P4T533-C BIOS Vcore problems

[Joshua Kaijankoski]

I have a P4T533-C motherboard (1010 BIOS) with a 2.4GHz P4 533FSB
(Northwood) and my problem is that the CPU Vcore is at 1.700V. It
remains so if set to AUTO in the BIOS but if I set it to manual, the
only range is 1.700 - 1.850. I can't go below 1.7V. My OVER_VOLT
jumper is disabled and it made no difference when I enabled it. What
can I do? I don't want to fry the CPU. Thanks for your help.

Joshua.

 

[Paul]

I have a P4T533-C motherboard (1010 BIOS) with a 2.4GHz P4 533FSB
(Northwood) and my problem is that the CPU Vcore is at 1.700V. It
remains so if set to AUTO in the BIOS but if I set it to manual, the
only range is 1.700 - 1.850. I can't go below 1.7V. My OVER_VOLT
jumper is disabled and it made no difference when I enabled it. What
can I do? I don't want to fry the CPU. Thanks for your help.

Joshua.

The 1010C BIOS supports CPUID 0F0A,0F12,0F13,0F21,0F23,0F24,0F27
The 1011.007 (beta BIOS) has 0F0A,0F12,0F13, ,0F24,0F27,0F29

Check your processor, using the SSPEC printed on the box or on the
top of the processor, at processorfinder.intel.com. When you click
on the returned SSPEC link, the CPUID should be listed as part of
the data.

Maybe what the BIOS is doing, is setting the processor up as a
Willamette, instead of a Northwood, because it doesn't recognize
the processor ?

If the CPUID of your processor is 0F29, perhaps a BIOS upgrade to
1011.007 will help. For example, a processor with SSPEC SL6Q8 has
a CPUID of 0F29, and could use the 1011.007 BIOS to good advantage.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Clock´n Roll]

The 1010C BIOS supports CPUID 0F0A,0F12,0F13,0F21,0F23,0F24,0F27
The 1011.007 (beta BIOS) has 0F0A,0F12,0F13, ,0F24,0F27,0F29

Check your processor, using the SSPEC printed on the box or on the
top of the processor, at processorfinder.intel.com. When you click
on the returned SSPEC link, the CPUID should be listed as part of
the data.

Maybe what the BIOS is doing, is setting the processor up as a
Willamette, instead of a Northwood, because it doesn't recognize
the processor ?

If the CPUID of your processor is 0F29, perhaps a BIOS upgrade to
1011.007 will help. For example, a processor with SSPEC SL6Q8 has
a CPUID of 0F29, and could use the 1011.007 BIOS to good advantage.

HTH,
Paul

Interesting reading.
I have a P4B266,1010 bios and my Vcore is at 1.536V.
What would the 1011.007 bios do, as I´ve got a P4 2.8 533 0F29 ?
In case my mobo would be able to handle the bios...
G.

 

[Paul]

Interesting reading.
I have a P4B266,1010 bios and my Vcore is at 1.536V.
What would the 1011.007 bios do, as I´ve got a P4 2.8 533 0F29 ?
In case my mobo would be able to handle the bios...
G.

It gives you microcode support. That is what I can see in the CPUCODE
segment. That shouldn't have anything to do with recognizing the
processor and setting up Vcore, but you never know.

Paul

 

[Joshua Kaijankoski]

Thanks for the answer Paul. I haven't had a chance to check the CPUID
yet but I did update the BIOS to 1011.077 and there was no change. I
guess there is nothing I can do about it? Will it harm my CPU? Thanks.

Joshua.

 

[Paul]

Thanks for the answer Paul. I haven't had a chance to check the CPUID
yet but I did update the BIOS to 1011.077 and there was no change. I
guess there is nothing I can do about it? Will it harm my CPU? Thanks.

Joshua.

http://developer.intel.com/design/pentium4/datashts/

The 0.13u P4 is rated for an absolute maximum vcore voltage of 1.75V.
Leaving it at 1.7 is pretty close to that limit, and I cannot comment
on how much margin there is with respect to that spec limit. There
has to be something encoded in the pins of that chip, which is making
the BIOS think it is dealing with a Willamette. If I think of something
later, I'll post back.

Is your 2.4GHz running at its rated speed ? Maybe if a BSEL pin was
bent, the processor could be indicating the FSB is 400MHz, and then
the processor would run at 1.8GHz. It could even be that the processor
is somehow defective. Have you ever tried the processor in another
motherboard, to see if the symptoms follow the processor ?

Document 29864312.pdf on the Intel site is the P4 datasheet, and
the BSEL table looks like this:

BSEL1 BSEL0 Function
L L 100 MHz
L H 133 MHz
H L 200 MHz
H H RESERVED

I wonder what would happen if the RESERVED coding was received
by the BIOS ?

Have you ever tried the "cardboard test" with this motherboard ?
Sometimes things get shorted on the bottom of the motherboard,
and placing the motherboard on a piece of cardboard while you
test it, can identify whether there is a grounding/shorting
problem somewhere.

Paul

 

[Clock´n Roll]

Maybe what the BIOS is doing, is setting the processor up as a
Shouldn´t you get some 1,7-2,1V readings then?
1,7 -1,85V doesn´t make sense to me...

 

[Paul]

Shouldn´t you get some 1,7-2,1V readings then?
1,7 -1,85V doesn´t make sense to me...

I tried a few of the entries in the processorfinder.intel.com
for 0.18 micron P4 processors, and they run at 1.7 or 1.75 volts.
I didn't try all of them. The datasheet for 423 pin chips says
2.1V max, but the operating voltages will be somewhat less than that.

Here is another report similar to the OP.

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...re&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search

Now, the over_volt jumper gives a boost of 0.2 volts or so. (That would
take the 1.85 max of the Vcore and bring it just shy of the 2.1V max of
a willamette.) I wonder if the over_volt jumper isn't working properly.

Paul

 

[Joshua Kaijankoski]

http://developer.intel.com/design/pentium4/datashts/

The 0.13u P4 is rated for an absolute maximum vcore voltage of 1.75V.
Leaving it at 1.7 is pretty close to that limit, and I cannot comment
on how much margin there is with respect to that spec limit. There
has to be something encoded in the pins of that chip, which is making
the BIOS think it is dealing with a Willamette. If I think of something
later, I'll post back.

Is your 2.4GHz running at its rated speed ? Maybe if a BSEL pin was
bent, the processor could be indicating the FSB is 400MHz, and then
the processor would run at 1.8GHz. It could even be that the processor
is somehow defective. Have you ever tried the processor in another
motherboard, to see if the symptoms follow the processor ?

Document 29864312.pdf on the Intel site is the P4 datasheet, and
the BSEL table looks like this:

BSEL1 BSEL0 Function
L L 100 MHz
L H 133 MHz
H L 200 MHz
H H RESERVED

I wonder what would happen if the RESERVED coding was received
by the BIOS ?

Have you ever tried the "cardboard test" with this motherboard ?
Sometimes things get shorted on the bottom of the motherboard,
and placing the motherboard on a piece of cardboard while you
test it, can identify whether there is a grounding/shorting
problem somewhere.

Paul

I'm sure it runs at 2.4GHz as I have benched both 1.8GHz nd 2.4GHz and
compared them with other results. I also did the cardboard test and
nothing changed. I also noticed that the Vcore fluctuates wildly.
PCProbe indicates a rapid fluctuation between 1.66 - 1.72 without a
load and when load is 100% it settles at 1.66 or so. The BIOS also
tells me that there is fast fluctuation between 1.69 - 1.71.

Joshua.

 

[Joshua Kaijankoski]

My P4 is a SL684 and CPUID is 0F24h.

Joshua.

Thanks for the answer Paul. I haven't had a chance to check the CPUID
yet but I did update the BIOS to 1011.077 and there was no change. I
guess there is nothing I can do about it? Will it harm my CPU? Thanks.

Joshua.

 

[Paul]

My P4 is a SL684 and CPUID is 0F24h.

Joshua.

I was going to propose all sorts of crazy ideas, but let's start simple.
This post seems to suggest there is an interaction with JumperFree
mode. See if changing from your current mode, to the other one, changes
what the BIOS does to Vcore:

http://www.abxzone.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=353685#post353685

In terms of voltage, the processor is supposed to indicate 1.5V and you
are seeing 1.7V. The over_volt jumper adds 0.2V, but I don't know if
that is seen as an additional adjustment range in the BIOS, or like
some Asus boards, the jumper just adds 0.2V and the BIOS is unaware it
is happening. The other interesting observation, is that the VID pattern
for 1.5V is 01110 and for 1.7V is 00110, and that is a single bit change.
If the particular VID pin was to be grounded, due to some kind of fault,
that could also boost the voltage.

Anyway, try changing JumperFree mode, before going any further.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Joshua Kaijankoski]

Paul, you are my hero and my favorite person at the moment. Everything
works great in Jumper Mode. I took a look under the CPU and it indeed
had a "wire trick" on it for 1.7V. I had no idea. I bought the CPU
used. CPU runs so much cooler now as well. Thank you so much for
helping me out.

Joshua.