Computer having serious trouble with random games / CPU speed issue

[OwnageByRadeon]

Problem description:
First Issue: CPU speed - no matter what i do, this processor (A64 3200+ - Single Core AM2 [Orleans]) will not show over 587.5mhz (Multiplier x10.0, Bus Speed 58.8, HT Link 293.8mhz in CPU-Z). Ive updated *.driver, even updated my BIOS on my Abit NF-M2S motherboard

Second issue is that in *some* games the video / audio run incredibly fast. like someone is running fast forward. To combat this ive tried updating my video and sound driver (running integrated sound and an ATI x1650)
Examples: Gameplay in HL2
Gameplay in Hitman 2
The intro for splinter cell III

Attempted fixes:
Reformatted
Updating *.driver
Updating BIOS
Manually setting Bus Speed in BIOS
Enabling / Disabling AMD Cool'N'Quiet
Monitored for adjustment in CPU speed while running Prime95 to see whether it was load related


Recent changes:
The hard drive that was in this machine went bad so i replaced it with a new one, but the problem existed before the new hard drive

--

Operating system:
Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ all updates (Legit)

System specs:
A64 3200+ AM2
Abit NF-M2S w/ latest bios
ATI branded X1650 w/ latest catalyst
2x 512 Samsung DDR2
Antec PSU
WD 320gb SATAII HD

 

[engiNURD]

eh? lol.

When did this problem start?

Did you try to manually set the bus speed to 200?

 

[OwnageByRadeon]

eh? lol.

When did this problem start?

Did you try to manually set the bus speed to 200?

It must have started when i built the machine maybe , but i never noticed it til i installed WoW and it said my CPU speed was too low ...

As i said in my original post, i did try manually setting bus speed, no dice

 

[anime4u]

Looks like we're fish'in for an issue!

I would suggest we start out back at square one. First thing to do is to either determine if the issue is hardware or software. I know you may done a lot of troubleshooting but sometimes starting over is part of the path of fixing issues.

Please consider these steps: (please write down results for later)

1. Check you hardware, especially the ram location. Some boards are picky about ram.

2. Reset bios setup back to factory presets. Observe cpu and other hardware stats and write them down for future look up.

3. Go to hardware manager and see if windows is reporting any question marks or exclamination marks by the listed hardware. Look into display and see of the video driver is functioning. If everything is good proceed on.

4. Run some hardware tests such as Memtest86+ to find ram errors(you can also use microsoft memory test-detailed test) and prime95 to stress test the hardware a bit.
If nothing shakes out proceed on.

5. Go to the AMD site and see if you need to download a driver for the CPU.

6. Open the event id viewer and application viewer to see if any serious software errors have occured.

7. Go to the game sites to see if a new patch has come availible.


Try these steps to see if a issue pops out. Right now as you well know the issue may be either software or hardware.

Good luck!