Socket8 MB-need drivers. (56K warning)

Electroe · Feb 20, 2004, 01:39 PM

Some one gave me their very old server running on a Pentium Pro 180 CPU.
Nothing serious but I was hoping to see if it could run Win2000 or Linux.

So, if any one has any drivers please send them to me. Thanks in advance.

Here are some pictures. http://photo.pchome.com.tw/s05/electroe/book1
CPU:Pentium Pro 180
MB: PCchip ???
Chipset: Intel ???

~~HawK~~ · Feb 20, 2004, 01:53 PM

Don't think you'd need any driver, should all be in win2000 (dunno 'bout linux though)
does it have a graphic card? (onboard?)
would serve nicely as a home server

hohum · Feb 20, 2004, 03:08 PM

Looks like a Intel 430/440 chipset (the pics won't enlarge so i'm just going by how similar it looks to my Pentium MMX system). Windows 2000 has the drivers for that chipset built into the o/s, so you won't need to download any - indeed, if you try to download and install any it will simply tell you that you don't need to, and the installer will exit. Linux also supports the chipset without any extra downloads.

Electroe · Feb 20, 2004, 08:32 PM

Sorry 'bout the resolution(640*480).

I'll upload the bigger ones when I get back from work. They weigh in a hefty 400KB. Ouch!
With Win2000, will 128MB of RAM work?
Because if Win2000 is too sluggish, I may have to go Linux or Win98. Preferrably Win98, so I can run BT and stuff.

Electroe · Feb 21, 2004, 12:20 AM

Done, uploaded pictures(1600*1200). Any one have time please check it out. I'm open to opinions.

~~HawK~~ · Feb 21, 2004, 02:11 AM

sorry still don't see any pictures...
probebly is one of the Intel triton chipsets
Go for w98 SE , should have all drivers you need too

W2K wil run, but it will take ages to boot(depending on HD), and will run sluggish indeed.
Again... what PCI Graphic card are you going to use?

hohum · Feb 21, 2004, 06:48 AM

I've run win2000 with 64mb, painful experience

128mb should be ok though. If you opt for win98, you will need to download some chipset drivers however.

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...E&submit=Go%21

... which i've just linked to above

That's the latest Intel chipset driver package available before they removed support for older motherboards. Btw your pics still don't enlarge lol, still having to look at thumbnails... however you should be sorted now.

Electroe · Feb 21, 2004, 10:28 AM

To hohum: Thanks, downloading now.

To HawK: Sorry about the pictures. I found another site to store them for now. But the pictures will probably go down at the end of February because I stopped paying them.

Also, the PCI card is a Permedia2 from Triplex. I couldn't find drivers but on my K6-2 500 comp running WinME no drivers are necessary. Hope Win98SE won't need them, too.

Warning!! 9 pictures with 1600*1200 res.

Electroe · Feb 21, 2004, 10:29 AM

Vampyromaniac · Feb 21, 2004, 03:13 PM

added a 56K warning to title

hohum · Feb 21, 2004, 07:23 PM

That graphics card really looks ancient btw

Thought the 4-meg Trident card I had was old... that looks even older :o

~~HawK~~ · Feb 21, 2004, 09:52 PM

Permedia drivers: Here

Electroe · Feb 22, 2004, 02:45 AM

To Vampyromaniac: Thanks, I know a lot of people still use 56K connections due to location issues.

To hohum: This card did not come with the server. I have this as a backup and test card, PCI cards are life-savers when debugging.

On a different issue, the MPEG playback quality on this card is far better than my old TNT2-M64. I don't know why, probably one of the cards main focus.

To HawK: I have to give up using Win98SE, because I found out the CD got scratched!!

I'm going to see if Nero can read the image and make another copy. Or else.... Darn, hardware is setup but OS is.... Will add further reports.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Feb 22, 2004, 04:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Electroe
To Vampyromaniac: Thanks, I know a lot of people still use 56K connections due to location issues.

To hohum: This card did not come with the server. I have this as a backup and test card, PCI cards are life-savers when debugging. On a different issue, the MPEG playback quality on this card is far better than my old TNT2-M64. I don't know why, probably one of the cards main focus.

To HawK: I have to give up using Win98SE, because I found out the CD got scratched!! I'm going to see if Nero can read the image and make another copy. Or else.... Darn, hardware is setup but OS is.... Will add further reports.

that won't work get a game genie or a cd /dvd sratch remover kit

Matth · Feb 22, 2004, 06:39 PM

The chips and BIOS ID confirm an Intel 440FX chipset - with the 82371SB being the PIIX3 IDE controller.

The Maker (from Wims Bios page) is identified as Fugutech (site dead, name is now a shopping site).

If stuck, rummage around similar Intel motherboards on their site for drivers - Linux should have NO trouble with an old Intel chipset - a run from CD version should go immediately.

For best linux performance, compile for Pentium Pro - as this early P6-class chip needs careful nursing to aviod pipeline stalls which waste performance - and it truly hates the 16 bit code relics in Win9x, so Win2000 is another reasonable choice.

Electroe · Feb 25, 2004, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Matth
The chips and BIOS ID confirm an Intel 440FX chipset - with the 82371SB being the PIIX3 IDE controller.

The Maker (from Wims Bios page) is identified as Fugutech (site dead, name is now a shopping site).

If stuck, rummage around similar Intel motherboards on their site for drivers - Linux should have NO trouble with an old Intel chipset - a run from CD version should go immediately.

For best linux performance, compile for Pentium Pro - as this early P6-class chip needs careful nursing to aviod pipeline stalls which waste performance - and it truly hates the 16 bit code relics in Win9x, so Win2000 is another reasonable choice.

Thanks Matth & The_Neon_Cowboy.
Matth: Your information has been very valuable. There is a manufacturers mark on one of the ISA ports. The name is PCchips. I checked their website and their oldest boards are P3's. So I guess that answers the question. I'm probably not going to find any BIOS revisions of stuff like that.

The_Neon_Cowboy: I'm not sure what that is you're talking about but I assume it's a repair kit for recesitating scared CD's. Well, since the 98SE cd isn't the geniune CD. I'll try to dig the original up. It should be lying somewhere...

Electroe · Feb 27, 2004, 02:07 AM

OK. The Pentium Pro's been up and running for three solid days. Initially when I ran "Windows Update" it crashed while installing critical files, nothing serious.

Today when I rebooted while adding in a ISA NIC(PnP), I noticed very sluggish booting speed. I took the NIC out and booted again and found out some how the board boots relatively slower than my P5A plus K6-2 500. From the RAM checking to detecting PnP cards and lastly to detecting drives. It's so slow I first thought some thing was wrong. After taking everything apart and sticking basic stuff--32MBX2 RAM, PCI VGA card, HD--it was still sluggish.

Is it the system's nature to POST so slow or is there some thing wrong?

PS: HawK, pardon me. On further checking I found out my card is a S3Trio64. I always thought it was a Permedia2. Wonder where that went.

PS1: I forgot to add. The images will probably disappear at the start of March since I discontinued my ISP service.

~~HawK~~ · Feb 27, 2004, 03:30 AM

great work, yeah you could expect it would give another meaning to "runnin"
crawling would be a better word i guess.
still such old beasts can have some use, goodluck with it.

hohum · Feb 27, 2004, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Today when I rebooted while adding in a ISA NIC(PnP), I noticed very sluggish booting speed

So i'm assuming the slow booting only started happening upon adding the ISA card? Personally i've avoided using any ISA device in mine as PCI devices are much faster and more efficient. Some old ISA devices won't like this, however you can try the following settings in your BIOS (I have all of these enabled):

8-bit IO/16-bit recovery time: Both set to 'N/A'
Delayed Transaction: Enabled (needed for best PCI performance and PCI 2.1 compliancy)
Peer Concurrency: Enabled (needed if you have multiple PCI devices I believe)
Passive Release: Enabled (stops ISA devices hogging the PCI bus and slowing it down, yet improves performance even if you have no ISA cards installed)

You can also speed up the ISA bus speed by reducing the PCICLK divider for it (on mine this is found under the section containing memory timings etc) - PCICLK/4 is the standard ISA specification I believe, reducing this to /3 or /2 (if available) will run it at higher speeds. This is effectively overclocking the bus though so it's up to you as to whether you wish to try this. I'd disable any sort of bios/video bios caching too.

I found out most of this info from Adrian's Rojak Pot bios guide, i'd recommend having a look when you get the time.

http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=9

Hope this helps...

Electroe · Feb 27, 2004, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hohum
So i'm assuming the slow booting only started happening upon adding the ISA card? Personally i've avoided using any ISA device in mine as PCI devices are much faster and more efficient. Some old ISA devices won't like this, however you can try the following settings in your BIOS (I have all of these enabled):

8-bit IO/16-bit recovery time: Both set to 'N/A'
Delayed Transaction: Enabled (needed for best PCI performance and PCI 2.1 compliancy)
Peer Concurrency: Enabled (needed if you have multiple PCI devices I believe)
Passive Release: Enabled (stops ISA devices hogging the PCI bus and slowing it down, yet improves performance even if you have no ISA cards installed)

You can also speed up the ISA bus speed by reducing the PCICLK divider for it (on mine this is found under the section containing memory timings etc) - PCICLK/4 is the standard ISA specification I believe, reducing this to /3 or /2 (if available) will run it at higher speeds. This is effectively overclocking the bus though so it's up to you as to whether you wish to try this. I'd disable any sort of bios/video bios caching too.

I found out most of this info from Adrian's Rojak Pot bios guide, i'd recommend having a look when you get the time.

http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=9

Hope this helps...

Thanks hohum. The first answer is NO. I noticed the slow boot up after installing the NIC card. However upon removing the card the sluggishness continued, which leads me to conclude that it's the MB itself or some BIOS problem.

8-bit IO/16-bit recovery time: Both set to 'N/A'-->already done that.
Delayed Transaction: Enabled (needed for best PCI performance and PCI 2.1 compliancy)
-->already set that.
Peer Concurrency: Enabled (needed if you have multiple PCI devices I believe)-->can't find it.
Passive Release: Enabled (stops ISA devices hogging the PCI bus and slowing it down, yet improves performance even if you have no ISA cards installed)-->thanks for the heads up.

About the PCICLK divider thingy, I'll try that. But will have to find another PSU. The one I was using to "experiment" was actually not mine. Why would I have a AT power lying around my house?

About Rojak Pot's website: I check that pretty often, but only under the XP tweaking section.

Never bothered to fish around the other areas. Me bad. I'll spend some more time studying and will write a report upon finishing and digesting.

HawK: Yeah, "crawl'in" is a more accurate word. I could only install Prime95(other programs took soooo long). I tried the [Options]-->[Benchmark] just to see how much time it took to finish. Darn was it slow. A K6-2 300 could run past it like a race between a corvette and an old lady with a walking stick.

Matth · Feb 28, 2004, 12:41 PM

Did you start fron SETUP Defaults? - when the CMOS is clear/lost, the default will be BIOS defaults, which are usually minimal, cache disabled, work if at all possible even if something is half broken kind of settings.

Setup default/optimal are the only way on some systems, to enable the CPU cache.

If the slowdown started with an ISA card and has not resolved, the only other course may be to start from scratch again, clearing CMOS and particularly ESCD (plug & play).

Electroe · Feb 29, 2004, 03:56 AM

Yes, just to be sure I did load default settings after adding the NIC card and realized the slow booting. But, no, I didn't load default settings again after starting with a minimal hardware installment (VGA, 32MB RAM).
I'm still maintaining my stance that this is the boards "normal" boot up speed. Since I've changed HD's, switched RAM slots, tried booting without a HD or CD-ROM, yes, and also loaded default settings(with the NIC card, of course).
Well, there isn't much to grudge about, everything is working all right. The computer is crawling at good speed.

The HD is clicking like a clock.

And any thing I throw at it comes back 2 seconds later.

What can a man want more?
Since I've never installed Linux before, I'll try if I get a chance, have more time, and a AT power.
Finally, thanks for all the support, advice and driver links everyone. I couldn't of done it without you. (maybe I could, just not that confident.

)

JCLW · Mar 16, 2004, 10:48 PM

Glad you got it working

I've got some oldies in the attic I dig up once in a while.

[complete change of subject]

I must say those are some nice pics.

Hope you don't mind but I hijacked the EXIF info to see what kind of camera you used:

Code:

File: - P006.jpg

Make - Canon
Model - Canon PowerShot A70
Orientation - Top left
XResolution - 180
YResolution - 180
ResolutionUnit - Inch
DateTime - 2004:02:20 17:03:51
YCbCrPositioning - Centered
ExifOffset - 196
ExposureTime - 1/8 seconds
FNumber - 2.80
ExifVersion - 220
DateTimeOriginal - 2004:02:20 17:03:51
DateTimeDigitized - 2004:02:20 17:03:51
ComponentsConfiguration - YCbCr
CompressedBitsPerPixel - 3 (bits/pixel)
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/8 seconds
ApertureValue - F 2.80
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MaxApertureValue - F 2.80
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
Flash - Not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 5.41 mm
UserComment -                                                                                                
FlashPixVersion - 100
ColorSpace - sRGB
ExifImageWidth - 1600
ExifImageHeight - 1200
InteroperabilityOffset - 1540
FocalPlaneXResolution - 7692.31
FocalPlaneYResolution - 7692.31
FocalPlaneResolutionUnit - Inch
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
FileSource - DSC - Digital still camera
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Auto
WhiteBalance - Manual
DigitalZoomRatio - 1.00 x
SceneCaptureType - Standard

Maker Note (Vendor): - 
Macro mode - Macro
Self timer - Off
Quality - Fine
Flash mode - Not fired
Sequence mode - Single or Timer
Focus mode - Single
Image size - Large
Easy shooting mode - Manual
Digital zoom - None
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Normal
ISO Value - 50
Metering mode - Evaluative
Focus type - Close-Up
AF point selected - 
Exposure mode - Program
Focal length - 173 - 519 mm
Flash activity - Not fired
Sequence number - 0
White Balance - Fluorescent
Image Type - IMG:PowerShot A70 JPEG         
Firmware Version - Firmware Version 2.00  
Image Number - 1030351
Owner Name -

Only 351 pictures taken with the camera? Put that thing to use!

FluffyChicken · Mar 17, 2004, 04:46 PM

Grab AIDA32 and see what it says (good for a bit of fun)

But hint #1
PCChips M701 (aka Amptron PMPRO1000)

Manual German though
ftp://ftp.bns-computer.de/bns-comput...INBRD/M701.PDF

BIOS
latest ftp://ftp.bns-computer.de/bns-comput...D/7010325s.bin
award flash for it
ftp://ftp.bns-computer.de/bns-comput...S/AWDFLASH.EXE

from here http://www.bns-computer.de/Support/mb_701.htm

and an all time fav website (ok, just happened to use 3 days ago) website for PCChips http://www.stud.fernuni-hagen.de/q3998142/pcchips/ Where I started at

Hope that helps.

ah... I remeber reading about there release and the pictures ahhhhh drule .. of course my first gen P75 o/c to 115MHz on a board that only supported upto 90MHz.... it was quite a stepup.
But with P166/200MMX and these being the Xeons of the becoming the PII in the end they did there job and worked fine in multiway-way with 1MB cache onboard.... It was fun times, nuch more fun than todays CPU's.

What cache does this one have 512? or less? EDIT missed the extremely large pic of the CPU. it's 256k one. One of the slow ones then. Now these do overclock though. afaik the PP200 would get to 333MHz so give it a go.

EDIT again - BIOS from PC Chips Website http://www.pcchipsusa.com/bios/7010325s.bin no manual though.

Electroe · Mar 17, 2004, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JCLW
Glad you got it working I've got some oldies in the attic I dig up once in a while.

[complete change of subject]

I must say those are some nice pics.

Hope you don't mind but I hijacked the EXIF info to see what kind of camera you used:

Code:

File: - P006.jpg Make - Canon Model - Canon PowerShot A70 Orientation - Top left XResolution - 180 YResolution - 180 ResolutionUnit - Inch DateTime - 2004:02:20 17:03:51 YCbCrPositioning - Centered ExifOffset - 196 ExposureTime - 1/8 seconds FNumber - 2.80 ExifVersion - 220 DateTimeOriginal - 2004:02:20 17:03:51 DateTimeDigitized - 2004:02:20 17:03:51 ~~deleted~~ Image Number - 1030351 Owner Name -

Only 351 pictures taken with the camera? Put that thing to use!

Heh! Heh!

I don't mind at all, but I have no idea how you did that. If I saved the image as a new file