Maybe upgrading motherboards

[randycw]

I might have to push up my timeline for upgrading motherboards. It seems mine is having a bit of trouble, and I am hoping some of you might be able to help decifer the error for me.

I have a EPOX 8KTA3 motherboard. It has an onboard LED that displays post codes. When it boots normally it displays FF. Mine is currently booting every now and then with a 19 code. Consultation of the manual decodes this as an error in 8259 functionality. I don't know what 8259 is and the EPOX website didn't clear it up for me either, but it does seem to make my hard drive a bit flakey -- I get all sorts of read/write errors after it boots with this code displayed. Once rebooted to the FF code all is well again.

Any clues as to what 8259 is?

[Jodie]

oh oh oh! I get to beat Dnar to this - and it's HIS area of expertise! WOOHOO!

The 8259 is the Programmable Interrupt Controller. In haven't thought about these since the Olden Days! These days I think they're handling all the hardware interrupts in the machines with a couple of 8259 compat. PICs.... Yup, checking my Programming for PC Interrupts book, I see all interrupts going from one write line on the processor to two 8259 compat pics, one slaved off the other. Ahh, now I'm remembering (gosh, it's been awhile!) THAT's the whole cascaded IRQ2->IRQ9 thing! Hmm, have you added any new non-plug_and_pray hardware lately?

How old is this motherboard? No North/South bridge?

Anyway, your Programmable Interrupt Controller is complaining. If you haven't added any new hardware lately, it's definitely time to get a new mobo! If you have added non-plug_and_pray hardware, have a look to see if it's set on int-2 or int-9...:( Comfort! You might have to take that mobo out into the field and shoot it... {hanging head in a moment of silence}

[randycw]

The board is about 5-6 months old. Man, I can't believe its already going bad on me! Haven't added any new hardware for about a month -- last was a USB connection for a digital camera, but all has worked fine unitl late last night.

[randycw]

Are there any strong opinions on which dual CPU AMD motherboard I should consider buying. Looks like, from Jodie's post I might be upgrading a little early and I haven't done my research on motherboards yet. So I'm looking for the easy way out and getting recommendations here.

[LBaker]

Right now I think there is only 1 to chose from http://www.tyan.com/products/html/fam_thunder.html
Should be more soon ;)

[Jodie]

Yuppers! The only real choice out there is the Tyan K7 Thunder... I should have time to build one or two of them tomorrow - will keep you posted on how they do! I'm putting two 1.2MPs in one and two 1.4 Tbirds in the other...

[randycw]

Dang Tyan has been the only one for at least a month now. I figured for sure one of the other motherboard manufacturers would have had theirs out by now. MAYBE I can get this board to hold out awhile longer -- kind of wait it out!

[viperdog]

Originally posted by Jodie
Yuppers! The only real choice out there is the Tyan K7 Thunder... I should have time to build one or two of them tomorrow - will keep you posted on how they do! I'm putting two 1.2MPs in one and two 1.4 Tbirds in the other...

--OK I'm confused, how can you put two 1.4 Tbirds in the "other"??

a. 1.4 Tbirds are not MP so I would think they just might be missing some components to handle or be handled by the 760MP chipset.

b. The board was designed to power up two Palomino cores ( 1.2MP : +/- 112watts) , two 1.4 Tbirds will draw +/- 140 watts, if it will run two tbirds will the circuitry on the board support that much extra power??

Maybe I'm really off base but I'd hate to see you smoke a board.

[wbierman]

The Tyan K7 Thunder has even been tested with Duron 900s. Any of the Socket A CPUs will work. Would you want to stick 2 1.4s in a 1U rack mount case? Probabbly not due to the extra heat.

I understand AMD worked with Tyan for two years to get the dual board right fron the start...

[Jodie]

According to my supplier and Tyan directly, the 1.4 will work and still be faster than the 1.2 Palomino... I'm actually housing them in a 2U with a fair bit of cooling (8 fans total). Assuming they get tooo toasty, I'll go water to them, but we'll try them to air first...

[pelligrini]

How's the TYAN K7 Thunder for overclocking?

I've got a TYAN Tiger 133 (dual slot1) and it's a POS in regards to overclocking. I was able to get a pair of 450's to run at 600, but I had to tape a bunch of pins get them there.

[Jodie]

reading my manual, looks like nothing but a few fsb settings...

[pelligrini]

How about voltage settings?
My tiger 133 automatically detects the fsb from the chip and there are no voltage adjustments. I sure do love Abit and Asus.

I suppose I could check out their site myself though :D