seemed like no one knew what the problem was and since my PC was working fine and without lags, I just left it alone. But now at 100, well it just won't do

Which brings me to the last point. I have noticed my PC has slowed down a bit. Specially during boot where it now takes about twice as much time to boot up. There have also been instances of 'hiccups' where it will slow down during very simple commands, like opening a menu. My pc has been up and running for almost 24hrs now and speed speed set aside, has not shown other symptoms of overexhaustion.

So if you have any ideas, I'd appreciate it. Oh, and one more question just to settle dissagreements. If a power supply goes bad, can it still draw enough power to power the mobo and nothing else?

_________________________
||.......................|..........._____|DVDRW
||.......................|...................|
||.........PSU.......|..........._____|CDRW
||.......................|...................|
||_____________|...................|
||.................................._____|FLOPPY
||..xRESIDUEx.......................|
||___________________....___|FRONT SIDE USB
||..................RDRAM...|.........|
||........................| | | |...|.........|
||....CPU..__........| | | |...|.........|
||............|__|.......| | | |...|.........|
||............|__|.......| | | |...|.........|
||.................................|.|H|H..|
||.........MOBO..............|.|D|D..|
||_______Graphics........|.|1|2..|
||_______Sound............|.|..|....|
||_______Ethernet.........|.|..|....|
||_______Firewire..........|.|..|....|
|_________________________|