Wierd CPU problem

by Ashkan_G | February 17, 2005 5:39 AM PST

OK, I know this sounds wierd, but it has really happened and I'm bummed.
I have an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8 GHz). Everything was going smoothly until--as usual-- I had to format my HD and reinstall XP Prp SP2. After installation, for some reason my CPU is recognized as AMD Athlon Xp 1500+ (1.3 GHz). It is really killing me.
I would really appreciate it if someone could tell what in the world is wrong!

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Seems likely that the reinstall process confused

by Ray Harinec | February 17, 2005 7:59 AM PST

your mobo/BIOS into thinking it had a bad shutdown. Thus it defaulted to a safe memory speed setting, thus a slower CPU clock.

Probably defaulted to 100MHz. Simply go into BIOS and set it back to 133 MHz.

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You were right

by Ashkan_G | February 17, 2005 11:12 AM PST

about the CPU clock. It is set to 100MHz, but I can't seem to be able to change it unlike other options.
Do you have any idea how I can change it? ( I go to Advanced BIOS)
Thanks.

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The method varies widely in different BIOSes.

by Ray Harinec | February 17, 2005 11:33 AM PST

For example if it is DDR 2100 [100MHz which gets read twice per cycle] some mobos call that 200 MHz, the 133 can be called 266. The thing that sets the CPU speed if the Front Side Bus [FSB], thus some mobos refer to setting the FSB.

So you may set the memory [bus] speed or the FSB. In the BIOS there may be an option to set the bus speed automatically or manually. It varies.

Do you have the manual for the mobo??? Look it over closely. Some of the "Pidgen English" used in the manuals takes some decoding. LOL

What mobo is it. Possibly I could go to the mfr's website and download the manual to see if I can offer some help.

I'm relying on you that the only thing was reinstalling XP. Some mobos have jumpers on the mobo to set the memory speed, but that shouldn't have changed without you doing it.

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Yessssssssss!!!

by Ashkan_G | February 18, 2005 11:00 AM PST

Thank you so much! Thanks to you I have my CPU back.
By the way, when I was changing it to 133MHz, I could go higher. What's going to happen if I do so? Is my computer going to blow up?! LOL
Anyway, again, thanks for all of your help.

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That's one way of

by Ray Harinec | February 18, 2005 1:28 PM PST

"overclocking" [assuming that you don't actually have 166 MHz memory].

Don't try it without doing a lot of reading to understand all aspects of overclocking. You can end up frying the CPU. The faster it runs the hotter it gets unless you lower voltages and others actions. There are a number of overclockers sites.

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Check your BIOS setup

by Kalana | February 21, 2005 1:39 AM PST

Check your Bios setup and make the error

Wierd CPU problem

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