Bug of the Month

OverDrive in Reverse

Robert L. Hummel

Although upgrading an older Pentium system with the latest OverDrive processor is usually a fairly smooth process, it's not always without problems. When upgrading our first candidate, a Comtrade 90-MHz Pentium system built around a Wang motherboard, it took only a few minutes to unlock the zero insertion force (ZIF) socket, remove the old processor, and install the OverDrive unit.

When we turned the PC on, however, we discovered what Intel describes as a rare incompatibility. The OverDrive draws power for its built-in fan and other circuitry directly from the CPU soc ket. On some system boards, however, the three necessary CPU socket pins are left unconnected.

Without power for its fan, the OverDrive avoids burning up by shifting into what In tel calls "low-performance mode." Instead of soaring to 150 MHz, the effective processor speed dropped to about 25 MHz! No workaround is possible, according to Intel. Check the compatibility list at the OverDrive Web site ( http://www.intel.com/procs/overdrive ) before you buy.

Send yours to 76443.1723@compuserve.com!