Subj : Part 1 100/66 MHz fsb To : JAMES BRADLEY From : JIM HOLSONBACK Date : Sun May 08 2005 02:46 pm Hello, James. This is part 1 of 2 parts. -=> on 05-06-05 00:07, JAMES BRADLEY wrote to JIM HOLSONBACK <=- < > JH> I've done a little research on the SaintSong EPC-1. JB> I appreciate that, Jim. As you now see - unless they hired a *real* JB> translator, and move from Tiawan - they tend to bamboozle their way JB> through quite a bit. I agree. That is one of the worst websites for supporting folks who own the systems they sell. BIR I read that they only have one authorized distributor in NA, so _maybe_ some support is available from them. Also BIR, they want upgrades to be done by "authorized" service centers, so maybe they hold those cards close to their vest. JH> I found in "Q&A" at their website - JH> Espresso currently supports PIII up to 700, 66MHz Celeron to 733, or JH> 750 MHz VIA C3. _But_ I found elsewhere on internet a writeup where JH> they were offering it with a PIII-800. JB> Like you say, perhaps dependanding on the rev.# on the MB... JB> My best advice - - from a working system, try to upgrade only one component at a time. Maybe first priority should be to get a working internal or external HDD working. JB> I know when I first landed the rig, I did quite a bit of research on JB> it, and a definitive source mentioned the 800M/900M limits. I'm pretty JB> sure it wasn't just some Joe selling one on Ebay. Either the file JB> disapeared with my partition scramble, (The LAST time I trust C:\My JB> Docs!) or it's hiding somewhere in a zip/pdf. Yes, I hate it when a HDD dies and I don't have backups. JH> Support of faster chips _may_ have to do with board and BIOS JH> revisions. For example, I rechecked, and have here an Asus MEW-AM JH> board. The original version of the board supported only 66 Mhz Celerons JH> up to 533MHz, but starting with Board Rev. 1.02 and BIOS 1003.004, it JH> would support 100 MHz chips, up to Celeron 1100 and P3-850. JB> I don't recall seeing anything about the MB being updated on it, but JB> like I say, being from Tiawan... Given my last research timeframe... JB> Given the phase of the moon, and the hight of the tides... That, plus their website being pretty darn weak in the tech support area. :-( JH> Still talking off top of my head - I don't remember if you said what JH> CPU is in there now. One consideration _might_ be memory speed. The JH> Asus board here has jumpers which can set for 66Mhz cpu and 100Mhz JH> memory, but not vice-versa. So if your existing SODIMM memory is PC66, JH> that might not work with cpu upgraded to 100Mhz. JB> I'll be... I've been running a "133A" chip. (At least that's what it JB> says on the paper sticker.) That shouldn't cause any problems by JB> running it at a lower rate, should it? You have a Pc133 SODIMM stick in there? Yes, I would think that should work OK at slower system speed, with either 66 or 100 FSB chips. JB> I was a little jealous about the DVD dock, (Mine came with the JB> CD/floppy) but I found a good enough deal on an external DVD burner JB> just last year. I still don't have a bootable DVD setup, (USB boot JB> doesn't seem to like the DVD format, or doesn't recognize it... ) An external USB DVD burner? The CDROM drive still in there? Will it boot from that? Back to board and BIOS rev. numbers? I assume that dock sta works over USB - - I just bought a board a couple years old - - USB boot options in SETUP included FDD, HDD and CDROM - no mention of DVD. Sorry, no experience here in booting to DVD, and I generally avoid booting to CDROM, unless I can't find some work-around. Hmm. Meantime, while waiting, if a little old IDE drive were available, I think I'd try it in the docking station in the CDROM bay, and see if it would boot to that. BTW, it _will_ still boot to the FDD, won't it? JB> I had to fudge a little with it to get RH to find it, (Mounting JB> /dev/cdrom, and cdrom1 first seemed to do it.) but MEPIS was a JB> little brain dead on the USB front. Ouch! Ouch! I iggorant about running Linix. JB> The MB, I know is by Intel, with an 810 vid. built in. JH> I think not likely. Intel sold the 810 chips to a number of board JH> makers, like the Asus here. JB> Again, I'll have to dig around. Somewhere told me it was an Intel MB. News to me if Intel ever made a 5" x 7" mainboard. Maybe next time on internet you can snag a little program named CTBIOS.EXE. That will usually ID mainboard manufacturer, and yield lots of other info. Runs from either a working HDD or a bootable floppy. JH> Ouch! Looks like time to go to Ebay and look for a 2.5" drive. JB> Ya... One of the *few* HDs I purchased new, and FRAP! I was informed JB> they don't use actuators any more, so reseating a spring isn't going to JB> fix it.... (Actuator slammin' then SMART tells me to "BACK UP NOW!" or JB> somesuch.) Waitaminute, James. You purchased a _new_ HDD for _this_ system? If it puked on you, is it too late for an RMA? JH> Sorry no definitive answers from here. Have you email contacted their JH> Tech support and asked them? JB> I couldn't rightly tell you. You "can't rightly tell" me if you have ever asked at - support@saintsong.com.tw ? Seems strange. JB> Just before I lost my gratis ISP account, JB> I had *just* purchased the HD and SODIMM. The CPU was a payback from a JB> friend, (466M Celeron) so I just ran with that until something better JB> availed itself, and I could gather a more definitive answer. So you bought a bare system, and later added a HDD, SODIMM, Celeron 466 with HS&F and an external DVD burner? How long did all that work before the HDD 'died'? - - - JimH. --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5 * Origin: Try Our Web Based QWK: DOCSPLACE.ORG (1:123/140) .