[MPlayer-users] MMX2

[Hans du Plooy]

On Wednesday 05 May 2004 18:07, George Tavares wrote:
>    Something very strange happens with mplayer in my machine. I have a
> PCChips M747 ( yes, I know that this motherboard sucks) with a Celeron 400.
> Mplayer always run fine with a Fedora Linux. Now a change my processor to a
> PIII 550, recompile the mplayer then the CPU strangly freeze after 5 to 10
> minutes playing any video
One of those everything-onboard models that offers both a Socket-370 AND a 
Slot-I and has only one PCI slot? 

I don't think your problem has got anything to do with MPlayer.  I have had 
the same issues on another cheap-o motherboard.  It was a FIC Super7 board 
with an AMD K6-II 500mhz and crappy SiS graphics.  When I replaced the 
graphics card with a TNT2, my machine started freezing everytime I used 
OpenGL apps.  As it turned out the board wasn't able to handle the power 
demands of the graphics card (this was admitted by the tech staff at FIC and 
a revision of the board was made available that addressed this issue).

I've seen the same thing happen when the CPU or memory voltage isn't correct, 
so with any luck your problem is just a BIOS setting away (assuming your BIOS 
has those settings).  It could be that there's just a little to little juice 
for the MMX2 to kick in properly.  If I remember correctly those boards were 
build before the PIII-550, so it might be that, even though the chip works in 
it, it isn't really up to the task.  Maybe the PSU is the culprit - 
Mendochino Celerons use a lot less power than P-IIIs.

It could also be that one of your memory dimms is complaining. Remember that 
the Celeron run on a 66mhz FSB, and the P-III on 100mhz.  It could be that 
the memory is, ever so slightly, less stable at 100mhz than at 66mhz.

I don't really know what to suggest otherwise.  Let us know what you can come 
up with.

Hans du Plooy