last change: 14.1.2003

Counter2
since 16.9.2000

A7V Troubleshooting
Why the heck is there a tank ?!?

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What ASUS Mainboards support Barton CPUs?

The ASUS CPU Support pages tell this:

Name
PCB Version
BIOS
A7N8X
1.04
1002
A7N8X Deluxe
1.04
1002
A7V333
2.00
1016
A7V333-X
2.01
1003
A7V8X
1.04*
1011
A7V8X-X
ALL
ALL

*Only with a FSB333 sticker on south bridge.


What is the fastest CPU that I can use in an A7V Classic (KT133 Chipset, 100Mhz FSB / FSB200)

As this has been asked often: The fastest CPUs that can be used in an A7V "classic" are the Athlon Mod. B (100Mhz FSB) 1.3Ghz and 1.4Ghz. Also the newest Durons up to 1.3Ghz. See the footnote "FID info" on settings for 1.3Ghz and 1.4Ghz Athlon Mod.B. Use one of the newer BIOSes. (e.g 1008 or newer) There's a new website under construction which will list actual CPU compatibility and incompatibility reports from A7V users: www.conram.com


Will a AthlonXP run in a A7V / A7V133 /A7V266 etc. that does not officially support it?

The AthlonXP might work on non-AthlonXP compatible A7V series Mainboards, too - even on the old A7V KT133. The newer A7V BIOSes, for example, include code to support the AthlonXP and Duron 1Ghz and up. But noone will guarantee that it will work - so don't count on it. You might get almost any AthlonXP to boot, but that does not mean it will run stably and reliably. I read that AMD told people that the AthlonXP will only run reliably with 133Mhz FSB - so unlocking it and running at 100Mhz FSB with higher multiplier might get you into trouble.

In my opinion this compatibility or incompatibility comes from the fact that between Athlon and AthlonXP the specification for the processor bus has been changed. As far as I know for AthlonXP so called "L-C-L" Filters are needed, which are NOT implemented on older mainboards. Without these filters it depends on how the production tolerances of CPU, Chipset, Mainboard etc. affect each other. Either it does simply not boot, it works unstably, or it works perfectly. Noone can tell you if your combination will work - even if others have had success with a certain combination, it might or might not work for you. So only try using AthlonXPs on mainboards that are 100% fit for the purpose (see tables and links below). If you want to try on a not officially compatible board, than be prepared to run into trouble.

Especially on the A7V the biggest drawback is it's low FSB of 100Mhz, while AthlonXPs are designed fior 133Mhz. So the resulting speed at a given multiplier is lower than it should be. Overclocking the FSB is a very bad idea in my opinion, because on one hand the A7V doesn't overclock well, on the other hand FSB overclocking overclocks everything - from RAM to IDE. Only do so if you regard the data on your PC as expendable.


What about Multipliers above 12.5 with Athlon CPUs (NOT AthlonXP) ?

The multiplier does NOT depend on the mainboard, it does depend on the CPU.

"normal" FSB200 or FSB266 CPUs have multipliers ranging from 5X to 12.5X.

There are only two exceptions known to me:

FSB 200 1.3Ghz Athlons interpret 12.5 as 13
FSB 200 1.4Ghz Athlons interpret 5 as 14

It's the CPU doing this, and there's no way altering a CPU to do this interpretation.


Which Mainboards do support AthlonXP? Which do support Duron 1Ghz and up?
Which support "Thoroughbred"?

Here is the most recent List by ASUS:

Official, General ASUS CPU Support list

AthlonXP (Thoroughbred) Ready Mainboards
AthlonXP (Palomino) Ready Mainboards
Duron (Morgan) 1Ghz and faster ready Mainboards

Mainboard

Athlon XP "Palomino"

Athlon XP "Thoroughbred"
Support
min.
Revision*
min.
BIOS
Support
min.
Revision*
min.
BIOS
 A7V333
Yes
-
-
Yes
1.01
1004

 A7V266-E / EX**

Yes
-
1002
Yes
-
1007

A7V266**

Yes
1.05
1002C
Yes
1.05
1007

A7V133

Yes
 1.05.
1007
Yes
 1.05.
1009

A7V133-C

Yes
 1.05.
1007
Yes
 1.05.
1009
A7V133-M
Yes
-
1004
no
 1.01
-
A7V133-VM
Yes
2.0
1004
no
 2.0
-
A7VL133-VM
Yes
2.0
1004
no
 2.0
-

A7V

no
-
-
no
-
1010a

A7V-E

no
-
-
no
-
-

A7PRO

no
-
-
no
-
-

A7VI-VM

no
-
-
no
-
-

A7VL-VM

no
-
-
no
-
-

*To find out your mainboard revision, have a look between the PCI slots. There is a printing with the name of your Mainboard, next to it is the revision number. Note that there might be a dot after the number - it is important! "1.05" is not the same as "1.05.", the latter is newer.

**A7V266 and A7V266-E: set Jumper"PALO_FREQ" to the Palomino Jumper-Settings:
PALO_FREQ (FID0-3) = 1-2 ; If you want to multiplier overclock maybe you have to leave it at 2-3.

Leave the THEM_CPU Jumper at "Athlon/Duron" !

Theoretically THEMCPU = 2-3 makes the A7V266 use the on-die thermal diode - but this does not work!
Better leave THEMCPU at 1-2. Setting it to 2-3 will attempt to use the on-die diode, but almost certainly give wrong readings around 50°C - 53°C, regardless of actual temperature.

    

For all other supported Mainboards leave all Jumpers on factory default (Jumperless):

For Example
A7V133:
JEN = 2-3
DSW Switches 1-5 = OFF
DSFID Switches 1-6 = OFF

Make sure your Power Supply is sufficiently dimensioned. It should be able to provide at least 300W!

 

What CPU may I use in my Mainboard?

This is translated from ASUS Germany:

Question: I want to upgrade my A7V series Mainboard with a new CPU, which ones may I use?

Answer: See the following table. BEFORE upgrading get the latest final BIOS, especially with older boards it might be better to get the latest BETA BIOS.

For AthlonXP also see the table on top of this page!

Typ
CPU Name
Model
Socket
Freq. ( MHz )
FSB (MHz)
L2 
DIE
Vcore
D Duron
("Spitfire")
Mod. 3 Socket A 550 - 950 100 (200**) 64k 0.18m 1,60V
E Duron
("Morgan")
Mod. 7 Socket A 900 - 1300 100 (200**) 64k 0.18m 1,75V
Typ
CPU Name
Model
Socket
Freq. (Mhz)
FSB (MHz)
L2 
DIE
Vcore
F
Athlon PGA "B"
("Thunderbird")
Mod. 4
Socket A
650 - 1400
(see footnote for FID info!)
100 (200**)
256k
0.18m
1,7V / 1,75V
G
Athlon PGA "C"
("Thunderbird")
Mod. 4
Socket A
1000 - 1400
133 (266**)
256k
0.18m
1,75V
Typ
CPU Name
Model
Socket
Quantispeed  ( see bottom)
FSB (MHz)
L2 
DIE
Vcore
H Athlon XP
("Palomino")
Mod. 6 Socket A 1500+ to2100+ 133 (266**) 256k 0.18m 1,75V
K Athlon MP
("Palomino")
Mod. 6 Socket A 1000+ to 2000+ 133 (266**) 256k 0.18m 1,75V
L Athlon XP
("Thoroughbred")
Mod. 8 Socket A 1700+ to 2200+ 133 (266**) 256k 0.13m 1,50V - 1.60V
M Athlon MP
("Thoroughbred")
Mod. 8 Socket A 2100+ 133 (266**) 256k 0.13m 1,60V

 
Mainboard Mainboard FSB (MHz) CPU Type (see above)
Socket A ( 133 / 266* ) Revision* 100 / 200** 133 / 266**
D
Duron
<1Ghz
E
Duron
>=1Ghz
F
Athlon
FSB100
G
Athlon
FSB133
H
Athlon XP
K
Athlon MP
L
Athlon XP Thorough-bred
M
Athlon MP Thorough-bred
A7V333 All
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
?
A7V266 All OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK ?
A7V266-C All OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK ?
A7V266-E All OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK ?
A7V266-EX All OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK ?
A7V266-M All OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK ?
Socket A ( 133 / 266* ) Revision*
100 / 200**
133 / 266**
D
E
F
G
H
A7V133 / A7V133-C 1.05. & above OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK ?
A7V133 / A7V133-C 1.00 - 1.05 ( without trailing dot!) OK OK OK M 4 OK M M ? ?
A7V133-M All OK OK OK OK 4 OK 2 OK ? ?
A7V133-VM All OK OK OK OK OK OK 2 OK ? ?
A7VL133-VM All OK OK OK OK OK OK 2 OK ? ?
Socket A ( 100 / 200* ) Revision*
100 / 200**
133 / 266**
D
E
F
G
H
A7V-E All OK X OK M 4 X X X X X
A7V All OK X OK OK 4 X X X X X
A7pro All OK X OK M 4 X X X X X
A7S-VM All OK X OK X OK X X X X X
A7VI-VM All OK X OK OK OK X X X X X
A7VL-VM All OK X OK OK OK X X X X X
A7V-M All OK X OK OK OK X X X X X

All data as of 4.5.2002

*To find out your mainboard revision, have a look between the PCI slots. There is a printing with the name of your Mainboard, next to it is the revision number. Note that there might be a dot after the number - it is important! "1.05" is not the same as "1.05.", the latter is newer.

  Explanations

200**

100 Mhz FSB Double Data Rate, both clock edges are used for transferring data

266**

133 Mhz FSB Double Data Rate, both clock edges are used for transferring data
xxxx+ With Athlon XP the numbers given on the CPU ( Quantispeed )  are NOT MHz Values:
2200+ Athlon XP 2200+ = 1800 Mhz (13,5x 133MHz)
2100+ Athlon XP 2100+ = 1733 Mhz (13,0x 133MHz)
2000+ Athlon XP 2000+ = 1666 Mhz (12,5x 133MHz)
1900+ Athlon XP 1900+ = 1600 Mhz (12,0x 133MHz)
1800+ Athlon XP 1800+ = 1533 Mhz (11,5x 133MHz)
1700+ Athlon XP 1700+ = 1466 Mhz (11,0x 133MHz)
1600+ Athlon XP 1600+ = 1400 Mhz (10,5x 133MHz)
1500+ Athlon XP 1500+ = 1333 Mhz (10,0x 133MHz)
OK CPU is generally supported
X CPU is generally NOT supported
? CPU is being tested at the moment
M

Set the multiplier ( FID ) for this CPU manually via DIP-Switch ( JUMPERMODE ), else the system might not boot. Also see "FID Info" below. Jumperless Mode shouldn't / can't be used in this case. This is true even if the CPU is not unlocked (has a hardwired multiplier)

L

The Athlon XP is only supported on this Mainboard (revision) if it not unlocked (has a locked / hardwired multiplier)

2
At the moment only Athlon XP CPUs up to 2000+ are supported on this mainboard.
4 The Athlon 1.4 GHz/200 ( 14x 100MHz ) is only supported on this mainboard (revision) if it not unlocked (has a locked / hardwired multiplier). CPUs up to Athlon 1300 B ( 13x 100Mhz) may be used without restrictions.
FID 
Info
Multipliers (FID 5,0x to 12,5x ) for manual setting of FID via DIP-Switch can be found in your manual.
Multiplier 13,0x is identical with 12,5x (true for 1300Mhz/100FSB Parts only!)
Multiplier 14,0x is identical with 5,0x (true for 1400Mhz/100FSB Parts only!)

 


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