Hello,
I just built a new Linux box running Fedora 1.0.
I was really excited because this was my first dual AMD MP box.
Here are the specs:
Motherboard: Refurbished Tyan 2466N
Processors: Two AMD MP 2400+
RAM: 1 stick of 512MB PC2100, 1 stick of 512MB PC2700
Harddrives: 1 Maxtor 60GB (primary), 1 Maxtor 200GB (secondary)
Video: Chaintech Nvidia Geforce3 64MB AGP (using Nvidia Linux Drivers)
Case: Antec Sonata with Low Noise 380W power supply

Here's the thing: Occasionally the box will just freeze on me. It appears to be random since it's not reproducible or predictable. I've emailed Tyan's tech support but they couldn't help me out. I don't know if this is a problem with this particular motherboard, or the fact that it's refurbished, or the AMD 760 MPX chipset, or an issue with heat, etc...

One of my friends suggested I update the BIOS to the latest revision but I'm not sure if that will help either.

Any ideas what could be the problem?

Thanks in advance.

My bet is with the heat. Dual CPU systems get a lot warmer then others, more noise I know, but you gotta make sure you case has proper ventilation. Make sure you have as many case fans as possible. I know b/c my Tyan S2665 Dual Xeon generates alot of heat and with out lots of case fans it was way too warm (~45 C). My advice: get lots of fans blowing in there!

I just ran cpuburn on the system for one hour and recorded the tempurature for each MP every 20 seconds.


CPU1 Idle Temp: 43 C
CPU2 Idle Temp: 49 C

CPU1 Heavy load Maximum Temp: 53.0 C
CPU2 Heavy load Maximum Temp: 64.0 C

CPU1 Average Temp: 52.0 C
CPU2 Average Temp: 61.2 C

I'm not sure if this is really hot for an MP processors under heavy load. Is it?

I think that may be a wee bit hot. My Two Xeons run around 50 C with heavy load. I run seti@home so they are never under normal/idle load. But, I've got Xeons, you've got AMDs, I'm not sure if they are comparable. But, can you get any info on chasis temperature? If it's above 30, you've definetaly got problems.

After it freezes up, can you hit the reset and it starts back up. If not I would say it is a heat issue also. I have 3 Tyan S2462UGN and one is in a 2U case. It would not restart after a shutdown till it cooled off some. They all run about 40c or cooler at heavy loads.

Good luck
Brian1

After it freezes I can hit the reset button and the machine starts right up.
Does anyone else have these problems with the AMD 760 chipset?

Thats waaaay to hot for those processors. Get a much better active heatsink or use water cooling. Also get a much better power supply like enermax or power cooler. Probably the power supply is over heating.

I think Cooler Master Jet 7 should cool off your processors very good. Also they don't have any hot spots like several other active heatsinks. Though be careful when mounting because they can crack your board.

For the memory, use similar speeds, brands, and model.

What kind of memory are you using in your dual mp system? If it is non-reg non-ecc ram, it could be the ram that could be the problem. This is because when you use a dual mp processor, not a single mp processor, the chipset can only be stable with ecc reg pc2100. I found this out from Tyan when I had a similar problem. I installed ecc reg pc2100 ram and it worked just fine. Also I see that you are using 380w power supply. That may be a little low for the system, remember you are using 2 processors in your system. I would suggest at least a 500w power supply. I ran into problems with a dual 2400+ mp system running under 400w, with a 2 harddrives, dvd, cd-rw with random restarts on another dual mp system. I had to bump it up to 500 w to handle the power demand.

Hope this helps out,

Travis