Thread: Asus Micro Mobo and AMD XP-M 45W Barton

The tech dude wasn't sure about when the new BIOS release will be and what features it has. I did mention to him that there are people on the net crying about not having an option to change FSB, Multiplier, ... So hopefully he will forward that to the BIOS developers.
While waiting for the magic to happen from Asus, I went a little extreme which I never attemp to do before with any CPU/mobo. If the mobo doesn't allow to do it, mod it. Yes that what I did. I finally get the mobo to run the CPU at 166Mhz FSB @ 1.2GHz instead of 800MHz. The mod took me 5 minutes. I only modded the FSB and leave everything else as is.
As of warrantee. I didn't actually change anything on the mobo, so I don't think they void the warrantee on that. The CPU, well warrantee already expire. The mobile AMD only have 30 days.
Here is the link

Details?!

Originally Posted by Motoko

Details?!

Open the link on my previous post. The mod is for Desktop CPU, but it also works on Mobile as well.
Select Socket View
Select AMD Barton
No selection on Vcore , unless you want to do it.
No selection on Multiplier , unless you want to do it.
Select 166 MHz FSB. Mobile CPU default is 133.
What you should have is like the picture in the attachment.

Now do the mod.
- use a strange of copper from speaker wire or any piece of wire that is small enought for the CPU pin and the copper to fit in the same hole, but big enought for electrical current (1.5mm?) and about 1cm(1/2 in) long.
- Make a U shape out of the copper and insert into the pin-hole where the black line in the picture is.
- Use a small needle noise plier or a trizzer (sp?) to make your job easier. Make sure that you have a clean line between the hole otherwise you create a short and I don't know what's going to happen to your CPU or mobo.
When done put the CPU back in and apply heatsink compound and heatsink back.
Turn in on and smile at your new CPU speed.

Ok. Do it at your own risk. I did it, and it work on mine, but that doesn't mean it will work for everybody (well it should cuz many already did so).

Thing is my mobile isnt a Barton, its the old Athlon Mobile 1600+, what type sould it be?

Originally Posted by MatrixPC

Ok I just bought the Asus microATX Mobo (A7N8X-VM/400) to set up for my next CarPC install (the Matrix). How can I change/configure so the Mobo recognize the CPU is a AMD XP-M 2500+ (45W Mobile Barton)? BIOS boot screen doesn't tell what the CPU is but stated that CPU speed is 800Mhz. What's the hell? Inside Windows Asus Ultility software, it lists CPU capability @ 2200Mhz and current @ 800MHz with Bus speed at 133MHz.

I assume you know Mobile AMD's are clock unlocked and generally are not automatically detected by motherboards. You must have a motherboard that can set the clock multipler, FSB and Voltage manually to use them correctly as you seem to be finding out. If you can't set all these parameters manually in your motherboard to the correct settings you may be stuck buying a new motherboard that can.

Originally Posted by siberia37

I assume you know Mobile AMD's are clock unlocked and generally are not automatically detected by motherboards. You must have a motherboard that can set the clock multipler, FSB and Voltage manually to use them correctly as you seem to be finding out. If you can't set all these parameters manually in your motherboard to the correct settings you may be stuck buying a new motherboard that can.

So what does this mean to my modded above? Will I burn my CPU and/or mobo?

Motoko : Can you find out what it is from the web? http://www.overclock.net/showthread.php?t=172

If I remember right, the bios doesn't really have to detect the processor correctly in order for windows to work correctly. It sounds to me like the CPU is just defaulting to it's lowest powersaving speed which would be normal operation. AMD has a powernow patch (speed step I believe is Intel...) for windows XP that needs to be installed in order for the cpu throttling to work correctly. Try the patch (located somewhere on AMD's or Microsofts website).

Linux uses a "driver" / module called cpufreq that I believe polls the CPU for it's capabilities. They do this because many bioses have busted cpu tables that don't have the right information for whatever processor that is installed (case in point my Emachines M5310 laptop). So I imagine that the driver for windows would hopefully do the same trick as the Linux driver. No Guarantees!

I have the same board.
I have the same processor.

It recognises as a 800MHz Athlon MP.

You cannot set it differently.
It does not support speedstep. Speedstep is terminally ****ed on the nForce 2 IGP.

Good luck.

I run Prime95 toture test yesterday for 3 hrs with the mod above and it work wonder. The mobo is out in the open air, no case. CPU temp is between 34C-39C, mobo CPU is about 33-37C according to Asus Probe. Room temp is about 80F according to the AC thermostat.
My next step it to make it run as a 2500+XP processor.
If AMD PowerNow is working on this combo. That is the BEST setup ever for CarPC/HTPC for it Power on Demand.