Procomp BVK1A mainboard

[Jeffrey Folkman]

What follows is the text of an e-mail that you wrote in 2001.  I have the
same problem. Did anyone offer you any solutions or have you discovered a
solution?  All help would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Jeffrey Folkman
[e-mail]

Hello,

My system has a Procomp BVK1A mainboard sporting one of those dreaded =
VIA KX133 chipsets. I have been a virtual lurker, monitoring the =
archives, and have heard plenty of horror stories about this chipset, =
but let me make clear that this board was rock-solid for the better part =
of a year. It would go for weeks without a power-off or reboot. People =
would look at me funny, and ask, "Doesn't your computer *crash*?" (Of =
course not; it runs Linux!)

Then, a couple of months ago, I installed 2.4.4. And that, as Stevie B. =
once said, was where the heartache began.

Every time I use X, given sufficient time (between 15 minutes and 24 =
hours), the system would freeze. Solid. I haven't tried the Magic SysRq =
key, but heck, my CapsLock won't even go on and off. Usually it takes a =
while but the problem seems to be exacerbated by heavy-load, =
graphics-intensive applications (GIMP and Mozilla come to mind). Console =
mode seems to run okay, but in the Real World sometimes a GUI is =
necessary.

That's not the half of it. Sometimes, Windows freezes in identical =
fashion. I've even experienced it occasionally under NetBSD, but that =
usually takes quite a long while. I've tried 2.4.4, 2.4.5, several AC =
patches to 2.4.5, then I went back and tried 2.4.1. I've compiled it for =
an Athlon, a PII, a Pentium, and a 486. I suspected the AGPGART and DRI =
drivers and so I unloaded those as well. I'm typing this message to you =
under kernel 2.2.19. I am still experiencing freezes. Remember, this box =
was incredibly stable before 2.4.4 and I really don't want to give up =
this mainboard and CPU; it's got some nice things (like 2 serial ports!) =
that are hard to find anymore.

The CPU is not overclocked and I have ruled out cooling problems (the =
fans hum nicely at top speed). I was wondering if anyone knew what's =
going on, and if there's some patch I need to apply. Did I tickle some =
sort of schroedinbug in the chipset that was kind of hiding there, =
waiting to make things fail? If anyone has any answers, please CC me =
personally. Thanks for all your time and patience.
--=20