K6-III+ 450 embedded woes \ VOGONS

K6-III+ 450 embedded woes

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First post, by Zoomer

Posted on 2017-07-20, 05:56

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Hey, I'm trying to build a k6-3+ based time machine to conserve space. Mostly I'm following Phil's YouTube guide.

So the problem is I get lock up (full freeze) 2-3 minutes after windows 98se gui loaded.

I have a gigabyte GA5-AA (ali 5) motherboard. I've tried several different videocards, memory sticks, bus/multiplier settings, different harddrives, bios settings, Win98 installations, etc. The result is always the same. It happens with or with any drivers installed. Tried pulling out all cards and disabling onboard features.

The only thing that helps is changing CPU to Pentium MMX 233. Then everything works great.

The funny thing is that K6 works without any problems until W98 start. I can even do a format/full w98 install with it, but only till tge first gui start.

My cpu is K6-III+ 450ACR 2.0v. Somehow it's detected as K6-III 333 and runs at 333mhz at 2v/x6 multiplier. Is there some sort of incompatibility with motherboard? Is it because it's "embedded" version? Or is there something that I miss? My motherboard runs latest f7b bios.

MB: Asus P3B-F 1.03 (2x ISA)
CPU: PIII-S 1.4GHz/VIA C3 800MHz
RAM: 256MB PC133
Video: GeForce 4600Ti/Voodoo 5 5500/Voodoo 3 3500 for DOS Glide
Audio: SB16 OPL3 + Audigy Platinum Ex
OS: Windows 98

Reply 1 of 6, by Deksor

Posted on 2017-07-20, 07:50

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Maybe look for a modded bios ?

Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative

Reply 2 of 6, by Zoomer

Posted on 2017-07-20, 08:55

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I've tried looking around, but the thing is - there's not much info about that "embedded" line at all unfortunately. On this site http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/J.Steunebrink/k6plus.htm my motherboard is marked compatible with k6-3+ processors. Again, no word on embedded chips.

Reply 3 of 6, by ODwilly

Posted on 2017-07-20, 08:58

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Check the jumper settings on your mobo and voltage settings. K6 chips are pretty hardy it seems so being at 2.3volts vs the recommended 2.0 volts should not hurt anything with proper cooling. Make sure the FSB setting is jumpered properly, along with the multiplier settings. Sicne your 450 is running at 333mhz I would imagine your fsb and multiplier settings are both set incorrectly.

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1

Reply 4 of 6, by Jepael

Posted on 2017-07-20, 09:54

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Most likely you have 66MHz FSB and 5x multiplier, but it's possible the CPU speed is detected wrong as well if the BIOS does not support such new model CPU.

To get 450MHz, you should set 100MHz FSB and 4.5x multiplier, but you also need 100MHz compatible memory (PC100).
If you don't have 100MHz memory, then your only option is to use 66MHz FSB, but even then with 6x multiplier, you only get 400MHz.
While not official operating frequency, 75*6 is also 450MHz.

Also check you have set the correct CPU voltage, too high voltage can cause CPU to heat too much and not work or shut down, even if there is no permanent damage.

Also load BIOS default settings so memory speeds are slowest, or try slowing them down even more.

Reply 5 of 6, by F2bnp

Posted on 2017-07-20, 12:17

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Check the voltage regulator and see if it gets absurdly hot as well, although that incorrect BIOS POST is suspicious. GA-5AA should run K6+ CPUs just fine, however, Jan Steunebrink's website notes the following:

"The F7b is a beta BIOS (AMI). Note that the F6 BIOS has full K6plus support as well, and is reported to work better on a GA-5AA ver 2.2 board."

So, check your board revision!

Reply 6 of 6, by Zoomer

Posted on 2017-07-20, 19:38

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Alright, note to myself - markings on the motherboard are the priority... I've used jumper and switch configurations from the user manual... Which is totally different. Not only switches positions, but even jumper-switch configurations.

I can only imagine what poor cpu had to endure.... Well, case closed, it works perfectly now!

Thank you everyone for pushing me in the right direction!

Edit: yeah, I also saw this remark regarding board revision. Somehow I was sure that mine is 3.2 when it is actually 2.2. Right now I don't see any other problems so I'm going to leave it on f7b for the time being.

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