A7V8X w/ Athlon 1700+ - lower the BUS speed?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter A. Schott
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Peter A. Schott

Is this possible on a locked processor? I'm trying to run at a lower speed as
I've heard it can help with installing Suse linux. However, any modifications
I try to make result in the system hanging on restart, then coming up in Safe
mode. At that point, I change the speed back to 1467 and all is well with the
world.

Problem I'm seeing is that when I try to install Suse 9.3, it hangs when
activating ieee1934 devices. Disconnecting my firewire stuff doesn't make any
difference that I could see. Turbo/Manual didn't help either.

Upgraded to the 1015.003 BIOS from 1009 and while it seems to be somewhat
stable, didn't help my problem of not being able to install Suse.


Anyone encountered something similar or know what I can do here?

Thanks.

-Pete Schott
 
Peter A. Schott said:
Is this possible on a locked processor? I'm trying to run at a lower speed as
I've heard it can help with installing Suse linux. However, any modifications
I try to make result in the system hanging on restart, then coming up in Safe
mode. At that point, I change the speed back to 1467 and all is well with the
world.

Problem I'm seeing is that when I try to install Suse 9.3, it hangs when
activating ieee1934 devices. Disconnecting my firewire stuff doesn't make any
difference that I could see. Turbo/Manual didn't help either.

Upgraded to the 1015.003 BIOS from 1009 and while it seems to be somewhat
stable, didn't help my problem of not being able to install Suse.


Anyone encountered something similar or know what I can do here?

Thanks.

-Pete Schott
Click to expand...

The manual mentions a "CPU Speed" [Manual] setting. Then there
is a "CPU External Frequency (MHz)" that you set. I think with
this generation of motherboard, the PCI and AGP are not locked.
What that means, is the PCI bus clock is divided down from the
CPU clock.

1467 (1700+) OPGA 133 256   11x

Without modification, you should be running at 133x11 = 1463
The 133 CPU clock is divided by 4, to make a normal PCI 33MHz
clock. The thing to watch, is if you step down to 132MHz for
example, the clock generator might end up using a divider of 3,
and 132/3 = 44MHz. Any frequency higher than about 37.5MHz for
the PCI bus, can cause PCI devices or IDE interfaces to fail
to work properly. So, if selecting a manual frequency setting
below 133 MHz, the next lowest acceptable frequency would be
112 MHz. 112/3=37.3 and that should be low enough to work.

So, some "good numbers" would be anything from 100..112, then
the next good ones are 133..150MHz. Give that a try.

Another thing to fiddle with. There is "Interrupt Mode",
with a setting of PIC or APIC. Try using PIC mode, and see if
your install results change. On some motherboards, APIC and
Linux don't mix too well.

While there is a "1394_EN1" header between PCI slot 4 and
slot 5, it might not be installed if Asus thought the disable
function would be in the BIOS. I don't know if the ability to
disable the Firewire chip actually exists on this board or
not. Does Suse allow install time command-line options ?

HTH,
Paul
 
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