Strange Stuff with a Question

I have this gateway Profile with a 400mhz AMD K6-2 -Got it fot free.

(A Profile is basicly a laptop built for the desktop)

It had the problem of shutting itself off after a couple of minutes.

It has '98 on it and would run forever in safe mode.

I tried removing everything, one at a time. Network card, Modem Card etc., basicly everything that would actually detach from the motherboard.

That didn't work.

I re-seated the CPU, changed bios settings, IRQ settings anything I could think of.

Nothing worked.

Finally, just for kicks, I changed the jumpers on the motherboard to a lower clock setting.

It now runs forever at 200mhz.

Strange huh.

Does anyone know why this worked?

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Comments

Ricka182

It's probably starting to die, slowly.

gulrad

The CPU?

/usr

I'm not THAT familiar with 98. I doubt it has any, but check and see if the OS or BIOS supports any Power Management features at all. Just a shot in the dark...

Try reinstalling the OS as well.

gulrad

/usr wrote:

I'm not THAT familiar with 98. I doubt it has any, but check and see if the OS or BIOS supports any Power Management features at all. Just a shot in the dark...

Try reinstalling the OS as well.

Both the BIOS and OS have limited Power Management. I Changed what I could with no effect.

I also flashed the BIOS, formatted C\: and reinstalled '98.

I even went as far as loading Linux as the OS but it would fail every time in the same place- right after the primary Linux boot screen when I started loading the OS.

Might it be as simple as a bad CPU?

(The closest I can find at RE-PC is an AMD K6-2 at 300mhz or 450mhz. $15)

Though I did get a hazy error message after flashing the BIOS.....Something to do with the system clock......

nate_lewis

Check your CMOS battery first to make sure its seated nice, then get a multimeter and test your power supply. That would be the first place I started looking.

gulrad

nate_lewis wrote:

Check your CMOS battery first to make sure its seated nice, then get a multimeter and test your power supply. That would be the first place I started looking.

The CMOS Battery is soldered to the board (ARG!)

The power supply is 19v laptop supply and tests ok.

Maybe I should just try to replace the Battery?

/usr

You formatted the pc, yet it still only reboots when booted normally, not in safe mode?

Ricka182

It's probably the power supply/battery, if not, it could be the board.

gulrad

/usr wrote:

You formatted the pc, yet it still only reboots when booted normally, not in safe mode?

Boots normaly.

It ran for a couple of days fine, but now it shuts itself off after a couple of hours of hard use.

Truth is the only reason I like the thing is for the LCD monitor and that there is no seperate tower.

I may just buy a new board and all and try to fit it in the case.

The main enigma is why and how the under-clocking worked.

If this is something that can temporarily "Fix" a bad board or CPU then it might be a good trick to do an emergency rescue when all is doomed.

Like being stuck in the middle of no-mans-land with only a telephone line and a screwdriver and I just have to check my e-mail.

lazyart

Power supply might not be up to snuff.

gulrad

lazyart wrote:

Power supply might not be up to snuff.

Ok, the power supply is input directly to the mainboard from the rectifier.

If it is the rectifier then I have to order a new one from gateway.

If it is the mainboard then it realy is a problem.

The duration of the self-shutoff changed when I changed the clock speed and when windows was loaded in safe mode.

Might not it be the system timer or one of the devices that use it directly?

Though I'm not sure why one of these may cause the system to power off. Hmmmmm......

(edit)

I know I should know this, BUT, what does windows load in safemode as compaired to standard boot?

TranscenderMichael

gulrad wrote:

I know I should know this, BUT, what does windows load in safemode as compaired to standard boot?

If I remember correctly, a standard VGA driver, a standard mouse driver, and nothing else unless you selected "with network connectivity". I could be mistaken.

RussS

I ditched a couple of those things for a customer recently. I could not get any sort of support to repair them and out laptop guy just cracked up when he looked inside and seen how they were configured

stndrd_123

I think it may one of two things; 1) bad power supply, because it works fine at the lower clock speed which should mean it will be using less power to operate and maybe is not putting out enough power for the 400MHz. 2) CPU may be overheating, same idea as the former in that the lower clock speed will have a lower operating temp and that might be why it works alright at 200MHz not at 400MHz.

crabeater

The CPU is really the most likely. Running at slower speeds reduces heats,sure, but ALSO allows for transistors and capacitors inside that are giving out to change state (low-high) slower and still fall within the 'read-time' of the next gate.

The company I used to work for designed some new CPUs - they wanted them all to work at a specific high speed, but sometimes the maunfacturing process didn't turn out exactly what they wanted - so they tried a lower clock speed (and in some cases less built-in features) and found that they worked just fine. So they solld them under a 'not-full-blown' moniker & still got money for them.

As stated, 'safe mode' loads only the generic windows drivers for the most-used items (CD, CRT, etc) and NONE of the extras (2nd CD, mouse-wheel specials, etc). So you are doing two things - not taxing the CPU quite as much, and not using posibly messed up areas of the registry (though the re-install should have cleared that).

ALSO - there are fixes for 98 on sites like PCWORLD, so you could check that, but .....

gulrad

Thanks all for the input, I do think it is the CPU and am going to try and replace it if the price is right ($10-Free).

Right now my wife is using the thing for PHP, email and playing "The game of life" and it's not shutting itself off to-often, So it's not in dire need to be fixed.