Acorp 6VIA85P memory support

Is your memory not fully recognized? (Intel VX chipset Memory recognition)
Post Reply
sulbert
Master Flasher
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2002 1:38 pm
Contact:

The mobo mentioned in subject only recognizes half of the Spectek 256MB DIMM (8 chip, P32M648YAC-75A) although VIA 693A northbridge should support 256Mbit RAM chips :(
BIOS issue?
ajzchips
El cheapo dude
Posts: 3048
Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2002 12:41 pm
Location: Madrid, Spain

Very likely. I have a 693A board too, and it supports 512MB SDRAM (16 chips) correctly. I had to update the BIOS to get it recognized, though.
sulbert
Master Flasher
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2002 1:38 pm
Contact:

BIOS upgrade to ver. E (as far as I know the latest version available) didn't help - still only half of the RAM size recognized :(
ajzchips
El cheapo dude
Posts: 3048
Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2002 12:41 pm
Location: Madrid, Spain

The official site mentions version D as latest... where'd you get yours from? What's its BIOS string?
sulbert
Master Flasher
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2002 1:38 pm
Contact:

Ver. E can be found here, for example.
BIOS string: 09/01/2000-693-596-SMC-2A6LGX3KC-00
BIOS signon (or whatever it is called): 6VIA85P Ver:E 09/01/2000
apple_rom
Use my patch at your own risk!!
Posts: 125
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2003 11:39 am
Location: Minsk
Contact:

My lastests bios for this mobo is 20.00 beta3 - http://k6-2.narod.ru/polundra/2000b3.rar
Changes:
1. Tualatin support (need some modding socket on mobo).
2. Add all frequences (66-150) in BIOS with jumpers string.
3. Tweak VIA693A functions, with qualify memory 6via85p will be 2-4 times faster (with CPU up to 800MHz faster even than i440BX mobos).
4. And some another things...
About memory. With my special bios 6via85p can work with 256Mbit memory (256Mb/8chip), but need some modifing DIMM slot (need soldering). "Official" bioses not support 256mbit-technology memory...
sulbert
Master Flasher
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2002 1:38 pm
Contact:

Thank you for your answer. What hardware modifications are exactly needed for 256Mbit memory support? Are there any side effects?

TIA
s
apple_rom
Use my patch at your own risk!!
Posts: 125
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2003 11:39 am
Location: Minsk
Contact:

>What hardware modifications are exactly needed for 256Mbit memory support?
Bad, but pictures: ;)
Image
Image
>Are there any side effects?
Yes - support 256Mbit RAM. But i not tested byself (i haven`t this mobo and 256mbit-memory stick). It`s mean - need testing, but this works.
I know once one way for support 256Mbit-RAM on any chipsets without "special_bios_need" (for example i430TX/VIA VPX, i440BX/LX etc...) but he while not tested (need soldering with some elementes)...
Rainbow
The UniFlasher
Posts: 3122
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 4:16 pm
Location: Slovakia
Contact:

The address signals can change rapidly (the memory bus can run at 133MHz) - the wire capacitance and inductance might do weird things (stability problems) - does it work reliably?
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
sulbert
Master Flasher
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2002 1:38 pm
Contact:

Thank you once again, apple_rom! :)
But before making any hardware modificactions I want to clearly understand what I'm doing. So I tried to find the VT82C693A data sheet (I know that there is nothing on VIA's website), but only got some brief data sheets, which obviously weren't very helpful.
Does anybody have the data sheet on the hard disk (CD, whatever...) and be so kind and send it to me?
apple_rom
Use my patch at your own risk!!
Posts: 125
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2003 11:39 am
Location: Minsk
Contact:

sulbert
Master Flasher
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2002 1:38 pm
Contact:

Thank you :)
sulbert
Master Flasher
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2002 1:38 pm
Contact:

No soldering this time...
The owner of the board managed to swap the memory to a DIMM with 128 Mbit chips (which works just fine).
Post Reply