Plato


(Premiere/PCI II)


mainboard

Prior to reading anything below, first visit the original support pages from Intel and Gateway .
These pages provide a lot of useful information and will answer many questions you might have.

You might ask: What do I find here ?

Everything else !

Which PCB Revs are out there. Check here
How to upgrade from the Gateway-Bios to the more recent intel-version. Check here
How to use a HDD of more than 2GB. Check here
How to use a 100MHz CPU in a 75/90MHz board. Check here
Which other CPU or CPU-upgrades do work. Check here
How to add a PS/2 mouse port. Check here
How to avoid problems with the onboard RZ1000 IDE-controller. Check here
The usual personal remarks Check here

Which PCB Revs are out there.
This is what intel says:
541271-xxx75 MHz, 90 MHz
541277-xxx75 MHz, 90 MHz
631157-xxx100 MHz
631163-xxx100 MHz
This is my board: 541277-207
How to upgrade from the Gateway-Bios to the more recent intel-version.
The flash prg will check, what version is installed. This is either an AX1 (=intel) or AX1T (=Gateway) version. An upgrade is only allowed if the new version matches the old one.
The only exception to the rule is the special upgarde from 1.00.03.AX1Z to 1.00.06.AX1 which is provided by intel.
Take a look here and read #23 and #24.
Use this procedure at your own risk.
How to use a HDD of more than 2GB.
As you can read on the support pages, even the latest Bios will only support up to 2GB of HDD.
To make the situation even worse, the Bios freezes as soon as it detects a HDD larger than 2GB.
Here are some possible solutions:
How to use a 100MHz CPU in a 75/90MHz board.
Try the 100Mhz jumper setting and see what happens.
My board just does 75, 90 AND 100MHz!
NOTE: I have the later PCB-Version, so this might not work for all boards.
Which other CPU or CPU-upgrades do work.
intel Bios versions lock up, as soon as they recognize another CPU than made by intel. This simply narrows you down to Pentiums and Pentium Overdrives.
There is one exception: IDT-CPUs (C6, Winchip and Winchip2)
These do work. The drawback is, that the board doesn't feature any BF-Jumpers, for setting the CPU-multipliers. The board is locked to x1.5. IDT-CPUs use this setting for doing x4.0 (C6 and W2) or x3.5 (W2A). So a 200MHz CPU will have to use 4x50MHz for example. This isn't much faster than the 100MHz Pentium, which runs at 1.5x66MHz. Using 66 MHz gives you a far superior performance for 2nd-LC and main memory.
ATM I use an IDT W2A at 233 MHz (66MHz x 3.5 = setting for P100) without any problems. This is much likely the fastest CPU which can be run without any hardware modification and/or 3rd-party Bios-Upgrade.
How to add a PS/2 mouse port.
The layout of the board shows, that there was always support for a PS/2-Mouseport, just a few parts missing.

Partlist Version #1
WhatHow manyWhere
SMD-Capacitors 1nF3C13H5, C13H6, C13H7
SMD-Toroids 10µH3FB12H1, FB12H2, FB12H3
SMD-Resistor 47Ω1R13D7
Partlist Version #2
WhatHow manyWhere
SMD-Capacitors 1nF3C13H5, C13H6, C13H7
SMD-Resistors 33Ω2Mouse Data/CLK
SMD-Resistor 0Ω (Piece of wire)1Vcc
SMD-Resistor 47Ω1R13D7

NOTE: Version #1 didn't work for my board so far. Maybe I didn't get the correct Toroids. Nevertheless I will try version 2.
Why do I post this when it does not work?
I got this from THE German computer magazine c't. If they say, they have done this and it is working, they have done this and it is working.

How to avoid problems with the onboard RZ1000 IDE-controller.
The onboard RZ1000 is known buggy under special conditions when the Read-Ahead option is used. All later Bios versions will permanently disable this feature for safety.
Using Linux, you may also wish to include the RZ1000 Bugfix in the kernel.
Find a complete discussion here
The usual personal remarks
Here is the long story:
Some years ago, a friend of mine upgraded his 386 to a Pentium, using this board (actually I did the complete upgrade work).
Every now and then, a new problem popped up and he asked me.
After a while, he sold this PC and someone had to revamp the whole thing for the new owner (guess who did).
During this years, another guy from work contacted me, who also had problems with his board. Guess what board he had!
In 1999, I was looking for a cheap 2nd-hand Socket 7 Board. A guy offered me a Pentium 75/90 Board, a Plato! It was hate at first sight, so I had to buy it.
If you have questions, contact me

Last Update: 04/17/2001

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