I took a chance on eBay on an Athlon XP 2200+ mobile CPU. It was "as-is, untested". The guy had 10 available & I got one for $18. It arrived yesterday & I anxiously popped it in my test board (bare board on bench). It booted up fine & the CPU was recognized as a mobile. I played around in the BIOS, confirmed the multiplier was unlocked, checked temps, voltage, etc...everything appeared fine & I was happy as could be with my "bargain".

I removed the CPU, cleaned it up & installed it in the board I bought it for...a Shuttle AN35N Ultra which had been running fine with a Sempron 2500+ (10.5 x 185MHz) & 1GB PC2700 RAM. It booted up, I reconfiged the BIOS settings & rebooted...it locked at "verifying DMI pool data". Normally this would indicate a hardware problem such as HDD, floppy, PCI card, etc but the system had been working flawlessly prior to the CPU swap. I tried underclocking the CPU, but it still locked up. I did some googling & ran across a recommendation to disable internal & external cache. I gave it a try & sure enough, it booted thru...but it took about 15-20 minutes to bring up all the icons & for Norton anti-v to load.

I doubt there's anything I can do with this CPU unless someone has a suggestion? I'm gonna contact the seller & see if we can work something out, but being as it was sold "as-is", I doubt I'll get anywhere.

Basically, I gambled & lost :(

Have you tried flashing the BIOS on that Shuttle board?

I see listed on Shuttle's site the latest BIOS for the board fixed compatibility with Sempron 2200+'s. Obviously you have a mobile, but maybe there's a connection there?

http://www.shuttle.com/share/fae/hq/download/bios_rdm/readmean35.htm

Have you popped it back on the test board?

Seems to me that if it worked without cache disabled on the other mobo, but doesn't work on the Shuttle board, that would imply something is wrong with the mobo when that CPU is used, not the CPU.

"Milk was a bad choice!"

Disabling L1 and L2 cache and boot through windows or do games... etc, that will give you a huge performance penality... There is some program that tells you how much bandwidth and latency the L1 and L2 cache has, but I forgot which one is it.. Have you try to just disable L1 or L2 w/o both? Don't forget that the mobile series has lower voltage than the standard xp, perhaps lower the voltage all the way down to 1.5v? Have you try that CPU in another board? Also when say you try to underclocking the processor, have you try all the way to 100Mhz fsb? I heard you can use the wire trick to unlock higher multiplier and use it in the BIOS... Anyways, I did some research on the L1 and L2 cache problem, some user say if they enable L1 cache and disable L2, system works and vise-versa.... If thats the case, would it be simply just a BIOS issue where the motherboard is slightly imcompatiable with that specific chip???

TMP-Man

Asus P5P800-SE
P4 506 @ 4100Mhz 1.525v
Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 2000RPM FAN + AS5
1GB Corsair 2-3-3-5 DDR400
40GB 5400RPM/120GB 7200RPM HD
Radoen 9500 mod 9700 @ 375/600 CHS+RHS

I've always thought a CPU either works, or it doesn't. When I initially tested it, it was just on a bare board so there was no OS to boot to...I just confirmed that the CPU worked, then swapped it to the Shuttle. AFIAK, I have the latest BIOS, but I'll double check.

I tried several different CPU configurations. 100, 133, 166 FSB, different multipliers, different vcore, cleared CMOS & started from scratch, fail-safe defaults, etc. No matter what I tried, it would always lock up at "verifying DMI pool data". I even let it sit for about an hour on that screen to see if it would eventually boot thru. I didn't try experiemnting with L1 enabled, L2 disabled, or vice-versa...just with both disabled. It was getting late, not to mention I was getting frustrated, so I just shut it down for the nite.

I do have a KT133A board I can try it on, but that won't be until later today.

Try a CPU diagnostic on it that's self booting. Would be nice to know if the cache passes.

"Milk was a bad choice!"

Odds are it's a dud.

There are many sellers on ebay that knowingly sell bad or defective products "as is" or "untested" to make a quick buck here and there.

The notorious ones are usually busted by their feedback profile (not the % rating but comments from buyers), smartly enough a lot of them will make this private.

Goodluck with the exercise.

Computer Components

"Try a CPU diagnostic on it that's self booting"

Can you suggest such a program? I did some googling & all I could find that's bootable is called "x86test". Not sure if that will provide the info I need though

http://www.vortex.prodigynet.co.uk/x86test/

I don't even know if I can boot off a floppy with L1 & L2 enabled?

"The notorious ones are usually busted by their feedback profile (not the % rating but comments from buyers), smartly enough a lot of them will make this private."

The seller does have a private profile & I believe the rating was 98.6%. I realize I took a BIG chance, but for $18 I figured it was worth the gamble. He had other faster CPUs that were priced higher...I deliberately went with the 2200+ to reduce my loss, just in case. He probably prices them low to sucker people in (like me)...lol. I'll play around with it for a while & for what it's worth, I plan on firing off an e-mail to him later.

Try www.ultimatebootcd.com and see if there's something on that. I know there's at least burn in tests, which could tell you at the very least if it's good or bad.

When testing, I was referring to using the CPU on the old board it seemed to work in.

"Milk was a bad choice!"

It's looking like it's the L1 cache that's mucked up, not the L2. I'll post back later with what I've tried so far

Well, with both L1 & L2 enabled, I can't boot off the HDD...the system just locks up & won't even respond to Ctrl-Alt-Del. Same goes for L1 enabled/L2 disabled. If both are disabled or L1 disabled/L2 enabled, it will boot into Windows, but it takes a LOOOOONG time. However, the system will boot off either a floppy or CD regardless of the L1/L2 settings.

I downloaded the newest version of the Ultimate Boot CD (mine was older) & experimented with some of the tests. My RAM has been tested before but for the hell of it I ran memtest86 for about 45 min...no errors & no problems. There are several different CPU tests on the CD..."Lucifer" locked up, as did "Mersenne Prime Test" & "CPU Benchmark" (all tests run with L1/L2 enabled). I tried the CPU at different clock settings --- 1000MHz (10 x 100), 1800MHz (13.5 x 133, the default), 1750MHz (10.5 x 166). Results were the same each time. "CPU Burn-in" has been running for over an hour & seems to be OK. I plan on attempting these tests again, this time with L1 disabled just to see if they'll run without locking up. Regardless, these CPU does indeed seem to be a dud.

From the seller:

"Very sorry for the inconvenience. We are not technicians and cannot offer any computer advice for you. Unfortunately with as-is untested items we cannot guarantee compatibility or functionality. As stated in the auction return policy, there are no returns for as-is items. If you would like a replacement, the manufacturer may offer an option for you. So you could try contacting them. We do appreciate your business, and if you cant figure out a solution, and returning is your only option.
We will waive our policy, and you then may return the item, with a 15% charge"

"L1 disabled/L2 enabled, it will boot into Windows, but it takes a LOOOOONG time."

I am not surprised since shutting down the processor's L1 cache pretty much starves the CPU thus making it crank only at a fraction of its ability.

"We do appreciate your business, and if you cant figure out a solution, and returning is your only option.
We will waive our policy, and you then may return the item, with a 15% charge"

If you send it back to them (you'll be out only a couple dollars including their 15% restocking fee), however they'll relist it again for another sucker to bite. Nice try, they are trying to reel you in so they can neg you on top of their deceptive disclosure.

Computer Components

I removed the AXP-M, reinstalled the Sempron & the system is running fine again. I decided I've got too much time invested in the "dud" as it is, so I'm not gonna bother running any more tests. I'm gonna take the seller up on his offer & return it to cut my loss down to just a few bucks.

I learned a couple of lessons though...it's not worth gambling on "as-is, untested" (although I already knew that), but what I didn't know is that a CPU can be bad & still boot up a system. I always thought it was pretty 'cut & dried'...it either works or it doesn't. Now I know there's an "in-between"

Unfortunately this seller will probably continue to do what he's been doing & I don't doubt that this CPU will be relisted again.

Caveat Emptor!

Thanks for all the comments & suggestions.

Besides, they usually refund you the sale price and not the shipping charges, which is generally where they make their money.

I wish my lawn was emo so it would cut itself.

Hey...

In my opinion, the CPU either works or doesn't. If the L1 or L2 cache doesn't work, then the CPU is dead because the CPU at that point is useless anyway. :-P

And more evidence Ebay is a blight on our culture... :-)

"Milk was a bad choice!"

Point well taken....

In case anyone checks this thread again, I returned the CPU & my paypal account was credited for the selling price minus 15%. I decided to post positive feedback afterall. eBay dosen't allow much space for it, but I did my best to explain what happened (it's hidden anyway).

Caveman say:

"EBAY BAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

"Milk was a bad choice!"

Hey JAM, you got burned and come out very well, congratulations. I do nearly all my PC junk buying off ebay and have been in your boat many times. I've now got a list of the GOOD GUYS , (tsmcomputers, dealtree-auctions, scificomputers, computerstuffstore, bargaindepot04, etc) notice they are all big ones. The worst deals come from new ones and little ones, watch those rediculess shipping gouges (they make more without shareing it with ebay) feedbacks are extremely important. Good luck and don't give up on it.

correct me if I'm wrong