*BSD News Article 72033


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From: larryr@saturn.sdsu.edu (Larry Riedel)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Can FreeBSD 2.1.1 support Cyrix 6x86??Etc...
Date: 26 Jun 1996 08:08:58 GMT
Organization: San Diego State University
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Louis Epstein (le@put.com) wrote:
> J Wunsch (j@uriah.heep.sax.de) wrote:
> : Hmm, i seem to remember that the 6x86 works fine, but is detected as a
> : 486.  (So if you accidentally removed the I486_CPU, it won't work for
> : you.)
>
> Apparently(see messages down-thread) this depends on the motherboard??


My down-thread message was:
> I have a 120MHz 6x86 on an ASUS T2P4 motherboard, and FreeBSD
> 2.1-RELEASE faithfully crashes after a few minutes with the
> internal cache enabled.  If I turn the internal cache off with
> the BIOS, it works like a champ (albeit a slow champ).  I don't
> know if it is the interaction of the CPU and the motherboard or
> if it has something to do with FreeBSD.

Well, a switch of the memory (four 4x32s -> two 8x32s) and a more
effective cooling fan seems to have solved the problem.  I don't
know if it was the memory or the fan that did it, but the bottom
line is that FreeBSD can work with the 6x86 and this motherboard
if the conditions are right.  I have seen several posts in other
groups making note of the temperature sensitivity of the 6x86.
Also, the ASUS guys tell me some 6x86 flakiness can be cured by
using a higher voltage than the recommended 3.3V - at least that's
what the Cyrix people told them.


Larry