melbar wrote:

Remember of the cacheable RAM of super-socket 7 boards: […]
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leonk wrote:

+ Asus P5A ATX Motherboard
+ 512MB of RAM (2x256MB PC100 SDRAM)

Remember of the cacheable RAM of super-socket 7 boards:

When you have for example, the ALI Aladdin V chipset (D and E) with revision up to 1.04 of Asus P5A has only 128MB cacheable!!!
If you have may revision 1.05 or 1.06 , then there is no issue with 512MB.

http://www.amd-k6.com/cacheable-ram-on-socket-7-platforms/

Test from anandtech:
"Unfortunately, the current design of the ALi Aladdin V Chipset only allows for the first 128MB of RAM to be cached, meaning anything above that would end up slowing you down more than it could possible speed you up. "
http://www.anandtech.com/show/116

Edit:
Yes ,sorry , you have the + version of K6-2/3, then everything is alright, limit is 4GB...

My mobo/cpu combo is the Asus P3B-F 1.04 and a PIII 550mhz slot 1. Not sure what the above has to do with my setup?

Bossman wrote:

However i am having a minor issue, the hardware monitor keeps complaining that the -5V voltage is at -6.14V. Something I can do about that or is it safe to ignore?

I didn't think your PSU has -5v?
If it's misreading the (non-existing) -5v line, then you can ignore it.
If it's another line, I wouldn't consider it safe.

Best is to use a voltmeter and measure the voltages more directly from the cables of the PSU (preferably when it's working, like while running a heavy benchmark).

I think I am accidentally a little closer to a resolution on the AGP / Radeon 9700 Pro issue.

I changed the motherboard to jumper free mode, and it came up with the CPU running at 366mhz and 66mhz FSB. This seems to place the AGP slot into 1x mode. I was able to use the machine with no lockups/screen going black. Even got Sim City installed (which had reliably caused the black screen lock up).

Now the question is how to go back to the spec clock speed of 550mhz on the cpu and 100 mhz on the FSB and continue to have the AGP slot run at 1x. Any insight is welcome.

Have you checked the caps on the Ati 9700 and also checked the caps around the AGP socket?

mrau wrote:

wouldnt you have to disable the mobo cache to make use of the processors cacheable size?

I don't think this is necessary, both caches should be able to work simultaneously. Afaik the disabling of the motherboard cache is mostly done on purpose when overclocking the FSB, as the onboard L2 cache (or L3 cache in case a K6-3 or K6+ was used) would often not be able to cope with the higher frequencies.

Bossman wrote:

I think I am accidentally a little closer to a resolution on the AGP / Radeon 9700 Pro issue.

I changed the motherboard to jumper free mode, and it came up with the CPU running at 366mhz and 66mhz FSB. This seems to place the AGP slot into 1x mode. I was able to use the machine with no lockups/screen going black. Even got Sim City installed (which had reliably caused the black screen lock up).

Now the question is how to go back to the spec clock speed of 550mhz on the cpu and 100 mhz on the FSB and continue to have the AGP slot run at 1x. Any insight is welcome.

Isn't it possible to put the AGP to 1x without having to resort to set up the board to jumperless?
I never looked at this myself, as I typically don't bother to try to use something faster in ss7 than a Voodoo 3 (I prefer a single Voodoo 2 actually, matched it with a TNT2 M64 AGP and it worked pretty well in that setup).

Thanks to Chaniyth who explained there is a setting in the ATI driver settings to run the card in 1x. Smooth sailing since the change and everything is set back to normal.