L1 cache - Help!!!

Discussion relating to Socket 7 hardware.
SeanC
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L1 cache - Help!!!

Post by SeanC »

Hi.

I want to convert my old Win98se pc to a dual booting Win98Se/WinXP system so that my sister can use Itunes with her new Ipod.

My socket 7 motherboard uses the intel 430tx chipset (the board is a PC Chips M550), ami bios(release 11/17/1997 S), 64 meg of ram, 30 gig hard drive.

The processor is a spectra overdrive AMD K6-2@400mhz. Normally, my amibios(the latest and last version they did for my motherboard) disables the L1 cache on the processor causing it to run at a snails pace. The fix under Win98se is a file called L1enable.vxd which is run from Win.ini with the line

device=L1enable.vxd

The problem is, this doesn't work when I boot into WinXP and the system is so slow as to be unusuable. I know I'll need more memory as well, and it's never going to be that fast, but I only need to be able to run Itunes.

So the question is: how do I enable the L1 cache on an AMD K6-2@400mhz under WinXp - I'm ideally looking for a file I can run automatically during the startup sequences, but would setttle for a utility that has to be run manually if need be. I've looked everywhere & can't find anything. Any ideas?

Hope you can help.

Cheers

Sean
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stevenaaus
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RE: L1 cache - Help!!!

Post by stevenaaus »

Why does the cache get disabled in/by the bios ?
Enabling the cache here would be good/preferable.
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Uranium235
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Post by Uranium235 »

I find it odd that your motherboard won't enable the L1 cache. Are you sure? Do you have internal and external cache enabled in the BIOS?
Try running Cachechk V7 from a bootable floppy. That will test if your L1 cache is enabled and working properly. You can download it from here:
http://www.softlookup.com/display.asp?id=9029

What I see as your biggest problem is the size of your RAM. WinXP needs at least 128MB to barely function. With only 64MB XP is consuming all your free RAM at startup leaving none left to run anything. Ideally 256MB would be optimal if your board can handle that amount.
I have used WinXP on old machines like yours. It can work well with some RAM and a few tweaks.
SeanC
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Post by SeanC »

Uranium235 wrote:I find it odd that your motherboard won't enable the L1 cache. Are you sure? Do you have internal and external cache enabled in the BIOS?
Try running Cachechk V7 from a bootable floppy. That will test if your L1 cache is enabled and working properly. You can download it from here:
http://www.softlookup.com/display.asp?id=9029

What I see as your biggest problem is the size of your RAM. WinXP needs at least 128MB to barely function. With only 64MB XP is consuming all your free RAM at startup leaving none left to run anything. Ideally 256MB would be optimal if your board can handle that amount.
I have used WinXP on old machines like yours. It can work well with some RAM and a few tweaks.
Good Point. My board will take up to 256MB Ram, which I'll get provided I can work around this damn cache problem.

How do I know it's disabled? Because I had the same problem when running Windows 98se. The system worked fine with a pentium 233. When I upgraded to the overdrive processor it went dirt slow. But the processor came with a fix - the L1enable.vxd file, because it's a known problem with some motherboards. And as soon as I installed it the system went back to full speed.

The problem is this doesn't work under WinXP.

There is an option to enable the cache in the bios, but it resets itself on reboot. It's not a cmos problem either as it remembers all the other settings.
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Post by Jim »

Uranium 235 is right about the RAM issue. 64Meg is completely inadequate for XP. The 256 he suggests will give you a major jump in speed under 98 too. Only other thing I would say is : Are you sure that the bios is disabling your 1st level cache under XP in the same way it does under 98? I suppose you probably are sure, since you have probably tried everything you can think of to get it enabled; but it wouldn't hurt to try the program mentioned by U235 to check. Who knows, maybe it has an enabling feature in it too.

Edit: One other thing is "CMOS" is not consistant when a dying battery is in there. It doesn't lose all the settings at once. Rather it retains some settings and loses others, gradually w/ more settings going as the battery dies.
Last edited by Jim on Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SeanC
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Post by SeanC »

Jim wrote:Uranium 235 is right about the RAM issue. 64Meg is completely inadequate for XP. The 256 he suggests will give you a major jump in speed under 98 too. Only other thing I would say is : Are you sure that the bios is disabling your 1st level cache under XP in the same way it does under 98? I suppose you probably are sure, since you have probably tried everything you can think of to get it enabled; but it wouldn't hurt to try the program mentioned by U235 to check. Who knows, maybe it has an enabling feature in it too.
Good idea. It'll try it out tomorrow.thanks
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KachiWachi
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Post by KachiWachi »

See my comments over at the AMD forum.
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PC #1 - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), 128 MB EDO. BIOS patched by Jan Steunebrink.
PC #2 - Amptron PM-7900 (M520), i200 non-MMX, 128 MB EDO
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Uranium235
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Post by Uranium235 »

I'm not sure but the Powerleap CPU Control Panel may enable all the CPU features in WinXP. It's a free download. It wouldn't hurt to try it.

Get it here:
http://www.powerleap.ca/Downloads/PLeap ... _0_0_1.exe
You may want to select PL-K6-III or PL-586 possibly during installation. I haven't tested it.
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Post by Jim »

BTW, there is a program called "tweak bios" that runs under windows that allows you to change a lot , (more than you will find in your bios), of bios settings from there. That might solve your problem. Also would be useful to take a peek into that "L1Enable.vxd" file; and see what is in there. Maybe there is a line you could stick in your autoexe.bat file to achieve the same thing.
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DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
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KachiWachi
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Post by KachiWachi »

XP will not like .vxd's...
Moderator - Wim's BIOS

PC #1 - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), 128 MB EDO. BIOS patched by Jan Steunebrink.
PC #2 - Amptron PM-7900 (M520), i200 non-MMX, 128 MB EDO
PC #3 - HP8766C, PIII-667, 768 MB SDRAM
PC #4 - ASUS P3V4X, PIII-733, 256 MB SDRAM
PC #5 - Gateway 700X, P4-2.0 GHz, 768 MB PC800 RDRAM
PC #6 - COMPAQ Evo N1020v laptop, P4-2.4 GHz, 1 GB PC2700 DDR
PC #7 - Dell Dimension 4600i, P4-2.8 GHz, 512 MB PC2700 DDR
PC #8 - Acer EeePC netbook, Atom N270 @ 1.60 GHz, 1 GB RAM
PC #9 - ??? ;)
SeanC
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Post by SeanC »

KachiWachi wrote:XP will not like .vxd's...
Finally got the L1 cache enabled. Contacted Jan Steunebrink and he very kindly patched the bios for me.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice.

SeanC
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KachiWachi
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Post by KachiWachi »

Score another fone for Jan...yay! :banana
Moderator - Wim's BIOS

PC #1 - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), 128 MB EDO. BIOS patched by Jan Steunebrink.
PC #2 - Amptron PM-7900 (M520), i200 non-MMX, 128 MB EDO
PC #3 - HP8766C, PIII-667, 768 MB SDRAM
PC #4 - ASUS P3V4X, PIII-733, 256 MB SDRAM
PC #5 - Gateway 700X, P4-2.0 GHz, 768 MB PC800 RDRAM
PC #6 - COMPAQ Evo N1020v laptop, P4-2.4 GHz, 1 GB PC2700 DDR
PC #7 - Dell Dimension 4600i, P4-2.8 GHz, 512 MB PC2700 DDR
PC #8 - Acer EeePC netbook, Atom N270 @ 1.60 GHz, 1 GB RAM
PC #9 - ??? ;)
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Post by Jim »

fone? "fan" I'd understand; but fone? wha dat? - or is it a typo on the word "one"?
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
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Post by tazwegion »

Pedantic individual! LMAO :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Jim
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Post by Jim »

Hey, who knows? "Fone" could be some wierd "Geek Speak" term that I in my abysmal ignorance never heard of; - so I ask.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
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