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What Causes Overclocking Failed Error

by Steven Wagenheim
7 replies
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I just got Windows 7 and a new hard drive installed no more than 2 months ago.
Up until today, all was fine. This morning I get an "overclocking failed" message
trying to start up the first time. After I went into setup (didn't change
anything) and exited out, it started up fine.

What causes this?
  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Not really enough information Steven,How old is the motherboard? If the board is really old then it could be something simple like the cmos battery needing to be replaced. But again,I'm taking a stab in the dark.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    SOME motherboards hve the ability to overclock CPUs, TECHNICALLY that is running a CPU past its rated speed, but many CPUs can be overclocked if otherthings are skewed, so they made them more flexible on some motherboards. In suh a case, the board could reasonably assume that you attempted to overclock.

    An overclock failure could happen if it isn't possible, memory/peripherals is/are run at an incompatible speed, the multiplier is out of whack, it is too hot, or the voltage is not right, or the chip is damaged.

    Of course, kim is right, a bad battery may cause a related item to fail.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      SOME motherboards hve the ability to overclock CPUs, TECHNICALLY that is running a CPU past its rated speed, but many CPUs can be overclocked if otherthings are skewed, so they made them more flexible on some motherboards. In suh a case, the board could reasonably assume that you attempted to overclock.

      An overclock failure could happen if it isn't possible, memory/peripherals is/are run at an incompatible speed, the multiplier is out of whack, it is too hot, or the voltage is not right, or the chip is damaged.

      Of course, kim is right, a bad battery may cause a related item to fail.

      Steve
      Okay, but the problem is most likely something in the motherboard (it is
      very old) and not anything to do with the hard drive or the OS.

      Correct?
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Okay, but the problem is most likely something in the motherboard (it is
        very old) and not anything to do with the hard drive or the OS.

        Correct?
        RIGHT! You generally CAN'T overclock an OS! The old Apple DOS, for example, was MADE to work at a certain speed because refresh and disk timing were hooked into it, but that has never been the case with MSDOS, or anything under it. NOBODY, that I know of, has ever overclocked a disk drive. There are too many other things that have to be sped up FIRST. If there were such a failure, which IS possible, the error reported would be a DISK error.

        So YEAH, an overclock error points to the problem of a MAIN CPU unit component. That includes the motherboard, memory, and CPU. And SOMETIMES the CMOS battery can play havok with the motherboard. It is usually a little silver colored coin like battery that is on the motherboard. It is basically a watch battery. They are generally rated for a VERY long tme, since they are high amperage, for their size, and the current draw is VERY low. Out of about 12 I have recently checked here, that are up to about 12 years old, only ONE has failed.

        Of course, it COULD be a CPU error, or memory error. ALSO, did you recently change any bios settings, or jumpers? If the battery goes bad, the bios settings may change, which is why it plays havok.

        BTW a simple test to check the battery, that nobody mentioned. There is an over 80% chance that if it is a battery problem, turning the computer off for more than a few seconds will cause the clock to reset! The time is kept through the O/S by the computer. Obviously, that can ONLY happen in normal mode, so that is no good. SO, when you change the time, it changes a bios time clock. When you boot your computer, it sets the time by reading that clock. Since the powersupply provides a lot of power, it is turned off, and THAT is why the battery was present even in the IBM PC which didn't use it for BIOS settings. Oh yea, maybe as much as 20% of the time, the clock will keep POOR time. You can check tat by synchronizing the clock, and leaving it off a day. If the time is still within a second or so, it likely isn't the battery.

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author kokopelli
    Don't use Windoze myself anymore, but it seems to be a common issue - just Google windows "overclocking failed" and about 102,000 results will come up. Some solutions were to reset the bios, not sure ... also seems to be a problem if dual-booting between Windows and Ubuntu.

    Maybe there's a bios firmware upgrade available for your PC that will solve the problem?
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    And of course you may have an overclocked cpu and not know that. For a while they were selling underclocked/disabled cpus,meaning ones that could not reach their potential,but then some companies and builders started using overclocked chips and selling than as one that were rated higher.
    Its probably not your problem but its worth knowing I think.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by KimW View Post

      And of course you may have an overclocked cpu and not know that. For a while they were selling underclocked/disabled cpus,meaning ones that could not reach their potential,but then some companies and builders started using overclocked chips and selling than as one that were rated higher.
      Its probably not your problem but its worth knowing I think.
      Yeah, like I said, that is always a possibility. Some did it to push the limit, some to cut on cost, and some simply because they could. Technically, it isn't legal without stating it somewhere, but you know they did.

      Steve
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