good ram advice to BURN an old slot A Athlon TB

[billchase]

It still sounds like a possible DMA issue.  I assume you have
already enabled it in the windows device manager or whatever
2000 calls it.  In XP, the properties tab also tells me what
mode it is currently running.  Maybe the w2k IDE channel
properties tab will report the status as well.  Try the
following link to enable DMA if PIO is stuck on.

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

I had to do the registry fix under the following heading:
"Re-enable DMA using the Registry Editor"

As far as overclocking, the northbridge will probably be
more of a factor than the memory.  Everything on the irongate
runs in sync.  The goldfinger device to change the CPU
mulitplier that some others mention will probably be the
best bet in order to allow the rest of the system to run at
spec.  Even though you won't reach near PC133 speeds, just
stick with good quality PC133 ram so that it will run faster
than 100Mhz if you do choose to push the fsb. It will possibly
run tighter timings at 100Mhz than regular PC100. I ran
crucial in my slot A system, but I sure some of the other
top brands will work just as well.

One more note about memory, I have never had any luck running
1-sided memory in my K7M.  Only recognizes half the capacity.
Stick with double-sided if at all possible.

C Snyder

BTW, are you using the w2k ide driver or VIA's?  Stick with
the generic w2k drivers, but if you are running the VIA
set, check their site for the DMAtool, it might be required
to enable DMA if nothing else does.



 





 

[billchase]

"VIA's, but W2K reports Ultra DMA as the current mode so it's working. I've also found some references on the net advicing to remove DMA tool before installing VIA drivers so I assume the drivers substitute it."

I actually I had heard that DMAtool was sometimes required to activate DMA
with the VIA drivers installed.  Maybe newer versions of the drivers eliminate
the need for DMAtool.  Probably wouldn't hurt to try it anyway.

Are you running with the ACPI HAL installed?  I have also not had any
luck with ACPI on older hardware including irongate boards. If you are going
to do another install of Windows anyway, try just using the Standand PC HAL
if you are not already.

Good luck with it, outside of what has been suggested, I am not sure what else
it could be.

C Snyder

[billchase]

ACPI will "work" on Slot A boards, but the reliabilty and
stability is questionable.  When I was running W98, having
ACPI enabled (I forgot to use setup /p i during the install)
caused a big performance hit and stability issues.  W2k's
implementation might be better, but I still wouldn't trust
it.  Your video card might be the bottleneck as well, but
regardless, I highly recommend ditching ACPI due to the age
of the machine.

Do you have NERO by any chance?  The Nero Infotool will help
confirm that DMA is indeed working.  I have heard of windows
incorrectly reporting DMA status on VIA equipped boards.
I apologize if I'm beating a dead horse on this DMA issue, but
my gut instinct tells me its still a possible factor.  

C Snyder  

[billchase]

Well that certainly helps close the door on the DMA issue.
My last random suggestion would be to try using an 80wire
ide cable instead of the old 40wire if you are not already
doing so.  Have you also been able to test with another DVD
drive?  If the GFX upgrade doesn't work, this is the only
other hardware factor I can think of.

C Snyder
 

[billchase]

The reason I suggested to try the 80 wire cable is that some
machines that I have worked on will not enable UltraATA modes
with just a 40 wire cable, though I haven't tested this with
the K7M.  The BIOS on these machines will spit out an error
code disabling UltraATA transfers.  It certainly won't hurt
anything to try it since they can be found pretty cheap at
most local computer shops.  Since many DVD and CD drives now
support ATA33 and ATA66, it is a good idea to just retire the
40 wire variety altogether.  Any luck with swapping GFX cards?

C Snyder