Need program to change the L2 cache on my Classic Athlon!

[Spleen]

Every single program I've tried either dosn't support my board, or just plain dosn't work. (mathlon, L2 Patcher, and Fix Cache...i think i tried others too)

Here's the deal:

Just got my GFD two days ago. My Classic Athlon 650 is now at 750mhz. I had to change the voltage up from 1.65 to 1.75 to get it stable from 700 to 750. WCPUID says my cache is at 2/5. (??) I thought Athlon 650s had 3.1ns BSRAM and a 1/2 L2-multiplier! Did it automaticaly change when i went from 700 to 750? (750's have 2/5th multipliers). If this was the case, then I would think that i would be able to get to 800mhz fine (as they also have 2/5).

I don't want to try a higher voltage w/ my Athlon unless i know it won't kill it. I want to reach 800mhz. I'm using the cooling that came w/ my Athlon (2 6500rpm fans and the largest heatsink that will fit in my K7M. )

I have asked alot of questions, and i would REALLY appriciate it if someone here can help me answer most all of them! (anandtech and 3dfiles.com wern't able to help me so far)

Please Help.
-Spleen
AIM: AxHx

[Bender]

Hey its Bender again.
Your athlons L2 might change to 1/3 when you run it at 800 but I think your motherboard has to support it. Anyway you can try the little bios patcher program I sent you. I wish they had a similar patcher for my old FIC slot A board.

[GERRY136]

i got my 600 athlon slot-a to 850 rock solid with air cooling, gfd, and resoldered resistors on pcb to 1/3 L2 cache. then i crushed the chip before i got a chance to install my watecooling lol.
www.ipkonfig.com has an article on the soldering of the resistors. they areVVEERRYY SMMAALL!!!!!
so whatever u do dont drop one or youll never find it lol.
i was nervous at first but it was very simple. now i have to find out which ones to move for my 700.
good luck!

[-=UR=- Ranger]

Get MATHLON, that´s a device driver on DOS, means it loads before you enter Windows, works very fine...You can even disable your Level 2 Cache in the bios and it will reactivate it with the settings you like.
I´ll send it too you

[Spleen]

taken from Mathlon's text file:

NOTE: unfortunately, some motherboards that I have tested do not disable the
L2-cache correctly, even if you disable it from the BIOS Setup. This is
a problem I cannot fix and it is the responsibility of the motherboard
manufacturer to create a stable and working BIOS anyhow.

This is particularly true for the ASUS K7M, which only turns off the L2
cache if you disable the L1 cache from BIOS Setup as well. Unfortunately,
MAthlon cannot reenable the L1 cache (I am working on it.. hard!).

Please note that even if you cannot disable the L2 cache from the BIOS
(as some mainboards don't even have the option to do so), MAthlon will
still function! So, disabling it gives excellent results, but leaving it
enabled still gives better results than ANY OTHER Athlon L2 adjusting
utility.

MAthlon will always be more efficient than other Windows based utilities
that control the L2-cache (WCPUA2, for example), as it sets the L2-cache
multiplier way before Windows loads.

[Murphy]

Hi Spleen. I used mathlon to adjust my L2, worked great for me. Have you given it a try yet?

About the asus boards: I know there are for both the K7M and K7V beta bioses that were never finished and made official. They have the L2 feature included and are available on the german asus FTP site (get there by www.asuscom.de , if I remember well). For instance: latest bios on K7V = 1007, the 1008Dbeta includes L2 adjustment. K7M was some series ahead in bioses.

[GERRY136]

if nothing else, send it to me and ill re-solder it to 1/3 L2cache for u for free.
i got my 600 and 700 im using right now at 1/3.
but u will have to remove your hsf and cold plate cause i tend to mangle the chips doin that lol.
but the soldering is cake :)

[Bender]

GERRY136 (Jul 22, 2001 08:33 a.m.):
if nothing else, send it to me and ill re-solder it to 1/3 L2cache for u for free.
i got my 600 and 700 im using right now at 1/3.
but u will have to remove your hsf and cold plate cause i tend to mangle the chips doin that lol.
but the soldering is cake :)

Just another example of why these forums are so great! Keep up the good work GERRY136 and the rest of you good chip Samaritans. By the way what resistors do you move to get a 1/3 divisor? I am fluent in soldering so I may give it a try.

[Spleen]

GERRY136 (Jul 22, 2001 08:33 a.m.):
if nothing else, send it to me and ill re-solder it to 1/3 L2cache for u for free.
i got my 600 and 700 im using right now at 1/3.
but u will have to remove your hsf and cold plate cause i tend to mangle the chips doin that lol.
but the soldering is cake :)

wow dude! thanks for the offer! :)

I think i was able to use Mathlon. WCPUID shows that my cache is set to what mathlon set it to. I'm using the "km1009" BOIS. There is a beta "km132" that i found on asus's site that i havn't tried yet. I was still unable to load windows at 800mhz w/ 2/5 or 1/3. :( Maybe after the 2 weeks that i've had it at 750 will have burned it in.

[wild_andy_c]

Software remedies are never the best idea. Get in there and make some electrical connections wether it be permanently by solder or temporarily by conductive tracing.

You can mess with software as much as you want but real state is always far superior.

[Spleen]

If i soder it, will i be able to change it back?