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Register settings for various CPUs

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Reply 40 of 63, by feipoa

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Minor update:

I let my kids play Duke3D with the testbed system: 85 MHz SXL2 and AHA-1542CP. After 15 minutes, I hear some B&M ("bitch and moan"). Duke3D is hung with some DOS error layered over the game graphics, stating DOS cannot write to the HDD or something of this nature. When I inquired, I was told it was the 3rd time he tried to save the game progress which then hung the system. The first two saves were successful. This was with the Alpha1 interposer and the MEMW# wire connected.

I fiddled with some cyrix.exe settings, but the same problem occurred. I swapped the CPU for the Evergreen SXL2 and ran again. Same problem. Upped the voltage on the Evergreen, still hung after the same time period. I swapped the AHA-1542CP in favour of the AHA-1522B, and the kids played for 2 hours without incident.

It is probably best to just stick with the AHA-152xB in 386 systems containing an SXL2. Some systems might run OK with the AHA-1542CP, but resolving these intermittent issues can be time consuming and frustrating.

I have my AMI Mark V Baby Screamer setup with the AHA-1540CP running at only 66 MHz and my kids haven't run into this issue. On the testbed, I suppose should have tried taking the DRAM speed down from 1 ws to 2 ws. Maybe with the AHA-1542CP it needs the extra time at 85 MHz?

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 41 of 63, by Marco

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Good evening,

I am currently testing the TI486SXLC2-50 on a HT18(a) mainboard running formerly a 386sx/25. All cyrix.exe parameters work fine and show changes in NU SI. But what is not working is the -cd command. The system always hangs no matter what I try.

Do you have any idea why that is?

1) VLSI SCAMP 311 | 386SX25@TI486SXLC2-50@60 | 16MB | CL-GD5428 | CT2830| SCC-1 | MT32 | Fast-SCSI AHA 1542CF + BlueSCSI v2/15k U320
2) SIS486 | 486DX/2 66(@80) | 32MB | TGUI9440 | LAPC-I

Reply 42 of 63, by feipoa

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What happens if you use a 33 or 40 MHz crystal oscillator instead of a 50 MHz crystal? Some CPUs won't clock double on certain motherboards, but the result is usually that the CPU stays in 1x mode.

I've not experienced a freeze-up like this with clock doubling. The normal hang-up is when enabling L1 cache. Try enabling clock doubling (-cd) without having the L1 cache enabled to see if 50 MHz is possible.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 43 of 63, by Disruptor

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feipoa wrote on 2024-12-31, 11:57:
Minor update: […]
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Minor update:

I let my kids play Duke3D with the testbed system: 85 MHz SXL2 and AHA-1542CP. After 15 minutes, I hear some B&M ("bitch and moan"). Duke3D is hung with some DOS error layered over the game graphics, stating DOS cannot write to the HDD or something of this nature. When I inquired, I was told it was the 3rd time he tried to save the game progress which then hung the system. The first two saves were successful. This was with the Alpha1 interposer and the MEMW# wire connected.

I fiddled with some cyrix.exe settings, but the same problem occurred. I swapped the CPU for the Evergreen SXL2 and ran again. Same problem. Upped the voltage on the Evergreen, still hung after the same time period. I swapped the AHA-1542CP in favour of the AHA-1522B, and the kids played for 2 hours without incident.

It is probably best to just stick with the AHA-152xB in 386 systems containing an SXL2. Some systems might run OK with the AHA-1542CP, but resolving these intermittent issues can be time consuming and frustrating.

I have my AMI Mark V Baby Screamer setup with the AHA-1540CP running at only 66 MHz and my kids haven't run into this issue. On the testbed, I suppose should have tried taking the DRAM speed down from 1 ws to 2 ws. Maybe with the AHA-1542CP it needs the extra time at 85 MHz?

Have you tried a 154xB too (instead of a 152xB or a 154xC)?

Reply 44 of 63, by feipoa

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Disruptor wrote on 2025-03-18, 23:44:
feipoa wrote on 2024-12-31, 11:57:
Minor update: […]
Show full quote

Minor update:

I let my kids play Duke3D with the testbed system: 85 MHz SXL2 and AHA-1542CP. After 15 minutes, I hear some B&M ("bitch and moan"). Duke3D is hung with some DOS error layered over the game graphics, stating DOS cannot write to the HDD or something of this nature. When I inquired, I was told it was the 3rd time he tried to save the game progress which then hung the system. The first two saves were successful. This was with the Alpha1 interposer and the MEMW# wire connected.

I fiddled with some cyrix.exe settings, but the same problem occurred. I swapped the CPU for the Evergreen SXL2 and ran again. Same problem. Upped the voltage on the Evergreen, still hung after the same time period. I swapped the AHA-1542CP in favour of the AHA-1522B, and the kids played for 2 hours without incident.

It is probably best to just stick with the AHA-152xB in 386 systems containing an SXL2. Some systems might run OK with the AHA-1542CP, but resolving these intermittent issues can be time consuming and frustrating.

I have my AMI Mark V Baby Screamer setup with the AHA-1540CP running at only 66 MHz and my kids haven't run into this issue. On the testbed, I suppose should have tried taking the DRAM speed down from 1 ws to 2 ws. Maybe with the AHA-1542CP it needs the extra time at 85 MHz?

Have you tried a 154xB too (instead of a 152xB or a 154xC)?

As I recall it, I could not get the 1542B to recognise my HDD's. I would need to hunt the card down and look at the post-it note I put in the anti-static bag with the card to be sure.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 45 of 63, by Marco

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Done. Also without L1 it will crash. Very strange. Maybe power supply issue?

Update: tested with second PSU. Same.

1) VLSI SCAMP 311 | 386SX25@TI486SXLC2-50@60 | 16MB | CL-GD5428 | CT2830| SCC-1 | MT32 | Fast-SCSI AHA 1542CF + BlueSCSI v2/15k U320
2) SIS486 | 486DX/2 66(@80) | 32MB | TGUI9440 | LAPC-I

Reply 46 of 63, by feipoa

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Marco wrote on 2025-03-19, 08:41:

Done. Also without L1 it will crash. Very strange. Maybe power supply issue?

Update: tested with second PSU. Same.

My suggestion contained two parts. When you wrote "done", did you try both suggestions?

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 47 of 63, by Marco

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No sorry. the osci part I didn’t do so far as no 4pin holder nor <50MHz part in place so far. I will follow up on this.

will try this cpu in a second board in parallel.

1) VLSI SCAMP 311 | 386SX25@TI486SXLC2-50@60 | 16MB | CL-GD5428 | CT2830| SCC-1 | MT32 | Fast-SCSI AHA 1542CF + BlueSCSI v2/15k U320
2) SIS486 | 486DX/2 66(@80) | 32MB | TGUI9440 | LAPC-I

Reply 48 of 63, by feipoa

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I specifically recall encountering one motherboard for which I could not clock double the SXL2 beyond an FSB of 33 MHz. The command to clock double would be ignored by the SXL2 CPU. I'm not sure which checks the CPU has for this.

Try measuring Vcc at the CPU to ensure it is 4.9 to 5.1 V. Also try to remove all ISA cards from your system except for the graphics and I/O for booting.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 49 of 63, by Marco

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Tests updated: also with 40MHz oscillator exactly the same issue 🙁

1) VLSI SCAMP 311 | 386SX25@TI486SXLC2-50@60 | 16MB | CL-GD5428 | CT2830| SCC-1 | MT32 | Fast-SCSI AHA 1542CF + BlueSCSI v2/15k U320
2) SIS486 | 486DX/2 66(@80) | 32MB | TGUI9440 | LAPC-I

Reply 50 of 63, by feipoa

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Did you measure Vcc? Could you share a photo of your soldering job?

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 51 of 63, by Marco

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I will check the voltage later. Attached a picture from the exercise. Although you might see bridges there are non - verified by glasses and multimeter. The chip wouldn’t work then at all I assume.

Thanks for your help

1) VLSI SCAMP 311 | 386SX25@TI486SXLC2-50@60 | 16MB | CL-GD5428 | CT2830| SCC-1 | MT32 | Fast-SCSI AHA 1542CF + BlueSCSI v2/15k U320
2) SIS486 | 486DX/2 66(@80) | 32MB | TGUI9440 | LAPC-I

Reply 52 of 63, by feipoa

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After checking the voltage at the QFP pads themselves, you could try soldering on a Cyrix Cx486SLC2-50MP. These should run at 60/66 MHz and have 2x permanently enabled. The SXLC2-50, in my experience, has been problematic chip to get working unless you bought it on an interposer designed around that CPU.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 53 of 63, by Marco

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Hm not what I hoped to hear 😉
But thanks

1) VLSI SCAMP 311 | 386SX25@TI486SXLC2-50@60 | 16MB | CL-GD5428 | CT2830| SCC-1 | MT32 | Fast-SCSI AHA 1542CF + BlueSCSI v2/15k U320
2) SIS486 | 486DX/2 66(@80) | 32MB | TGUI9440 | LAPC-I

Reply 54 of 63, by Marco

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feipoa wrote on 2015-11-28, 10:01:

-x0,64 may be needed, as suggested by rasz_pl. I think he suggested it for some A20 failures.

Remark from me: I also had himem.sys a20 control issue with the ti486. I could resolve it by adding "/machine:13" option.

1) VLSI SCAMP 311 | 386SX25@TI486SXLC2-50@60 | 16MB | CL-GD5428 | CT2830| SCC-1 | MT32 | Fast-SCSI AHA 1542CF + BlueSCSI v2/15k U320
2) SIS486 | 486DX/2 66(@80) | 32MB | TGUI9440 | LAPC-I

Reply 55 of 63, by feipoa

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Marco wrote on 2025-04-16, 06:45:
feipoa wrote on 2015-11-28, 10:01:

-x0,64 may be needed, as suggested by rasz_pl. I think he suggested it for some A20 failures.

Remark from me: I also had himem.sys a20 control issue with the ti486. I could resolve it by adding "/machine:13" option.

You got your SXLC2-G50 working completely now? How did you land upon /machine:13? Was this needed to resolve your issue with clock doubling, or some other stability issue? Normally I only need to experiment with /machine:1 or /machine:3 when using a BL3 chip. Do you recall what the '13' is for?

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 56 of 63, by Marco

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1. yes and no. I soldered the CPU onto another chipset/board (VLSI). it works flawless now. difficult to say whether it was soldering or chipset issue
2. I ran into issues with himem.sys (cannot control A20 or something like this). I then searched for options and tested with machine:13 as it was also for generic AT systems "alternative delay". Since then no himem.sys errors anymore.

1) VLSI SCAMP 311 | 386SX25@TI486SXLC2-50@60 | 16MB | CL-GD5428 | CT2830| SCC-1 | MT32 | Fast-SCSI AHA 1542CF + BlueSCSI v2/15k U320
2) SIS486 | 486DX/2 66(@80) | 32MB | TGUI9440 | LAPC-I

Reply 57 of 63, by feipoa

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If I'm remembering things correctly, sometimes changing the Fast Gate A20 Enable/Disable option in the BIOS will also clear that himem error.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 58 of 63, by fsinan

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I keep getting parameter error for 5x86 with a machine for my friend. I dont understand why? Everything seems ok. IT does not understand the parameters coming after 5x86.exe???

System:1
Cyrix 5x86-120GP & X5-160ADZ
Lucky Star LS-486E
System:2
Intel DX4-WB & AMDDX4-120
PcChips M912 V1.7
System:3
AMD K6-2-475 & Cyrix 6x86MX PR-233
Asus P5A-B
System:4
UMC U5S-40
486UL-P101
System:5
P3 Coppermine 800EB
Gigabyte GA-6BX7

Reply 59 of 63, by feipoa

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I've not run into this problem. I suggest sharing a screenshot.

You also may want to try the Evergreen utility to set the registers and the IBM 5x86 utility. There's also a Free5x86 utility packaged in the original post.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.