My 2400+ just become 1800+! Help!

[hehku]

I bought a used AMD 2400+ (about 2 ghz) from a friend a month ago. I had all kind of problems with installing Windows and Linux, but the computer did run for a while and I saw it was AMD 2400+.

Today I finally managed to format my hard disk and install winXP again. All was running fine, but I noticed now this thing is a AMD 1800+ with glorious 1,5 ghz! I can see it in the start-up screen, in the system info window and everywhere.

I tried a bit of Pandora Tomorrow and it surely runs slower than before reinstalling Windows.

Any ideas? I'm starting to panic, because I'm getting HL2 next week.

I will be very thankful for any comments!

 

[blahblahblah]

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/amdcpuid.exe

Run this nifty little program and find out for sure what your processor is, and what it is running at.

 

[hehku]

Thanks for reply and for that link. It didn't comfort me much, though, it just says the same thing as everything else:

Processor Name "AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1800+"
CPU ID (0) "AuthenticAMD"
Processor Speed Test "1,505 Mhz"

Do you have any idea, why could this be happening?

 

[blahblahblah]

http://139.95.253.213/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=69,E=0000000000183300075,K=2065,Sxi=11,Case=obj(1224)

According to this, it is running at the frequency of a XP 1800+.

Do you have any paperwork to suggest that it is a XP 2400+? Go into your bios and write down what the FSB and clock multiplier is listed.

 

[hehku]

These things are all pretty new for me..
I looked through all the options in BIOS and didn't find anything about FSB. What is it?

Cpu ratio was set for 'Default', other options were like 10.0x, 10.5x, 11.0x, ...

I looked the list in your link and found the 2400+ / 2 ghz -pair I thought I have, but that +85c seemed so scary that I didn't dare to set my cpu ratio to the suggested 15x.

Unfortunately I don't have any papers for this computer.

 

[blahblahblah]

What type of RAM (speed wise) do you have?

 

[hehku]

512MB DDR 333 mhz.

I found this line from the BIOS:
Dram clock at next boot is 166mhz (by SPD)

If I try raising the CPU-ratio multiplier, is there a possibility that I wreck my computer?

 

[blahblahblah]

If I try raising the CPU-ratio multiplier, is there a possibility that I wreck my computer?

Yes, if it is a true XP 1800+. No, if it is a true XP 2400+.

Go back into your bios and look for something called "CPU external Frequency" or something along those lines and post back what it is set at.

Even acting as an XP 1800+, it should get through HL2 just fine.

 

[hehku]

I didn't find anything like that CPU external Frequency. The closest thing was the CPU ratio, which I already mentioned. It can be set to anything between x5.0 and x24.0.

I read some instructions from AMD.com and tried to set DRAM clock to 133mhz and CPU ratio to x15, but it didn't help.

I'm beginning to suspect that I snapped some jumpers on the mobo by accident when I switched my HD's..

Darn, I don't want to run HL2 with a 1800 when I know my computer can do better! I tried Pandora Tomorrow and it wasn't smooth at all.

 

[hehku]

OK, problem solved, I think.. I found an option named "HOST ratio" (or something like that) and it was 100 mhz. I changed it to 133, and here we go, I have a 2400+ again!

Thank you for all the help, I wouldn't have ever found that without your adivices.

Since time is here in Finland now 6:45 AM, I think I should get some sleep.

 

[Ti133700N]

Yep! You did exactly what you had to do You changed the FSB from 100 to 133. Your multiplier must be set to 15. Wich means that when the FSB was 100 you were at 15x100=1500Mhz (the 1800+ speed). Now you have 15x133=1995 (2400+ speed). Like you said you probably snapped the reset CMOS jumber by accident.

Good job