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I'm planning on getting a new motherboard for my PIII because it keeps freezing or sometimes it doesn't even boot up.
I called up a store and asked if they had any PIII motherboards and they said they had the Aopen AX37+. I searched it up and it apparently needs DDR RAM. My PIII is currently using SDRAM, so I was wondering if it would be possible for me to use my SDRAM on the AX37+.
Basically, I'm asking if DDR DIMMs are backwards compatible with SDRAM.
No.
You need a sdram board or one that will accept either one or the other.
Can I assume your board will boot at some times? If so, I doubt the problem is the motherboard...you would need to look into problems with a hdd, other drive, memory, or power supply.
Provide us with more details; like when this problem started, if you changed something about the time you started experiencing problems and so forth.
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Thanks for the reply. I just found out on another site that it won't work.
As for the problem with my PIII, I'll list the specs and describe the problem.
PIII 650mhz
256 SDRAM PC100
Matsonic MS7381SGM motherboard (onboard vid and sound)
2 HDD (one is 6GB and the other is 4GB; I forgot which brand they were, but I think one is Hitachi)The basic problem with it is that the computer will start, but it doesn't beep, meaning it just stays as a black screen and doesn't get to as far as displaying the screen that lists the processor, memory check, etc. The onboard video doesn't seem to detect the monitor sometimes, and during the times the monitor is detected, the computer would just suddenly freeze randomly. When I reboot, the computer will just not go, all I'm left with is just the black screen.
I added another video card (an ATI Rage which I know works because its being used with a PII) via PCI and I still get the freezing problem. I tried reinstalling Windows, but that's bascially impossible to do because the computer freezes during installation.
I've had this computer since 2000, and I believe this started about an year ago.
Well that seems to be the problem with it. I think I've included every detail needed. If not, I'll add to it.
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I'm thinking power supply here. I've seen several go to hell since summer really started...leaking capacators, and intermittent boots or no boot at all. The hotter temps will kill something that worked just fine over the winter with cooler ambient temps.
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Sorry I couldn't post sooner... I had an exam to study for. Now that it's over, I can focus more on this. =)
So it's a Power Supply problem huh? Hmm... well I guess I can try stealing the one from the PII I have (they're both 235W) so I assume that'll work. Are there any precautions I should be aware of before I attempt a Power Supply swap?
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Well... I just spent four hours taking the Power Supply from one computer and putting it into my PIIIs tower.
The result, no change. When I got it working again, it did boot, but it just stayed at the first screen of booting (mem check, cpu, etc.). I read one of the messages and it said "NVRAM Updated!" But that only appeared once. After that, I kept rebooting to see if it'll go past the first screen. Unfortunately, it didn't go very far, or it just doesn't boot.
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Also might spring for a new bios battery. I had a computer that spazed out with similar problems I replaced it and straightened my problem out. Couldn't hurt and it's very cheap if it's a standard button type.
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