ASUS A7M266 Question

[vinson]

I am currently putting my brother together a system with an ASUS A7M266 and an Athlon 1.4GHz. The problem is that the boot only shows it as a 1.33 GHz even though the bios clearly show a multiplier (unchangeable) of 10.5 and a FSB of 133 MHz. It boots and is currently installing the OS without any problems but it should be posting 1.4 GHz. Does anyone know what the deal is here?

Thanks for any answers you can provide,

Dane R. Vinson

 

[Rand]

Are you using the latest BIOS?

I believe some of the earlier BIOS revisions did not properly recognize and display clockspeeds above 1.33GHz

 

[vinson]

The board reports that the BIOS are 1003 and the latest is 1004. I wondered about this but I wanted to get some confirmation before I flash considering the inherent danger involved.

Dane R. Vinson

 

[Buz2b]

You will need to flash your BIOS for it to recognize your CPU. I am not sure on this, but I think that is one of the things updated in v.1004. Actually v.1004A is the newest and that is the one you should flash to. It is safe to do so. I have been running it for a month now with no problems, as have many others. Perhaps they can confirm whether it will recognize your CPU. Of course, I do not have the 1.4 CPU. I am running a 1.33. v.1004A also has some additional memory settings added along with a couple of fixes. I can't seem to find the listing anymore that showed the update path of the BIOS for this board, but I will keep looking. Be sure and use the Flash Utility that ASUS has. It makes the Flash a pretty painless and somewhat safe operation. I had to do this when I got mine and was pretty nervous. I have heard countless horror stories on a BIOS flash gone wrong. However, the Flash utility actually backs up your current BIOS to the same floppy before it flashes the chip; just in case. Ha! I believe it is called "Aflash". Good luck, it is a nice board.

 

[vinson]

I ran a CPU ID utility last night and found out that indeed the CPU was running at 1.4 despite what the post shows at start up. It looks like it is a problem in the BIOS as several have suggested. I've flashed BIOS on boards several times in the past but it always makes me nervous none the less. Thanks for the feedback guys.

Dane R. Vinson