VOGONS


First post, by Robin4

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Recently i purchased an Asus PCI/I-p54sp4 Rev1.5 motherboard.

It came with an older bios version. Now i really like to update the bios. Normally i know how it works. It can be done with set 2 jumpers on the motherboard + floppy drive + boot disk + flash utility.

Now i dont know anymore which flash utillity and version was used back in the day.. Iam trying to do it the easy way to reprogram the flash cmos ic with my USB Mini pro programmer instead of the basic way..

Now i ran in some problems.

1. I removed the sticker on the cmos IC and it also slightly damaged the silkscreen on the chip.. Now its harder to identify what type chip it is. I could so some asumption and making an guess.

Whats written on the chip.. Its one of those annoying Intel `FLASH` cmos chips.. All i can read is the following: P28_0_0 -15 (150ns). I would guess it could be an P28F010 (but iam not sure) (could be something different as well)

2. And i have a problem that i cant find the right CMOS configuration in my MINI PRO PROGRAMMER V 6.85 software.. If have tried a lot of different configurations, but some can read out with a very long delay and ends all on FF FF FF same as blank. Some iam guessing maybe its better to purchase an other branded cmos chip which my mini pro programmer can work with.. Does somebody knows an 12v cmos ic which is pin compatible..

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 1 of 15, by quicknick

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On my P54SP4 the flash chip is a CAT28F010. Set the chip type as any 28F010 and then use the "Read ID" function, there are sites where you can identify the chip based on that ID (or post it here, maybe we can help).

Reply 2 of 15, by Robin4

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I know that CAT28F010 will work in the cmos programmer.. Thank you for the help.. Then its better to order 2 new CAT28F010 cmos ics and use those. Instead of that Intel junk.

Does your motherboard support the Pentium 133 Mhz processor or higher? Like 150 Mhz max maybe.

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 3 of 15, by Horun

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You do not need an exact flash version for most bios. There are some differences between Award 4.50, 4.51 and 4.60+ plus but the newer award flashers can handle it. https://www.wimsbios.com/awardflasher.jsp

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 4 of 15, by quicknick

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Robin4 wrote on 2020-02-21, 03:06:

Does your motherboard support the Pentium 133 Mhz processor or higher? Like 150 Mhz max maybe.

I don't know, mine came with a Pentium-100 installed and I've tried the board with some K5 but it didn't POST so I was very disappointed and put the board in storage.

Reply 5 of 15, by dionb

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Robin4 wrote on 2020-02-21, 03:06:

I know that CAT28F010 will work in the cmos programmer.. Thank you for the help.. Then its better to order 2 new CAT28F010 cmos ics and use those. Instead of that Intel junk.

Does your motherboard support the Pentium 133 Mhz processor or higher? Like 150 Mhz max maybe.

Is's So5, which means that it only has one line for multplier, BF0, so you can choose between 1.5x (75/90/100MHz) and 2x (100/120/133MHz) using the single jumper.

Faster P54(C) CPUs will work fine, but you need to manually connect the BF1 pin to GND (=Vss).

Reply 7 of 15, by Doornkaat

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Robin4 wrote on 2020-02-22, 02:46:

2x (100/120/133MHz) using the single jumper.

Where do i find that jumper. I though the board is multiplier locked.

The board only supports 1.5x multiplier, it doesn't have the BF0 jumper to set 2x. The best you can do is bridge the BF0/BF1 pins on the back of the socket or on the CPU pins to ground to substitute the jumpers and achieve the desired multipliers.
If you want to try this and need more instructions I can post a pinout later 👍 but honestly I wouldn't do this on this board except for experiments. The strength of this board is building a slow Pentium system rather than a fast one imho.🙂

Reply 9 of 15, by Doornkaat

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Robin4 wrote on 2020-02-22, 22:04:

If the board would getting running an pentium 133 or 150 mhz id really would be happy.

Ok, so what you want to do for 2x multiplier is pull BF0 (pin Y33) low, i.e. connect it to ground/Vss. This can be done on the CPU as well as on the socket at the backside of the board.
Remember that until removed this mod permanently sets a 2x multiplier on all CPUs that accept it.
You can also set a 2.5x multi (BF0-Vss and BF1-Vss) or 3x multi (only BF1-Vss). Using BF2 will probably not get you anywere because CPUs supporting it won't fit into Socket 5 iirc. Depending on your board's VRM you may get instabilities with faster CPUs though I doubt you'll have any problems with 133 or 150MHz Pentiums.

I have attatched a pinout with the relevant pins marked; red is BF0/Y33, orange is BF1/X34 and green is BF2/W35. Connecting those with any of the pins marked blue will have the same effect as setting the corresponding jumper. As stated in the picture it shows the bottom view i.e. the side you're probably going to be working on - the backside of the board or the pins of the CPU. This makes things much easier. 😉
Even though this is a pretty straightforward process and an easy mod of course things can go wrong and I don't take any responsibility for damages. You do this at your own risk.
Have fun and good luck! 😀

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Reply 11 of 15, by Doornkaat

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Robin4 wrote on 2020-02-25, 00:33:

Thanks for the help.. But what does BF pin stands for? Iam guessing its a abbreviation?

BF pin means one of the pins used to control the BF signal that is sampled upon reset telling the processor what multiplier to use. I also think it's an abbreviation but I'm not sure what it stands for.
Bus Factor?
Bus Fraction?
Probably something among those lines.

Reply 14 of 15, by mpe

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From 1995 book "Pentium Processors and Related Products" by Intel:

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