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First post, by andre_6

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Hello everyone,

I'm currently completing a Win98 build based on a MSI 815EPT Pro with the latest 7.4 BIOS. After switching CPU's to a 866mhz Pentium III, it read as 866mhz and the memory as 133mhz speed at the first boot. I went to the BIOS, made a few tweaks non related to RAM or CPU, and after I rebooted it started showing the CPU as a "433e Mhz 66x6.5", and the memory speed as 100mhz.

If I change the memory speed on my Award BIOS from 100mhz to 133mhz, it always shows as 100mhz after I reboot. As for the cpu frequency, I can't for the life of me find where to change it in that Award BIOS.

Some specs:

MSI815EPT Pro
2x256 Kingston 133mhz
Pentium III 866mhz
GeForce4 MX 440
Sound Blaster Live! CT4830

I'm so close to finish this build, any idea as to what can be the issue? Do I have to use the CPU Clock Ratio option to get to the 866mhz? How? I'm a beginner so to speak.

Many thanks in advance for your help and replies.

Reply 1 of 10, by BinaryDemon

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Seems like it's memory related, is there any options in the bios to supply slightly more voltage to the memory? Maybe test using just 1x256 dimm and see if the issue still repeats?

Clearing / Resetting the bios might help too.

Last edited by BinaryDemon on 2020-11-12, 18:02. Edited 1 time in total.

Check out DOSBox Distro:

https://sites.google.com/site/dosboxdistro/ [*]

a lightweight Linux distro (tinycore) which boots off a usb flash drive and goes straight to DOSBox.

Make your dos retrogaming experience portable!

Reply 2 of 10, by Kamerat

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Have you configured the SW1 jumpers to auto bus speed? It's located in the outer corner of the board by the DIMM slots. According to the manual pin 1 and 2 should be connected, same with pin 4 and 5. Suggest you try to reinstall the CPU if the jumpers are OK.

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 3 of 10, by andre_6

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BinaryDemon wrote on 2020-11-12, 17:48:

Seems like it's memory related, is there any options in the bios to supply slightly more voltage to the memory? Maybe test using just 1x256 dimm and see if the issue still repeats?

Clearing / Resetting the bios might help too.

I didn't find anything voltage related apart from the CPU, which is correct at 1.7v. Will try with one stick, it was working well with both sticks on the same motherboard before switching cpu's though.

Kamerat wrote on 2020-11-12, 17:56:

Have you configured the SW1 jumpers to auto bus speed? It's located in the outer corner of the board by the DIMM slots. According to the manual pin 1 and 2 should be connected, same with pin 4 and 5. Suggest you try to reinstall the CPU if the jumpers are OK.

Didn't even know that was a thing, I will give it a look too, thanks.

Thank you for your replies, will give it a try as soon as possible

Reply 4 of 10, by andre_6

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The SW1 jumpers were correctly set, I reinstalled the CPU, reset the CMOS and started the PC with only one stick, and it keeps on detecting the 866mhz CPU as a "433e Mhz 66x6.5", and the memory speed as 100mhz. Now it won't even boot into Win98SE in Safe Mode!

Any ideas anyone? Am I missing something here?

Will reinstalling the old CPU, booting, and then switching for the 866mhz one and boot do any difference or force the PC to reconfigure something?

More importantly, how do I manually set the 866mhz as the cpu speed on this Award BIOS? Because I have no idea

Edit: I switched to my previous 600mhz Celeron CPU, which detected ok with the correct speed on various boots, and getting into Windows. I manually set the memory frequency on the BIOS from "Auto" to 133mhz, but on reboot it always shows as 100mhz speed...

Reply 5 of 10, by BinaryDemon

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Did you try the other Dimm alone? Maybe you found the ‘bad’ one.

Check out DOSBox Distro:

https://sites.google.com/site/dosboxdistro/ [*]

a lightweight Linux distro (tinycore) which boots off a usb flash drive and goes straight to DOSBox.

Make your dos retrogaming experience portable!

Reply 7 of 10, by Kamerat

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Have you had a look in the "Frequency/Voltage Control" section of your BIOS? The "Clock By Slight Adjust" setting should be adjusted to 133MHz for the Pentium III.

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 9 of 10, by andre_6

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Thank you everyone, meanwhile I found the issue and it is indeed what is pointed out by the latest replies:

The board demands that I manually set the CPU speed in the BIOS from the first boot after I install it. As a beginner I never did such a thing, but I always assumed it would suffice to search for some kind of "cpu speed" option and then I would choose from a set of preset speeds in the BIOS. Not finding anything, I resorted to "Clock By Slight Adjust" not knowing exactly what it meant, and I applied the 133mhz x 6.5 ratio to get to the 866mhz, as it was what I saw from the very first boot I did before it all unraveled. It worked, and now the memory is correctly set at 133mhz too.

I suppose that this is one more chapter in my beginner course!

Right now I found that I have a dead CD-ROM drive, but before I check that out first I will try to format and install Win98SE with my remaining working CD-ROM drive, in the first tries it always got stuck at "copying setup files" after the FDisk and Format C: steps, but with my working drive mind you!

Reply 10 of 10, by andre_6

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After a little while the problems came back, but now I found the real issue, I changed the remaining working CD-ROM drive (I had a dead one too) as an absolute last resort after running everything you told me and that I could think of. It worked. I found it had a not exactly bent pin, but more like a sunken one on the IDE connector. It's amazing the amount of issues such a thing could cause, I mean the CD-ROM drive?...

Again, thanks a lot for all your help and suggestions, Vogons never fails to deliver!