Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (
More info?)
On 27 Jun 2004 15:30:16 -0700, Searcher7@mail.con2.com (Darren Harris)
wrote:
>> > I did say in the post that started this thread that I replaced a
>> > 233mhz with a 333mhz.(333mhz is the highest that the motherboard will
>> > take).
>>
>> But that's not enough information. You also need to tell us whether it was a
>> Pentium I or Pentium II, for example. 233Mhz or 333Mhz is just the
>> clockspeed at which a particular processor model ran at, but there were
>> various Intel or AMD models that ran at 233Mhz and various other models at
>> 333Mhz. For example the original Pentium I models (i.e. Pentium & Pentium
>> MMX), ran at speeds ranging from 50Mhz all of the way upto 233Mhz. Pentium
>> II models ranged from 233Mhz upto 450Mhz. AMD K6 (i.e. K6, K6-II and K6-III)
>> models ranged from 166Mhz to 550Mhz. So you can see there was an overlap in
>> the clockspeed ratings of Pentium and Pentium II, and it happened to be
>> right at that 233Mhz; and there was an overlap of clock speeds between K6
>> and Pentium II at 333Mhz.
>
>I swapped a Pentium 2 233mhz for a Pentium 2 333mhz. But how would the
>difference between a Pentium 1 or Pentium 2 account for my inability
>to get into BIOS?
It wouldn't but we're trying to get to the root of your problem and it's
important to know exactly what you have and had... to figure whether your
BIOS or mbrd may or may not (officially) support the upgraded CPU. Intel
produced several variations of Pentium II - e.g. some supported caching of
only 512MB of memory and others 4GB; some supported ECC on the L2 cache and
others didn't; some supported variable clock speed multipliers and others
didn't. It's important that the BIOS recognize which is which and set
appropriate parameters. The SL spec# on the package would indicate which
you have - not sure if the SL spec# table is still available at Intel's Web
site but if you post them, I can look your SL spec#s up on a CD-ROM I have
if you need it.
>> If you don't know what model of processor you have, then one thing you can
>> do is to actually let the machine boot into Windows 98 and then once it's
>> settled down, take your mouse and right click on the My Computer icon and
>> select Properties. That should tell you whether you have a Pentium or
>> Pentium II.
>
>That does not show the CPU clock speed. And I know exactly what
>processor I have. I am trying to get the system to show it.
If you know exactly what CPU you have it would have helped avoid confusion
if you had specified it earlier. DirectX diagnostics will report the
actual speed your CPU is running at and there's an Intel CPUID utility
available at their Web site which will tell everything you need to know
about your CPU - the install file name is fidenuxx.exe, where xx=version#.
>> >> My suggestion is to look for a BIOS update and if available, install
>> >> it with the old 233MHz CPU - then try the switch again. If no BIOS
>> >> update is available, it's likely that Compaq has something in their
>> >> proprietary BIOS which prevents using a faster CPU. OEMs do that
>> >> kind of thing - one of the principal reasons that enthusiasts shun
>> >> their wares.
>> >
>> > Where can I get a BIOS update, and how do I install it?
>>
>> Well, HP's website, for one. Do a search on your particular Compaq model
>> under the HP support pages.
>>
>> Another way to find out what processor your computer originally had is to do
>> this search for your model of computer and it should state what processors
>> were inside that machine, as well as what clockspeeds those processors ran
>> at.
>
>That's the problem. Compaq purposely didn't label certain components
>inside their systems, so that they would have an "out" when they used
>inconsistent components from one system to the next, even though those
>systems were designated to be the same. There is no model number on
>either of these Compaq deskpro PCs I have. In fact there is no way
>tell what model motherboards they have just by opening up the case and
>looking for a model number.
Surely there's a plate or label on the rear of the case which specifies
some Compaq model number - no? Even a computer model, like Deskpro 6000
Desktop PC would allow you to download manuals, BIOS updates, software
diagnostics etc. from here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Home.jsp?locale=en_US&prodTypeId=12454&prodSeriesId=96264&lang=en&cc=us
>> However, one possibility to consider is that this white Compaq screen is
>> just a normal bootup screen. Various manufacturers have this feature where
>> they have a pretty bootup screen and an ugly bootup screen. The ugly bootup
>> screen is the screen where you see all of the boot info like memory count,
>> device list, etc. This white Compaq logo screen might just be the pretty
>> boot screen, which hides all of this ugly detail. Often the way to switch
>> from the pretty to the ugly screen is to get into the BIOS configuration,
>> and this would just be one of the options within the configuration. It's
>> possible that once you replaced the processor, that all of the options in
>> the BIOS configuration were reset to defaults and one of the defaults was to
>> use the pretty screen rather than the ugly screen.
>
>Nope. When this Compaq still had the 233mhz processor installed, the
>info screens were there upon boot-up. And like I mentioned, since I
>installed the 333mhz chip, there is no longer an option to go into the
>BIOS to change anything. Why would default not include the option of
>entering BIOS? I'm certain that this just another one of Compaq's
>tricks to mak things difficult for the end user who is trying to
>upgrade.
Nope??? Yousuf is correct here - it's likely that the change of CPU caused
the BIOS startup sequence to be reset to the default "pretty" screen. It's
also (remotely) possible that your mbrd doesn't support that particular
version of Pentium II 333MHz - IOW it did not recognize the CPUID so it
won't let you into the BIOS Setup. In that case it *might* be running the
CPU with the wrong settings... hopefully not the voltage which is different
between the 233MHz (2.8V) and 333MHz (2.0V).
BTW when you get the keyboard error on trying to enter BIOS Setup, I think
it's because you're pressing the key too early, before the BIOS is ready to
accept that input. Whatever key you used to press before (F10 ?) to enter
BIOS Setup is likely still the same, unless the pretty screen has a
different key?? Surely that'd be in the manual which can be downloaded.
At worst, you could try disconnecting some component like the hard disk or
floppy disk to provoke an error in BIOS POST which should trigger a BIOS
Setup option.
Rgds, George Macdonald
"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram