BP6 Owners-I know you're still out there. I've got something that'll help.

[TerryMathews]

Sorry, I haven't been cracking for a while. I'm bringing my herd back online by Christmas (Tbird 850, Athlon 700, Athlon 600, Athlon 500, Dual Celeron 570, Mac G3 400). Anyway, if you've got a BP6, you have to do this mod. It will stop those pesky APIC errors. If you run Linux, you know what I'm talking about. If you run NT or 2k, you'll still be getting them. They don't crash the machine, but it's about a 20ms penalty every time they occur, so this boosts your cracking rate.
Look on your board at the EC10 resistor. It's between the two CPU sockets. See it? It's a really small one (100uF). Go to RadioShack and get a 1500uF model. That's what should've gone in there. Desodder the old one and install the new one. Boom! Not only will you be able to remove the APIC errors, but you might be able to OC faster too.

 

[office boy]

You got to be kidding me....
Any links to back this up?

 

[Michael]

Link to BP6 mod has a bunch of articles on this. It isn't for every version (from what I remember) and I don't recall seeing the 20 ms reference. However, it can greatly improve stability.

Michael

ps - link fixed here as well - thanks Office Boy ...

 

[office boy]

Fixed

 

[TerryMathews]

The voltage regulator mod is the one for only some versions. The 100uF -> 1500uF mod works for all BP6s, to varying degrees. The APIC error isn't talked about on bp6.gamesquad.net, but it's mentioned in the kernel sources that the APIC error is a 20ms timeout on whatever CPU it occurs on.
This mod is totally up to you guys, I'm not trying to push it. It worked for me. I didn't have one of the boards that needed the voltage regulator mod. If your not comfortable with a soddering iron, then by all means don't do it. It might help, is all.

 

[Michael]

Terry - thanks for the info. I thought the problem was lock-ups, do you have a link to the APIC problem and it being all BP6's?

thanks again,

Michael

 

[TerryMathews]

No, I don't have a link for it. My board would complain about APIC errors running Linux kernel 2.4.0-test7. It would do it at anything above 550Mhz at any voltage. I couldn't POST beyond 570Mhz. Now I can run stable without APIC errors at 570MHz (6x95MHz 2.1V) and almost run stable at 600 at 2.3V.

My board has the LM317T voltage regulator, not the Unisem one. This should make my board the "perfect" BP6. However, I benifited from adding the more powerful regulator at EC10. This web site talks a bit about the EC10 fix. BP6 fix Go into the link on the page about the forum posting and check out the later pages 9,10,etc.

 

[Ken g6]

Little quibble: aren't Farads (uF) units for capacitors, not resistors?

 

[IsOs]

That's what the site says to replace - capacitor.

 

[Robor]

I can't wait for the day I remove the BP6 from my 4th system and destroy it in my driveway... The only motherboard I've had worse than the BP6 would be the Photon100 which I returned.

Rob