problems with retail cC0 celeron 600, abit bm6 and power leap combination

[happytheclown37]

I have an Abit BM-6 motherboard and i just purchased a retail cC0 celeron 600 and power leap converter so the cpu would work on my motherboard (after buying the chip i found out the hard way that only bC0 chips would work without the need for divine intervention :( ).

I am able to get the computer to recognize the celeron but it crashes everytime shortly after Win98 is loaded.

I might have accidentaly rubbed some of the (thermal grease?) off the exposed silicon die of the 600 when first utilizing the stock heatsink/fan. Could this be part of the problem? The powerleap converter comes with a little thermal pad that i put on top of the silicon die (white side against the die, pink side against the fan).

I've also tried to overclock but the computer wouldn't even post when i switched to a 100mhz bus? I would have expected better results for overclocking from this chip.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

[ebola]

wow you need alot of help. did you check abit's website to see what chips your motherboard can use. also check for a bios update while your there. heres some additional help.

1. its cBo not bCo and it probably shouldnt matter.

2. as for the thermal pad. it sucks, toss it and use a thin layer of thermal grease or paste instead.

3. are you using the intel heatsink. if so you probably want to get something slightly better.

4. your ram is atleast pc100 right

5. the default voltage for the cco chips is 1.7v i think and i think it should be able to go to 900mhz with at most 1.85 v

6. you did turn speed error hold off right

[happytheclown37]

thank you for the reply.

Yeah, you're right "cB0"...whoops. But anyhow, the cpu is have now is cC0.

I'll try your suggestion of ditching the thermal pad. Can the difference between grease and the pad make that much of a difference?

Not using the intel heatsink. I'm using the heatsink that came with the powerleap converter. I also bought a thermaltake golden orb aircooler but with the added height of the "cpu & powerleap converter" combo, i'm not having any success getting the golden orb to fit.

Yes, all of my ram is rated for 100mhz. None of the chips are *star* quality (one is Samsung or Micron I believe, the other two or Kingston ValueRam), but nonetheless - still rated for 100mhz.

As you say, i'd imagine the chip should overclock to 900mh with 1.7 or maybe even a little added voltage. But considering that Windows is locking up while i'm still operating at 600mhz, i'm guessing something is royally scr*wed. Also, can't imagine why the chip wouldn't at least "post" at 900mhz.

Last but not least, i did turn the speed error hold option off and i do have the latest bios for the abit bm6.

Judging from what you've ment'd below, the only option i have is to use grease instead of the pad. I'm just hoping that one change will make "enough" of a difference to solve these problems.


ebola (Jun 21, 2001 12:03 p.m.):
wow you need alot of help. did you check abit's website to see what chips your motherboard can use. also check for a bios update while your there. heres some additional help.

1. its cBo not bCo and it probably shouldnt matter.

2. as for the thermal pad. it sucks, toss it and use a thin layer of thermal grease or paste instead.

3. are you using the intel heatsink. if so you probably want to get something slightly better.

4. your ram is atleast pc100 right

5. the default voltage for the cco chips is 1.7v i think and i think it should be able to go to 900mhz with at most 1.85 v

6. you did turn speed error hold off right

[Amdntel]

The difference between grease and the pad are not enough to warrant your computer to not boot into windows. Something else is wrong.

Try removing the NIC and soundcard and see if it'll boot into windows then. Could be a driver related problem.

[ebola]

I'll try your suggestion of ditching the thermal pad. Can the difference between grease and the pad make that much of a difference?

yes a huge difference. the pad sucks. hehe. but Amdntel is right that it should still work.

did you buy the chip from ebay? and whats a power leap converter? are you refering to a slotkit?

[ebola]

http://www.abit-usa.com/eng/faq/bm6.htm

sorry but your screwed. i checked the abit site and found this

[happytheclown37]

Hi,

thank you for the response.

just to clarify, when running at it's native speed (600mhz), the computer boots into win98 and fully loads, but crashes shortly thereafter.

when i try to overclock to 900mhz (changing the bus speed to 100mhz) - it's then that the computer does not even post :(

would love to hear any suggestions

Amdntel (Jun 21, 2001 12:56 p.m.):
The difference between grease and the pad are not enough to warrant your computer to not boot into windows. Something else is wrong.

Try removing the NIC and soundcard and see if it'll boot into windows then. Could be a driver related problem.

[happytheclown37]

thanks for checking into that. that's the problem i faced when i first bought the chip (the abit not being able to utilize a cC0 celeron).

Upon further research i found information on the powerleap converter
http://www.powerleap.com/Products/neo.htm

This converter plugs into the 370 socket on the motherboard and then the celeron plugs into the converter. Before using the converter, i was not able to post at 600. Now with the converter, i can post at 600 and get into windows but than it crashes.

To think, all I wanted was a nice simple easy cpu upgrade and now i've got a nightmare of comical hysterics unfolding one after another....arrrgh! :(

ebola (Jun 21, 2001 01:06 p.m.):
http://www.abit-usa.com/eng/faq/bm6.htm

sorry but your screwed. i checked the abit site and found this

[ebola]

you could probably spend $100 and get a good bx board and sell off your current motherboard on ebay

[happytheclown37]

although your advice is quite sound and very true, i'm sure you can understand when i say that at this point . . . it's personal! :).

It's like "man against computer" and although i'm not as good looking, or as athletic, or rich, or as charming or as smart, or as lucky gosh darnit - if Keanu Reeves can do it in Matrix, i can do it here (ok, is it me or do i suddenly feel VERY depressed right about now...ha ha ha)

ebola (Jun 21, 2001 06:16 p.m.):
you could probably spend $100 and get a good bx board and sell off your current motherboard on ebay

[happytheclown37]

Thank you to all who have responded for my pleas for help and thank you even more so for your advice being so "on the money".

I took out the willy nilly namby pamby girly wussy thermal pad and slapped some manly cooling, blond loving, breast enhancing thermal silicon on that bad mudda chip and "walla" - no problems.

In other words, i followed everyone's advice and get rid of the thermal pad and added some silicon thermal grease instead. Amazingly enough, that one small change made ALL the difference. Not computer never crashed while running as standard 600mhz (and i left it on all night to be sure).

What's even better is that i was finally able to post at 900mhz. I wasn't able to get windows running but i have some minor things to change that i feel confident will get the chip running stable at 900mhz. Considering that before, my computer wouldn't even post at 900mhz and now i've come this far, that's a major accomplishment.

Well, like i said, i can't believe it, but the simple change from the thermal pad to thermal grease made absolutely all of the difference.

Thank you again for all of your invaluable help!

Cheers!

-Andy

[ebola]

sweet. you really beat the man on this one since the cco isn't suppose to even work on that board.