I got this mobo with a K7 1700 cpu for free becuase the previous owner couldn't get the drivers, or get it to see the full speed out of the cpu.
I've searched the Amptron web site for a manual, or drivers or anything, but I can't find this mobo. The worst part is that the mobo doesn't say anything. It has the "JP1" printed, but not what it's for. There are a couple of jumpers on it that it doesn't say what there for. I'd like to know if changing the one or more of the jumpers could fix the problem.

Basically when I start up the computer with bios settings to drop the cpu, it will boot off the IDE. But with the bios set to full 1700, it stops at reading the memory.

Emachines T-2200, Sound Blaster live 5.1, ATI 9200se main comp
Asus A7N8X, AMD 2500 Barton, 1 gig Corsair, Geforce 4200ti

If you read the BIOS String, you should be able to Google to get the model.....

http://www.motherboards.org/article...

If you have W2K/XP installed and working then HWINFO will identify:

http://www.hwinfo.com

Do you mean a 1700+? If so, it doesn't run at 1700MHz, it runs at 1467MHz (11 x 133MHz).

Amptron is basically the same as PCChips. If you don't know the model number of the board, try the BIOS string method as suggested above, or get the model number off the chipset (probably VIA or SiS) & check the PCChips website.

http://www.pcchipsusa.com/prod-pcch...

http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWeb/Pr...

Ok, this is the problem. The two choices in the BIOS for the CPU speed are 1100mhz, and 1700+. (And I do understand that the 1700+ runs at 1467mhz.)

The only other adjsutment that can be made is for the DRAM frequency. With the 1100mhz selected, you can change from 100mhz to 133mhz. With 1700+ selected, the DRAM frequency can't be changed.

So I would figure that the board will only accept PC133 when using the full capabilties of the 1700+ proccessor. I currently only have about 10 sticks of varing sizes of PC100. I don't have any PC133 to test.

The only thing is that no matter what the DRAM setting is in when in 1100mhz mode, the board will go to "boot from whatever", and continue to boot. But in the 1700+ setting, nothing happens.

I'm currently installing XP on it, and I'll see what the mobo is after this.
The funniest thing is that there are no ID numbers on this thing at all. The chip set has Amptron printed on it. The only #'s on this thing are the resistor and "JP1, IDE 1" and the like.
Yeah, I'm sure that it's a cheap POS, but for free!!!! Oh, well. At least it will be faster than my 600mhz PIII, or my 366mhz Celeron.

Emachines T-2200, Sound Blaster live 5.1, ATI 9200se main comp
Asus A7N8X, AMD 2500 Barton, 1 gig Corsair, Geforce 4200ti

Dude, Amptron is PCChips. The 1st link I posted on response #2 lists most (if not all) of PCChips' socket A boards, complete with pics. See if you can determine which one you have. Is your board ATX or microATX? If you know that, you can eliminate 1/2 the boards from the list.

Did you look at the BIOS String as suggested? Most of the time, you'll find the model number simply by looking at it. Or try CPUZ & see if that helps.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

As pointed out several times by jam, many older Amptron mboards are exactly the same as some PCChips models. PCChips is the retail brand name of Hsing Tech the mboard maker, which also supplied/supplies their mboards OEM to Amptron and many other vendors to be sold under their own brand and model. Amptron used to have very good support for the Hsing Tech models they sold along with the eqiuvalent PCChips model numbers, but that support has disappeared from their web site, since about a year ago.

If you use or supply in this thread the bios string you see at the bottom of the first screen as you boot the computer - you can often stop the boot by pressing the Pause key so that you can read it and copy it - if anyone has searched the web using that bios string you or we may be able to find which Hsing Tech/PCChips mboard model you have. If the date is left off you or we will get more "hits". However, there are often many useless "hits", and sometimes no one has searched the web using the exact bios string, even minus the date.
Also, Hsing Tech mboards never have model numbers on them, but they do have unique re-labelling on some of the major chips.
Go here and see if your mboard has relabelling that will help identify it and tell us what you find:
Chipset aliases - mostly PCChips
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/cach...

Some PCChips models are no longer on the PCChips web sites, but there are other third party sites that have the info for those models.

Right, I understand that the mobo is made by PCChips. But none of the mobos on that link are anywhere near mine. First, all of those use DDR, when mine takes either PC100 or PC133 SDRAM. Also, my board is gold. Another thing is that the configurations of those boards are all different than mine.
And I have Googled the BIOS string. I have downloaded the drivers, BIOS, and manual. Turns out that not only PCChips makes this mobo, but also ECS and Amptron and other manufactures. From what I can figure out, the model closest to mine is the M810LR, by PCChips. But the problem, or a solution for this problem isn't mentioned anywhere. I have researched all kinds of problems from the AGP not working to sound card installations not working. And I'm sure that I'll have other problems like these later, but I can wait for those. But maybe I won't even have any probelms at all, because I'm going to run Linux on this thing, so technically I don't even need the drivers anyway.

The manual says that one of the two jumpers is for power on/off by way of the keyboard. The other one, (obviously) is to reset the CMOS. And ofcourse, the manual tells how to install it into a case, what peripherals go where, and so on....

No where can I find why when set to 1700+ the system won't boot. I did read this in the manual:

Notice for AMD CPU:

"Since our laboratory can’t test all categories of newly made AMD K7 CPU or forthcoming, it is possible that our current boards and new CPU have the compatibility problems. In case the problems happen, please immediately contact us or local vendor."

Now, the manual shows:

"Copyright © 2001
All Rights Reserved
M810 Series, V5.0
S73X/July 2001"

And there is a sticker on the BIOS chip says:

686
AMIBIOS
1999
AW86
8 3 3 8

Also, the website says this about the BIOS:

IMPORTANT NOTE:

* Please use the BIOS flash utility that published in the web site instead of the flash utility in CD driver "utility folder".
* Please do not update the BIOS if your system is running fine.
* Please do not update the BIOS if the BIOS patch doesn't pertain to your current problem.
* Please read the update description and special note carefully before updating the new BIOS.
* Unsuccessful BIOS flash may cause the system fails to boot up.
* Please make sure your M/B PCB version number at first then download the right BIOS for the upgrade.(How to recognize theM/B PCB version)

And these are the problems that flashing the BIOS will fix:
file name:030808S.rom check sum: E75Ah 1.Support AMD Duron CPU 1400,1600,1800
File name:030103S.rom check sum:8384h 1.Support EFST flash part
File name: 020913S.rom check sum: 618Ah 1.Fixed that DC-395U SCSI card can't boot from CDROM.
File name: 020815S.rom check sum: 6A23h 1.Support AMD Athlon XP 2400+ and 2600+.
File name: 020806S.rom check sum: 56C6h 1.Share memory will change to 8M after removing AGP VGA.
File name: 020507s.rom check sum: 18CAh 1.Fixed that showed wrong character in CPU PnP setup when using AMD Athlon XP 1500+,2000+ CPU
File name: 020415s.rom check sum: 0182h 1.Fixed that showed @ character in CPU PnP setup when using AMD Athlon XP 1500+,1600+ CPU.
File name: 020403s.rom check sum: DCAAh 1.Fixed serial mouse couldn't work properly when USB function for DOS is enable.
File name: 020226s.rom check sum: DD00h 1.Support AMD Athlon XP 2100+ CPU.
File name: 020206s.rom check sum: E754h 1.Support AMD Athlon(Thoroughbred) cpu XP1800 , X

Now, I'm not saying that this is definatley my board. The one in the picture is red, and mine is gold. But it has almost the exact same configuration. In the picture the board has some resistors, capacitors, and transistors missing. But other than that, everything looks the same.

Oh, before anyone asks, I also Googled the serial #, (I got so desperate!).

Incase anyone could get further than I have, here is the BIOS string:
American Mmegatrends inc. 062710 07/15/97

Emachines T-2200, Sound Blaster live 5.1, ATI 9200se main comp
Asus A7N8X, AMD 2500 Barton, 1 gig Corsair, Geforce 4200ti

"Right, I understand that the mobo is made by PCChips."
"Turns out that not only PCChips makes this mobo, but also ECS and Amptron and other manufactures."

You're not getting it.
Hsing Tech makes the mboards, but they don't sell them using/under the Hsing Tech name.
As I said:
"PCChips is the retail brand name of Hsing Tech the mboard maker, which also supplied/supplies their mboards OEM to Amptron and many other vendors to be sold under their own brand and model."
E.g. ECS and Amptron didn't make the mboards - they are only vendors of the Hsing Tech mboards - they just tagged their own brand and model on the mboard model.
The bios strings of the same Hsing Tech mboard model whether its sold under the PCChips, Amptron, or ECS brands are the same, despite the fact the brand's model numbers are different.
The manuals are usually generic and identical (no brand is mentioned in them), except ECS sometimes makes their own version.
They DO often mention the PCChips model number however - e.g. M810.

"...there is a sticker on the BIOS chip says:

686
AMIBIOS
1999
AW86
8 3 3 8"

Most of the markings on the bios chip became useless shortly after the mboard was made, and there is nothing to be found on the PCChips web sites by using them to search with. The only thing that tells you is the bios could not be older than 1999, but it might be a lot newer.

"..here is the BIOS string:
American Mmegatrends inc. 062710 07/15/97"

I think you made a typo - it was probably 07/15/95

I don't know where you got that from, and that's not what I was asking for. If you used a bios ID utility such as Bios Agent, they do not identify Hsing Tech mboards properly. In some cases they find a date when it is merely a number string, not a date. Besides, going by the date on your bios chip and the fact that it is for a K7, it couldn't possibly actually have a bios that old.

You definately have an AMI bios, and in the case of an AMI bios string there is often no date in it.

What you need to supply is something along the lines of this:
E.g. One version of M810LMR
62-0308-001437-00101111-071595-SiS730S

(note the 071595 - it's not the date - the code for the date is probably in the second part and maybe also the first part of the string)

As I said before that is on the bottom of the first screen as you boot the computer.

All earlier AMI bios strings for Hsing Tech mboards have 001437 in them (the code for Hsing Tech). That was changed while the PCChips M8xx series was being made - some M8xx series mboards have that, some don't.

Also look for the mboard version number printed on the surface of the mboard and tell us what it is. E.g. v 5.0 or Ver 5.0

Another thing you can look for is the Hsing Tech labelling "T-bird" on some chips or on a heat sink - some of the M8xx series have that. Or it may have some other oddball labelling.

.....

The M8xx series is one of Hsing Tech's/PCChip's largest.
You were probably looking here:
(K7 models still supported)
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWeb/Do...

But there are also a lot of models here:
(Archived K7 models)
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWeb/Do...

and there may be a few models that are in neither place and are found only on third party sites.

If you could provide the proper bios string and mboard version, you or I or we could narrow down the possibilities greatly.

so it's a xp1700+ cpu.
This will have multiplier locked at 11. So the motherbaord offers a fsb of 100 x mulitplier of 11 which = 1100mhz speed.
It also offers fsb of 133 x multiplier of 11 = 1466 mhz speed which is the correct design speed of 1700+ cpu.
It boots at 1100mhz fine as you have pc100 ram which is the correct ram for 100mhz fsb.
If you want to boot it at 1467mhz then it would appear that replacing the ram with pc133 ram is what is needed as it needs that to match the 133mhz fsb.
I honestly beleive that is the answer to your problems.

OH MY GOD!!!!

Thank you cliffpage very much. That's what I had tried to explain in my first reply. Everything in your short response makes perfect sense. At this time, I'm in the process of finding some PC133 SDRAM for cheap. I'd like to get two sticks of 512mb so I can total 1 gig. That with the 1467mhz K7, and a video card should make a great system for running Ubuntu. Even two sticks of 256mb would be cool!!

Thanks again all.

Emachines T-2200, Sound Blaster live 5.1, ATI 9200se main comp
Asus A7N8X, AMD 2500 Barton, 1 gig Corsair, Geforce 4200ti

So I got the PC133 memory, (about 384mb) and still the mobo doesn't boot when set to 1700+. As stated before, I believe that this mobo is a PCChips M810LR. I have the BIOS update, (30808s.exe) and I also have the flash utility that PCChips recommends using, (aminf342.exe) but the website doesn't tell how to use this utility to flash the BIOS. There is a link "How to flash BIOS" but the link is dead. Now I have read that the mobo doesn't work well with the AMD Athlon XP 1700+ Thoroughbred (1.3 micron die),but with some coaxing it will. But I have the Palomino core (1.8 micron). So, using this BIOS, how do I flash the mobo? If not, what BIOS should I use?, and how do I do it? It's been a while since I've flashed BIOS, but I remember having to use the floppy.

Old stuff that still works, somewhat....

If you flash the bios using the update for the wrong mboard model or the wrong mboard version of a model, the mboard will probably not boot after you flash. Add to that the fact that Hsing Tech uses the absolute cheapest flash chips and they are well known to physically fail to flash a lot more often than average.
In some circumstances you cannot recover from that unless the bios chip is removable and you are willing to spend $50 or so to buy a replacement bios chip already flashed with a bios update that is a proper one for the mboard.
You MUST be certain which model and mboard version you have. Even though different versions may have the same chipset, they may not have the same I/O chipset, or the bios and bios update may be a different size.
The mboard Version is obvious on a Hsing Tech/PCChips/Amptron/etc. mboard. - Look for printing on the mboard - e.g. V 3.3 or Ver 3.3, or on more recent models possibly R 3.3 or Rev 3.3.
Tell me/us what you Version or Revision you find.
The model is harder to determine. See response 7. If you provide the actual bios string I can probably help you determine the model for sure.
Once the model is known, there should be a cpu compatibility list for that model, and if the cpu you want to use is supported by your present bios version or a newer one you will be able to find and use the proper bios update if you need it. However, if there is no specific info in information about the updates that says it will cure a problem you are having, flashing the bios almost always will not help and is an un-necessary risk.

Both the ram you install and the cpu you install must be compatible with the mboard.
E.g. ram with only 4 chips on the module may not work with your older mboard chipset - it may require modules with 8 or 16 chips.
The cpu must be recognized by the bios version you have, or by a bios version you flash it with if it is not presently supported.

In order to flash the bios, the cpu must be recognized - if the one you want to use is not recognized at all with any setting in your bios, you must tempororily install another cpu that is recognized, flash the bios, then install the cpu yopu want to use.

The flash procedure is not complicated and I could tell you how to do it, but you need to determine what actual model and mboard version or revision you have first.

As pointed out before the XP 1700+ does not run at 1700mhz - 1700 is an AMD performance rating roughly equivalent to the performance of an Intel original P4 cpu - the original P4 is less efficient, so comparing mhz to mhz is deemed an invalid comparison by AMD.
See response 8.
If the ram is compatible, in the bios Setup you may also need to make sure the ram is running at 133mhz and that the fsb is set to 133mhz.

Ok, I had to use another program to get the entire string, and here it is:

62-1109-001437-00101111-071595-SIS730S-M810LR-H

The BIOS won't pause at when the string is shown. But by restarting the system many times, I verified that this string is correct.

When Googled, this string comes up commonly as PCChips M810LR, or (M810LR-H) as stated in response 6. And I believe that the BOIS, manual, and drivers that I have downloaded from the PCChips site are the correct for this MOBO.
Also, in the corner of the board, "REV5.0" is printed.

Here's one site that I've found some info at:
http://radel.inet.net.nz/m810lmr.html

Other that I've just seen alot of threads on how the agp slot doesn't work, or how the sound doesn't work, or stuff like that.

Now, as for the other hardware, the CPU is an AMD Athlon XP 1700+, Palomino core, (green) which should run at 1467mhz.
I have 2 matched sticks of PC133, CL3. One 128mb and the other 256mb. There are 8 chips on each stick. There are other numbers on the RAM, if you need them let me know.

The only thing that I need at this time to happen is I want the full potential of the processor, (1467mhz).

Old stuff that still works, somewhat....

Search using: 62-1109-001437-00101111-071595-SIS730S-M810LR-H
Only three hits.
Two are the same thing.
62-1109-62-1109-001437-00101111-071595-SIS730S-M810LR-H
a.k.a. ECS K7SEM ?
The rev. info is incorrect - many Hsing Tech mboards have 071595 in the string and nothing in that indicates the rev. (or ver.)
The third is close but no cigar.
62-1109-001437-00101111-071595-SiS730S-M812LMR PC Chips (Hsing Tech) M812

The second part of the string is the date code - you get more "hits" if you leave that out.
Search using: 001437-00101111-071595-SIS730S-M810LR-H
and look at ones beginning with 62.

PC Chips M810LR v7.0A
62-0914-001437-00101111-071595-SiS730S-M810LR-H

Amptron “M810LR”
62-0914-001437-00101111-071595-SiS730S-M810LR-H

62-0914-001437-00101111-071595-sis730s-M810LR-H
"I have this version of BIOS on my computer (030808S.rom). I have revision 7.0."

PCChips dropped using M and R in the model name for most models that origvinallty used those some time back. R used to mean "Ready" - as in it has a proprietarty header that a propritary 56K modem card can be used in and is is Ready for that, whether the mboard came with the card or not - now it means RAID.
So 810MLR is now just called just M810L
on the web site.

I looked up M810L Rev 5.0

Bios update:
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSit...

" BIOS Name BIOS for M810L(PCB:V1.3) / M810L(PCB:V1.6) / M810L(PCB:V3.0) / M810L(PCB:V3.2a) / M810L(PCB:V5.0) / M810L(PCB:V7.0) / M810L(PCB:V7.0a) / M810L(PCB:V7.1) / M810L(PCB:V7.1a)
Version 030808s
Release Date 2003/09/15 "

So all versions of M810L use the same bios update. That's unusual. Usually 1.x versions can't be used for 2.x versions, etc.

Manual: Make sure your mboard looks identical!
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSit...

"I have the BIOS update, (30808s.exe) and I also have the flash utility that PCChips recommends using, (aminf342.exe) but the website doesn't tell how to use this utility to flash the BIOS. There is a link "How to flash BIOS" but the link is dead."

It appears you have the right version.
The link works fine for me.
Flash Procedure:
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/pccweb/ex...

I recommend you use Windows to check your flash floppy using FULL format. FULL format is slower, but will find and exclude from use any previously undetected bad sectors on a floppy, a common problem these days.
In XP, RIGHT click on A: to find Format, DO NOT use the Quick format switch, format the floppy. After the format has finished, RIGHT click on A:, choose Properties - Free Space should be 1,457,664 bytes for an error free floppy. If it is less than that and the floppy is less than about 7 years old, I recommend you don't use it - it will probably get worse. Format another floppy instead.
.......

As for supporting the 1700+ with a Rev. 5.0 mboard , it appears that maybe can't be done with a Palimino, or if it can it can't be done at 266mhz, but it can at 200 mhz, with the newest bios update (although you could try it at 200mhz BEFORE you flash the bios - it MIGHT work).

Selected text from that site you found
http://radel.inet.net.nz/m810lmr.html

"CPU related questions
Version 5.0 = Support AMD Athlon/Duron 550~1.4 CPUs - 200/266FSB (excluding Morgan/Palomino)."

So that says it won't support a Palimino.

" Many have succeeded in getting faster processors to work than the board officially supports. If you have the latest BIOS, you should definitely try it. Here is a list of CPUS that people have successfully gotten to work. However, they may not work for you..."

"Athlon XP 1700+ (modified to run at 100Mhz (200FSB) x 15 = 1500Mhz) on Rev 5.0 Motherboard"

Found these:

Updating bios should cure problems with 133mhz settings:
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSit...

Cpu support for M810L Rev. 5.0
for version BIOS : 030808s
Supports 1700+ (.13u), does NOT support 1700+ (.18u)
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSit...

Also - cpu support by cpu

Models list by CPU:: AthlonXP1700+ (.18u) (256K,266,Socket 462)
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSit...

Models list by CPU:: AthlonXP1700+(.13u) (256,266,Socket 462)
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSit...