Can't Change CPU Speed On K7T266Pro/Athlon

[Rand Simberg]

I just bought a new Microstar K7T266Pro and a 1GHz T-bird (AMI bios). I've never seen a board that didn't have hardware jumpers for the ratio before...

I followed the instructions in the manual, jumpered the core speed for 133MHz, and booted it. It came up as a 750 MHz chip. I went into the bios and tried to change the CPU/Core multiplier to 7.5, which should have given me a gigahertz processor, by my arithmatic.

After I saved the settings, and rebooted, it wouldn't. Reboot, that is. I just got three (I think) beeps and a blank screen. I powered down and reset the CMOS. It booted back into the defaults. The next time I tried setting it to a multiplier of 5, in case I'd somehow given it more than it wanted to handle. Same thing--dead computer.

Is there something I'm missing here?

[Kuasimodem]

There are a few things we need to know...
[list=1]
Is your CPU locked or unlocked?
Does your CPU have a 200 or 266 FSB?
[/list=a]

You may also want to consult MSI Hardware (http://www.msihardware.com/K7T266.htm) for some tips and tweaks for this board, this site has a ton of info on your motherboard.

[Rand Simberg]

There are a few things we need to know...

>Is your CPU locked or unlocked?

I don't know. I didn't do anything to unlock it. But it's supposed to be a 1GHz Athlon--that's what I paid for. I don't want to overclock it--I just want to get it to run at its rated speed.

>Does your CPU have a 200 or 266 FSB?

Again, I don't know. Unfortunately, I don't have the board here any more because I had to send it to the ultimate recipient today, several states away. I was hoping that he could install it and at least use it at 750 MHz, and we'd figure out how to get it faster later.

What would I do, given one specification or the other?

>You may also want to consult MSI Hardware for some tips and tweaks for this board, this site has a ton of info on your motherboard.

Thanks, I'll go check it out...

[Kuasimodem]

After looking thru the site that I linked you to, it seems like you picked the right processor and mobo combo, but something is not right because your FSB is only running at 100 instead of 133 (that's why the speed is only 750 instead of 1000 on the processor).

Have your customer try switching that 100/133 jumper to the other position to see if maybe it's labeled backwards (seen this before). When you let the motherboard autodetect the processor, what does it set the multiplier at?

Also check in the bios to see if there is a FSB adjustment in there, and make sure that the memory bus speed is set correctly.

Anybody else have an idea?

[This message has been edited by Kuasimodem (edited 06-10-2001).]

[oldavi8ter]

This is the same problem that I have! I have the 1.0 GHZ CPU but the mobo won't allow me to change from 100 MHZ to the 133 mhz front end bus. My 1.0 GHZ boots up at 750 MHZ. My mobo, K7VZA, comes with the VT82c686b southbridge chipset and the manual states that the bus speed can only be changed if you have the northbridge chipset. Mine was also a package deal...Did I get burned?

[Rand Simberg]

>After looking thru the site that I linked you to, it seems like you picked the right processor and mobo combo, but something is not right because your FSB is only running at 100 instead of 133 (that's why the speed is only 750 instead of 1000 on the processor).

>Have your customer try switching that 100/133 jumper to the other position to see if maybe it's labeled backwards (seen this before). When you let the motherboard autodetect the processor, what does it set the multiplier at?

I don't know, because when I look at the multiplier in the BIOS, it is set at "auto." But it sounds like that's the problem. It makes sense mathematically. I'll have him change the jumper to what should be 100MHz (but may actually be 133MHz)and see if that causes it to recognize it as a 1GHz instead of 750 MHz.

>Also check in the bios to see if there is a FSB adjustment in there, and make sure that the memory bus speed is set correctly.

I didn't see anyplace where FSB adjustment was mentioned by name, but I'm going on memory now. If the first fix doesn't work, I'll try to work it over the phone with him. Thanx...

[Rand Simberg]

>Also check in the bios to see if there is a FSB adjustment in there, and make sure that the memory bus speed is set correctly.

<hitting forehead with hand>

Now I remember. It was coming up as a hundred MHz, which I thought was weird, so I changed it to 133 at the same time that I set the multiplier manually. That's probably what was killing the motherboard.

It seems almost certain now that the problem is that the manual was incorrect for jumpering it. I'll have him rejumper it and try again, and I suspect that it will wake up at a gigahertz. I'll let folks know later today, hopefully...