Questions for tweaking k6-2 550 on p5a-b

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saintlycobra
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Questions for tweaking k6-2 550 on p5a-b

Post by saintlycobra »

This machine is running slower than my pii-400 in all aspects. I shutoff the software firewall I run on all my machines, and it runs decently now. However, using the benchmarking of everest home edition, I am way behind other k6-2 systems in their list. What can I do to make this machine run quicker? I have tried running CTU, but it doesn't want to load the vxd, which is in the same folder, tweakbios won't run in NT, and k6speed doesn't want to load k6speed.sys which is also in the same folder as the executable. What am I missing?

I have also run wpcredit, but most of the settings there elude me as to their meaning (I'm not particularly proficient in this aspect of computers). I get all the basic memory ones, and have tried a few, but they've all slowed down my system in the everest benchmarks.

I have 256MB of certified CL2 PC133 memory, 512KB on-motherboard L2 cache, and 1011.005 bios from asus' website.

I am posting this in both the software and hardware forums since I'm asking for help on both sides. And yes, I have read and re-read many posts on this board and others, so I am familiar with most of the situations, but can't figure out what is going on with my machine.

Thanks for any help.
Jim
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RE: Questions for tweaking k6-2 550 on p5a-b

Post by Jim »

You did not clearly state whether your processor is a K6-2+ 550 or just a K6-2 550; unless what you said means K6-2 550. I don't know what performance numbers you are getting; but there are some K6-2 550 performance numbers in a post in the Hardware section titled "POLL MVP Vs ALi chipset 3-way shoot-out" by "Tazwegion", that will give you a guideline as to what I was able to do w/ a non+ K6-2 550. If you want to use a K6-2+ 550 on that board, you are going to have to spend a lot of time w/ WPCredit getting it to work properly. There is one guy who did it w/ a Rev 106, (which has the same problem as the 105, namely that there is no bios for the board that supports a K6-2+ processor.), but he spent months working w/ WPCredit to do it.

NOTE: You say you are using the 1011.005 bios. That is supposed to be for Rev 103; and 104 as far as I know. If Steunebrink says you can use it on a 105, fine, otherwise be careful.

Finally, would point out that the easy way out, is spend a few bucks and replace the mobo, w/ a 103, or 104, or some other Super 7 entirely.
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saintlycobra
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Post by saintlycobra »

My processor is a plain-jane k6-2.

I'm running the 1011.005 bios because that was the one on Asus' website. I needed a bios to run a harddrive bigger than 32GB, so I flashed that one.
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Post by Jim »

I am not an expert on this subject. The recognized expert globally is Jan Steunebrink of the Netherlands. It is my belief that : 1) The 1011 bios was made to enable those P5A-Bs, (Rev 103 & Rev 104), which could run K6-(2/3)+ processors, to recognize the chips. 2) The Rev 105 & Rev 106 supposedly can not run K6-(2/3)+ processors. 3) As I said before, however, there is one guy who occasionally posts here who did get a K6-3+ processor working on a Rev 106 by using WPCredit. HE DID NOT FLASH HIS BIOS TO THE 1011 version to do it however. Check w/ Steunebrink if it is ok to use the 1011 on a Rev 105. That could be the source of your performance problem, because I don't think that bios is meant for that board. The 1010 version will also support drives over 32 Gig.

Edit : I just checked Jan's site, and as KachiWachi has already pointed out there is a NOTE regards P5A-Bs. "Due to a hardware problem, K6+ processors will work extremely slow on Rev 105 & 106 boards."

I personally think that the problem may be caused by the bios required to run a "+" processor on P5A-B boards. The 1011 bios is designed to recognize "+" processors. To "recognize" a "+" processor you need the 1011. I suspect that the 1011 is to some degree incompatable w/ the 105 & 106; and that is the reason that "+" processors run slow on them; and also the reason that yours is running slow despite the fact that you don't have a "+" processor.
Last edited by Jim on Sat Oct 22, 2005 11:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
Superpuppy 3
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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
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
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tazwegion
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Post by tazwegion »

The reason CTU wont load the VXD is because you must be using an NT based OS? it'll open just fine on win98SE (I just tried it on a duron 800/KT-133A sytsem) and it wont on my 2000/XP systems ;)

I'd go so far as to state that you may be having issues with K6speed for the same reason :(
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KachiWachi
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Post by KachiWachi »

Interesting article...can you verify?

K6-2 on Asus P5A-B, Sluggish performance - Half-L1? -> http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=32854
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 »

K6Speed works just fine w/ XP. I use it all the time.
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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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KachiWachi
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Post by KachiWachi »

The only problem with K6Speed is the fact that the MTRR's are displayed reversed. A minor problem yes, but still a problem.

K6Speed v.88 should work fine otherwise on NT-based systems...per the Readme file.
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 »

@ KachiWachi : That post at the AMD Forum is very strange. I have all three of those processors. They were what I used before I heard of K6+ types. I also have P5A-Bs, 3 of them; 2x Rev 104 & 1x Rev 103. Yet I have never encountered that problem. Punkrawker 82 had a Rev 105 w/ a K6-2 500; and he had a lot of trouble getting it to run over 475 MHz, (what he encountered as best I recall was it would boot once @ 500 MHz after a fresh install; but not again), though he finally did it w/ a software speed adjuster. But even he did not encounter this "Running Slow", (on chip cache not working), problem.

The only new factor in SaintlyCobra's situation, is the 1011 bios - ("The latest Bios"- AMD Forum). Given what Steunebrink says about K6-(2/3)+s, (which require the 1011 bios), "Running Slow" on Rev 105 & 106 boards, I suspect that the problem is not in the hardware, but rather that there is something in the 1011 bios that is ok for Rev 103 & 104; but not for Rev 105 & 106. And further that there is something about the 1011 bios on 105 & 106 boards that limits them to 475 MHz using jumper settings. (See posts by "PunkRawker82"

Steunebrink should take a look at that bios, because there may be a work around.
That said he would need the tech data for the 105 & 106. (This is getting to be right up "Cake's" alley); You following this Cake?
Last edited by Jim on Sat Oct 22, 2005 8:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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
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Post by cake »

Yes Jim,

I've read the thread :)

I happen to have one of those dreaded P5A rev 1.06 that won't work well
with the + cpus. What do you need?
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Post by rls48j »

Hi, I'm the rev. 1.06 with k6 III+ guy. If Saintlycobra will post a few benchmark results (everest is easy, available, and the right price} I'll dust off the old machine and try to see what I can come up with as a comparison.Perhaps that would do a bit more to define "running slow".
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Post by Jim »

@ Cake, Well if rls48j can get a K6-3+ working ok on a rev 106 by NOT using the 1011 bios, and everybody who uses the 1011 bios on rev 105 & 106 boards has problems, it suggests to me that the problem is there is something in that bios which is incompatable w/ those boards. I.e. 1) The 1011 needs to be revised to use with a 105, or 106. 2) It has less to do w/ the processor than the "board-bios combination" because SaintlyCobra is not using a plus processor.

@ SaintlyCobra AFAIK these two guys, Cake and rls48j, know far more about what you are encountering than everyone else here combined; so pay attention to what they say.
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
saintlycobra
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Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:38 am

Post by saintlycobra »

Thanks for the help guys, and I was just about to do some benchmarks to get some more information, but alas, I tried overclocking to 5x120 and burnt something on the mobo. Now, I can't get a Vcore less than 3.6 volts (presumably the highest voltage the board goes because the manual states a range from 2.0-3.5), and I'm not about to run my proc at 1.3v over the recommended Vcore. But, as a note, I did get some benchmarks at 5x112 in everest: 402/71/178.9 ms (read/write/latency), which was WAAY better than what I was getting at 5.5x105 (obviously). Once again, thanks for all the information. I'm using this in an AT case, so I'm still debating if I want to try and get another mobo for this, or just save my money and get a whole new system.
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