DenizOezmen wrote on 2022-11-22, 20:31:

In the meantime, I was curious and tried a build without the 16 line limit. Lo and behold - it scrolls! ;-) p3bf_more_vcore.jpg […]
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In the meantime, I was curious and tried a build without the 16 line limit. Lo and behold - it scrolls! 😉
p3bf_more_vcore.jpg

I haven't actually tried the "new" settings, but don't currently see a reason why they would not work. You can give it a shot if you like:
p3bf1084_20221121.zip

Brilliant!

Thanks.

I will enjoy watching BitsUndBolts videos while I am on the toilet, as usual.

mockingbird wrote on 2022-11-23, 04:23:

I will enjoy watching BitsUndBolts videos while I am on the toilet, as usual.

Hopefully the video won't be three hours long then. 😁

Thanks DenizOezmen,

Can't wait to test the BIOS!
I am currently working on a similar undervolt video for the K6-2+/K6-III+.
Once I am done with this, I'll have the next topic thanks to you!

There is also Asus P3C-E, can anyone add the new microcodes (for Tualatin) inside it's bios please? Deniz can you do it?

karakarga wrote on 2022-11-24, 10:50:

There is also Asus P3C-E, can anyone add the new microcodes (for Tualatin) inside it's bios please? Deniz can you do it?

Just the microcodes? Sure, that's possible. There are two BIOS versions (with/without AC97), pick the one you need ...

[Edit: removed obsolete attachments]

DenizOezmen wrote on 2022-11-24, 18:40:

karakarga wrote on 2022-11-24, 10:50:

There is also Asus P3C-E, can anyone add the new microcodes (for Tualatin) inside it's bios please? Deniz can you do it?

Just the microcodes? Sure, that's possible. There are two BIOS versions (with/without AC97), pick the one you need ...

Can you please do the same for P2B-D as well? haven't received the board yet bet I will surely try it with a couple of Tualatin 1400's (Both FSB100 Celeron and FSB133 1400-S).

a_h_adl wrote on 2022-11-24, 22:57:

Can you please do the same for P2B-D as well? haven't received the board yet bet I will surely try it with a couple of Tualatin 1400's (Both FSB100 Celeron and FSB133 1400-S).

Sure. The latest stock BIOS already contains microcode for the first Tualatin steppings, so there's only a difference if you use processors of the later tB1/B1 steppings:

[Edit 2023-08-03: Moved download off-site. See first post.]

DenizOezmen wrote on 2022-11-22, 20:31:

Have fun! […]
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BitsUndBolts wrote on 2022-11-22, 16:39:

I may give modifying the BIOS myself a shot in the future. I have a few replacement BIOS chips on the way - will be doing some experiments with hot swaps, boot blocks, and replace this EPA Energy Star logo...
I'll definitely bookmark this thread for its useful information!

Have fun!

In the meantime, I was curious and tried a build without the 16 line limit. Lo and behold - it scrolls! 😉
p3bf_more_vcore.jpg

I haven't actually tried the "new" settings, but don't currently see a reason why they would not work. You can give it a shot if you like:
p3bf1084_20221121.zip

Does this release still have the pentium pro support?

maxtherabbit wrote on 2022-11-25, 15:54:

Does this release still have the pentium pro support?

I haven't conciously changed that, so it should hopefully still work. (Can't test it due to lack of hardware, though.)

Thank you Deniz, I have downloaded both of them.... 😀

Which program did you use? I know UBU at winraid but don't know this one. https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/tool-guide- … dater-ubu/30357

DenizOezmen wrote on 2022-11-25, 15:40:

a_h_adl wrote on 2022-11-24, 22:57:

Can you please do the same for P2B-D as well? haven't received the board yet bet I will surely try it with a couple of Tualatin 1400's (Both FSB100 Celeron and FSB133 1400-S).

Sure. The latest stock BIOS already contains microcode for the first Tualatin steppings, so there's only a difference if you use processors of the later tB1/B1 steppings:

!!! Asus P2B-D is a 440BX based dual Pentium III mainboard. It won't include any Tualatin microcodes, upto cuppermine! https://soggi.org/motherboards/asus/P2B-D.htm

karakarga wrote on 2022-11-25, 20:47:

Which program did you use? I know UBU at winraid but don't know this one. https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/tool-guide- … dater-ubu/30357

These are pre-UEFI BIOSes, so lots of modern tools do not apply. Except LHA.exe (and NASM for compiling assembler code) all tools used to build the mods here have been custom-written.

Other common tools for Award BIOSes of this era are CBROM or MODBIN.

karakarga wrote on 2022-11-25, 21:14:

!!! Asus P2B-D is a 440BX based dual Pentium III mainboard. It won't include any Tualatin microcodes, upto cuppermine! https://soggi.org/motherboards/asus/P2B-D.htm

And yet here they are:

The presence of a certain microcode update by itself does not imply CPU support. ASUS often included microcodes for CPUs that were not supported by the board. Example: The CUBX BIOS contains microcode updates for Slot 1 CPUs, which doesn't make any sense at all. But they don't do any damage, so the engineers probably didn't care.

OK, understood....

I have found one newer microcode ver 11 --> ver 14 at: (https://github.com/platomav/CPUMicrocodes/tree/master/Intel)

cpu00000681_plat00000010_ver00000011_date19990921.bin --> old
cpu00681_plat10_ver00000014_1999-12-09_PRD_C82EFA9B.bin --> newer

DenizOezmen wrote on 2022-11-25, 15:40:

a_h_adl wrote on 2022-11-24, 22:57:

Can you please do the same for P2B-D as well? haven't received the board yet bet I will surely try it with a couple of Tualatin 1400's (Both FSB100 Celeron and FSB133 1400-S).

Sure. The latest stock BIOS already contains microcode for the first Tualatin steppings, so there's only a difference if you use processors of the later tB1/B1 steppings:

Perfect mate! much appreciated.

I tried to do the same on a bunch of Gigabyte motherboards with no luck. The use of CBROM and CTMC part was easy enough but I was stuck at editing the file's header section after adding the microcode to add a pointer to the newly added ones. Maybe Gigabyte header uses different addressing formula or I just missed something simple?

The boards I tried with no luck were:
Gigabyte GA-6BXC
Gigabyte GA-6BX7
Gigabyte GA-BX2000

I couldn't boot the GA-6BX7 with Tualatin's, maybe the board needs recapping as it is a typical Gigabyte plague for the boards of that era but the other two boots to windows with no issue with Tualatin CPU's but not with updated microcode.

karakarga wrote on 2022-11-25, 23:32:

I have found one newer microcode ver 11 --> ver 14 at: (https://github.com/platomav/CPUMicrocodes/tree/master/Intel)

cpu00000681_plat00000010_ver00000011_date19990921.bin --> old
cpu00681_plat10_ver00000014_1999-12-09_PRD_C82EFA9B.bin --> newer

Interesting, thanks!
This file is nowhere to be found in Intel's official microcode releases, even those from around the year 2000. I wonder if it was withhdrawn, or maybe contained a fix for a specific platform?

In any case, if you want to use it, just drop the file into the microcode folder, remove the older one and run build.cmd.

a_h_adl wrote on 2022-11-26, 01:42:

I tried to do the same on a bunch of Gigabyte motherboards with no luck. The use of CBROM and CTMC part was easy enough but I was stuck at editing the file's header section after adding the microcode to add a pointer to the newly added ones. Maybe Gigabyte header uses different addressing formula or I just missed something simple?

I only tried a BX2000+ thus far. Its microcode file was just all single microcode updates strung together, without any header structure. (As far as I know, this is the usual way, and the header format is an ASUS speciality.)

Haven't looked at the others yet, but I would expect them to be the same.

a_h_adl wrote on 2022-11-26, 01:42:

I couldn't boot the GA-6BX7 with Tualatin's, maybe the board needs recapping as it is a typical Gigabyte plague for the boards of that era but the other two boots to windows with no issue with Tualatin CPU's but not with updated microcode.

If the board does not boot at all, it's most likely not a microcode issue ... could be hardware-related, but could theoretically also be an incompatibility in the BIOS code.

Deniz,

How can we extract the microcodes of the original bios file to see, what is in?

a_h_adl,

I have removed 4 pins by opening Asus S370-133 adapter and removed total of 4 contact pins inside the socket to run Tualatin. If you can isolate those 4 pins, it can be OK as well. Some people cut Tualatin processor pins, again risky.

Some people put removed cable part of plastic, (for example from telephone box remains at streets left as trash, they are really thin). You may wear those plastic parts each, about ~3 mm long to that 4 pins, and insert the processor on the 370 socket like that. This is safe but, difficult to find such a cable!

But, if you do that pin pull out modification, normal processors like Coppermine etc. and others -- Do not work again after that mod -- only Tualatins!

If, it will not work for Tualatins, mainboard can not open with any processor, (when removed those 4 pins). This is quite risky!

karakarga wrote on 2022-11-26, 13:15:

a_h_adl, […]
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a_h_adl,

I have removed 4 pins by opening Asus S370-133 adapter and removed total of 4 contact pins inside the socket to run Tualatin. If you can isolate those 4 pins, it can be OK as well. Some people cut Tualatin processor pins, again risky.

Some people put removed cable part of plastic, (for example from telephone box remains at streets left as trash, they are really thin). You may wear those plastic parts each, about ~3 mm long to that 4 pins, and insert the processor on the 370 socket like that. This is safe but, difficult to find such a cable!

But, if you do that pin pull out modification, normal processors like Coppermine etc. and others -- Do not work again after that mod -- only Tualatins!

If, it will not work for Tualatins, mainboard can not open with any processor, (when removed those 4 pins). This is quite risky!

I have a few pin-modded tualerons and 1400-S from the Korean supplier and also Lin-Lin adapter which work well on my original slockets. But thanks for the info anyway!

DenizOezmen wrote on 2022-11-26, 07:52:

If the board does not boot at all, it's most likely not a microcode issue ... could be hardware-related, but could theoretically also be an incompatibility in the BIOS code.

The boot screen freezes at just before memory check:

I checked the VRM and frequency generator chips and they can provide voltages down to 1.3V and up to 150MHz FSB with no issues.
The above photo is for SL64V (Intel Celeron 1.4 GHz) CPU, the board provides the right voltage (1.5V) but wrong FSB (66.6MHz x 9.5 =633MHz). The 9.5 multiplier is the max supported by dip switches but that shouldn't be an issue IMHO.
I can confirm the board works nicely with lower frequency CPU's at 100MHz FSB with no issue, but gets confused with the tualeron one.

It does exactly the same with SL6BY (Intel Pentium III 1.4GHz-S).

Error message because of no matching microcode.