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Am I doing something stupid?? My Athlon mobile is underclocked on A7N8X-E Deluxe!!!

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donutman

New Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2004
Am I doing something stupid?? My Athlon mobile is underclocked on A7N8X-E Deluxe!!!

Hi,

I'm trying to run a AMD Athlon Mobile 2400+ (1.6Ghz) on my newly purchased A7N8X-E Deluxe mainboard.

With default settings, my system starts up on 800MHZ!!!!!!!

I've tried a lot of different stuff in the bios, but seem to be limited to 133 mhz with a multiplier of 6, giving 800mhz. From the manual, I gather I should be running 133 on CPU external frequency. (even though memory and cpu really is running 266). This to me indicates I should have a multiplier of 12. No go, in fact, even if I set it to 7, the voice command module tells me that I can not overclock the CPU!

Here are my main settings in the BIOS (When overriding the Auto, with presumably same values):
Cpu external freq: 133 (I was able to OC to 150 or 166, getting it to 1 GHZ, but..)
Multiplier:6 (nothing else is accepted)

Sisoft Sandra give me the following info after booting into win2k:
Model: Mobile AMD Athlon
Speed 802 mhz
Model Number 896 (estimated)
Performance rating PR1163 estimated
Type Mobile
Package Socket A PGA
Multiplier 6/1x
Min Max Multipler 6/1x 27/1x
Generation G7
Name Moblie Athlon XP M10 Barton Thorton 130nm 1.6Ghz+
Revision Stepping A/0
Stepping Mask A2

Am I doing something wrong, is there an issue with the motherboard, or do you think it could be something with the cpu??

Sisoft does seem to indicate that it is indeed a 1.6 ghz, though I can't confirm since I bought OEM from Newegg, with no info on the packaging of version.

Thanks!

-Tom
 
donutman said:
Hi,

I'm trying to run a AMD Athlon Mobile 2400+ (1.6Ghz) on my newly purchased A7N8X-E Deluxe mainboard.

With default settings, my system starts up on 800MHZ!!!!!!!

I've tried a lot of different stuff in the bios, but seem to be limited to 133 mhz with a multiplier of 6, giving 800mhz. From the manual, I gather I should be running 133 on CPU external frequency. (even though memory and cpu really is running 266). This to me indicates I should have a multiplier of 12. No go, in fact, even if I set it to 7, the voice command module tells me that I can not overclock the CPU!

Here are my main settings in the BIOS (When overriding the Auto, with presumably same values):
Cpu external freq: 133 (I was able to OC to 150 or 166, getting it to 1 GHZ, but..)
Multiplier:6 (nothing else is accepted)

Sisoft Sandra give me the following info after booting into win2k:
Model: Mobile AMD Athlon
Speed 802 mhz
Model Number 896 (estimated)
Performance rating PR1163 estimated
Type Mobile
Package Socket A PGA
Multiplier 6/1x
Min Max Multipler 6/1x 27/1x
Generation G7
Name Moblie Athlon XP M10 Barton Thorton 130nm 1.6Ghz+
Revision Stepping A/0
Stepping Mask A2

Am I doing something wrong, is there an issue with the motherboard, or do you think it could be something with the cpu??

Sisoft does seem to indicate that it is indeed a 1.6 ghz, though I can't confirm since I bought OEM from Newegg, with no info on the packaging of version.

Thanks!

-Tom



I'm in the same situation. Just bought an A7n8x-e delux and an XP-M 2600+.
In BIOS the multiplier can be set to some "double-value" items like 7.0/15.0 or 8.0/16.0 but I really get always the lowest value. BIOS default to 6.0.
Actuallly I got the max using 166x12.5 = 2083 where my default should be 133x15.
Another very bad thing is Vcore: I cannot set a value lower than 1.575 where my CPU default is 1.4 !!!

I guess is a BIOS bug, which does not correctly recognize the CPU.

Please post me any success!!
 
guys here's the deal. They are mobile chips meant to be used in lappies that have technology called powernow, that clocks them according to the need of the system, lower when not in use, higher when its need. At default voltage those should run 2.0 very easy. What you have to do is set the FSB and the Multiplier in the bios. Most bioses don't recognize the mobile chips. Hope this helps.
 
You may need to get a modified BIOS file as well, thats just something I've heard... I don't really know though.
 
yes modded bios would help, but just so when it boots, it recognizes the chips. Once you get it to speed, and get it stable, who cares what the bios says as long as it says that is running at the right speed
 
Thanks Guys. My best attempt after trying all sorts of combinations, was to set the cpu external frequency to 200, giving it an FSB of 400. With a multiplier of 6, that gives me a speed of 1.2 Ghz, which still is quite a bit from the 1.6 ghz that I should at a minimum reach. If I increase the multiplier, to even 7, the machine refuses to boot, citing that the cpu failed due to overclocking...

I actually bought this, hoping to overclock to 1.8 or 2 ghz, so needless to say, this is very disappointing..

CPU seems to work fine though, at 1.2 ghz, it runs COLD...

The Modded Bios seems like a possibility, and I'll check all the ASUS websites/ftpsites for updates, just in case one of them has a newer bios. I do actually have a pretty recent one (April or May this year, I think).

If you have any other suggestions, I'd appreciate it too..

-Tom
 
Hi Guys, tried both agressive and optimal. Didn't seem to affect my results. I'll check vcore etc in the morning, and post an update!

Thanks

-Tom
 
VCore is set to 1.575V
DDR Reference Voltage is set to 2.6V

Would it make a difference to increase or decrease them?
 
Good News! On the German ASUS website I found a Bios Rev 1013. I only had 1012 installed. 1013 took care of it. I had to manually set the multiplier, but now it does not complain about overclocking anymore!
 
donutman said:
Good News! On the German ASUS website I found a Bios Rev 1013. I only had 1012 installed. 1013 took care of it. I had to manually set the multiplier, but now it does not complain about overclocking anymore!
Glad to hear it. Hopefully you will have great results
 
Sentential, it looks very promising, I upped the FSB from 266 to 333, and have it running at 2 Ghz now. I may try more later, but I'm already happy :)
 
Hi guys :) I am having similar issues and I thought I would just use the same thread. I hope thats ok.

Anyway, I bought two identical sets of parts from newegg to build some office workstations. Here are the relevant specs:
Asus A7n8x-e deluxe
athlon xp-m 2500+
2x256MB corsair value select
TT silent boost
arctic silver ceramique
Antec slk2650-bqe with 350W antec smart power (12V@21A)
abit radeon 9200SE

In both cases, my voltages are right around 3.3, 4.9, and 12.4

System 1: (running bios version 1013)
I built the first one without the arctic silver cuz I wanted to test what kind of temp benefit it gives you. Anyway, I had no problems booting stock (800Mhz), but I had no mobo temp in either asus probe or mbm5. I only had one temp which was cpu. I was around 42-44C idle and as high as 54 under load according to asus probe. I had so much trouble even getting it to run at 7x200 (even with vcore all the way up to 1.7V). It would constantly shut off with the power light still on (NOT REBOOT). I would have to hold the power button for it to turn off and then restart it. It would post fine and then turn back off at various times. It sounds like asus C.O.P is getting me but the heatsink is firmly in place and its not even warm to the touch. I think the board is fuxored but maybe you guys know better.

System 2: (running bios 1012)
Applied ceramique exactly following instructions. System runs great around 38C idle and 41C load (20C case temp). All of this is at 8.5x200. Its prime stable at 1.575V for about 30 minutes. However, I cant get this one to post at anything higher than 8.5 multi (even with vcore up to 1.65) :cry: I just need 2 rock solid stable rigs at 9x200 and I will be sooooo happy.

I would switch to a modded bios but I only wanna run 9x200 and I dont wanna go crazy and ruin anything to get there. It was my understanding that running this would be a cake walk as its even a slight underclock. Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading everyone.
 
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