CPU Upgrade doesn't work?

Hello people,

My current system is a Pentium III 450MHz, and I've just replaced the CPU with a Pentium III 600MHz. The motherboard is a Gigabyte BX2000 which in its manual says that it can work a CPU up to 650MHz.

However, after setting the DIP switches to the 600MHz position and restarting the computer it announces that it is still running at 450MHz!!!

Perhaps this is just a "label ", I don't know?

But I would have thought that the motherboard would have read the new DIP switch positions and realised that the new speed is 600MHz.

Anyway, I went into the Chipset Features menu in the BIOS and the Vcore voltage is 2.09V (the 450MHz CPU is 2.05V) which seems to fall within acceptable limits (the CPU case has 2.05V printed on it). Temperatures are OK, and the new fan and heatsink are much larger than the 450MHz CPU one.

Can anyone help me with this mystery where it apparently has not speeded up??

Dodge

 

Thanks PeteC,

A very quick (and useful) reply...

I downloaded AIDA32 and ran it, and it gave me the following report concerning CPUID:

--------[ CPUID ]-----------------------------------------------------------

CPUID Properties:
CPUID Manufacturer GenuineIntel
CPUID Revision 0673h
IA Brand ID 00h (Unknown)
Platform ID 01h (Slot 1)
IA CPU Serial Number 0000-0673-0000-FD92-EFDB-C00E

Instruction Set:
AMD 3DNow! Not Supported
AMD 3DNow! Professional Not Supported
AMD Enhanced 3DNow! Not Supported
AMD Extended MMX Not Supported
AMD64 Not Supported
Cyrix Extended MMX Not Supported
IA-64 Not Supported
IA MMX Supported
IA SSE Supported
IA SSE 2 Not Supported
IA SSE 3 Not Supported
CLFLUSH Instruction Not Supported
CMPXCHG8B Instruction Supported
Conditional Move Instruction Supported
FEMMS Instruction Not Supported
MONITOR / MWAIT Instruction Not Supported

CPUID Features:
36-bit Page Size Extension Supported
Advanced Cryptography Engine Not Supported
Alternate Instruction Set Not Supported
Automatic Clock Control Not Supported
CPL Qualified Debug Store Not Supported
Debug Trace Store Not Supported
Debugging Extension Supported
Enhanced SpeedStep Technology Not Supported
Fast Save & Restore Supported
Fast System Call Not Supported
Hyper-Threading Technology Not Supported
L1 Context ID Not Supported
Local APIC On Chip Not Supported
LongRun Not Supported
LongRun Table Interface Not Supported
Machine-Check Architecture Supported
Machine-Check Exception Supported
Memory Type Range Registers Supported
Model Specific Registers Supported
Page Attribute Table Supported
Page Global Extension Supported
Page Size Extension Supported
Pending Break Event Not Supported
Physical Address Extension Supported
Processor Duty Cycle Control Not Supported
Processor Serial Number Supported
Random Number Generator Not Supported
Self-Snoop Not Supported
Thermal Monitor Not Supported
Thermal Monitor 2 Not Supported
Time Stamp Counter Supported
Virtual Mode Extension Supported


You've been really helpful. Thank you very much. But how can the CPU itself be labelled as a 600MHz??

Dodge

 

What does it report for the speed? Click on cpu, just above cpuid. It'll be the first thing in the list in the right pane.

 

Oops,

OK, I did what you said, and the following info was reported:

--------------------------------------
Internal Clock: 449.88 MHz
External Clock: 99.97 MHz
Multiplier: 4.5
Bus: SDR

L1 instr. cache: 16 KB - Full - 449.88 MHz
L1 data cache: 16 KB - Full - 449.88 MHz
L2 cache: 512KB - 1/2 - 224.94 MHz
--------------------------------------


The other info was just trappings...

So, can you please tell me what is happening? Looks like it's still at 450MHz. The CPU is definitely marked 600MHz.

Dodge.

 

But... but...

The motherboard manual says that all you do is set DIP switches to the position for a 600MHz CPU.

Also, it says it will run a 650MHz!!!

I'm close to tears...

Dodge

 

I had a similiar problem, my chip was "marked ", it stated that it should be a 700 but was only a 500 or something like that, cant remember the numbers. In any case if you call intel they will be able to properly identify the chip as real or marked they have some kind of utility you can download that will identify the chip. good luck.

 

You can download the Intel CPUID program here. This will tell you if you have a true 600 Mhz processor.

Cheers,

ICE

 

If it turns out the cpu is what it's supposed to be, I'd try flashing the bios. The manual might state that the bios supports 600 Mhz but it wouldn't be the first time some sort of bug prevented it from doing so.

 

Sounds like you are setup for auto detect in your BIOS, but can you change to manual and modify the multiplier settings? You may also need to clear CMOS and reset your BIOS, but be careful and write down your existing BIOS settings before you do this if this is unfamiliar turf to you. Some MB's will not even boot if you change processors without clearing CMOS so consider yourself in very good shape to this point in time.

 

Thanks guys,

iceolated: I tried downloading the Intel CPUID program, and the following report was saved -

Intel(R) Processor Frequency ID Utility
Version: 6.0.20031031
Time Stamp: 2004/01/11 12:44:59
Number of processors in system: 1
Current processor: #1
Processor Name: Intel(R) Pentium(R) III Processor 600B-MHz
Type: 0
Family: 6
Model: 7
Stepping: 3
Revision: 2
L1 Instruction Cache: 16 KB
L1 Data Cache: 16 KB
L2 Cache: 512 KB
Packaging: S.E.C.C./S.E.C.C.2
MMX(TM): Yes
SIMD: Yes
SIMD2: No
NetBurst(TM) Microarchitecture: No
Expected Processor Frequency: 600 MHz
Reported Processor Frequency: 450 MHz
Expected System Bus Frequency: 133 MHz
Reported System Bus Frequency: 100 MHz
*************************

This is heartening, cos it shows that the expected freq is 600MHz.

Rockster2U, I'm not all that familiar with the BIOS as far as auto-detection of the CPU and its operating frequency are concerned. Is it safe to clear CMOS? The motherboard has a Dual BIOS feature (the 2nd BIOS is a backup which is used if there is a fault or error in the first BIOS) so would it mess things up to reset the first one?

PeteC, the report above does seem to indicate that the CPU is truly a 600MHz, but at what system bus freq is it a 600MHz CPU? 100MHz or 133MHz? I don't think this motherboard can run 133MHz FSB (the manual mentions something about it only being a 100MHz system bus freq). Remember that the CPU is marked "600/512/100/2.05V "; the 100 must mean 100MHz bus freq, mustn't it?

As for flashing a BIOS update to this motherboard, how would I do this?

I feel I am in uncharted (and perilous) territory here...


More help/encouragement/reassurance needed before I take the next plunge.

But I'm very grateful for all the advice and info.

Dodge

 

Wow!

Thanks for your help here. I'm hoping I'll be able to sort everything out soon.

Dodge

P.S. Just in case it affects anything else here, the motherboard revision (as printed on the board itself) is 1.0, whereas the manual seems to be more in keeping with version 1.1. Perhaps the max CPU speed is not 650MHz?

 

Hi again,

If this proves to be the case where the board was a reduced revision, how could I find out the max CPU speed for my "older" motherboard?

I'm using the computer in question as a home network server, and just wanted to speed it up so it could handle 4 other computers (3 of which are wirelessly connected)...

So far, thanks very much.

Dodge

 

Just did a little reading re: your board. It was originally listed as 550MHZ max CPU and was intended to run either 66 or 100MHZ System bus. Sounds like you have a chip calling for a 133MHZ bus speed so that may be a problem. There is a jumper, (JP11) allowing the motherboard to use higher FSB frequencies above 100Mhz and is labeled as Turbo System Acceleration. There is no auto detect for CPU clock speed or frequency in your Bios, however, it sounds like there is a voltage auto detect. That means most everything CPU related must be set by the jumpers. From what I read, your biggest potential problmes could be AGP speed when you increase FSB to 133 because there is no independent setting and no voltage adjustment and this board appearantly had trouble with 256MB memory modules even though they are listed as acceptable. Personally, I'd try rejumpering first and play around with that, but rather than spending too much time on it, you might want to consider buying a 100MHZ slot 1 PIII 550 - you know that processor works for sure and you should be able to find one on the cheap.