Which version of the motherboard do you have? See https://soggi.org/motherboards/abit/BH6.htm

Revision 1.0. The highest "officially" supported CPU in the BIOS is Pentium III 600 at 100MHz FSB. I also don't know for sure what version of said BIOS the mobo is running and didn't flash it to the most recent version

Aside from the BIOS version being up in the air, the only other thing I can think of is that the PC has trouble restarting when exiting the BIOS, just staying on a black screen instead of showing the EnergyStar screen like usual, so maybe there are BIOS settings not getting saved?

According to ABIT, the VRM chip on the revision 1.0x boards doesn't support Coppermine CPUs, whereas the uprated chip on the revision 1.1 boards does (possibly CS5165 v CS5165H if someone wants to check)

Try booting at 100MHz FSB. If it runs and remains stable then try to boot at some of the faster settings one by one... 112MHz, 124MHz and then 133MHz.

Although the BH6 has the ability to set a 133MHz FSB, that doesn't mean it'll necessarily be stable, or even boot at that speed- even if the CPU supports it.

sfryers wrote on 2025-09-13, 20:55:

Try booting at 100MHz FSB. If it runs and remains stable then try to boot at some of the faster settings one by one... 112MHz, 124MHz and then 133MHz.

Although the BH6 has the ability to set a 133MHz FSB, that doesn't mean it'll necessarily be stable, or even boot at that speed- even if the CPU supports it.

I did actually try to just jam the CPU in there a while back without making any changes in the BIOS, and the same thing happened. I think this board is just too old to use a Coppermine like the other guy said. I bought a PIII 600 with 100MHz FSB off eBay that I'll try to overclock instead. 798 MHz should be enough for Deus Ex to not run like dogwater on Liberty Island.

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-09-13, 20:03:

Revision 1.0. The highest "officially" supported CPU in the BIOS is Pentium III 600 at 100MHz FSB. I also don't know for sure what version of said BIOS the mobo is running and didn't flash it to the most recent version

Pentium III 600(B) (Katmai) or Pentium III 600E(B) (Coppermine)?

There are 4 P3-600 CPUs, speed isn't the issue here, voltage is.

dionb wrote on 2025-09-13, 21:02:

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-09-13, 20:03:

Revision 1.0. The highest "officially" supported CPU in the BIOS is Pentium III 600 at 100MHz FSB. I also don't know for sure what version of said BIOS the mobo is running and didn't flash it to the most recent version

Pentium III 600(B) (Katmai) or Pentium III 600E(B) (Coppermine)?

There are 4 P3-600 CPUs, speed isn't the issue here, voltage is.

Not sure, the highest option for speed simply said "600 (100)". As for voltage, the PIII 450 I had in there ran at 2 volts while the 866 says it runs at 1.7 volts. is there more to it than just the raw voltage number?

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-09-13, 21:06:

[...]

Not sure, the highest option for speed simply said "600 (100)". As for voltage, the PIII 450 I had in there ran at 2 volts while the 866 says it runs at 1.7 volts. is there more to it than just the raw voltage number?

P3 VRMs are designed not to deliver any Vcore if the requested Vcore is out of spec for the VRM. So if the VRM can deliver min 1.8V and you add a CPU that asks for 1.7V , even if the CPU would work well at 1.8V, it still won't work with a VRM that doesn't think it can deliver what the CPU asks via its VID pins.

Solution would be to mask off VID signals - one of the reason Slockets (to use an So370 CPU on Slot 1 boards) tend to have voltage pins to override whatever the CPU is asking.

I've seen a lot of slockets on eBay, but among the couple I've seen with voltage regulation tables, the smallest value I've seen is 1.8v. I presume the same thing would happen if I put a 1.7v 370 CPU in one of those?

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-09-13, 18:50:

AB-BH6 motherboard
320 MB PC100 RAM
Pentium III 866 w/ 133MHz FSB and 1.7V voltage

Hmm, very optimistic.
BX440 doesn't even support PC133.
In fact, these are PC100 timings on a 133 MHz bus, i.e. very, very overclocked memory.
Not every PC133 can work like that.
And you're trying to get 133 MHz on PC100 memory, and on this very BX 440.

shevalier wrote on 2025-09-14, 04:20:

Hmm, very optimistic. BX440 doesn't even support PC133. In fact, these are PC100 timings on a 133 MHz bus, i.e. very, very overc […]
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TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-09-13, 18:50:

AB-BH6 motherboard
320 MB PC100 RAM
Pentium III 866 w/ 133MHz FSB and 1.7V voltage

Hmm, very optimistic.
BX440 doesn't even support PC133.
In fact, these are PC100 timings on a 133 MHz bus, i.e. very, very overclocked memory.
Not every PC133 can work like that.
And you're trying to get 133 MHz on PC100 memory, and on this very BX 440.

I did the same thing recently with a 440bx board. The 133 bus work perfectly but only with pc 133 ram at 133mhz. i tried 100mhz sdram first, and it was never stable. first, put only one dimm of sdram at 133mhz to test. mine is 128mb and its enough

All pc components works perfect i played game for hours with a voodoo 3 and a geforce 2 and 4 too.

For sure, i prefer to use pc133 cl2 with 440bx chipset

shevalier wrote on 2025-09-14, 04:20:

Hmm, very optimistic. BX440 doesn't even support PC133. In fact, these are PC100 timings on a 133 MHz bus, i.e. very, very overc […]
Show full quote

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-09-13, 18:50:

AB-BH6 motherboard
320 MB PC100 RAM
Pentium III 866 w/ 133MHz FSB and 1.7V voltage

Hmm, very optimistic.
BX440 doesn't even support PC133.
In fact, these are PC100 timings on a 133 MHz bus, i.e. very, very overclocked memory.
Not every PC133 can work like that.
And you're trying to get 133 MHz on PC100 memory, and on this very BX 440.

I was always planning to replace the RAM that was in there if I could get the CPU to boot, but no dice. The only slockets I've seen on eBay that 100% support the lower voltage of Coppermine PIIIs are all hundreds of dollars, so it's looking like I'll have to overclock a Katmai instead. I don't have the budget to buy a whole new board just for this CPU

Re: Abit BH6: Upgrade CPU or put a faster GPU?
Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?
https://www.geocities.ws/_lunchbox/tualeron_s … cess_table.html
Actually, even Tualatin can be launched on revision 1.x of this motherboard.
Failure to launch 440BX with unsuitable memory looks something like this - either a black screen, or an attempt to output something and a freeze.
If the memory is really bad - then yes, the motherboard will beep about its absence.

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-09-14, 05:45:

[...]

I was always planning to replace the RAM that was in there if I could get the CPU to boot, but no dice. The only slockets I've seen on eBay that 100% support the lower voltage of Coppermine PIIIs are all hundreds of dollars, so it's looking like I'll have to overclock a Katmai instead. I don't have the budget to buy a whole new board just for this CPU

You've misunderstood what I was trying to say.

The VRM on your board will not supply less than 1.8V without major modification. So you need to tell it to supply the 1.8V it can supply, not ask it do 1.7V (as your CPU is currently doing). That's why many slockets don't go below 1.8V: it's not needed - if the board could supply lower voltages you wouldn't need the jumpers in the first place. The slocket doesn't actually change the voltage, it changes the request the CPU does to the board's VRM.
(note that slockets with actual voltage regulators exist, but they're rare as hen's teeth and commensurately expensive).

A word of warning regarding slockets: there exist three different versions of the So370: PPGA, FC-PGA and FC-PGA2. A Coppermine CPU uses FC-PGA and can work in FC-PGA and FC-PGA2 slockets. It will not work in a PPGA slocket without modification. A lot of (early) slockets were PPGA-only to support the use of Celeron Mendocino CPUs in Slot1 boards. If you want to use a slocket with Coppermine CPU, you need to be sure the slocket supports FC-PGA.

I agree with the above.
The proof is easy.
Try it at 66 everything.
If it fails, it's voltage.
If it succeeds at 66, it's speed.

dionb wrote on 2025-09-14, 09:30:

You've misunderstood what I was trying to say. […]
Show full quote

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-09-14, 05:45:

[...]

I was always planning to replace the RAM that was in there if I could get the CPU to boot, but no dice. The only slockets I've seen on eBay that 100% support the lower voltage of Coppermine PIIIs are all hundreds of dollars, so it's looking like I'll have to overclock a Katmai instead. I don't have the budget to buy a whole new board just for this CPU

You've misunderstood what I was trying to say.

The VRM on your board will not supply less than 1.8V without major modification. So you need to tell it to supply the 1.8V it can supply, not ask it do 1.7V (as your CPU is currently doing). That's why many slockets don't go below 1.8V: it's not needed - if the board could supply lower voltages you wouldn't need the jumpers in the first place. The slocket doesn't actually change the voltage, it changes the request the CPU does to the board's VRM.
(note that slockets with actual voltage regulators exist, but they're rare as hen's teeth and commensurately expensive).

A word of warning regarding slockets: there exist three different versions of the So370: PPGA, FC-PGA and FC-PGA2. A Coppermine CPU uses FC-PGA and can work in FC-PGA and FC-PGA2 slockets. It will not work in a PPGA slocket without modification. A lot of (early) slockets were PPGA-only to support the use of Celeron Mendocino CPUs in Slot1 boards. If you want to use a slocket with Coppermine CPU, you need to be sure the slocket supports FC-PGA.

I see. I'll try swapping back the old CPU and resetting the voltage to 1.8, and doing what the other guy said and try running the 866 at 66MHz as well.

Branded motherboards, especially jumper-free ones, behave very badly and strangely with CPUs that they don’t know.
On such motherboards, you should always start by updating the BIOS to the latest version available. You'll be especially lucky if someone has made a modified BIOS.