First post, by F2bnp
- Rank
- l33t
I've had this nagging problem for a few days now and I just can't seem to find a solution to it.
I have the following system set up:
Athlon XP 2600+ (266FSB)
512MB DDR RAM (333MHz but runs at 266MHz)
Gigabyte GA-7VTXE (updated with the latest bios)
Voodoo 5500 AGP
SB Live Value!
Aureal Vortex 2 + DB60XG
Western Digital 80GB
Some Sony DVD-ROM
Windows ME
The machine runs pretty fine but I'd like to swap the Voodoo 5500 for a GeForce 4 Ti4200 AGP and a Voodoo 3 PCI. So I did just that and the system would hang for no apparent reason. Even safe mode would hang after a little while. Tried a new installation of Windows ME, hanged during installation, so I was pretty sure it was either RAM or IRQ conflict (so many cards!!!). I swapped RAM and removed all other cards except for the Ti4200 and although I got it to install successfully, and installed the two audio cards it hanged again!
Obviously I was beginning to get really pissed off, I tried removing the sound cards and installing them in different slots, tried leaving only one in there and in the end removed them all together once again and it still hanged on me. So, I was pretty sure by now that the problem was the GeForce card. I swapped it for a 6600 GT AGP (kind of an overkill for what I wanted to do but it could do the job). Tried a clean install and it hanged on me again. The Voodoo 5 was rocking fast (ok relatively fast, this is a Voodoo 5 you know 😁), so I thought it must be some incompatibility with the Nvidia cards and the motherboard. I gave up and installed the Voodoo 5 again and have not touched the system since.
What has occured to me in the last couple of days though is that the problem may be caused by the PSU. It is rated 350 watts and it seems to give sufficient Amps on the Volt Rails, however maybe it has aged too much. I'd have to go through a lot of hassle to get another one and then do all the work of installing Windows again, so I'd like to hear your opinion. Could the PSU really be the problem? What else should I try? ( I have tried CMOS Reset by the way, more than once too! 😁)