New system components arrived!

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FlyingPenguin
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New system components arrived!

Post by FlyingPenguin »

I've setup the Iwill XP333 mobo on the bench and it POSTed hust fine.

Took me a while to figure out that I have to jumper the FSB on the mobo to 133 (so much for "Smart CPU Detection"). The manual wasn't very lucid about that at all and I had to do some research on the forums.

Speaking of the manual, it sucks. Not only does it suck but it's for an earlier revision of the mobo (I got Rev 2.1) and the jumpers aren't arranged the same way. Had to download the updated manual.

NICE looking board. Very intelligent layout and nice and roomy around the heatsink. Nice beefy looking chipset fan on it.

I've got it booting into Win98 (dual 98/2K boot on this system) but I'll have to try to do a sector repair using the Win2k CD to make 2K recognize the new hardware address of the HDD.

I'll report back more later... :)
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d_b
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Post by d_b »

Yahoo! Roomy and nice layout, that was one of my first impressions too. I found the manual very good, but I dont really read any manuals. I prefer to wing it, screw up, then ask questions. :) Good luck FP, I think a new love afair is begining.
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PreDatoR
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Post by PreDatoR »

There should have been a yellow slip in it with the jumper movements. Anyways in the book all the jumpers are in it and they are all labeled the same. And the smart cpu detection still don't detect between a 200/266 chip thats why the jumper is there. It is a nice board. Very nice chipset fan that looks cool to boot. I forgot how much i missed the XP333 that is in the gf's computer now. Traded my Epox 8K3A+ for another XP333 this time the raid version even though i ain't using it. Got some cash too out of the deal which wasn't bad. I'm much happier with the XP333. My chip is rock stable at 1.83Gig 1.95v's. This is a 1700+(1.46gig) chip too. It took 2.0v's to get it about 90% stable on the Epox. My 5v line is 4.97 on the xp333 at this speed. The Epox sucked the life out of the power supply had the 5v down to 4.80-3 all the time. Damn good board you should be happy with it once its installed and all up and running.
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Post by FlyingPenguin »

Funny, though. Even though this is NOT the Raid version, it still has a jumper for it and it came enabled. With the jumper enabled it showed a "Mass Storage Controller" using an IRQ in the POST screen. When I disabled it the "Mass Storage Device" didn't show up in the POST.

That's wierd - acts like the Raid chip is in there but it's not wired? Not that I care but WTF would they have a jumper for a device that's not supposed to be on the mobo, and why would it be enabled?
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PreDatoR
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Post by PreDatoR »

That is odd snap a pic of it and post it. I want to see this.... lol
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FlyingPenguin
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Post by FlyingPenguin »

No one else with an XP333 has a RAID controller jumper? I swear I do, and something is definately using an extra IRQ when it's enabled.
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Post by d_b »

I'm going to have mine apart this weekend so I'll check it out and let you know. I have the non raid version also.
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PreDatoR
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Post by PreDatoR »

My non raid XP333 don't have that jumper. I'm wondering if it has the Highpoint 372 chip on it also.
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Jim Z
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Post by Jim Z »

Funny, though. Even though this is NOT the Raid version, it still has a jumper for it and it came enabled. With the jumper enabled it showed a "Mass Storage Controller" using an IRQ in the POST screen. When I disabled it the "Mass Storage Device" didn't show up in the POST.


sounds like you got a RAID version by mistake. If there was no device present, the IRQ wouldn't be allocated. But I'd think you'd notice if it had 2 extra IDE connectors...

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if it has the chip next to PCI slot 3 (above the battery), then it's got a RAID chip.
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Post by FlyingPenguin »

Well I'll be - just took a close look and I have a Highpoint 372 RAID controller chip on the board!

However, this is definately NOT the RAID version - my RAID controller EIDE connectors are missing. Strange.
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Jim Z
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Post by Jim Z »

wow, that's a hell of a misbuild :confused:

If you didn't pay for the RAID version, then I guess just leave it disabled and live with it...? Never seen that before.
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Post by canton_kid »

I have the Iwill Xp333 no raid board also.

One thing I found, is you can set Bios to kill the video and what ever else it shuts down pretty easy!

It puzzled me the first time! Lots of trouble figuring it out, and someone said you can't do it. So I did it a second time to be sure :)
Well, not on purpose, but I did!

I think it had something to do with setting it to 133 with a 3 divider instead of 4. What ever I did wrong in Bios, it shut down my video and who knows what else. I would see the drive light flicker, fans ran, no system beeps I think, but the leds on the board lit. After I cleared bios with the jumper all worked again.

Had a hardtime figuring it out the first time, then I did it a second time :)
Easy to figure out second time. I cleared Cmos, and system booted right up. Never touched anything else second time, cept the jumper! Both times was after playing with my bios! Nothing else!

I would like to know what all the correct Bios setting are for a Iwill XP333 with XP1700.
Right now I am booting at 1.4 something and all seems to be correct for stock. My cpu volts should be a bit Higher I think, the system monitor shows it to be just a little low.

I think I have it set to 133 divider 4.
Every time I play with it though I do something wrong I think cause I shut down the video and have to clear Bios to reset and get video back. Then it boots as a 1 or 1.2mhz till I change settings again. I have the board jumper set for 133.

I have an ATI AIW radeon 7500 video card, agp slot.
Iwill Xp333
XP1700
256mb ddr

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Post by FlyingPenguin »

Just to prove this:

Chip on left is the Highpoint RAID controller, but as you can see on the right the RAID EIDE sockets aren't installed.

RAID controller jumper is also installed and was jumpered for "enabled" from the factory.

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Post by Jim Z »

hey, believing you is not a problem :)
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Post by Busby »

To me that just looks like some really good photoshopping and removing the IDE controllers :D :p

The Iwill board is a nice one and if I ever want to take another break from VIA, the XP333-R is very appealing. Maybe you can haxor the board and add your own RAID ports from the chipset! :D Very strange because I'm sure you pay extra for the RAID controller and not the IDE ports themselves when you get the raid version.
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