BIOS tweaks for PL3000/PII to support PIII cpus

Greetings:

I need to modify the PL3000/PII BIOS code to recognize the IDs for
PIII cpus; if the supported IDs are in a table, it ought to be
straight-forward to replace some entries for the new cpus and
regenerate the checksum for the block.

I don't care about including microcode updates or anything
esoteric, just a way to keep POST from declaring 'unsupported
processor' after the memory checks and then halting.

Anyone have experience tweaking the Proliant BIOS code?

(remove the underscores to email)

Regards,

Michael

I'll be watching this thread like a hawk. If you do succeed in
modifying the Compaq BIOS, I would much appreciate hearing about it.
Even Nutcracker has to respect something this audacious!

"Jeffrey Alsip" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'll be watching this thread like a hawk. If you do succeed in
modifying the Compaq BIOS, I would much appreciate hearing about it.
Even Nutcracker has to respect something this audacious!


Respect, yes .. bet on, no. Here is the thing. Different processor
technologies reqire specific chipsets to support differnt types of CPU core
architectures.

If you are looking to mod a bios for PII 233 ~ 333 system to accept
PII/PIII processors that run at 100MHz FSB, it simply wont happen. You are
looking at a difference between an LX based chipset and a BX based chipset.
No amount of modding will get an LX chipset to work at 100MHz. It just wont
happen, and that goes doubly for a Compaq server. These are the least
mod-able systems on the planet.

Again, if you are talking about getting a 100MHz PII/PIII server to
recognise anything above 600MHz, fat chance. Now we are talking about CPU
core design differences. Anything over 600MHz, with more than a 6.0x
multiplier is going to be a coppermine. And if you dont have the chipset
that supports coppermine processors, guess what. No amount of Bios hackiung
is going to change that.

Your best bet is to watch eBay and snatch up a board that supports the
processor technology you want to run, for somewhere in the neighborhood of
$35 plus shipping.

Save your time, im sure you have better things to do with it. Then again,
you do post here ... so that my not stricktly be true.

: )

- LC

I suppose I should have elaborated a bit in my initial post :-)

NuTCrAcKeR wrote:

If you are looking to mod a bios for PII 233 ~ 333 system to accept
PII/PIII processors that run at 100MHz FSB, it simply wont happen.

My intent is to get SSE instructions at any speed -- we are already
doing this with a Dell Poweredge 2200 mainboard -- running twin
Katmai 500s at 333 MHz (66MHz FSB -- Natoma FX chipset). Dell
Forum moderators and contributors said it wouldn't work :-)

However, the 2200 is out of slots for our needs, ergo the interest
in modding the PL3000. We _NEED_ the 3 EISA slots for high end
video hardware (no way to afford PCI verions of the same and
there aren't PCI versions of some of it) and _lots_ of PCI slots.

The ideal would be to find some machine which had a BX chipset
and EISA (and even AGP to boot) but I've struck out so far.

These are the least mod-able systems on the planet.


I'm starting to appreciate that -- Dell wasn't picky about the CPUID
for my mods -- even the latest BIOS handled the L2 cache properly
on the Katmais -- it is only supposed to support PII-333.

So I encourage all who would have a crack at tilting at windmills
to pitch in. The most difficult task will be to learn how the
flash chip is interfaced -- its memory map and write control.
Patching the actual code shouldn't be much of a challenge --
it is merely necessary to change the CPUID and plaintext strings
for one of the supported CPUs and regenerate checksums for the
block. Uncompressing the BIN file from a ROMPAQ is the first
challenge -- it is probably some flavor of Lempel-Ziv but what?

Regards,

Michael

I am still curious to know exactly what EISA card you are running that
you can't do without. Care to elaborate?

If not for this mystery card, I have two of the PIII motherboards
sitting on a shelf.

Jeff

However, the 2200 is out of slots for our needs, ergo the interest
in modding the PL3000. We _NEED_ the 3 EISA slots for high end
video hardware (no way to afford PCI verions of the same and
there aren't PCI versions of some of it) and _lots_ of PCI slots.


this has to be the most slot laden board I have ever seen:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gateway-200Mh-51...QQcmdZViewItem

perhaps this would be more mod-able for what you are tyring to do. The
PII-OD chips with fullspeed 512K cache make these socket 8 (and yes, i think
they have SSE) boards perform in the same range as a PII450.

- LC

Wow! that's a a lot of slots (8 EISA + 8 PCI)

this has to be the most slot laden board I have ever seen:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gateway-200Mh-51...QQcmdZViewItem


Not long ago I say a 6-way socket-8 mainboard on Ebay with nearly as
many slots; the problem is in locating PII overdrive chips and/or
PL-ProII Powerleap adapters (rare as magnetic monopoles). I have
been looking for the chips/adapters for a long time -- would have
converted our PL5000 4-cpu board by now.

Regards,

Michael

"msg" wrote in message
...
Wow! that's a a lot of slots (8 EISA + 8 PCI)

this has to be the most slot laden board I have ever seen:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gateway-200Mh-51...QQcmdZViewItem


Not long ago I say a 6-way socket-8 mainboard on Ebay with nearly as
many slots; the problem is in locating PII overdrive chips and/or
PL-ProII Powerleap adapters (rare as magnetic monopoles). I have
been looking for the chips/adapters for a long time -- would have
converted our PL5000 4-cpu board by now.

Regards,

Michael


It sounds like you are talking about the ALR Evolution 6x6 Server. It was a
beast back in its day. The 5000 isnt worth upgrading, when for $100 you can
have a 4 way Xeon PL5500. Faster and cheaper everything ... Heck, 6400R's
are even cheap and plentiful.