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Date:      Tue, 3 Sep 1996 10:49:37 +0300
From:      sja@tekla.fi (Sakari Jalovaara)
To:        FreeBSD-hackers@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: anyone have a memory test?
Message-ID:  <9609030749.AA03513@tahma.tekla.fi>

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>   Triton II based boards support ECC or parity checks.  But you need
> parity memory too, which costs a bit more, and some suppliers don't have
> it commonly available.

You also need the right revision (aka stepping) of the Triton II.
The known steppings are:

the 82439HX chip:
	stepping A1; the chip reads SU087 (or no id). Does NOT support ECC.
	stepping A2; the chip reads SU102.  Has ECC.
	stepping A3; the chip reads SU115.  Has ECC and "snoop ahead".

the 82371SB chip:
	stepping A1; the chip reads SU052.  No USB (universal serial bus).
	stepping B0; the chip reads SU093.  Has USB.

If you really need (or just want) ECC on Pentium you'll want to check
that your motherboard has a chip labeled "82439HX SU102".

Chips that don't do ECC don't grok parity either.

I believe that the HX-A2 stepping has been shipping since around July
96 (SB-B0 for less than that?)  Older motherboards with A1 stepping
chips don't have ECC or USB (contrary to some MB vendors' claims.)
Sales literature and BIOS "enable/disable ECC" settings prove nothing.

This all applies to the Pentium / Triton II (430HX).  Lobotomized
Triton II for low-cost systems (430VX) doesn't have ECC or parity.
Triton (430FX) never had ECC or parity.  All revs of the PPro Natoma
chipset (440FX) have ECC and parity.  I think the PPro Orion (450GX,
450KX) has ECC but I'm not sure - Orion has always been so buggy it
can be safely ignored.
									++sja



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