Abit VL6 socket 370 board

On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:44:03 -0700, "Bird Janitor®"
<birdjanitor_REMOVE_YOUR_SHORTS_.RemoveThis@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>
>Hi Sam -
>
>Abit still has the page up on their corporate site:
>http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=VL6&fMTYPE=Socket+370
>
>The manual is available, listing the CPU as supporting a 66, 100 or 133MHz
>Celeron or PIII CPU. The manual lists the maximum speed supported as 1GHz
>and more recent BIOS updates indicate that you can support a 1.1GHz 100MHz
>CPU.
>
>The chipset supports up to 133MHz SDRAM.
>
>According to the page, the max RAM is 768MB. You'll have to check on Via's
>website to determine if this limitation was due to the largest available RAM
>size of that era being 256MB (x3 on the VL6) or if the chipset limits the
>board.
>
>The chipset limits the IDE ports to UDMA33 or UDMA66. The BIOS limits the
>largest disk you can attach without using overlay software. Abit never
>updated the BIOS to support 48-bit LBA, so your hard disk is limited to
>137GB (decimal). If not already done, you'll have to flash to the latest
>BIOS version - 7K - to support 137GB disks.


Thanks for the info.

It's my father in law's board and I need to bring his computer further
into the 21st century!

It's running a celeron at the moment, I understand I can improve
performance by replacing this with a Pentium III up to 1 GHz? Is it
just that the Pentium has extra cache on the die?

The ram has confused me some sites say 768Mb others say 1.5Gb. I
daresay 512Mb will be sufficient anyway (only 128mb at the moment).

I had read a bios flash was needed for large disks but had not
realised that even then, it's only up to 137Gb but this should be more
than enough for his needs (occasional word processing, email, and
internet browsing).

Thanks again.
 >> Stay informed about: Abit VL6 socket 370 board 

Sam wrote:
|
| Thanks for the info.
|
| It's my father in law's board and I need to bring his computer further
| into the 21st century!
|
| It's running a celeron at the moment, I understand I can improve
| performance by replacing this with a Pentium III up to 1 GHz? Is it
| just that the Pentium has extra cache on the die?
|
| The ram has confused me some sites say 768Mb others say 1.5Gb. I
| daresay 512Mb will be sufficient anyway (only 128mb at the moment).
|
| I had read a bios flash was needed for large disks but had not
| realised that even then, it's only up to 137Gb but this should be more
| than enough for his needs (occasional word processing, email, and
| internet browsing).
|
| Thanks again.


Hi Sam -

Happy to pass the information along.

One thing to check out before embarking on any further upgrading of this
system: The VL6 was from the era when all motherboard manufacturers suffered
from the dreaded bad caps (due to a faulty electrolyte formula). Check all
the caps, especially those around the CPU. Any that are domed or leaking
reddish-brown goo are gone bad and will require replacement.

See http://www.badcaps.net/ for more information on this.

The board will probably do 1.5GB. The limitation in the motherboard manual
is probably due to the what was on the market when the board was released.
Rooting around VIA's archive pages (see
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/legacy/pro133/ ) I see that the
VIA Apollo Pro 133 Chipset supports up to 1.5GB of SDRAM. I doubt that Abit
changed this limitation with their implementation.

The Celeron of that era is a neutered Pentium III with half the Level 2
cache. This is the reason for the significant performance gain with the
Pentium III over the Celeron.

You will definitely be limited to 137GB on the onboard IDE ports without
using overlay software (check drive manufacturer websites to see if this is
still available... I'm not gonna do all your homework). You'll also be
limited to UDMA66 performance. The easiest way around this would be to use
an add-on PCI card with support for UDMA100 or UDMA133 and 48-bit LBA, to
get you past the 137GB barrier. If you're looking for a "new" drive smaller
than 137GB, you'll find that your best bet would be some place like eBay, as
nobody makes desktop drives that small anymore. For that matter, PATA
drives are starting to disappear in favor of SATA. If you go for an add-on
card, you'll also need an OS that supports 48-bit LBA (Windows 2000/SP4 or
later or Windows XP/SP1 or later). Windows 98/98SE/ME all are limited to
partitions no larger than 137GB (with a lot of tweaks out there to "break"
this limit that aren't supported by Microsoft).

Jef
 >> Stay informed about: Abit VL6 socket 370 board 

On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 09:12:15 +0000, Sam wrote:

> It's running a celeron at the moment, I understand I can improve
> performance by replacing this with a Pentium III up to 1 GHz? Is it
> just that the Pentium has extra cache on the die?

Don't mess with upgrading the cpu. It's a waste of time and money. A 1 GHz
P3 is still in the dark ages. Replace the guts of the machine (MB/CPU/ram)
and sell the old stiff on ebay or trash it.

http://www.pricewatch.com/motherboard_combos_with_memory/

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
My Tivo Experience http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/tivo.htm
Tivo HD/S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm
AMD cpu help http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
 >> Stay informed about: Abit VL6 socket 370 board 

On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 08:36:35 -0700, "Bird Janitor®"
<birdjanitor_REMOVE_YOUR_SHORTS_.DeleteThis@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>One thing to check out before embarking on any further upgrading of this
>system: The VL6 was from the era when all motherboard manufacturers suffered
>from the dreaded bad caps (due to a faulty electrolyte formula). Check all
>the caps, especially those around the CPU. Any that are domed or leaking
>reddish-brown goo are gone bad and will require replacement.
>
>See http://www.badcaps.net/ for more information on this.
>
>The board will probably do 1.5GB. The limitation in the motherboard manual
>is probably due to the what was on the market when the board was released.
>Rooting around VIA's archive pages (see
>http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/legacy/pro133/ ) I see that the
>VIA Apollo Pro 133 Chipset supports up to 1.5GB of SDRAM. I doubt that Abit
>changed this limitation with their implementation.
>
>The Celeron of that era is a neutered Pentium III with half the Level 2
>cache. This is the reason for the significant performance gain with the
>Pentium III over the Celeron.
>
>You will definitely be limited to 137GB on the onboard IDE ports without
>using overlay software (check drive manufacturer websites to see if this is
>still available... I'm not gonna do all your homework). You'll also be
>limited to UDMA66 performance. The easiest way around this would be to use
>an add-on PCI card with support for UDMA100 or UDMA133 and 48-bit LBA, to
>get you past the 137GB barrier.


Thanks for your help.
 >> Stay informed about: Abit VL6 socket 370 board 

> One thing to check out before embarking on any further upgrading of this
> system: The VL6 was from the era when all motherboard manufacturers
suffered
> from the dreaded bad caps (due to a faulty electrolyte formula). Check
all
> the caps, especially those around the CPU. Any that are domed or leaking
> reddish-brown goo are gone bad and will require replacement.
>
> See http://www.badcaps.net/ for more information on this.
>
> The board will probably do 1.5GB. The limitation in the motherboard
manual
> is probably due to the what was on the market when the board was released.
> Rooting around VIA's archive pages (see
> http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/legacy/pro133/ ) I see that the
> VIA Apollo Pro 133 Chipset supports up to 1.5GB of SDRAM. I doubt that
Abit
> changed this limitation with their implementation.

Confirm that both. My board is a VP6, but it also has the Apollo Pro 133A
chipset and can handle 512 MB sticks. It is also a recapped one, as the
origial caps died about 2 years after purchase.
 >> Stay informed about: Abit VL6 socket 370 board 

> Thanks for the info.
>
> It's my father in law's board and I need to bring his computer further
> into the 21st century!
>
> It's running a celeron at the moment, I understand I can improve
> performance by replacing this with a Pentium III up to 1 GHz? Is it
> just that the Pentium has extra cache on the die?
>
> The ram has confused me some sites say 768Mb others say 1.5Gb. I
> daresay 512Mb will be sufficient anyway (only 128mb at the moment).

just get some ram for it, other than that i wouldn't bother really

i can't remmber what the deal is with this chipset
but since it states 768 max, and has 3 slots, thats 256 per bank
so you will need to source some low density ram sounds like

Chipset
VIA chipset (VT82C693A and VT82C686A)
Memory
Three 168-pin DIMM sockets support up to 768MB SDRAM module
 >> Stay informed about: Abit VL6 socket 370 board 

Thanks guys.

With no Video or nothing coming up on the screen, I am unable to try
the first suggestion.
..

It was flashed from Dos with a floppy disk and the only option you had
was to save your old .rom etc. I am assuming the one we ordered
was the latest version BIOS ( they state it would be ) so there you
go.

I just this week took out the BIOS chip and reseated it to no evail
and even put the old one back in and still no post. Even tried a
couple of other CPU's and some additional mem and video cards.

It appears something has killed a part or power cap. or something.
Just a shame. It is out of warrenty and I don't have a clue who
could repair it. I am still open to suggestions. Thanks once
again.

XP User
 >> Stay informed about: Abit VL6 socket 370 board 

Sorry, I copied and pasted a message in the wrong header..... should
have been in the third one above.... Bad BIOS Flash.
Sorry once again.

XP User



On Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:54:02 -0400, XP User <xpuser.DeleteThis@public.com> wrote:

>Thanks guys.
>
>With no Video or nothing coming up on the screen, I am unable to try
>the first suggestion.
>.
>
>It was flashed from Dos with a floppy disk and the only option you had
>was to save your old .rom etc. I am assuming the one we ordered
>was the latest version BIOS ( they state it would be ) so there you
>go.
>
>I just this week took out the BIOS chip and reseated it to no evail
>and even put the old one back in and still no post. Even tried a
>couple of other CPU's and some additional mem and video cards.
>
>It appears something has killed a part or power cap. or something.
>Just a shame. It is out of warrenty and I don't have a clue who
>could repair it. I am still open to suggestions. Thanks once
>again.
>
>XP User
>
 >> Stay informed about: Abit VL6 socket 370 board 

On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 08:36:35 -0700, "Bird Janitor®"
<birdjanitor_REMOVE_YOUR_SHORTS_.TakeThisOut@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>The board will probably do 1.5GB. The limitation in the motherboard manual
>is probably due to the what was on the market when the board was released.
>Rooting around VIA's archive pages (see
>http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/legacy/pro133/ ) I see that the
>VIA Apollo Pro 133 Chipset supports up to 1.5GB of SDRAM. I doubt that Abit
>changed this limitation with their implementation.

It already had 2 * 64 Mb sticks = 128mb. I have just won a 512mb stick
off ebay. I thought that if I added it I might get 640mb but for some
reason the bios reported 300-odd Mb. When I took the two 64mb sticks
out, the bios found the full 512mb. What is going on?

It was the right type of ram (pc133).
 >> Stay informed about: Abit VL6 socket 370 board