PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2022-07-24, 08:24:

Don't know how much truth there is in this, but did see one post online (Russian translation) where they'd asked Soyo support directly regarding coppermine support for this board and the answer was (a) because of the way they'd implemented the B21 pin on slot 1, no coppermine would work and (b) even without (a) they'd not have been updating the BIOS for coppermines for a board this old....nice!!!

Ouch! I hope there's still a chance for this board. I found the opposite info on an eBay listing suggesting this board could run a modified Tualatin, more on that below. There are also two variants of this motherboard, one with no version and one "V1.0" which I have. They require separate BIOS images so presumably there's some significant difference in the hardware between the revisions.

I stepped through every Vcore voltage from 1.75v to 2.00V but no dice.

I found this helpful thread about slockets + 440BX. Not for this board specifically, but still good info. There were some concerns about the slocket not having its own VRM. I'm no EE but my slocket just has a couple small SMD parts and some caps and nothing that resembles VRMs on a motherboard, so I'm guessing no VRM on the slocket. That means it's up to the motherboard to supply the voltages the slocket requests. Maybe it can't do that without a VRM swap. The Pentium II I had installed (400MHz SL2U6) has a Vcore of 2.0V, so one would think the Coppermine might run that that voltage even if briefly, but no luck yet.

I haven't tried this yet but I'm thinking I could look at the Socket 370 pinout and try probing Vcore and ground from the back of the adapter, at least to verify the correct voltage is being supplied.

Topic 60027

On the other hand - my ultimate goal was to get a Tualatin running in this board. eBay seller "user8012" in South Korea sells 1.4GHz Celeron Tualatins (Tulaerons) with an interposer already installed. The listing suggests both this motherboard and the slocket support the modified CPU:

• Compatible Slot-1 adapter is ASUS 370DL, SOLTEK SL-02A+, ABIT SLOKET-III and MSI-6905.
• Soyo SY6BB (Need Compatible slot-1 adapter)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/281931957654

I have this modified CPU on hand now but I'd rather get a Coppermine working so I know all the other pieces are working first.

My plan is to buy a couple more parts for testing:

• Pentium III 600E - would let me see if a Coppermine would work at a known supported multiplier (6x100)
• Katmai core CPU
• Mendocino core CPU
• Maybe a Socket 370 board to test the CPUs without an adapter

The CPUs come in both Socket 370 and Slot 1 variants, so I could try a couple of each to rule out the slocket and/or the CPU core. Fortunately they're not too expensive... and it would help grow my CPU collection. :p

Cosmic wrote on 2022-07-24, 17:31:

My plan is to buy a couple more parts for testing: [*]Pentium III 600E - would let me see if a Coppermine would work at a known […]
Show full quote

My plan is to buy a couple more parts for testing:
[*]Pentium III 600E - would let me see if a Coppermine would work at a known supported multiplier (6x100)
[*]Katmai core CPU
[*]Mendocino core CPU
[*]Maybe a Socket 370 board to test the CPUs without an adapter

Here a nice and affordable s370 board for testing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284797240918

The couple clear enough pictures I've found on google of Soyo SY-6BB, show it uses a National Semiconductor LM2635M controller, which according to the datasheet supports voltages from 1.8 V to 3.5 V. At least that goes for the revision of the board without a version. I didn't see any pictures of a 1.0 version board clear enough to tell if that version uses the same controller or not. It could very well be that one uses a different controller and supports lower voltages, but also very likely it doesn't. Check the rectangular IC in the top left corner, between the main power connector and the CPU slot, see if it says LM2635M on it or something else. If something else, then google it and you'll be able to find the datasheet.

But assuming you're stuck with 1.8 V as minimal voltage, as has already been said, that is fine for Coppermines, but forget about Tualatins without a slotket with its own VRM (which Abit Slotket isn't one of them). The pre-modified Tualatins from the Korean ebay seller also won't work; even with the mod, those still need a board or slotket that can supply the correct voltage. If you somehow got a Tualatin running on this board, feeding it 1.8 V for any length of time will eventually surely kill it.

If you can find them cheap enough, I'd certainly consider trying other suitable sloket adapters - the Abit SlotKET !!! has recent history here of not even booting with certain boards (BX + Abit + coppermine) whereas other adapters would at least boot.

Also, it was a popular topic back in the day but no-one here seems to have got coppermines running on this board - https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.periphs. … bb%20coppermine

I've finally collected some more parts and made some progress worth posting. 😀

Slotket updates

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2022-07-29, 11:13:

If you can find them cheap enough, I'd certainly consider trying other suitable sloket adapters - the Abit SlotKET !!! has recent history here of not even booting with certain boards (BX + Abit + coppermine) whereas other adapters would at least boot.

I found a "370SPC REV: 1.0" slotket adapter that worked perfectly with a Mendocino CPU (SL3A2) in this board. It runs at 400MHz (6 x 66 FSB) and I was able to boot into Windows and run some benches. This at least confirmed the adapter works even though the CPU was well within supported limits of the board. The jumpers were as follows:

• JP2: Auto or Overclock (Set to Auto)
• JP3 and 4: Intel or Cyrix (Set to Intel)
• JP5: Single or Dual CPU (Set to Single)
• JP6: Coppermine or Celeron (Set to Celeron for the Mendocino)

VRM supports Coppermine & Tualatin?

frudi wrote on 2022-07-28, 21:56:

The couple clear enough pictures I've found on google of Soyo SY-6BB, show it uses a National Semiconductor LM2635M controller, which according to the datasheet supports voltages from 1.8 V to 3.5 V. At least that goes for the revision of the board without a version. I didn't see any pictures of a 1.0 version board clear enough to tell if that version uses the same controller or not.

I found my version 1.0 Soyo SY-6BB motherboard has LM2636M VRM controller and can go a bit lower. The datasheet specifies "1.3V to 3.5V 5-bit programmable output voltage". I tried to take a couple higher resolution photos of the board in different orientations to hopefully make everything visible. I'll inline a small one here and attach the higher resolution ones as a .zip (5MB). Originals were 24MB... I can upload those if anyone wants them.

The quest for Coppermine

I picked up several CPUs but tried the one I felt had the best chance of success first, a Celeron 533A (SL46S), 533 MHz (8 x 66). The Soyo board officially supports multipliers up to 6 in the manual, but the BIOS (BB V1.0-1A6) allows manually selecting up to 8.

Here is the CPU installed in the new adapter:

POST beep!

Then it hangs, can't access the BIOS setup. Reset switch still works. The PCI POST card always stops at 060A which is waiting for keyboard.

• 0x06 = POST_STATUS_CALCCKSUM = Compute ROM CRC, wait for KBC.
• 0x0A = POST_STATUS_KBDDATA = Start KBC data

The CPU is detected as "I-MMX CPU at 98MHz".

Is it possible I'm at a point where the VRM supplies a low enough voltage, the slotket adapter works, the CPU works, slot 1 pin B21 is not yet an issue (at least for this 66MHz FSB CPU), and all I'm missing is BIOS support?

The BIOS chip (Award v4.51 PG) is thankfully socketed and I have a TL866II EEPROM programmer. I'm planning to backup the original BIOS image and try the BIOS Patcher. I've never modified a BIOS before but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Cosmic wrote on 2022-09-02, 02:11:

I've finally collected some more parts and made some progress worth posting. :) […]
Show full quote

I've finally collected some more parts and made some progress worth posting. 😀

Slotket updates

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2022-07-29, 11:13:

If you can find them cheap enough, I'd certainly consider trying other suitable sloket adapters - the Abit SlotKET !!! has recent history here of not even booting with certain boards (BX + Abit + coppermine) whereas other adapters would at least boot.

I found a "370SPC REV: 1.0" slotket adapter that worked perfectly with a Mendocino CPU (SL3A2) in this board. It runs at 400MHz (6 x 66 FSB) and I was able to boot into Windows and run some benches. This at least confirmed the adapter works even though the CPU was well within supported limits of the board. The jumpers were as follows:

• JP2: Auto or Overclock (Set to Auto)
• JP3 and 4: Intel or Cyrix (Set to Intel)
• JP5: Single or Dual CPU (Set to Single)
• JP6: Coppermine or Celeron (Set to Celeron for the Mendocino)

VRM supports Coppermine & Tualatin?

frudi wrote on 2022-07-28, 21:56:

The couple clear enough pictures I've found on google of Soyo SY-6BB, show it uses a National Semiconductor LM2635M controller, which according to the datasheet supports voltages from 1.8 V to 3.5 V. At least that goes for the revision of the board without a version. I didn't see any pictures of a 1.0 version board clear enough to tell if that version uses the same controller or not.

I found my version 1.0 Soyo SY-6BB motherboard has LM2636M VRM controller and can go a bit lower. The datasheet specifies "1.3V to 3.5V 5-bit programmable output voltage". I tried to take a couple higher resolution photos of the board in different orientations to hopefully make everything visible. I'll inline a small one here and attach the higher resolution ones as a .zip (5MB). Originals were 24MB... I can upload those if anyone wants them.

The quest for Coppermine

I picked up several CPUs but tried the one I felt had the best chance of success first, a Celeron 533A (SL46S), 533 MHz (8 x 66). The Soyo board officially supports multipliers up to 6 in the manual, but the BIOS (BB V1.0-1A6) allows manually selecting up to 8.

Here is the CPU installed in the new adapter:

POST beep!

Then it hangs, can't access the BIOS setup. Reset switch still works. The PCI POST card always stops at 060A which is waiting for keyboard.

• 0x06 = POST_STATUS_CALCCKSUM = Compute ROM CRC, wait for KBC.
• 0x0A = POST_STATUS_KBDDATA = Start KBC data

The CPU is detected as "I-MMX CPU at 98MHz".

Is it possible I'm at a point where the VRM supplies a low enough voltage, the slotket adapter works, the CPU works, slot 1 pin B21 is not yet an issue (at least for this 66MHz FSB CPU), and all I'm missing is BIOS support?

The BIOS chip (Award v4.51 PG) is thankfully socketed and I have a TL866II EEPROM programmer. I'm planning to backup the original BIOS image and try the BIOS Patcher. I've never modified a BIOS before but I'm willing to give it a shot.

I had the same symptom and all that was missing was BIOS support Help needed with booting slot1 boards with unsupported CPUs

Cosmic wrote on 2022-09-02, 02:11:

I've finally collected some more parts and made some progress worth posting. :) […]
Show full quote

I've finally collected some more parts and made some progress worth posting. 😀

Slotket updates

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2022-07-29, 11:13:

If you can find them cheap enough, I'd certainly consider trying other suitable sloket adapters - the Abit SlotKET !!! has recent history here of not even booting with certain boards (BX + Abit + coppermine) whereas other adapters would at least boot.

I found a "370SPC REV: 1.0" slotket adapter that worked perfectly with a Mendocino CPU (SL3A2) in this board. It runs at 400MHz (6 x 66 FSB) and I was able to boot into Windows and run some benches. This at least confirmed the adapter works even though the CPU was well within supported limits of the board. The jumpers were as follows:

• JP2: Auto or Overclock (Set to Auto)
• JP3 and 4: Intel or Cyrix (Set to Intel)
• JP5: Single or Dual CPU (Set to Single)
• JP6: Coppermine or Celeron (Set to Celeron for the Mendocino)

VRM supports Coppermine & Tualatin?

frudi wrote on 2022-07-28, 21:56:

The couple clear enough pictures I've found on google of Soyo SY-6BB, show it uses a National Semiconductor LM2635M controller, which according to the datasheet supports voltages from 1.8 V to 3.5 V. At least that goes for the revision of the board without a version. I didn't see any pictures of a 1.0 version board clear enough to tell if that version uses the same controller or not.

I found my version 1.0 Soyo SY-6BB motherboard has LM2636M VRM controller and can go a bit lower. The datasheet specifies "1.3V to 3.5V 5-bit programmable output voltage". I tried to take a couple higher resolution photos of the board in different orientations to hopefully make everything visible. I'll inline a small one here and attach the higher resolution ones as a .zip (5MB). Originals were 24MB... I can upload those if anyone wants them.

The quest for Coppermine

I picked up several CPUs but tried the one I felt had the best chance of success first, a Celeron 533A (SL46S), 533 MHz (8 x 66). The Soyo board officially supports multipliers up to 6 in the manual, but the BIOS (BB V1.0-1A6) allows manually selecting up to 8.

Here is the CPU installed in the new adapter:

POST beep!

Then it hangs, can't access the BIOS setup. Reset switch still works. The PCI POST card always stops at 060A which is waiting for keyboard.

• 0x06 = POST_STATUS_CALCCKSUM = Compute ROM CRC, wait for KBC.
• 0x0A = POST_STATUS_KBDDATA = Start KBC data

The CPU is detected as "I-MMX CPU at 98MHz".

Is it possible I'm at a point where the VRM supplies a low enough voltage, the slotket adapter works, the CPU works, slot 1 pin B21 is not yet an issue (at least for this 66MHz FSB CPU), and all I'm missing is BIOS support?

The BIOS chip (Award v4.51 PG) is thankfully socketed and I have a TL866II EEPROM programmer. I'm planning to backup the original BIOS image and try the BIOS Patcher. I've never modified a BIOS before but I'm willing to give it a shot.

If I were to guess, yes, it's only a question of BIOS support now 😀

Successfully added support for Coppermine CPUs on a 440 LX board hanging on CPU initialization like yours using the rom.by BIOS Patcher the other week. It's really simple to use, but keep that TL866 ready, it's very possible to screw up too.

Auto patching didn't produce a working BIOS for my board, had to use the manual option. Only applied the CPU support related patches and some bugfix.

darry wrote on 2022-09-02, 04:43:

I had the same symptom and all that was missing was BIOS support Help needed with booting slot1 boards with unsupported CPUs

kaputnik wrote on 2022-09-02, 09:39:

If I were to guess, yes, it's only a question of BIOS support now 😀

Successfully added support for Coppermine CPUs on a 440 LX board hanging on CPU initialization like yours using the rom.by BIOS Patcher the other week. It's really simple to use, but keep that TL866 ready, it's very possible to screw up too.

Auto patching didn't produce a working BIOS for my board, had to use the manual option. Only applied the CPU support related patches and some bugfix.

Thanks, both! Some good news and some bad news...

BIOS Patcher v4.23 was successful. I dumped my current BIOS, ran the patcher, flashed it back, and the system now correctly identifies Deschutes, Katmai, and Coppermine cores when each is installed.

However, the Coppermine (Celeron 533A / SL46S) won't finish booting. I can do one of three things after power up:

1. Do nothing. The CPU is detected, then it hangs at the memory test, sometimes showing a random memory value
2. Bash ESC to skip the test, then hit DEL and enter the BIOS config. The menus behave normally and I can see the correct CPU temp and voltage values. I reset to defaults as well.
3. Bash ESC and continue booting, all seems well until it hangs on either "Building DMI Pool" or "Verifying DMI Pool Data ......", it's different each time, but it never attempts to boot anything

The slotket should work... there is an older version (370SP) that only supports Mendocino, but I have (370SPC) which officially supports Coppermine. The jumpers are set to Coppermine instead of Celeron. The BIOS VID is correct and the BIOS menu works fine. I tried re-patching the BIOS and omitting the disk support patches, leaving only the CPU support patches, but no change.

I have a couple other Coppermines I could try but they're all newer and faster than this one that doesn't boot.

I can borrow and test a Powerleap PL-iP3/T v2.0 adapter with a Celeron 1400 installed. Since the Soyo board's VRM is fine I wanted to get a normal slotket working... but if you think it's safe to try, I can try the Powerleap. Otherwise I might have to wait to try another slotket (hoping to find an MSI MS-6905 Master one day).

I had some success booting a Pentium III 533EB (SL3N6) in native Slot 1 package. This is a Coppermine CPU designed to run at 533MHz (4 x 133MHz FSB). I tried it before the BIOS patch and it would hang at "I-MMX CPU at 98MHz" just like the first Coppermine, unsupported CPU.

After the BIOS patch it runs successfully at 66MHz and 100MHz FSB. 133MHz seems unstable - it will POST, show the video card BIOS and the ATA133 card BIOS, but it displays an odd colored screen and gets stuck before it actually boots. Tried a Matrox Mystique (PCI) and an MX440 (AGP) to test divider issues on each bus, both refused to finish booting. 133MHz FSB will have to wait for another day.

However, at 100MHz FSB, I finally have at least one Coppermine running on this board. I believe this demonstrates this mini AT 440BX board will run them and pin B21 isn't an issue, so perhaps I need to continue searching for a more compatible slotket adapter.

There is a thread around here where someone did dual pentium pro on a dual slot 1 mobo. I recall them doing some bios hacking. That thread/member may have some useful infos.?