Compromise might be possible at 1.7-2v if the fsb is set to 60/66 at first.

The 1.6v k6+ cpus were all low clocked.

All my + cpus work at 1.6v when clocked as such.

If they did bin them, they didn’t seem to need to.

Mr Jan, I have a bios request.

Orange pc 530

OrangePC 530 pinout, bios update, vram upgrade

Sphere478 wrote on 2025-01-10, 14:58:

Mr Jan, I have a bios request.

Orange pc 530

OrangePC 530 pinout, bios update, vram upgrade

Hi Sphere478,

Do you have the OrangePC 530 BIOS image for me to look at?
On the 620 it could be extracted from the OrangePCi application and I assume this works the same on the 530.

Cheers, Jan

Chkcpu, got a question for you.
I want to design and build a new board with a 440bx/gx, and a via 686a/b southbridge.

Yes, it should work in theory.

How hard do you think you'd find making a bios for it? ;p

Chkcpu wrote on 2025-01-16, 14:03:

Hi Sphere478, […]
Show full quote

Sphere478 wrote on 2025-01-10, 14:58:

Mr Jan, I have a bios request.

Orange pc 530

OrangePC 530 pinout, bios update, vram upgrade

Hi Sphere478,

Do you have the OrangePC 530 BIOS image for me to look at?
On the 620 it could be extracted from the OrangePCi application and I assume this works the same on the 530.

Cheers, Jan

I’m still working on getting mine working. (I don’t have a working cable)

Do you see any images online anywhere?

Was hoping to have it ready when I finally get it working.

I wanna put a 3+ in it on an interposer.

myne wrote on 2025-01-16, 15:36:

Chkcpu, got a question for you. I want to design and build a new board with a 440bx/gx, and a via 686a/b southbridge. […]
Show full quote

Chkcpu, got a question for you.
I want to design and build a new board with a 440bx/gx, and a via 686a/b southbridge.

Yes, it should work in theory.

How hard do you think you'd find making a bios for it? ;p

Hi Myne,

Wow, that’s a bold design idea!

Making a BIOS for this i440BX/GX – VIA 686A/B combo will be very hard to pull-off, even if we had the BIOS source code for these chipsets, which we don’t.
The way I would approach such a BIOS project is to select PentiumII/III BIOSes for the Intel and VIA chipsets with the features I want and find a way to combine the BIOS elements you need and somehow make it work together.
This kind of project is way beyond my capabilities, but I’m flattered you thought of me with this question.

Note that my main interest with retro computing lays with the 486 and Socket 7 platforms, and the Award BIOS for these boards. Actually, after my 486 I build most of my systems on AMD platforms so I have little to no experience with PentiumII/III/4/Core systems. 😉

Good luck with your project!
Jan

Cyanopsis wrote on 2025-01-04, 17:21:

Great! I'm ready if you need someone to do benchmarks!

Another thing, not related to the 1.6v CPU but for the patched BIOS in general (maybe only for this board): entering BIOS with DEL needs precision and timing. If I press any button too quickly (not just DEL but F8 also), the computer restarts. It needs to be done just when the memory test starts. Could that be related to what you wrote above?

Hi Cyanopsis,

About having only a very short time to press DEL to enter the BIOS Setup, I haven’t experience this before.
Did you disable the full screen QDI bootup logo in the BIOS FEATURES SETUP menu? If so, you should have ample time to hit the DEL key, all through the memory test and the Drive scan on the IDE channels.
Also setting the HARD DISK TYPE and MODE to AUTO for all 4 drives in the STANDARD CMOS SETUP menu will give you more time.

I have been thoroughly analyzing the SpeedEasy BIOS code, especially the Bootblock part where SpeedEasy does the actual programming of the RC5051 Vcore voltage controller on this board.
If my analysis is correct, it is possible that with a K6-2+/III+ installed, the initial Vcore is set to 2.7V before the SpeedEasy control in the main BIOS POST module kicks in. However, this only happens with a K6-2+ and K6-III+ CPU and with the CPU Voltage Ctrl set to AUTO in the SpeedEasy CPU Setup menu. With the CPU Voltage Ctrl set to Manual and the Core Voltage set to 2.0V or 2.1V, this initial 2.7V will not happen and the Bootblock will set the selected Manual Voltage directly.

This means that when you have the Core Voltage set to Manual 2.0V, and you still experience the coldstart boot problem on the 1.6V K6-2+, the above high initial Vcore is not the issue and the boot problem may be in the CPU itself.

I assume that the CMOS battery is good and that you don’t see a “CMOS checksum Error” or “A new CPU is installed” message. If you do, then you also have a startup Vcore of 2.7V because the BIOS has lost its CMOS data and doesn’t know what CPU is installed yet.

Let me know what your observations are with the above info.
On my end, I will make some improvements to avoid this high initial Vcore on the K6-2+/III+. When this patch is ready, I’ll send you a new patch J.2 BIOS to test.

Cheers, Jan

Chkcpu wrote on 2025-01-19, 17:59:

Hi Myne, […]
Show full quote

myne wrote on 2025-01-16, 15:36:

Chkcpu, got a question for you. I want to design and build a new board with a 440bx/gx, and a via 686a/b southbridge. […]
Show full quote

Chkcpu, got a question for you.
I want to design and build a new board with a 440bx/gx, and a via 686a/b southbridge.

Yes, it should work in theory.

How hard do you think you'd find making a bios for it? ;p

Hi Myne,

Wow, that’s a bold design idea!

Making a BIOS for this i440BX/GX – VIA 686A/B combo will be very hard to pull-off, even if we had the BIOS source code for these chipsets, which we don’t.
The way I would approach such a BIOS project is to select PentiumII/III BIOSes for the Intel and VIA chipsets with the features I want and find a way to combine the BIOS elements you need and somehow make it work together.
This kind of project is way beyond my capabilities, but I’m flattered you thought of me with this question.

Note that my main interest with retro computing lays with the 486 and Socket 7 platforms, and the Award BIOS for these boards. Actually, after my 486 I build most of my systems on AMD platforms so I have little to no experience with PentiumII/III/4/Core systems. 😉

Good luck with your project!
Jan

Fair enough. Thanks for replying.
There was a source leak that has the bx. Haven't checked for 686 though.

I'm making slow progress. The first and last items in my sig should give you an idea of it.
Since the 686 is just a pci device, the basic plan is to extract and rebuild schematics from a bx board, and a via board, and then make an unholy union. Mwuahahahaha!

That's the "easy" part.

The hard part is layout, and trace design.
And then, an unholy bios.
I am tempted to email AMI, and ask if they would consider open sourcing their 20+yo bios code.
Ie, pre-uefi.

I might need some help with selling the idea. I don't think "it has no commercial value anymore, and even Microsoft are doing it" is the best pitch.

The 1.6v k6 cpus won’t be harmed by voltages that you would set their 2.0v counterpart to, as they are basically the same cpu.

These + cpus can basically take 1.6-2.2v all day long. (Max stable clock may vary)

I cringe to see any over clocking that exceeds this range, though I know there are some who do… 🫣

Anyway, Jan, for the + cpus, if they are getting 2.7v that is a huge no no. Not too worried about 2.0-2.2v though.

Will your bios actually be able to set 1.6v? That’s sweet!

Any further thoughts on the orangePC bios?

myne wrote on 2025-01-16, 15:36:

I want to design and build a new board with a 440bx/gx, and a via 686a/b southbridge.

What is the point of such a combination? Are there no new old stock 82443BX/GX (intel SB) or VT82C693 (VIA NB) chips available?

Why not?
Yes.

myne wrote on 2025-01-20, 09:59:

Why not?

Because of the unnecessary complications.

There's one VIA north bridge that is pin-compatible with i440BX (I'm not sure if I messed its designation in my previous comment) and there are some motherboard models that use it, though not widely available.

Ah, but you don't see the advantages.

All integrated superio, hardware monitoring, ac97/sb pro, ata100, 4mb bios support.

Fewer chips =easier to source.

You're thinking of the apollo100/133. But that's the northbridge. The 686b is the southbridge.

myne wrote on 2025-01-20, 11:49:

You're thinking of the apollo100/133. But that's the northbridge. The 686b is the southbridge.

I'm thinking of NB for so called "VIA BX" chipset (Ok, I can't find its exact NB chip's designation and my BX-6AV2 mobo has glued heatsink on its NB chip). It is pin compatible with i440BX NB chip, but of course it is not BIOS compatible. Now I've just checked my BX-6AV2 board and the SB chip is VT82C596, the I/O chip is Winbond W83977TF-AW.

It's the apollo.
I read the datasheet not long ago.
Bx pin compatible.

Leave the exact markings and designations for those unpopular VIA chipsets aside. You're thinking of some non-existent (and questionable whether it will actually work) combination of intel NB chip and VIA SB chip, for which there is no easy way for commercial BIOS to be assembled. SeaBIOS is free and open source project, but I have no idea if support for such a combination of legacy mixed chipset parts can be implemented with it.

After all, not everything, that seems like it would work in theory, works in practice.

Well, let me know when you start a project so I can come and talk out my ass with unresearched discouragement 👍

myne wrote on 2025-01-20, 18:00:

Well, let me know when you start a project so I can come and talk out my ass with unresearched discouragement 👍

It turned out to be the contrary. I encourage you to finish your project as soon as possible, so to prove that "the thing" will work. Good luck! 😉

The way to do a project is to show encouragement, point out complications and ponder solutions. Discuss benefits or cool aspects of the project.

Ways not to do a project, questioning it’s utility in a way that implies it is not worth while, this is discouraging and leads to projects that could be done not being done.

You should encourage, not discourage. We advance by pushing the envelope and embracing and exploring new ideas.

I for one welcome our multi brand chipset motherlords