HP8750C - Unlocking CPU Settings

Only for programmers and BIOS gurus with technical questions.
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KachiWachi
The New Guy
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Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Hi All!!

My girlfriend's son unfortunately has one of these with a PIII 667MHz CPU installed. From various sources I have learned that this board doesn't like running at the 133MHz bus speed. Notible issues (which he has all of them) are crashing while on-line, scrolling with the mouse, etc... It uses a Phoenix BIOS and a Mercury Motherboard. (Sorry...I have much more info on what he has, but I'm at work and writing this from memory.)

I think the last BIOS update I put in it was 2.05...and I believe 2.06 is the latest. The problem is the CPU settings are hidden...all I can see is what the CPU is set up for in the BIOS, but can't change anything. For the time being, I was going to slow the bus down to 100MHz to give him some relief.

Can the BIOS be patched to allow me to do this?

Thanks!!
soupy
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Looks like the board is generally just a POS.

http://bizforums.itrc.hp.com/cm/Questio ... f9,00.html

Why not drop in a 100Mhz FSB PIII?
Flash your BIOS at your own risk.
KachiWachi
The New Guy
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Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Well, he has no money :-)
Teenager you know...has a girlfriend :-)

Besides...would you as a teenager want to spend money on a computer you think is a POS to begin with???

But that is an option...

Perhaps he can sell the 667...or trade with a friend...at least to see if it will fix the problem on his particular board...
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
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Put some decent RAM in there and try again, most likely one of the strips isn't up to spec or damaged...
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
KachiWachi
The New Guy
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Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

I was just reviewing the board spec's a bit...do I get this right???

810E Chipset -
CPU Bus: 66/100/133 MHz
Memory Bus: 66/100 MHz
Display Cache: 100/133MHz <<-- Bus?? What is this??

So does this mean it only needs PC100 SDRAM? I thought I read somewhere that this guy needed PC133 (maybe that is what is already factory installed...or HP document?)... How would I know for sure? I have some PC100 laying around, but didn't install it because I thought he needed better... (Also have some PC66...lol...)

Also I believe latest BIOS was 2.10 and not 2.06. I was trying to see what CPU's would fit (Socket 370 P-III)...maybe a 1.1G Coppermine (100x11.0)?
Rainbow
The UniFlasher
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i810E should be capable of running at 133MHz, of course with PC133 memory.
Display Cache was used first time on i810-DC100. It's 2MB or 4MB memory on board used to speed up integrated graphics.
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
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