This isn't directly linux related, but will have an effect.
I just received my new PC, which is supposed to have an Athlon XP 2600 in it.
When I boot, it does the mem test, then tells me the CPU is
Athlon 2000 XP (1.7xGhz) (or something, I'm at work and its off the top of my head).
So I've rung the blokes that I bought it off, they said to check the FSB settings and the multiplier. I was told they should be FSB = 166 and Multipler = 12 (in the bios).
They said this should then change what is displayed.

Now, I don't know a lot, so I was hoping some hardware boffins might be able to explain if this is correct, or whether they are pulling my chain.

I'm holding off doing a stage 1 Gentoo install till I get this sorted out.
Thanks.

hm. strange that 'the blokes you bought it off', did not make
that setting themselves. they are not pulling your leg as far
as the settings go - changing it would change the frequency
the chip runs at. but i still think it's strange that they them-
selves did not make the correct setting. if i were really para-
noid (which i am often when it comes to puters), i might say
that they sold you a cpu for the price of a more expensive one.
but since i do not know these blokes nor their reputation with
these things, i will not make such a judgement.

Perhaps they did make the setting and I changed it while poking about in the bios - I really can't say.
I guess I just expected it to say Athlon 2600 XP regardless of what the FSB is set to - but as I said, I don't know a lot about this sort of thing.
'The blokes' is a good company from what I know, and I will change the settings tonight to what they suggested. If that doesn't work, I will call them back, they are fine with that. I just really did want to make sure that it is in fact a 2600 and not a 2000.
Is there a way to really determine what it is regardless of bios settings?

The best way would be to physically look at the markings on the CPU. I can say that I also had to change the FSB and multipiler before the BIOS displayed the correct CPU ID.

Thanks. I'll give it a go and see

All motherboards do this, the best way to tell is do cat /proc/cpuinfo which should show the right information

As always, affero link below.

Shak

cat /proc/cpuinfo will only show what the chip has been clocked to, for instance:

[code[
bob@diane:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 6
model : 4
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) Processor
stepping : 4
cpu MHz : 1045.564
cache size : 256 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr syscall mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow
bogomips : 2084.04

bob@diane:~$
[/code]

If you look at that you'll realize that wait.... AMD never made a 1050Mhz processor, right? Its an underclocked 1.4Ghz chip I slapped in a crappy mobo I got for $40 and a cheap OEM fan. It lives at work, so there's no real point in running full speed and having to sweat the heat.

Normal hardware floggers when throwing a machine together will just drop in the chip, plant the fan, seat the RAM, boot it to post, give it a half-hour or so burn in and ship it. Its too hard to make a dime off of hardware these days, I think even harder for the poor buggers in the UK too, so they put the least amount of effort into it as possible, and with how cheaply boards are being punched out and BIOSes revamped ad-hoc, yeah, it makes total sense that your board mis-IDed the chip and they were too slack to clock it right during assembly.

I've got an athy 800, a 1200 and a 1400, all three of which were mis-IDed by their boards on first boot. Par for the course dude.

I would also cast dispursion on them having shipped the wrong chip, the XP 2000 is actually harder to get these days...

Cheers,

Finegan

Maybe I've only skimmed the replies, but have you though you might need to flash your mobo' bios so it can properly recognise the cpu?
My mobo needed a flash to get from 1 to 1.4 ghz

finegan: When I do that instead of just saying "AMD Athlon Processor" I get the model, I guess it doesnt do it for all of them

Shak

Shak,

Oh I get it now, starting with the XPs and the MPs they started putting the model number on there? That's really handy.

Cheers,

Finegan