Kobian KT133 FSX - CPU detect problem

Last Monday, lightning struck a friend's house and damaged several
computers that are connected as a neighbourhood LAN. In one of these
some chips on the mobo were literally blown up. I removed the
processor (an Athlon XP 2400+) and asked the owner and his uncle (a
close friend and fairly computer-savvy) to try it out on one of the
uncle's machines, a 4-year old Duron 1.1G on a Kobian KT133 FSX mobo.

They reported that it was OK, ran various software without a hitch.
But when they reinstalled the original CPU (the Duron), it refused to
boot up. They brought it in and I tried it myself - No beeps, no POST.
The CPU fan turns, front panel light comes on, but that's all. Cleared
the BIOS, no difference. I put in the nephew's lightning-struck CPU,
it runs fine.

I put the now-suspect Duron into another machine (Asus A7N266-VM mobo)
and it works perfectly.

With BIOS settings at default, the KT133 comes up with odd frequency
values for the 2400+, like 213x7.0 = 1491 MHz (about equivalent to an
1800+ ?). Even with manual settings, it still stays close to these
figures. This may simply be the old mobo's inability to cope with
faster CPUs. But I'm puzzled by its failure to work with the Duron at
all, something it's been doing happily until yesterday.

The few jumpers don't seem to be critical, and are shown on a paper
chart pasted inside the case. There are also three DIP switch blocks
(one 4-way and two 6-way) that the chart describes as "...factory
reserved for future support (don't adjust the default setting)". The
owner is a prudent type and I believe him when he says that he didn't
change any DIP switch setting.

I downloaded the manual from the Kobian website, but it seems to be
for an entirely different mobo ! Even the physical appearance is quite
different.

Any ideas please ? And could someone please supply the default DIP
switch settings ? TIA.

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 08:53:37 -0700, Zotin Khuma wrote:

> With BIOS settings at default, the KT133 comes up with odd frequency
> values for the 2400+, like 213x7.0 = 1491 MHz (about equivalent to an
> 1800+ ?). Even with manual settings, it still stays close to these
> figures. This may simply be the old mobo's inability to cope with
> faster CPUs. But I'm puzzled by its failure to work with the Duron at
> all, something it's been doing happily until yesterday.
>
It's a case of the software you're using giving you bogus info. The KT133
chipset isn't capable of FSB speeds of more than about 116MHz, with 100MHz
being thr official max speed. The default multiplier of the 2400+ is 15,
so as default it would run at 15x100 or 1500MHz. I suspect that if you
reset the bios the Duron will work.

> Any ideas please ? And could someone please supply the default DIP
> switch settings ? TIA.

I was going to dl the manual, but I'm not registering just to get it.:-(

--
Abit KT7-Raid (KT133) Tbred B core CPU @2400MHz (24x100FSB)
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm

Wes Newell <> wrote in message news:<pan.2004.08.21.05.33.32.237971@TAKEOUTverizo n.net>...
> On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 08:53:37 -0700, Zotin Khuma wrote:
>
> > With BIOS settings at default, the KT133 comes up with odd frequency
> > values for the 2400+, like 213x7.0 = 1491 MHz (about equivalent to an
> > 1800+ ?). Even with manual settings, it still stays close to these
> > figures. This may simply be the old mobo's inability to cope with
> > faster CPUs. But I'm puzzled by its failure to work with the Duron at
> > all, something it's been doing happily until yesterday.
> >
> It's a case of the software you're using giving you bogus info. The KT133
> chipset isn't capable of FSB speeds of more than about 116MHz, with 100MHz
> being thr official max speed. The default multiplier of the 2400+ is 15,
> so as default it would run at 15x100 or 1500MHz.

Thanks for the response, Wes. But I'm not talking about some
monitoring software. It's what was shown on the POST screen. Manual
setting of the FSB offers upto 142 MHz.

> I suspect that if you reset the bios the Duron will work.

I already stated that resetting the BIOS makes no difference. With the
Duron, it simply refuses to even POST.

>
> > Any ideas please ? And could someone please supply the default DIP
> > switch settings ? TIA.
>
> I was going to dl the manual, but I'm not registering just to get it.:-(

I also stated that I downloaded the manual. The model # is correctly
given in the manual, but the picture is of an entirely different mobo.
Even if they matched, I doubt if the DIP switch settings would be
given since the sticker inside the computer case says in effect that
the DIP switches are only for factory use and should not be altered.
That's why I asked, just in case someone had the same mobo and could
take the trouble to note down the correct default settings.

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 09:33:52 -0700, Zotin Khuma wrote:

> Wes Newell <> wrote in message
> news:<pan.2004.08.21.05.33.32.237971@TAKEOUTverizo n.net>...
>> It's a case of the software you're using giving you bogus info. The
>> KT133 chipset isn't capable of FSB speeds of more than about 116MHz,
>> with 100MHz being thr official max speed. The default multiplier of the
>> 2400+ is 15, so as default it would run at 15x100 or 1500MHz.
>
> Thanks for the response, Wes. But I'm not talking about some monitoring
> software. It's what was shown on the POST screen. Manual setting of the
> FSB offers upto 142 MHz.
>
I don't care what the bios shows, it's not capable of working past about
116MHz. And you can take that to the bank.

>> I suspect that if you reset the bios the Duron will work.
>
> I already stated that resetting the BIOS makes no difference. With the
> Duron, it simply refuses to even POST.
>
Well then something is set wrong. If he's got the FSB set to 133MHz, then
that's the problem. It won't work at that speed.

--
Abit KT7-Raid (KT133) Tbred B core CPU @2400MHz (24x100FSB)
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm

Wes Newell <> wrote in message news:<pan.2004.08.21.19.52.00.671304@TAKEOUTverizo n.net>...
> On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 09:33:52 -0700, Zotin Khuma wrote:
>
> > Wes Newell <> wrote in message
> > news:<pan.2004.08.21.05.33.32.237971@TAKEOUTverizo n.net>...
> >> It's a case of the software you're using giving you bogus info. The
> >> KT133 chipset isn't capable of FSB speeds of more than about 116MHz,
> >> with 100MHz being thr official max speed. The default multiplier of the
> >> 2400+ is 15, so as default it would run at 15x100 or 1500MHz.
> >
> > Thanks for the response, Wes. But I'm not talking about some monitoring
> > software. It's what was shown on the POST screen. Manual setting of the
> > FSB offers upto 142 MHz.
> >
> I don't care what the bios shows, it's not capable of working past about
> 116MHz. And you can take that to the bank.
>
> >> I suspect that if you reset the bios the Duron will work.
> >
> > I already stated that resetting the BIOS makes no difference. With the
> > Duron, it simply refuses to even POST.
> >
> Well then something is set wrong. If he's got the FSB set to 133MHz, then
> that's the problem. It won't work at that speed.

I'm glad that at least one person responded to my post, but I wish
you'd read it more carefully before adding comments. By "resetting", I
mean clearing the CMOS and restoring default values by removing the
battery and shorting the clear pins. There's no other way to reset the
BIOS since it refuses to start up at all with the Duron.

I even tried setting the BIOS, with the Athlon XP in place, to values
suitable for a Duron, such as 100MHz FSB, and then changed the CPU. No
good. Yet, the Duron works perfectly in another machine, and it *was*
working with this mobo for years.

In fact, I used this particular machine before to test an Athlon XP
2600+. After running it with the 2600+ for a few minutes (albeit at
incorrect speed), I reinstalled the Duron and it just continued
working fine, automatically selecting the correct speeds.

The only possibility I can think of is that the owner, knowingly or
unknowingly, changed the DIP switch settings.

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 05:56:33 -0700, Zotin Khuma wrote:

> The only possibility I can think of is that the owner, knowingly or
> unknowingly, changed the DIP switch settings.

That's a possibilty. A long shot, but the pins of the old duron may have
corrsion (for lack of the correct term, which I can't seem to recall in my
old age) caused by the elctrical connection over the years. and in the
other socket the contact point is a little different. Might try partially
closing the lever and sliding the cpu up and down in the socket. Well, I
said it was a long shot.:-)

--
Abit KT7-Raid (KT133) Tbred B core CPU @2400MHz (24x100FSB)
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm