From owner-freebsd-questions Fri Jun 28 18:37:11 1996 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id SAA22739 for questions-outgoing; Fri, 28 Jun 1996 18:37:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: from aeffle.Stanford.EDU (sequence.Stanford.EDU [171.65.76.7]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id SAA22726 for ; Fri, 28 Jun 1996 18:37:09 -0700 (PDT) Received: by aeffle.Stanford.EDU; id AA05949; Fri, 28 Jun 1996 18:37:05 -0700 Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 18:37:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Howard Lew To: "M. L. Dodson" Cc: jeff@tad.cetlink.net, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Cyrix Processors In-Reply-To: <199606281724.MAA26064@beowulf.utmb.EDU> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-questions@FreeBSD.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Fri, 28 Jun 1996, M. L. Dodson wrote: > > [deleted] > > > > I have upgraded 2 of my servers to the P166+ (Cyrix) and FIC PA-2002 mainboards. > > I have the same motherboard (I'm pretty sure) running with a genuine Intel > P75. The stress test I use is to run bonnie in a loop with a 32MB file. > Adaptec 2940 (not UW) with an IBM 512MB scsi disk. Only other card is > the video. This with 2.1R. > > > I have had some problems with this. For starters, a kernel compiled with only > > the I586_CPU will not boot. When compiled with both the I486_CPU and I586_CPU > > options, the kernel will boot, but the cpu is identified as a 486 cpu. Next, > > X will not start using xinit. I have to start X with xdm to get things to go. > > WHen I was using an AMD DX4-100 CPU, X would start and the system would then > > perform well. I have tried to compare the performance of the AMD and the Cyrix > > chips, as well as with a P100 machine (all identical OS and periphials) and the > > P100 outperforms both. I am also interested in other peoples results as I can > > not justify upgrading anymore machines at this time. Lastly, the Cyrix machine > > will randomly crash without any logs or warnings. This is unpredictable. > > > > Mine does the same if the external cache is enabled (two different sets of > chips -- 15ns -- tried.) With ext. cache disabled, two tests went more than > 12 hrs without crashing. 8MB of 70ns memory. Sometimes a SCSI bus reset > error message is logged to the console, but mostly it just silently dies. > With cache enabled I never got longer than 7 hr into a run. > > I suspect this motherboard is very marginal. 75mhz is not fast nowadays. There's a CMOS setting that must be set right for Adaptec 2940 and PA-2002 users. Please see the manual. If it is not there, I'll repost it again. I posted the fix about a week ago (you may want to check some of the messages that have gone by this mailing list). ---- || Shoppers Network BEST PRICES, FULLY x86 COMPATIBLE & FAST!!! || PO BOX 16627 Cyrix 686s now available! || San Francisco, CA 94116 Email - info@shoppersnet.com | ------------------------------> WWW - http://www2.shoppersnet.com -------------------------------> WWW - http://www.shoppersnet.com/shopping