Do any mobos read the XP thermal diode?

[Falceron]

Are there any motherboards that are capable of doing this? I'm probably going to be doing a relatively large upgrade in the next few days, and I haven't decided on a mobo yet. I see that Soltek's KT333 board is available, but I find little reason to be interested until the new southbridge comes out. I am a bit curious about how their "anti-burn" thing works, though.

 

[Hoot]

I think, but have not been able to get confirmation, that the ASUS A7V266e has the pins corresponding to the thermal diode wired into some circuit, but they have had trouble getting that circuit to work right and hence it is not enabled in the released bios. Again, I emphasize, I have not gotten confirmation on that.

It's too bad, because there are devices available to read that thermal diode and port the data onto the SMBus. I know because a make them. That device will not work if the thermal diode is connected to other circuitry on the motherboard. I know it works fine with ABIT and IWILL motherboards as I have sold some to owners of them and have been getting excellent field reports from the owners.

Hoot

 

[Falceron]

Right.. I remember reading about the problems with the Asus board. I have two questions about the SMBus-utilizing diode readers:

1) Would it be difficult to add a feature to have it cut the power to the system at a critical temperature (rather than waiting for the system to shut down)? Could the trigger temperature be modifyable?
2) Do you have to solder wire to the pins to read the diode?

Thanks very much.

 

[Hoot]

The MAX6657 has a pin on it that goes to a logic low state when a programmed temperature threshold is exceeded. It can sink enough current to drive the suspend to ram input or sleep input on your motherboard. Now, the bad news. Though MBM can read the temperature of your on-die thermal diode I do not know if it can write the necessary bytes to the MAX6657 needed to set the threshold. I suspect it does not do this since MBM was not written with that specific intention.

You can certainly install "ShutDownNow" to run in concert with MBM. When MBM reads a temperature above a threshold you prescribe, it initiates "ShutDownNow". Do a search on that program name for more details.

Hoot

 

[Falceron]

How could that threshold temperature be set, then?

 

[Malpine Walis]

I think, but have not been able to get confirmation, that the ASUS A7V266e has the pins corresponding to the thermal diode wired into some circuit, but they have had trouble getting that circuit to work right and hence it is not enabled in the released bios. Again, I emphasize, I have not gotten confirmation on that.
Hoot

Hey! I am going to buy that mobo as soon as I get a paycheck in the bank.

I can confirm this much: There is circutry for that function. It may not work just yet but there is a jumper for it. Refer to the PDF of the manual (page 24) for my info.

When I get it, I will post whatever I have to this thread.

 

[schoolie]

The ABIT NV7-133R board, soon to arrive in the States, will read the XP thermal diode...and it's really fast without the built-in graphics, from what I've read.

 

[custoswashere]

I've read several posts about MBM and SHUTDOWNNOW but why not use MB Probe? I've been using it for a while and it has the shutdown feature at critical already in it. It's even saved my butt once when my CPU fan died due to a rheostat failure. It will even start beeping or do what ever you want it to just before it goes critical and you can set the warning and critcal temps.

I tell, there isn't much that make me run from the bed in the middle of the night but a loud beeping coming from my alien hunting computer will set the sheets on fire. (that still ticks off the wife)

 

[Hoot]

How could that threshold temperature be set, then?

You would need to write a program that would send the necessary instruction bytes out to the chip address on the SMBus. The data sheet on the MAX6657 explains it. I have enough going on in my life already. The last thing I need is a programming project.

Hoot

 

[Hoot]

custoswashere, thanks for the tip on MB Probe. I have never heard of it, but I just did some quick reading on it. When I get home from this training class, this weekend, I will definitely check it out.

Hoot

 

[schoolie]

I ordered 5 MAX6657 chips on 2/25, but they won't ship until 4/29 I wonder how hard it would be to make a reader with a simple LCD display, and skip the SMBus interface.

 

[custoswashere]

I've been using it for about 8 months now and love it. Every once in a while I check on MBM but just doen't like it that much. MB Probe is easy, small, and works (soyo dragon).

I just noticed that there is a new beta out, I am still using the 1.31 beta 3 that came out last year.

here's a link for those who care.

http://mbprobe.livewiredev.com/

good luck