My KT3 Ultra Experience (from the nightmare to a running well system)

Question

Well First...
I don't speak a well english, maybe because still think in spanish, so maybe find many gramatical errors.
the very very begin
The history begins with a terrible electric shock in my house, i got a Athlon XP 1700+ with a cheap PC Chips Board (810)..yeah the all in one board (video, modem, ethernet, sound) build my first system with a mixture of expectatives and dreams with my first AMD athlon XP , the system running well, before got the "great idea" to plug a Zoltrix Genie TV card for record South Park, everything is OK, so, i think that i abuse the luck, and a rainy night, i surf the net ( a XXX one... ATK... never forget that site after this) a electric shock enter trought the tv cable searching ground, someone that got this experience maybe feels a demon in a box, a white light come out from the back of the system and hit the isolated regulator ( with the sparks and all the stuff ) the light goes out and a tasty barbecue smell fill completly the room.
ohhh...
the list of cooking components:
   Athlon XP 1700+
   PC Chips 810 (a/v/r/s)
   Maxtor HDD 40GB
   Zoltrix Genie TV
   Mouse (generic)
   Keyboard (generic)
   Microsoft sidewinder gamepad
The miracle pieces:
   256MB DIMM sticks from crucial (PC 100) two of them
   External CD Burner HP CD-Writer 8230e (USB)
   Philips Monitor 17'
i learn to never watch a porno site in a rainy night... it's really bad for your system
build another system "da plan!"
in a trip to Bogotá i search in the computer mall called UNILAGO, the new system board, someone callit MOBO, my idea are this:
A Boxed Board. Candidates like ASUS , Gygabyte, MSI, with the VIA 333 chip are required.
we search in all the place, asus show its A7V333 model, but its too expensive in the price that this guy offered (maybe think that i don't search the pricewatch.com page before go to the mall... je je) in a place some guy show me a very nice box... i think the first impression counts, its the kt3 ultra board in her shiny box, next tactic ask for minimun price (...no minimun price got this board...) so i pay 360 thousand pesos for it.
wen come back to Cali ( the place i live) and after got some pesos in my bag i go to the computer mall in Cali called La passarella (remember the argentinian soccer player?) for buy the components.....
the list is this:
   Athlon XP 1800+ BOXED (got the original AMD heatsink)
   DDR RAM PC2100 256 MB
   Genius Netscroll Optic
   Genius Keyboard
   CD-Rom LG 52 X
   Case with a 300W ATX Power Supply
   Realtek Ethernet Card (Encore)
   AGP Video card with the SIS chip 315 128MB of ram
   Genius Maxfire USB (i buyit for the cheap price and anyway i don't play too much in a computer so i dont need a Nvidia Ti thing or a gamepad expensive)
wen go to the house, plug all the stuff and the process it's fine, no complicate things occur, i do two modifications first
1)to the AMD heatsink, the clip come in the other side, so i need to unplug the Power ATX supply for attach it and don't want to do the same thing every time that retire the heatsink, i disarm the heatsink and turn the clip to the other side, no problems with this mod...  
2)i don't use floppy disks... I HATE IT so the place of the floppy converts in the place for the D-Bracket with all the lights and two USB... nice because i perfored the case in the right way and the usb and the lights come in the front of the case...it's a easy mod...
all the things come well so turn it ON...
 KT3 Ultra first Round!
 well i don' pay much attention in the first time that power on the system and hit the del key.... nothing happens and a letters of searching array and scanning devices show... after this process the amibios screen shows (the blue one, and still today don't find the option for change the color scheme like te PC Chips amibios options got) in this point i know that the rule "search the instruction booklet" it's totally necessary for many options the options that i disable and some that enable are this:
    in integrated peripherals disable the ata raid option (remember the scan devices screen?) i plug a maxtor ATA 100 hard drive to the ide cable because don't know if this hard disk works with the Raid Option maybe not because is ata 100.. so disable the option
    in power management options i activate the CPU critical temperature to 70°C
    in advanced bios settings i enable the MSI link to the future screen... nice, SMART for HDD enable. In the boot secuence put first CD-rom and later HDD
    in standard CMOS settings put the hour...(uh!), and obvious disable the nasty floppy drive (BOOT CDS REPLACE THE NEED OF FLOPPY DRIVES...)
    in PC health disable the intrussion option, because i don't have the switch for the case...
    in frecuency and voltage i find the FSB in 100Mhz but i don't change anything in this point...
 after this tiny modification, i save the changes and restart....
 the system boot with a CD he he... with a image of the win98 boot disk, so i formated and fdisk the drive... tooooo fast in this point.
 after partition the HDD in 5 pieces and formating every partition, i reboot the computer for installing Win98...
 the installation goes normal, and install all the MSI software (only for know what apps are appreciable por me) i don't have any problems, install all the drivers for every single hardware piece and the system works well... so testing es the next point.
 KT3 Ultra first test after the installation
 well i feel that my job are easyly...(ji ji) and all the process go OK so testing my new machine gotme like a child.
 i run the test of SiS for the AGP card ( 3D thrill ) the demo of the card got a cosmic scene, comes very fast, i try to watch if someone piloting the space ship, and maybe see something
 the sound are good for the include sound chip in the board, put and test all the effects and test...ok ok... nice.
 microsoft direct X got some testings so i run it too ... write in run command "dxdiag" and ready for the tests, in this point i feel free to install a copy of "formula 1 2002" in the machine some guy borrowme a copy, wen i try to install got a n error.... (the first one) and the game don't install ... i reject the installation and try another game, in this point i search the Athlon XP Oem.bmp file for branding my new system... je je, and hit the window key and pause and i find that my processor runs in 1.1 Mhz... (what!!!) if this CPU is a 1800 and this speed maybe is wrong....so i read the boocklet and find in the FSB option the way for put the CPU in his real Mhz...(1.53) in this point begins the troubles...
 KT3 Ultra damage my CPU??????!!!!!
 Wen enter to the bios i got direct for the FSB option and put it to 133Mhz maybe this thing it's easyly too, i think, i made and save the changes... and.....
 A BLACK SCREEN COMES AND I SEE THE FOUR LEDS IN RED!!!!
 AHHHH!,  i thinks that this processor pases to a better life after this point, with shaking hands  read again the boocklet and find the interpretation for the 4 red leds signal, damage or bad installed processor.
 oh, so what i do...?
i continue reading for a little FAQ in the boocklet, and nothing, only a glossary, i call a friend to helpme... ( the true geek one) the guy tell me to reset the bios with the jumper... so, i don't loose anything with this and do it...
wen the computer reboots the signals come to life... (ufff!) and the scanning device creen shows again... so i need to save again my settings.
i do all the things and save, the system turns on and windows 98 load normal again... i try to fix the FSB thing in other time i think, and continue intalling some programs.
In my CDs find a copy of formula 1 2001 no de 2002 version, because this version i installed in my other fried system i installed in mine for show and prove the 3d card...
the installation works fine and terminate ok, wen i hit the icon to play, the 3d settings window appears i select some options 800x600 32bit color and press test,  a blank screen comes with some little caracters, in some point wen the test come back my system frozes and nothing happens... OHHHHHHH! what happens?.... i think, i decided to check the temperature values because in this point think that my installation fails in the put heatsink process.
i load PC alert and find CPU temperature in 78°C... oh, it's too high i think so shutdown the system and check the heatsink for anything that miss in the first time.
i put again the heatsink an log to the bios for check the values....
this is the values of PChealth option in bios:
   Cpu temp  : 71°C and stable in this value...it's high too
   System Temp : 38°C ...high too
   VCore      1.744V
   +5.0V       5.038V
   +12V      11.923V
   -12V      -11.497
   -5V         -5.026V
   Batt      3.24V
   +5VSB      4.969
some ideas come to my mind and try to think if some options of the bios, the best performance option it's a good point to start i think so i select and save the changes...
oh, oh, the black screen comes again.... buuuuuu! and the four red leds too....buuuu!
mmmm, ....what i do?, what i do?....i reset again the bios, for the options and try to boot the machine again... maybe leave the system in the first point i think but nothing prepare me for the many "chorro" of errors thath follow after this point....
If i can roll back the time....
i think to be superman and fly in a oposite earth direction for roll back the time... (luisa!)
the system begins a non stop errors secuence  sometimes the four leds are red, sometimes tree leds red an the top right led green, in the book says this signal is for damage DDR ram...
wen windows 98 loads the system frozes in some points, and wen enter and run some test the system frozes too...
i reset the bios to the original form an try to leave the house excactly wen enter the first time... i save it and the errors continues...
with NO hope of correct by myself the issues i turn on my old K6II system and find the MSI forum that got some mysql errors
in the forum find the Power unit suplly issues, i got the ATX box and 300W maybe it's too low i think after MANY post with same errors like me, i think to made a program plan for recover the stability and my ideas come in the next point.
now need another message to continue....

Answer 1

Return the system to the "normal" or less stability
In the forum (thanks for the people thath participate) some people says issues of frozen systems because cheap ATX power supply, some other got problems with the heatsink, i think that a mixture of those issues gotme like mad and try to figure out the quality of a atx power supply that changes the performance after a bios setup... ( it's a very cheap ATX power supply, i think) the Power unit now don't support the energy, and power needs of the system in some cases wen i run the 3d accelerated test the system frozes wen i hit "test".
return today to the computer mall passarella, and buy this items:
   Vulcano 7 (it's a building no, it's a airplane no,... it's vulcano 7 with speed sensor incorporated, much bigger than a building and more CFM than any airplane make!)
   ATX power supply 400W for kicks power requeriments and maybe extract energy enough for a reading lamp...
   wen come back to the house i install the new parts, the vulcano 7 needs the same mod than the other AMD one, or maybe MSI put the  sockect A protect clip layer in the wrong site, maybe the board fit well in a ATX-XL case for no uninstall the power unit to put the heatsink... anyway need to uninstallit but this issue it's funny.
wen everiting it's ok i turn on the system...
KT3 Ultra Runs smooth... FINALLY
i know thath every body needs to listen a couple of help tips, in this point i think that logged to the forum are the best idea that i got, many people got the same problems and if you don't ask or search you think thath the MSI board it's a terrible board, and this no true, and because it's red too.
the system loads normal and i think to go up the FSB to the NORMAL 133 value for this athlon XP 1800+ i change the values, save and reboot the first thing that i find are the bios recognize the Amd Athlon XP 1800+ in the first black screen ( wen disables da logo) later, web hit windows key+ pause the window says Athlon XP 1800+, in the fuzzy logic app i find the values of 1523 Mhz and the temperature don't rises 50°C it's now OK, better than the cooking eggs thing that got before the changes.
now i need to give some thanks..
Thanks
to all the people in the forum, i don't write a nice english but i know read and it's enough for take a easy living style with this machines...
MSI people thanks
for the people in the mall, they don't know  much the Power unit issues of this board it's a bit more exigent than others in his point.
to my dog that share my angry in the late night, it's a good one that dont' sleep well wen i work in the night..
so to all the people thanks for made this posible, maybe this long post with less technical things works for put your boards well.
Victor Hugo Hernández
Cali - Colombia