Proliant 1600 P08 -> E34

[McKaamos]

Hi all,

A little while ago my uncle gave me a Compaq Proliant 1600 server.
I have read that its possible to use it with CPU's that are not certified by Compaq.

The current config is:
Dual Pentium-II 350Mhz
256MB ECC SDRAM
3x 4.3GB SCSI harddisks
4speed CD Writer
and some other uninteresting parts.

I want to replace the CPU's with PIII 700Mhz models.
As soon as i put one of those in, the server gives me a "Unsupported CPU detected, system halted" message.

My system has a P08 firmware, and officialy has a max of PII 450Mhz as CPU.
The E34 firmware model supports up to PIII 600Mhz.
As far as I can see, the E34 system is the same as the P08, but there is a different firmware inside.

I have checked out the chipset thats inside, and it should support all Coppermine P3's, up to 1Ghz.
The fact that the system boots and gives me a POST message, shows that the hardware supports the CPU's (else it wouldn't do anything at all), but the firmware somehow prevents booting with CPU's that it is not allowed to accept.
So I guess that the people who have got it working, are using a E34 system.

Right now, I have 2 diskettes with firmware files and flashsoftware.
The flash software seems to be the same on both disks.
Only difference being that one has the ROM file for the E34 and the other one has the ROM file for P08.
Could I just rename the E34 file? Or would I need to do something to the ROM file?
I have found out that the flashprogram has an option to decompress and re-compress a ROM file. Maybe I can do something with that? (decompress the E34 file, take some files to the P08 file and then re-compress?)

Has anyone done anything like this before with a Compaq server?
What is the risk of things going wrong?
And if I really screw it up, what can I do to fix it? (and go back to the P08 firmware)
I don't have a spare bios chip, so hotswap method isn't possible.

Thanks in advance

[ajzchips]

"Brand" systems are more difficult to tinker with... It might be risky.

[McKaamos]

"Brand" systems are more difficult to tinker with... It might be risky.

There is always risk involved in messing with the bios
Guess this is even more risky.

I have tried renaming the rom file, but the flash software gives me the message that the filename doesnt correspond to its contents. Guess there is some higher level failsafe inside it.

I've also decompressed both rom files with rompaq.exe and then loaded them in Textpad to have it find the differences.
The major thing I could see between the unreadable bits was that the P08 has some mention of the onboard graphicscard, and the E34 doesnt.

Anyway, I found out that a local store is getting some scrapped Proliant 1600 servers this week, so I'll just forget about messing with the bios.
They have offered me to send me the bios chip of a E34 model to me for free
This way I can just replace the chip to get the job done.
If it doesn't work, I'll just put the other one back.
If the graphicscard bit gets me trouble, I'll just disable the on-board one, and put a PCI card in.

[edwin]

disable the onboard one

if you manage that, let me know how...

[ie]

The problem might not related with E34 or P08,
I have a P08 with dual deutsche 400,
install dual coppermine 550, boot but locked by bios with the same information of unsupported hardware;
install dual katmai 500, succeed, only problem is my katmai is retail processor with 3pin fan, but original deutsche is oem product with huge heatsink only, so there is no fan socket. So it can fry eggs after my upgration. pi results for deutsche is 4m56s, while still 4m13s for katmai,
not very fast.