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Unstable - P3 500, 512MB RAM, Vodoo Banshee and Radeon 9200

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First post, by RobDos

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I have a P3 500 system that's proving to be unstable.

Not sure if it's the ISA sound card w/o -5v but this is what happens

1. System can run for days, no issue
2. Memtest86_+ passes, will leave run
3. CPU HSF hot to touch, like I wouldn't get into water that hot but I'm not burning myself.
4. Voodoo / Radeon also similar
5. Using SATA to IDE with SSD, does not appear to be disk related
6. Voltages in Spec
7. 512MB RAM is actually 1GB, but board only recognizes one side of the memory chips, PC100

The instability appears not to be consistent.

For example : Played doom for about an hour, no issues, launched ultima underworld and it crashes.
Rand 3D mark 2001 in a loop for a while, no issues.

It's been about about 20 years since I worked with hardware of this vintage, but I do not recall it being this buggy.

Suggestions?

P3 Slot 1 - 512MB PC100 - 128GB SSD - RADEON 9200 SE , SB Awe64 ISA - GOTEK MOD

Reply 1 of 4, by pentiumspeed

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1. Replace the ram with correct memory, either pair of 256MB 8 chip or one 512 with 16 chips stick. This could be stability issue due to unused chips still powered and signalling load too high.

2. Cool the CPU with fan. That is too hot. That affects the stability.

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 2 of 4, by RobDos

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pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-11-29, 20:31:

1. Replace the ram with correct memory, either pair of 256MB 8 chip or one 512 with 16 chips stick. This could be stability issue due to unused chips still powered and signalling load too high.

2. Cool the CPU with fan. That is too hot. That affects the stability.

Cheers,

1. I doubt it, but I'll try, memtest ran for 48+ hours.
2. I'll give that a shot, if I was to reapply thermal paste what is the likelihood of not being able to reassemble the heatsink on a slot 1?

P3 Slot 1 - 512MB PC100 - 128GB SSD - RADEON 9200 SE , SB Awe64 ISA - GOTEK MOD

Reply 3 of 4, by rasz_pl

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is that one of those huge radiator with no fan DELL/HP cpus? those were cooled by the PSU fan, they need forced induction to operate within CPU thermal margins

Open Source AT&T Globalyst/NCR/FIC 486-GAC-2 proprietary Cache Module reproduction

Reply 4 of 4, by dionb

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Ultima Underworld is one of the touchier games, both regarding memory and CPU speed.

- how are you running it? Native DOS or in Windows, and if so which version?
- how are you slowing down the computer enough for it to be playable?

That aside, keeping temps down is always a good idea - even if it's not the cause of your instability, it will improve lifespan.

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