gn0me wrote on 2021-11-25, 23:42:

It's been awhile since I've dealt with AGP gear, does overdriving the AGP bus have the effect of utilizing more of the available performance from a 4x GPU (by spec all AGP devices are backwards compatible by 1 generation, 8>4, 4>2, 2>1)

Never really dived into that, sorry. 😀 I'm sure there are a few people around here who have tested this.

Hallo
Wuerde gerne ein BIOS verwenden bei dem die Boot Reihenfolge von disk,hdd,cdrom, auf disk,cdrom, hdd, eingestellt werden kann.
Ich benutze ein Asus P3B-F. Ist das moeglich?
Danke
--- GOOGLE TRANSLATE ---
Hello
Would like to use a BIOS where the boot order can be set from disk, hdd, cdrom, to disk, cdrom, hdd.
I am using an Asus P3B-F. Is this possible?
thanks

Gustl wrote on 2021-11-30, 16:57:

Hallo Wuerde gerne ein BIOS verwenden bei dem die Boot Reihenfolge von disk,hdd,cdrom, auf disk,cdrom, hdd, eingestellt werden k […]
Show full quote

Hallo
Wuerde gerne ein BIOS verwenden bei dem die Boot Reihenfolge von disk,hdd,cdrom, auf disk,cdrom, hdd, eingestellt werden kann.
Ich benutze ein Asus P3B-F. Ist das moeglich?
Danke
--- GOOGLE TRANSLATE ---
Hello
Would like to use a BIOS where the boot order can be set from disk, hdd, cdrom, to disk, cdrom, hdd.
I am using an Asus P3B-F. Is this possible?
thanks

Hello,

customizing boot order is a part of the P3B-F's feature set. Check the manual, page 71 onwards. I've always used Floppy/CD-ROM/HDD as the boot order on my P3V4X; it should work the same on the P3B-F.

Ich kenne das von anderen Boards auch so. Aber nicht beim P3B-f da lässt sich das Cdrom nicht vor die Festplatten setzen.
Aber danke für den Tipp
--- GOOGLE TRANSLATE ---
I know that from other boards too. But not with the P3B-f because the cdrom cannot be placed in front of the hard drives.
But thanks for the tip

Habe es nach geprüft und es funktioniert. Wer lesen kann kommt weiter.
Danke!!!
--- GOOGLE TRANSLATE ---
Checked it out and it works. Who can read gets ahead.
Thanks!!!

Gustl wrote on 2021-11-30, 18:50:

Habe es nach geprüft und es funktioniert. Wer lesen kann kommt weiter. Danke!!! --- GOOGLE TRANSLATE --- Checked it out and it w […]
Show full quote

Habe es nach geprüft und es funktioniert. Wer lesen kann kommt weiter.
Danke!!!
--- GOOGLE TRANSLATE ---
Checked it out and it works. Who can read gets ahead.
Thanks!!!

Glad to hear. 😉

Thank you very much for this great BIOS mod. I've successfully flashed it on my Asus CUBX-L running a Tualatin Celeron 1400 using a LinLin adapter. I can try out new new BIOS builds without any risk since I've got a separate programmer. Let me know when you need an alpha- or beta-tester for something.

Would you be able to modify the subroutine in the hardware monitor that detects the fan speed to support reading sub 2000 RPM? This problem is not unique to this particular BIOS. Many if not all early Award BIOS have this problem...or at least with the fans I've tried it with so far. This is for the P3B-F.

mockingbird wrote on 2022-01-20, 04:52:

Would you be able to modify the subroutine in the hardware monitor that detects the fan speed to support reading sub 2000 RPM? This problem is not unique to this particular BIOS. Many if not all early Award BIOS have this problem...or at least with the fans I've tried it with so far. This is for the P3B-F.

Are you sure the lower threshold is at 2000 RPM? I might have found the code that computes the rotational speed, and it seems like the threshold should be somewhere between 1300 and 1400 RPM(?).

It might be possible to get it down to something like 700 RPM, but I'd have to find the code that initializes the HW monitor chip first.

DenizOezmen wrote on 2022-01-21, 00:38:

Are you sure the lower threshold is at 2000 RPM? I might have found the code that computes the rotational speed, and it seems like the threshold should be somewhere between 1300 and 1400 RPM(?).

It might be possible to get it down to something like 700 RPM, but I'd have to find the code that initializes the HW monitor chip first.

Yes, you are correct! (and may I say a real wizard too - at that).

It's this fan, and indeed it is a 1200RPM fan.

mockingbird wrote on 2022-01-21, 02:53:

Yes, you are correct! (and may I say a real wizard too - at that).

It's this fan, and indeed it is a 1200RPM fan.

Thanks for the confirmation! (And no, there's no magic involved, but a surprising amount of dumb luck. 😉) Please give the attached BIOS a try. It boots over here and seems to display reasonable fan speeds. For the sake of simplicity, the behaviour of all three fan monitors has been adjusted.

Note that there's a drawback to this change: The measurement resolution is now halved in comparison to the stock BIOS. Since the conversion is not linear, this may become apparent especially at higher fan speeds. (At 4000 RPM the interval between steps has already reached around 100 RPM, at 5000 RPM it is around 160 RPM.)

----

For the sake of documentation: The P3B-F uses ASUS's custom AS99127F monitoring IC, which seems to be a variant of Winbond's W83781D. The datasheet of the W83781D explains that the fan monitor outputs are something like a count of internal clock cylces during one rotation of the fan. The raw value is a single byte. To get different RPM ranges or resolutions, the chip can be programmed with predefined divisors. The actual RPM is computed via this formula: 1,350,000 / (raw_value * divisor).

The stock BIOS uses a divisor of 4, which gives a theoretical minimum of 1,350,000 / (254 * 4) ~ 1,329 RPM. In the modification, the initialization and the computation have been changed to use a divisor of 8 with a theoretical minimum of around 664 RPM.

[Edit: Uploaded attachment to first post.]

DenizOezmen wrote on 2022-01-21, 20:38:

<snip>
The stock BIOS uses a divisor of 4, which gives a theoretical minimum of 1,350,000 / (254 * 4) ~ 1,329 RPM. In the modification, the initialization and the computation have been changed to use a divisor of 8 with a theoretical minimum of around 664 RPM.

Thanks very much! I will report back...

Back in the day, people used to blast fans at ridiculous speeds.... You can still buy pretty large Socket 370 heatsinks, so why run a sleeve bearing 40mm fan at 4000RPM when you can buy a good ball-bearing fan and run it slow?

mockingbird wrote on 2022-01-23, 00:57:

Thanks very much! I will report back...

Back in the day, people used to blast fans at ridiculous speeds.... You can still buy pretty large Socket 370 heatsinks, so why run a sleeve bearing 40mm fan at 4000RPM when you can buy a good ball-bearing fan and run it slow?

Thanks!

I guess you would only need high-speed fans when using native SECC(2) processors. (Not aware of SECC coolers that would readily support larger fans without tinkering.)

Speaking of Socket 370 ...

Hirsch wrote on 2021-12-16, 23:01:

Thank you very much for this great BIOS mod. I've successfully flashed it on my Asus CUBX-L running a Tualatin Celeron 1400 using a LinLin adapter. I can try out new new BIOS builds without any risk since I've got a separate programmer. Let me know when you need an alpha- or beta-tester for something.

Thanks for the feedback and the offer! Since you volunteeered, would you be willing to test the fan mod on your CUBX-L? 😀

Sorry for the delay. Here is some qualitative data:

First we have our baseline reading reading of some generic small diameter fan, approximately 4700RPM.

Our BIOS (pre-fan mod reads it at 4272RPM.

Our post-fan mod BIOS reads it at 4326RPM.

Now, on to our Noctua model:

Thanks to your efforts, the BIOS no longer shows 0RPM anymore and correctly displays 1171RPM, which is congruous with the tachometer reading of 1130.

Thanks very much 😀

Great work, it would be possible to have the same fix for the other bios mod? Like tu cubx or it isn't needed?

mockingbird wrote on 2022-01-24, 21:25:

Sorry for the delay. Here is some qualitative data:
<snip>

Excellent, thank you for the involved tests! 😀

Nemo1985 wrote on 2022-01-25, 05:26:

Great work, it would be possible to have the same fix for the other bios mod? Like tu cubx or it isn't needed?

The other boards seem to use the same logic. I've prepared the mods, but not tested any of them. Here's the mod for the CUBX if you want to try it ...

[Edit: Uploaded attachment to first post.]

Thank you, I'm currently away from home butI will give it a try when I get back

I'm back home, ready to test the updated bios, I have a question, does the cubx support the via C3 cpu?

Nemo1985 wrote on 2022-02-15, 17:50:

I'm back home, ready to test the updated bios, I have a question, does the cubx support the via C3 cpu?

I don't really know. Neither the manual nor the CPU compatibility list mention Via CPUs. The BIOS has some routines that refer to them, but I had the impression that support is incomplete. (Example: The code that determines the acceptable voltage range for Hardware Monitor lumps all Via CPUs into the same category.)

Good news everyone!
I can confirm that the rpm issue is solved on the CUBX, I also tested the via C3 cpus I have (just 2 unlucky: a C3 800 rated for v1.25 800 mhz which seems a Nehemiah cpu despite it should start from 1ghz and the 1.2 ghz cpu v1.45):
The first one isn't detected, debug card shows the infamous ----, while the second is able to boot but there are 2 quirks: it gets identified as pentium 3 from the bios and despite I change the voltage setting in the bios it always provide v1.5 (I tried to go down to 1.3)
Is there a chance to fix those issues? I will gladly do any testing if needed.