BIOS reports hardware values wrong

[annoyed llama]

I've just recently purchased a XFX NF2S-ALH motherboard. This board supports an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ at 266MHz FSB processor which I have installed. However, the BIOS (Award BIOS) reports the processor as being a XP 1800+ and will not allow me to increase the FSB beyond 233MHz.

I also have installed a 512MB PC3200 (400Mhz) DDR stick of RAM. The motherboard supports PC3200 RAM. The BIOS reports the memory frequency at 200MHz and I cannot increase this to 400MHz.

I do not have an operating system installed.
I do not have a HDD installed.

I simply installed the CPU, memory, and video to make sure things worked.

Any help or response is appreciated. If you have any other questions I will try to answer them to the best of my knowledge.

Danke.

 

[XT]

well if your bios will not allow you to up the fsb then i would reccomending flashing it. And see if that unlocks fsb and mutiplier and just crank those up until its at 2400+. That would not be ocing it but rather setting it to normal settings. But thats a little hasty i usually go for things that solve the problem but there might be a quicker solution. Let somebody post an other solution before you seriously consider mine

 

[annoyed llama]

Let me ask you a question.

Could you explain to me what a multiplier is and how is works? I regret to announce I have no experience this subject.

 

[XT]

cpu speed is determined by multiplying the multiplier times the bus and that can be done by jumpers OR (in the case of all Abits and some others) in the bios

 

[Bleep]

Take my pentium IV 2.4 Ghz as an example. The way you figure it out to be 2.4 Ghz, is you take the front side bus speed (reported in bios as 200), and you use the multiplier, which is 12.

so... 12x200 makes 2400 MHz, or 2.4 Ghz.

 

[Apokalipse]

do you think they could have ripped you off by giving you an 1800 instead of a 2400?

 

[annoyed llama]

apokalipse:

I don't think I was ripped off, the text on the processor itself says 2400. Nice suggestion though, thinking outside the box.


Bleep:

How do you know what your multiplier is? Do you just find it by dividing your FSB into your processor speed?

for instance:

you said:

The way you figure it out to be 2.4 Ghz, is you take the front side bus speed (reported in bios as 200), and you use the multiplier, which is 12.

So in the case of your 2.4GHz, if the FSB was set at 100MHz, the multiplier would be 24. Is my logic correct? Does a multiplier aslo apply to RAM?


Thank you both for your help.

 

[Bleep]

Yep. You should also see it in bios.

If you want...download a small/free program called CPU-Z at www.cpuid.com. It will give you the info, as well as other stuff like ram latency info. and mainboard info., etc.

 

[Bleep]

Sorry missed this part....."Does a multiplier aslo apply to RAM?"


Nope...but increasing your FS Bus will affect the ram. It essentialy overclocks your ram. So running tight timings on the ram, may interfere with a high FSB.

Edit: Here is a little article on an athlon 2500 CPU..it has the math for your type of processor multiplier.

http://hardwarecentral.dealtime.com/xPR-AMD_Athlon_XP_2500_1_83_GHz_AXDA2500BOX~RD-112958803588

 

[annoyed llama]

Thanks for all the info. It's a little late (or early) now to do more investigating and fiddling about. More tomorrow (or today).