Tales From The Rags Side

[Wombat]

Also, DDR looks to be quite expensive in the next few months. I've been holding off on upgrading my system for the same reason, but it doesn't look like I can afford the new stuff for a while after it comes out (as well as the 266MHz FSB processors, that's just begging for OC'ers though).

[Rags]

Wombat,

My cpu doesn't appear to be the problem, I have tried several all with the same results. 66Mhz FSB is okay, a bit on the unstable side, but it works. 100 FSB is no go.

Rags

[paulcs]

Updating to a KT-133/Athlon platform would most likely stick Rags with a very short upgrade path. I'm thinking about what happened with the transition from Slot A to Socket A. On the other hand, running out and buying a first revision of an AMD 760 or VIA KT133A motherboard could lead to "growing pain" related headaches: design flaws, BIOS issues, driver issues, compatibility issues, etc.

Assuming the CPU is functioning properly, I'd get an inexpensive but nice board that supports his PIII. This would give him a couple of months to consider his options and see how the new chipsets are panning out. If he decides to do a complete system overhaul (new chipset/new memory standard), he'll also have the beginnings of a nice second or third system built from spare parts.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Kruzin]

I just love it when Rags fries something and upgrades...it often means I'm upgrading something too

[Rags]

Paul,

Your thoughts are like mine. I have to buy a new motherboard any way I look at it. I don't think I will need to get a new cpu if I stay P3, and in 6 months I plan on going to a new platform anyhow. It would be time to upgrade the cpu then anyhow, so I decided to go for the CUSL2 and pray win2k likes it better than the other one. I will post back tomorrow night late (hopefully) to let you know how this tale ends.


Rags



[This message has been edited by Rags (edited 29 December 2000).]

[cjolley]

Well, I was just going to suggest the
ABit BE6-2 V2.
And raid your HDs.
I'll be interested to see how the CUSL2 does.
chuck


------------------
ABit BE6-2 V2, P3-650@923, 256mb@142cas3, 90gig (2x45) IBM 75GXP striped raid array, SB Live Value@3.0, Pioneer 104s DVD, Mitsumi CDRW@2x2x8, Acatel 1000 ADSL@1.5mb/sec, Linksys EtherFast NIC, LG 995e, USB mouse,Matrox G400 MAX!!!!

[SCompRacer]

Budget being tight I did the 900 Mhz Athlon T'bird thing with an Abit KT7, 128MB PC/133. Too much invested in SCSI to get into the IDE Raid stuff, though it looks good.

[Rags]

Well, I got my CUSL2-C this morning, installed it at lunch, and am setting it up now. I am posting this from Win Me right now, as win2k gets a stop error, invalid boot device or something or another.

Rags

[Rags]

Well, it's official now, it was my BF6 that was fried. I am now running at 133 FSB, haven't tried to do any higher yet.

I repaired win2k successfully, and now just have to optimize everything. Thanks for all the comments and help.

Rags

[ALBPM]

And the FedX guys fat wife didn't sit on it and break it....LOL

Paul

[SCompRacer]

Whats the difference with the "C" board?

The CUSL2-C link does not work on Asus website, can only see CUSL2 and CUSL2M.

[Rags]

The C is supposed to have the 815EP chipset on it. But if I remember right, this one won't have the EP, but it will be effectively the same. It removes onboard video support, which reduces AGP graphics board problems. There are also some ACPI fixes, and right now I am in ACPI mode.

To get my system to work in win2k without reinstalling, I had to use the ATA66 cable included in the box with my IBM drive, boot with the win2k cdrom, choose setup, then accept repair when it prompted. After the repair process was done, I shutdown, removed my SBLive (VERY VERY important!!), rebooted, installed the 815E chipset drivers, rebooted, shutdown, installed my Live, then booted and installed the Liveware drivers again. So far so good. I am in ACPI mode right now, and the one place where ACPI would fail before on the other CUSL2 is working fine. I think it will be fine in ACPI mode, but only time will tell.

More to come

Rags

[paulcs]

This is straight out of the "now he tells me" department, but I didn't know this until today. Apparently it's important to install the INF before you do *anything.* Intel's drivers should be on the hard drive and decompressed before you install W2K (so you don't have to install WinZip).

Some people go so far as to boot into safe mode and launch the drivers from the command prompt. Seems a little extreme, but I can't really talk with any authority. I haven't tried the board with Windows 2000.

There's a website with forums devoted to the CUSL2 series. Here's a link to their Windows 2000 forum:

http://www.cusl2.com/UltraBoard/Ultr...P=1&SID=189696

If you sort through the threads, you'll find a number of posts about installation problems and various fixes. Unfortunately, the fixes too often end with "reboot and pray."

Asus's German division produces BIOS's, and the staff in Germany is more inclined to update the FTP site than Taiwan or California crews. Last week, they uploaded the sixth (!!) revision of Beta BIOS 1005. It fixed an annoying problem I was having in Windows 98. Here's a link:


ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/BIOS/Socket_370/INTEL_Chipset/i815ep/CUSL2-C/

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Rags]

Yup, the reason Intel is recommending that is because of a hang while the INF is being installed in Win2k. When it hangs. You are done. No more win2k install, you have to reinstall everything. The nice folks at CUSL2.com have pinned it down to the SBLive. Aren't forums great?

Rags

[Rags]

Well, I tortured it overnight and it didn't crash. Everything I have installed has worked so far. Looks to be a nice board. A smidgen slower at 133 FSB, other than that it's great.

Rags