![]() New motherboard designs based on the 440BX chipset can support any Pentium II processor, from 233MHz to 400MHz, but the two fastest models can now run with a front‑side buss speed of 100MHz, rather than the 66MHz of the others.Īs always, the overall system improvement is not as high as one might initially expect, but it's causing some people to worry that their existing PCI cards may not work properly if they buy a new system with a 100MHz buss. The secret is the new Intel 440BX chipset, which has been designed for these new devices. The reason I mention all this is that, along with the many new processors I discussed in last month's PC Notes, there's a significant new feature appearing on systems with the fastest 350 and 400MHz Pentium II processors - the 100MHz front‑side buss (and yes, unfortunately there is a back‑side buss as well). This is not a criticism of Cyrix processors - it just illustrates once again that unexpected things can happen when you attempt to mix and match hardware from different manufacturers. The Darla card worked perfectly after this, although his PC would also run significantly slower. This processor uses a 75MHz buss speed by default, so I suggested that he try reducing buss speed to 66MHz. One reader recently emailed me after suffering a complete lockup every time he booted his Cyrix 6x86 PR200 MMX‑powered PC after installing an Event Darla soundcard. They're only designed to run at 33MHz (half the normal 66MHz buss speed), and although many will run at the slightly higher speeds of 37.5MHz (with a 75MHz buss speed) and 41.5MHz (with an 83MHz buss), others will exhibit glitches, or even lock up the PC altogether. However, overclocking can produce problems in another area for musicians: the speed of the PCI buss is normally half the system buss speed, and some soundcards (and any other PCI card for that matter) might suffer from erratic performance after such overclocking. Depending on the quality of your motherboard (and the RAM chips), you might then be prone to random crashes and other reliability problems. Some people even 'overclocked' the Intel chips, to these higher buss speeds, by changing jumpers on their motherboards, although warnings are normally issued with instructions on how to overclock, since the practice causes the processor chip to run hotter. ![]() However, although Intel motherboard chipsets were supposed to run at a maximum of 66MHz, others have been available which can achieve higher speeds, of up to 83MHz. Your PC's system buss controls communication between the processor and other parts of the computer's motherboard, and for some time overall performance of PCs has been held back by the 66MHz buss speed. Once this is complete, the repair window appears and you can decide on the best course of actions for any faults found. Particularly thorough is the Registry scan (shown here). If your PC has problems, the Norton Doctor WinDoctor will diagnose and repair them. ![]() There seem to have been a lot of new developments in the PC world of late, and since many are relevant to PC musicians I intend to open up the cupboard, probe into its darkest recesses, and reach for a change of clothing. This month, after a bit of clock‑watching, Martin Walker looks at a utility which should keep your PC running for longer. Just before the machine tries to boot (and I get the "Disk I/O error"), the screen shows: PRI Master Disk: CHS, Mode 4, 850 MB.The latest version of Norton Utilities for Windows 95 has a handy front end (the Integrator) for quick access to any of its components. Changing it to NONE seems to have no effect when I try to boot. If I auto-detect the drive with this P100, all the settings match except Write Precomp. If I auto-detect the drive, it shows: Type: Auto (850Mb) Cyl: 1647 Heads: 16 Sectors/Track:63 Write Precomp: None Multi-sector Transfers: 8 Sectors LBA Mode Control: Enabled 32 Bit I/O: Disabled Transfer Mode: Fast PIO 4 The machine I'm attempting to transplant to has an Award BIOS. The original machine this drive comes from (similar vintage to the P100) has a Phoenix Bios. It shows c: 1 PRI DOS partition 810Mb, Status active, but the system is UNKNOWN. I ran Fdisk from a Win95 floppy boot disk. Hdd = Quantum 850AT TR84A472 REV 02-D A0405, (850MB capacity) Win95 version = 4.00.950 B (installed by a previous owner). What we're looking at here is a Pentium 100, PC clone.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |