Hi,

I posted this on General Hardware - but this seems to be the right place - apologies...

My kids' computer has an Abit NF7-S Vs2
motherboard.

It had an AthlonXP 2000 processor and I've just got
them an AthlonXP 2600 Barton with the intention of
overclocking it. The 2600 uses setting of 11.5 x 166 -
memory 333 Mhz - and I understand they are mostly
pretty happy overclocked to 3200 with a FSB of 200
MHz. The 1 GB of memory is 400 MHz - brand Elixir.

I have found that any increase in the FSB from 166 MHz
means the PC won't POST. I've tried setting it to just 167
MHz to avoid potential hardware reasons (ie/ faster than
the memory can manage) and it won't post. I tried setting
it directly to 3200 but it won't POST. If I trim the
memory to 165 MHz it will POST fine at 330 MHz
memory. I've tried tweaking up the memory voltage to
2.8v but it made no difference.

To check whether it is a memory issue, I swapped the 2
current memory modules for one newer 400MHz Elixir
module which I'm running at 230 MHz in another PC and
I get the same problem.

Specifically, the symptom is that it saves the BIOS
settings and there is then a lot of hard-drive activity (at
least the light is on) then the hard-drive light goes off and
it doesn't reboot. If I switch off the power it also doesn't
POST. I can then restart after clearing the CMOS - after
this it detects the memory as 400MHz.

My BIOS version is V6.00PG dated 18th Aug 04.

I'd be grateful for any suggestions where I might be going
wrong.

Thanks

If you set the FSB to 200MHz, the CPU will *try* to run at 2300MHz & chances are, you're not gonna accomplish that without increasing the CPU voltage. The RAM is fine...it's designed to run at 200MHz so there should be no reason to increase the RAM voltage. In other words, RAM is not the problem. You should increase the FSB in small increments, don't jump straight to 200MHz. And that board has a LOT of BIOS settings that need to be addressed.

http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/...

Hi Demitri,

I mentioned I tried increasing the clock to 167 MHz from 166 and it wouldn't POST. I'll take a look into those other BIOS settings. I found a couple of interesting links about the NF7-S

http://computing.net/cpus/wwwboard/...

http://www.computing.net/cpus/wwwbo...

Thanks

LOL...my name's not Demetri, I think I'm gonna have to change that.

Two things about the threads you listed...both are using the NF7-S (not the Abit NF7-S v2.0), & both mention the 2500+, not the 2600+. The multiplier can't be changed so you're stuck with 11.5x. Like I said, there are a lot of other settings that have to be addressed. For instance, the CPU Speed needs to be set to User Defined, the AGP needs to be locked at 66MHz, the CPU:DRAM ratio needs to be set to 1:1 (I believe this board uses 6:6), CPU voltage needs to be bumped up, Spread Spectrum needs to be disabled, etc