have you tried the patched BIOS from here

http://www.steunebrink.info/k6plus.htm

Scroll down to the patched BIOS section and grab the bios from there, its been patched to support K6 3+ CPUs and K6 2+ CPUs.

The issue as you have discovered is that the K6 2/3+ CPUs are too new for the stock BIOS and it needed to be patched to fix it.

Hopefully this soles your problems !

Edit - Just noticed you have ... if your VRM is having issues then you may need to do a bit of component testing to see if the VRM capacitors and other components are still in spec.

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 05:01:

have you tried the patched BIOS from here […]
Show full quote

have you tried the patched BIOS from here

http://www.steunebrink.info/k6plus.htm

Scroll down to the patched BIOS section and grab the bios from there, its been patched to support K6 3+ CPUs and K6 2+ CPUs.

The issue as you have discovered is that the K6 2/3+ CPUs are too new for the stock BIOS and it needed to be patched to fix it.

Hopefully this soles your problems !

Edit - Just noticed you have ... if your VRM is having issues then you may need to do a bit of component testing to see if the VRM capacitors and other components are still in spec.

Hey!
Thanks for the reply!

That is indeed the bios I flashed. The patched V30SL from that site.
It will indeed recognize the CPU, but whenever the "+" chips are installed... I can only use the CPU and system if I "continue" to boot rather than adjust any bios settings (fsb/multiplier/voltage) or restart the PC.

The system will boot into windows just fine with the "+" CPU with a default settings of 60fsb x 6 multi (360mhz).

But the moment I restart it, that one VRM gets hot and it doesn't boot.
That's when I have to pop the non-plus back in.

Computer works perfectly fine with a K6 2 500mhz otherwise.

Any ideas? 🤔

My guess is there is at least one out of spec component in that VRM, the thing that's odd is that the K6 2/3+ are low voltage CPUs so should be putting less stress on the VRM than the higher voltage K6 2 500.

I would still check the VRM components to rule out bad components.

Someone else here may have more insight on what's going on here, I cant say I have ever had this specific issue with any of my Super 7 boards or CPUs.

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 05:17:

My guess is there is at least one out of spec component in that VRM, the thing that's odd is that the K6 2/3+ are low voltage CPUs so should be putting less stress on the VRM than the higher voltage K6 2 500.

I would still check the VRM components to rule out bad components.

Someone else here may have more insight on what's going on here, I cant say I have ever had this specific issue with any of my Super 7 boards or CPUs.

Yeah, those are my feelings as well...
I feel like if it works with a 2.2v K6 2 500, it would be fine with a 2v K6 2+.

And absolutely, if anyone wants to walk me through how to test the VRM with my multimeter, I'm happy to do so to check that off.

Hi magicmanred,

To start with an introduction, I’m the guy who did the patched BIOS you are using and I will try to help with testing the VRM circuit on your QDI P5MVP3/A3 board.

Looking at the photo of this board on TRW, I see the 3 main active components of this VRM right next to the lever of the CPU Socket.
The first is the RC5051M DC-DC Controller, which is the “brain” of the VRM. Right next to this IC are the 2 power FETs, that do the heavy work of this switching voltage regulator. On the TRW photo I see CEB603AL FETs, but your board revision may use another equivalent type for these transistors Q6 and Q7.
Then there are also 2 diodes D8 and D12. The silver ring on these cylindrical black components indicates the cathode, so the other side is the anode of the diode.
Other components nearby belong to the VRM as well, like 2 coil-shape inductors, 7 electrolytic capacitors, and numerous small surface-mounted resistors and capacitors.

Here are the datasheets of the Controller and the FETs:

Looking at the Block Diagram on the first page of the RC5051M datasheet, you get an idea of how this circuit works. Via pins 9 and 12, the controller drives the gates of the Low-side and the High-side Power FET directly. The controller alternates driving the High- and Low-side FETS to conduct, but never at the same time! 😉
The drain of the High-side FET is connected to +5V and the source of the Low-side FET is connected to GND. In the middle, the source of the High-side FET is connected to the drain of the Low-side FET and this point provides the Vcore for the CPU via an inductor-capacitor filter.

This Ouput voltage is controlled by the RC5051M via a feedback loop, and is regulated by changing the time the High- and Low-side FETs are opened/closed.
Because the FETs essentially work as current switches, they hardly have to dissipate any heat.
The required Vcore is set by the 5 VID input pins. The logic table is on page 4 of the datasheet. Usually these VID pins are driven by jumpers or dip-switches, but on this board the BIOS controls the VID lines via General Purpose Output lines of the VIA 586B Southbridge.
Note that the BIOS only controls VID0, 1, 2, and 3. VID4 is probably not connected on this board and is always high, resulting in possible Vcore settings from 2.0V to 3.5V.

Now, for the measurements it’s best to start with the regular K6-2/500 and the patch J.1 BIOS.
Set the multimeter to Volts DC and connect the black lead to a GND point like the metal casing of the Keyboard or USB port. With the red lead measure the voltage on the drain of each FET. The drain is the metal lip at the top of the FET.
On one FET you should measure +5V and the other should indicate 2.2V. The Low-side FET is the one where you measure 2.2V and its drain is your Vcore measure point.
I’m interested in any deviating values and which FET is the one that gets hot with the K6-2+.

Now change the SpeedEasy Core voltage to Manual and lower it to 2.1V. You may need to downclock the K6-2 to 400 or 300MHz to keep it working on this undervolt.
Check if the voltage on the Vcore measure point follows the SpeedEasy Vcore setting, after "SAFE & EXIT". Also try 2.0V and 2.3V.

Hopefully you find a deviation here, so we have a lead to the problem.
But when all is well, repeating these measurements with the K6-2+ installed should get us further.

Cheers, Jan