Recently, I upgraded my motherboard's BIOS to allow usage of my video card in AGP Enabled mode. Since then, I have not been able to run my processor at full speed, lest the system crashes a few minutes into playing a game. Prior to the BIOS upgrade, the system ran without a hitch. This one really has me scratching my head. I ran CPUZ, and here's the readout. Processor: AMD Athlon XP Codename Thoroughbred Socket A (462) Technology: 0.13 um Core Voltage: 1.744v Specification: AMD Athlon XP 2400+ Family:6 Model: 8 Stepping: 1 Ext. Family: 7 Ext. Model: 8 Revision: B0 Instructions: MMX (+) 3DNow! (+) SSE Clocks: Core Speed: 1492.8 MHz Multiplier: x15.0 Bus Speed 99.5 MHz Rated FSB: 199.1 MHz Cache: L1 Data: 64 KBytes L1 Inst: 64 KBytes Level 2: 256 KBytes Mainbooard: Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Model: A7V8X-X Rev. 1.xx Chipset: VIA KT400(VT8337) Rev. 00 Southbridge: VIA VT8235 LPCIO: ITE IT8712 BIOS: Award Software INC ASUS A7V8X-X ACPI BIOS Revision 1013 Memory: Type: DDR Size: 768 MB Bank Interleave: 4-Way Timings: Frequency: 166.2 MHz FSB:DRAM: FSB +66 MHz Cas# Latency: 2.5 clocks Ras# to Cas# delay: 3 clocks Ras# precharge: 3 clocks Cycle time: 7 Clocks SPD: SpecTek 2700 (166 MHz) Correction: none Registered: no Bufffered: no Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Flashing the BIOS always takes your motherboard back to its factory settings. All you need to do is to go into your BIOS, set the processor bus speed to 133MHz, and save your settings. Your processor should run at its rated 2000MHz speed, since 133x15=2000MHz. Also, did you raise your memory speed to 166MHz, or did the board default to that speed? Either way, you should lower it to 133MHz (266MHz DDR) so that it matches your bus speed. VIA chipsets aren't known for top-notch stability, and I wouldn't be surprised if the crashing is due to the fact that your CPU bus and memory are out of sync. Even though your RAM is capable of running at 166MHz (333MHz DDR), you won't gain any performance by running it at that speed with a processor that has a 133MHz bus. In fact, on a VIA chipset, you'll lose performance by running the CPU bus/memory clock asynchronously (I had to look in a dictionary to spell that one correctly :) ). The Movie PC: Pentium III-S CPU: 1.66GHz, 158MHz FSB, 512K 2GB DDR333 7950GT AGP Vista/XP X-Fi Optoma 1280x720 projector JBL 5.1 audio and now 89 upconverted WMV-HD flicks