Superpuppy 2

Discussion relating to Socket 7 hardware.
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Uranium235
Senior K6'er
Posts: 183
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:59 pm

Post by Uranium235 »

Superpuppy-2 is still causing me problems. There seem to be two distinct issues. One is that when booted cold, i.e. when the machine hasn't run for a few hours, it takes three and occasionally 4 boots for it to get through post and the other startup routines and boot into windows.
I had this problem with an Epox 8RDA. Later I discovered some capacitors were bulging and others started to leak.
How good is your power supply?
Jim
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Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Hi Uranium. Nice to hear from you. The caps LOOK very good on this board. As for the power supply, I bought it new, and it has very low milage so to speak. Never caused problems before. The other problem, i.e. sudden loss of speed in Everest has been avoided so far in the latest install. Not much left to install, have managed to run RFA and pretty well clean things up and do a backup. If I can get the Webcam to install now I'll pretty well have it done.
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
DonPedro
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Posts: 578
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:11 pm

Post by DonPedro »

I am quite sure that after your webcam is up and running your everest scores will reach new lows ....
Jim
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Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

You may be right Peter, though I am beginning to think it was something associated with Pinnacle Studio 8, which is "Freeware" that comes with the ATI 9000 AIW Radeon installed in Superpuppy-3. This thing is running @ 550Mhz with no tweaks for the time being, and what I am getting is Everest : MR = 306, MW = 156, ML = 215.2.
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
Jim
K6'er Elite
Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Well Peter you were partly right. Finally got the WebCam working and took a minor hit in Everest MR speed. Fell from 306 down to 301. Have also finally identified the cause of the further drop down to MR = 200. Turn on the scanner and there it is. Turn off the scanner and its gone. They are of course both USB connected, so you were definitely on the right track. What it means, is to watch a movie, I have to turn off the scanner.
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
Jim
K6'er Elite
Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Image

Image

Image

Pictures as promised. Not very elaborate. The front chassis fan & dust filter setup is identical to that of Superpuppy-3, as is the ducted fan twin internal HDD mount, except in this one it has 2x 40Gig WD 7200s. Where it differs from SP3, (apart from the fact that it is a P5A-B setup), is the fact that it has a built in ducted fan cooled independant auxilliary power supply. (Said supply was originally designed to power the switching setup that I designed for Superpuppy-4); but is now being used to power a D-Link Hub that had no method of of being turned off short of unplugging it. The Black rectangular switch seen on the right hand side of the front panel turns the power on and off for the Hub whether or not the computer is on.

The two round black push button switches seen above the Enermax, (which is working now, though only with two temp sensors), control the Master Slave relationships of the Primary and Secondary IDE drives. Push either button in and the master slave relationship of the related pair of drives changes.

The machine now has a Vantec "Easy Swap" tray which monitors temp, up hours, etc on the third HDD which is installed in it. Said HDD is the 80 Gig WD that I took out of Superpuppy-5, which is being scrapped, with the mobo being put back into SP3. Superpuppy 3 remains intact, (except for the Enermax which I have two new replacements for) and will be getting rebuilt with the 1Meg cache board back in it.
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
DonPedro
K6'er Elite
Posts: 578
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:11 pm

Post by DonPedro »

jim,

there is another option to save memory bandwidth.

just go into device manager and deactivate your usb-root device on the fly. no need to reboot and can be reversed as quickly and easily when you actually need access to one of your usb devices. benefit: maximum memory speed at all circumstances.
Jim
K6'er Elite
Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Tried looking into that Peter. Bit more complex than indicated. The layout in Device Manager is as follows :

Image

This machine has a USB 2 card in it, ergo the various extra entrys. I also tried to get a Mitsumi card reader floppy working, (unsucessfully, - read the fine print, and they don't work with ALi chipsets), ergo I loaded the driver for the onboard USB also because the Mitsumi plugs in internally with a type of plug that doesn't fit USB 2 Ports.

Got the best results by disabling all the USB stuff at the top level, but except for benchmarking, the difference is insignificant. The scanner on the other hand takes so much memory bandwidth that movies play in jerk motion, ommiting most frames if they are played while it is turned on.
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
Jim
K6'er Elite
Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Stranger and Stranger!! When first built the machine, when cold, invariably took 3-4 attempts before it would boot into Windopes. Now 5 out of the last 6 times, it has booted straight up when cold. What do you guys think is the cause of all this?
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
User avatar
Uranium235
Senior K6'er
Posts: 183
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:59 pm

Post by Uranium235 »

Stranger and Stranger!! When first built the machine, when cold, invariably took 3-4 attempts before it would boot into Windopes. Now 5 out of the last 6 times, it has booted straight up when cold. What do you guys think is the cause of all this?
Maybe burn-in or break-in or regular use....

BTW, Nice rig. :)
Jim
K6'er Elite
Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Thanks Uranium. I like the looks of it. Main reason I stuck w/ ATs, was it was years before I saw an ATX as good looking.

EDIT : Well it seems to be consistantly booting OK now anyway. Might tweak it up a bit now.
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
Jim
K6'er Elite
Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Well I was getting problems with my HDD cooler fans not running properly so I tore SP2 down, for a look see. Much tracing revealed a cold solder join in the fans power circuit, fixed that, took the RAM and video card out, blew out the slots then reinstalled everything, and both the fan and boot problem now seem to be solved.

It would be too good to be true to say the darn thing is now completely trouble free, because on reassembly a new problem surfaced. Seems I over tighten the bolts holding in the HDDs and crushed the temp sensors, because now the enermax is out to lunch with its temp readings. Have to replace the sensors.
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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