Multiple Issues Mystify
During the time the KT133 and now the KT133A chipsets have been around, we have either run into or at least heard about a number of problems people have been having setting the multiplier.
These problems have been occurring across the board. No board is completely immune to this. I’ve seen some comments in some forums claiming that Abits and Asuses are immune to this, like hell they are.
On the other hand, this problem isn’t endemic, either. For every board with this problem, several under the same circumstances work perfectly fine.
Over the past couple months, we’ve thrown out a number of theories as to why this might be happening, and suggested corrective action. We have found that any of these approaches work sometimes, and not others.
At this point, we’ve concluded the following:
Keep in mind what the equipment manufacturers do as opposed to what we do. The equipment manufacturer’s goal is to make sure that all equipment that goes out the door meets certain minimum standards. They can’t test every single board for three days for every contingency; they do some rough and ready tests to weed out obviously bad items, and that’s that.
We overclockers, on the other hand, do not run our equipment the way the manufacturers want. That AMD 1200Mhz CPU is supposed to be run at 12X100, not 9X133. No manufacturer is testing to see if their product can do what we want it to do, nor weeding out those products that don’t meet our standards.
We hold a higher standard, so it is perfectly normal for equipment to vary in performance a lot more than it would if we ran strictly at spec.
So don’t ever, ever think that just because person A can do something, you automatically can, too, or vice versa. There are no certainties, just probabilities.
What Can I Do About It?
We’ve come up with a checklist of solutions that at least solves some people’s problems, ranging from the simplest to most extreme actions.
What kind of pencil did you use? The “harder” the pencil (#1 is softest, #3 is hardest), the poorer the conductive connection. If you used a hard pencil, or don’t know what pencil you used, wipe away the earlier pencil markings, and redo them with a soft pencil. Keep in mind that soft pencil traces can easily wear off, so if the problem recurs again after a while, you’ll probably have to redo it.
If this doesn’t work, use a better connector than a lead pencil, use a conductive ink or conductive paint to connect the L1 bridges.
Find out where your CMOS reset jumper is, and use it at the first sign of trouble. Your number one priority is to keep those lower multiplier options available.
You may find that your BIOS gives you no multiplier options less than the default. If that’s the case, and you can get your hands on a lower-multiplier Duron/Tbird, put that in the machine, set the multiplier as low you can, and reboot/flash BIOS while it is in the machine (at 100Mhz, of course).
People have reported success using either an Exacto knife or a minidremel. Before you do this, try to find some accounts from others who have actually done this. When you actually do it, gently cut or wear away the bridge. These copper bridges are hard, but very thin, don’t leave a gash into the processor, just enough to break it, not obliterate all traces of it. If you do it, it’s solely your responsibility.
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