[LinuxBIOS] LinuxBios on a HP ePC C10 ?

[Klaus Gimm, jr.]

Hi all !

This is the first time ever i am writing to a mailing list, so i hope i dont
make a fool of myself :o)

Ok I stumbled over your page and project by accident. If I understand
everything correct is an alternate BIOS software (Based on Linux, hence the
name) that allows faster boot ups and provides more functionality then the
classic bios versions.

So first things first, can I Install  the software on a HP ePc c10
(e-Vectra)?

Here is the information I was able to gather over the machine with a Bios
Tool and Sandra:

Bios Type: American Megatrends licensed to Intel

Bios Date: 07/11/01 (latest i was able to aquire)

Bios ID: 63-10B5-001121-00101011-071595-WHITNEY-1AAFR051

Chipset: Intel Whitney 82810E rev 3

Super I/O: NSC 364 rev 11 found at port 2Eh

ACPI: 1.0

CPU: Intel P3 - 933 Mhz

RAM: 256 MB

BIOS ROM: in socket, 512 kb

Graphic, Sound, and Ethernet are all onboard.

Currently it seems I am not able to install anything bigger then 256 MB ram,
would a bios upgrade change this ?

Yours sincerely,

Klaus

P.S: Keep up the good work, awesome stuff so far.

Quoting "Klaus Gimm, jr." :
> Hi all !
>
> This is the first time ever i am writing to a mailing list, so i hope i dont
> make a fool of myself :o)
>
> Ok I stumbled over your page and project by accident. If I understand
> everything correct is an alternate BIOS software (Based on Linux, hence the
> name) that allows faster boot ups and provides more functionality then the
> classic bios versions.
>
> So first things first, can I Install  the software on a HP ePc c10
> (e-Vectra)?
>
> Here is the information I was able to gather over the machine with a Bios
> Tool and Sandra:
>
> Bios Type: American Megatrends licensed to Intel
>
> Bios Date: 07/11/01 (latest i was able to aquire)
>
> Bios ID: 63-10B5-001121-00101011-071595-WHITNEY-1AAFR051
>
> Chipset: Intel Whitney 82810E rev 3
>
> Super I/O: NSC 364 rev 11 found at port 2Eh
>
> ACPI: 1.0
>
> CPU: Intel P3 - 933 Mhz
>
> RAM: 256 MB
>
> BIOS ROM: in socket, 512 kb
>
> Graphic, Sound, and Ethernet are all onboard.
>
> Currently it seems I am not able to install anything bigger then 256 MB ram,
> would a bios upgrade change this ?
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> Klaus
>
> P.S: Keep up the good work, awesome stuff so far.

Hello Klaus,
To date there is no support for the Intel P3 828XX (82810, 82815,  
82830) chipsets. Which seems a little strange because the i810 and  
i815 are very popular P3 chipsets. I am working on this and will  
hopefully be able to get it going soon.

Thanks - Joe

[Uwe Hermann]

Hi,

On Thu, Mar 08, 2007 at 01:03:50AM -0500, [e-mail] wrote:
> > Bios Type: American Megatrends licensed to Intel
> >
> > Bios Date: 07/11/01 (latest i was able to aquire)
> >
> > Bios ID: 63-10B5-001121-00101011-071595-WHITNEY-1AAFR051

All of this is not relevant.
> > Chipset: Intel Whitney 82810E rev 3

Not yet supported, sorry.
> > Super I/O: NSC 364 rev 11 found at port 2Eh

Not yet supported, but this is usually easy to do.
> > BIOS ROM: in socket, 512 kb

This is good. As it's in a socket you can take it out and put a
backup-chip in there...
> > Currently it seems I am not able to install anything bigger then 256 MB ram,
> > would a bios upgrade change this ?

Depends on where the limitation comes from. If the proprietary BIOS
simply doesn't support more RAM, then maybe.

If your northbridge/chipset doesn't support more RAM (didn't check),
then you're out of luck -- no BIOS will help you in that case.
> Hello Klaus,
> To date there is no support for the Intel P3 828XX (82810, 82815,  
> 82830) chipsets. Which seems a little strange because the i810 and  
> i815 are very popular P3 chipsets.

Yeah, well :) All LinuxBIOS problems usually boil down to:

* Too few developers
 * Not enough time per day
 * Missing data sheets

(or combinations thereof)
> I am working on this and will  
> hopefully be able to get it going soon.

That's great! We're looking forward to your patches!

Uwe.

[Corey Osgood]

Uwe Hermann wrote:
> > > Currently it seems I am not able to install anything bigger then 256 MB ram,
> > > would a bios upgrade change this ?
>
> Depends on where the limitation comes from. If the proprietary BIOS
> simply doesn't support more RAM, then maybe.
>
> If your northbridge/chipset doesn't support more RAM (didn't check),
> then you're out of luck -- no BIOS will help you in that case.

On the i815 chipset, the limit for ram is 512MB. I can only assume this to be the same for the i810, since the i815 is extremely similar. You should probably grab the i810's docs off intel.com, they should say in the first few pages if there's as limit and what it is.

-Corey

Quoting Corey Osgood :
> Uwe Hermann wrote:
> > > > Currently it seems I am not able to install anything bigger then   
> > > > 256 MB ram,
> > > > would a bios upgrade change this ?
> >
> > Depends on where the limitation comes from. If the proprietary BIOS
> > simply doesn't support more RAM, then maybe.
> >
> > If your northbridge/chipset doesn't support more RAM (didn't check),
> > then you're out of luck -- no BIOS will help you in that case.
>
> On the i815 chipset, the limit for ram is 512MB. I can only assume   
> this to be the same for the i810, since the i815 is extremely   
> similar. You should probably grab the i810's docs off intel.com,   
> they should say in the first few pages if there's as limit and what   
> it is.
>
> -Corey

Correct me if I am wrong, i810 supports 512MB PC100 with a FSB of 100Mhz,
i810E supports 512MB PC133 with a FSB of 100Mhz, and i815 supports  
512MB PC133 with a FSB of 133Mhz, and then we have my baby the 830M  
which is a mobile cross breede betwwen a i815 and i845 chipset and it  
supports 1024MB PC133 with a FSB of 133Mhz.

Thanks - Joe

Quoting [e-mail]:
> Quoting Corey Osgood :
> > Uwe Hermann wrote:
> > > > > Currently it seems I am not able to install anything bigger then
> > > > > 256 MB ram,
> > > > > would a bios upgrade change this ?
> > >
> > > Depends on where the limitation comes from. If the proprietary BIOS
> > > simply doesn't support more RAM, then maybe.
> > >
> > > If your northbridge/chipset doesn't support more RAM (didn't check),
> > > then you're out of luck -- no BIOS will help you in that case.
> >
> > On the i815 chipset, the limit for ram is 512MB. I can only assume
> > this to be the same for the i810, since the i815 is extremely
> > similar. You should probably grab the i810's docs off intel.com,
> > they should say in the first few pages if there's as limit and what
> > it is.
> >
> > -Corey
>
> Correct me if I am wrong, i810 supports 512MB PC100 with a FSB of 100Mhz,
> i810E supports 512MB PC133 with a FSB of 100Mhz, and i815 supports
> 512MB PC133 with a FSB of 133Mhz, and then we have my baby the 830M
> which is a mobile cross breede betwwen a i815 and i845 chipset and it
> supports 1024MB PC133 with a FSB of 133Mhz.
>
> Thanks - Joe

Also, does it matter in LinuxBios how many DIMM slots you have?? I  
know in normal bios's there is a max per channel. For example on an  
i810 with two DIMM slots it would be able to support 256MB max per  
channel or slot. If you only had one slot you could could only have  
256MB. Is this determined by the bios or chipset?

Thanks - Joe

[Corey Osgood]

[e-mail] wrote:
> Quoting [e-mail]:
> > Quoting Corey Osgood :
> > > Uwe Hermann wrote:
> > > > > > Currently it seems I am not able to install anything bigger then
> > > > > > 256 MB ram,
> > > > > > would a bios upgrade change this ?
> > > >
> > > > Depends on where the limitation comes from. If the proprietary BIOS
> > > > simply doesn't support more RAM, then maybe.
> > > >
> > > > If your northbridge/chipset doesn't support more RAM (didn't check),
> > > > then you're out of luck -- no BIOS will help you in that case.
> > >
> > > On the i815 chipset, the limit for ram is 512MB. I can only assume
> > > this to be the same for the i810, since the i815 is extremely
> > > similar. You should probably grab the i810's docs off intel.com,
> > > they should say in the first few pages if there's as limit and what
> > > it is.
> > >
> > > -Corey
> >
> > Correct me if I am wrong, i810 supports 512MB PC100 with a FSB of 100Mhz,
> > i810E supports 512MB PC133 with a FSB of 100Mhz, and i815 supports
> > 512MB PC133 with a FSB of 133Mhz, and then we have my baby the 830M
> > which is a mobile cross breede betwwen a i815 and i845 chipset and it
> > supports 1024MB PC133 with a FSB of 133Mhz.
> >
> > Thanks - Joe
>
> Also, does it matter in LinuxBios how many DIMM slots you have?? I  
> know in normal bios's there is a max per channel. For example on an  
> i810 with two DIMM slots it would be able to support 256MB max per  
> channel or slot. If you only had one slot you could could only have  
> 256MB. Is this determined by the bios or chipset?
>
> Thanks - Joe

I don't think this is a problem for the i810/i815, although I suppose it 
could be some board-specific thing. My D815EEA has 4 dimm slots, and I 
only have 1 512MB PC133 DIMM in it. Adding any more memory gives an 
error in the BIOS that it can't initialize the extra ram. I have heard 
of/seen this on other chipsets/boards, although I don't remember what 
they were off the top of my head, it was too long ago and I don't think 
I have them any more.

As far as the i810E supporting 512MB of PC133@100MHz, that' doesn't even 
make sense. PC133 should be backwards compatible with PC100 , so 
supporting PC100 would have meant it also supported PC133 (just not at 
full speed), and vice versa. However, you are indeed correct on the 
i815's memory support.

-Corey

Quoting Corey Osgood :
> [e-mail] wrote:
> > Quoting [e-mail]:
> > > Quoting Corey Osgood :
> > > > Uwe Hermann wrote:
> > > > > > > Currently it seems I am not able to install anything bigger then
> > > > > > > 256 MB ram,
> > > > > > > would a bios upgrade change this ?
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Depends on where the limitation comes from. If the proprietary BIOS
> > > > > simply doesn't support more RAM, then maybe.
> > > > >
> > > > > If your northbridge/chipset doesn't support more RAM (didn't check),
> > > > > then you're out of luck -- no BIOS will help you in that case.
> > > >
> > > > On the i815 chipset, the limit for ram is 512MB. I can only assume
> > > > this to be the same for the i810, since the i815 is extremely
> > > > similar. You should probably grab the i810's docs off intel.com,
> > > > they should say in the first few pages if there's as limit and what
> > > > it is.
> > > >
> > > > -Corey
> > >
> > > Correct me if I am wrong, i810 supports 512MB PC100 with a FSB of 100Mhz,
> > > i810E supports 512MB PC133 with a FSB of 100Mhz, and i815 supports
> > > 512MB PC133 with a FSB of 133Mhz, and then we have my baby the 830M
> > > which is a mobile cross breede betwwen a i815 and i845 chipset and it
> > > supports 1024MB PC133 with a FSB of 133Mhz.
> > >
> > > Thanks - Joe
> >
> > Also, does it matter in LinuxBios how many DIMM slots you have?? I   
> >  know in normal bios's there is a max per channel. For example on  
> > an   i810 with two DIMM slots it would be able to support 256MB max  
> > per   channel or slot. If you only had one slot you could could  
> > only  have  256MB. Is this determined by the bios or chipset?
> >
> > Thanks - Joe
>
> I don't think this is a problem for the i810/i815, although I suppose
> it could be some board-specific thing. My D815EEA has 4 dimm slots, and
> I only have 1 512MB PC133 DIMM in it. Adding any more memory gives an
> error in the BIOS that it can't initialize the extra ram. I have heard
> of/seen this on other chipsets/boards, although I don't remember what
> they were off the top of my head, it was too long ago and I don't think
> I have them any more.
>
> As far as the i810E supporting 512MB of PC133@100MHz, that' doesn't
> even make sense. PC133 should be backwards compatible with PC100 , so
> supporting PC100 would have meant it also supported PC133 (just not at
> full speed), and vice versa. However, you are indeed correct on the
> i815's memory support.
>
> -Corey

Check out this link:

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/mature/index.htm

Note the "Memory Type" section.
The i810e (e is for enhanced) this chipset supports the use of 133mhz  
processors and memory but it actually only runs at 100mhz. In the i810  
you can only use max of 100mhz processors and memory. I have many of  
these boards laying around. They are a dime a dozen these days.

Thanks - Joe