I'm replying since some in the group were passing on suggestions and wanted to
thank them. Also to give a couple of tips for potential Celeron purchasers.
Note, since I'm basing this on a grand total of one example, it may be
regarded as anectodal. Throw in usual "not my resposiblity if you blow up
your apartment" waiver. Okay...
Boxed Celeron 300A (malaysia) from NECX, Abit BH6
64MB PC100 (8 ns) + 32MB "PC100" (10ns) + 32MB normal SDRAM (8ns)
Purchased the MB and RAM from www.wvcsi.com (my second purchase from them,
happy with both). The CPU is a boxed one from NECX. Also a happy customer.
1) To be safe, do a HD backup. Or at least use "cfgback.exe" to backup your
registry (available at the MS site).
2) Start with memory you are sure of (maybe using only one of your sticks).
2a) Corollary: not all PC100 is created equal.
My system worked fine in DOS at faster bus speed. But kept crapping our in
Win95. I was using only my "PC100" memory. (getting ahead of myself) Last
ditch effort, I removed the older PC100. It booted fine. Tried the old one
again, it failed. Took it out, Win95 fine.
3) Try DOS first.
I think it may be less stressful, at least on memory. I've found that it
might work whereas Win95 at first won't. Perhaps it helps to burn-in the
system...
4) BE PATIENT. If it doesn't overclock to 450 immediately, run it at a lower
bus speed for a while, then try again, and again. Might take a few days.
My experience with oc'ing a 200MMX to, eventually, 250 MX (83 MHz bus) and the
present Celeron 300A to 450 strongly suggests this. At first the 200MMX
flunked multiple times at 75MHz in Win95 (crashing the registry). A couple of
days and it was stable at 75. A long while later I tried 83 MHz and never
looked back. Similar with the 300A getting to 450.
4a) When it is working, run something that exercises it.
Better to have it crash now, then when your data is important. You may also
want to go back to (3)
5) If it doesn't work, up the voltage.
The BH6 allows you to change bus and voltage via the bios. I first got 100MHz
working at 2.2 V. Mix in with (4).
6) Later try lowering the voltage back down.
I'm now at 100MHz and 2.0 V, 6 days after installing.
7) Later: maybe I'll try that non-PCI100 memory.
Once I was sure it was working, I tried the old old memory. It works!
8) Look at the symptoms.
Does it work for hours than ***out? Suspect a thermal problem.
Does it not work when turned on and the room is sub-zero? Probably not a
thermal problem.
Work in DOS, not Win95? Memory?
9) Cooling?
I have the std boxed heatsink/fan, I reversed the PS fan since it was blowing
right on the CPU, now sucking. I added a case fan (***ized from my old
case PS fan), but I doubt it is doing a thing. The Abit BH6 T sensor is NOT
near the chip, but between PCI slots. It is being heated by my Voodoo, so I
don't consider it an indicator of the CPU at all. I haven't found heat to be
an issue in my case at all. Others swear by it being important however.
Hope this helps potential oc'ers and hope it in part pays back all who helped
me.