Hello, James.   This is part 1 of 2 parts.
-=> on 05-06-05 00:07, JAMES BRADLEY wrote to JIM HOLSONBACK <=-

 JH> I've done a little research on the SaintSong EPC-1.

 JB> I appreciate that, Jim. As you now see - unless they hired a *real*
 JB> translator, and move from Tiawan - they tend to bamboozle their way
 JB> through quite a bit.

I agree.  That is one of the worst websites for supporting folks who own
the systems they sell.  BIR I read that they only have one authorized
distributor in NA, so _maybe_ some support is available from them.  Also
BIR, they want upgrades to be done by "authorized" service centers, so
maybe they hold those cards close to their vest.

 JH> I found in "Q&A" at their website -
 JH> Espresso currently supports PIII up to 700, 66MHz Celeron to 733, or
 JH> 750 MHz VIA C3.  _But_ I found elsewhere on internet a writeup where
 JH> they were offering it with a PIII-800.

 JB> Like you say, perhaps dependanding on the rev.# on the MB...
 JB> 

My best advice - - from a working system, try to upgrade only one
component at a time.  Maybe first priority should be to get a working
internal or external HDD working.

 JB> I know when I first landed the rig, I did quite a bit of research on
 JB> it, and a definitive source mentioned the 800M/900M limits. I'm pretty
 JB> sure it wasn't just some Joe selling one on Ebay. Either the file
 JB> disapeared with my partition scramble, (The LAST time I trust C:\My
 JB> Docs!) or it's hiding somewhere in a zip/pdf.

Yes, I hate it when a HDD dies and I don't have backups.

 JH> Support of faster chips _may_ have to do with board and BIOS
 JH> revisions. For example, I rechecked, and have here an Asus MEW-AM
 JH> board. The original version of the board supported only 66 Mhz Celerons
 JH> up to 533MHz, but starting with Board Rev. 1.02 and BIOS 1003.004, it
 JH> would support 100 MHz chips, up to Celeron 1100 and P3-850.

 JB> I don't recall seeing anything about the MB being updated on it, but
 JB> like I say, being from Tiawan... Given my last research timeframe...
 JB> Given the phase of the moon, and the hight of the tides...

That, plus their website being pretty darn weak in the tech support
area.  :-(

 JH> Still talking off top of my head - I don't remember if you said what
 JH> CPU is in there now.  One consideration _might_ be memory speed.  The
 JH> Asus board here has jumpers which can set for 66Mhz cpu and 100Mhz
 JH> memory, but not vice-versa.  So if your existing SODIMM memory is PC66,
 JH> that might not work with cpu upgraded to 100Mhz.

 JB> I'll be... I've been running a "133A" chip. (At least
that's what it
 JB> says on the paper sticker.) That shouldn't cause any problems by
 JB> running it at a lower rate, should it?

You have a Pc133 SODIMM stick in there?  Yes, I would think that should
work OK at slower system speed, with either 66 or 100 FSB chips.

 JB> I was a little jealous about the DVD dock, (Mine came with the
 JB> CD/floppy) but I found a good enough deal on an external DVD burner
 JB> just last year. I still don't have a bootable DVD setup, (USB boot
 JB> doesn't seem to like the DVD format, or doesn't recognize it...  )

An external USB DVD burner?  The CDROM drive still in there?  Will it
boot from that?   Back to board and BIOS rev. numbers?  I assume that
dock sta works over USB - - I just bought a board a couple years old - -
USB boot options in SETUP included FDD, HDD and CDROM - no mention of
DVD. Sorry, no experience here in booting to DVD, and I generally avoid
booting to CDROM, unless I can't find some work-around.

Hmm.  Meantime, while waiting, if a little old IDE drive were available,
I think I'd try it in the docking station in the CDROM bay, and
see if it would boot to that.  BTW, it _will_ still boot to  the FDD,
won't it?

 JB> I had to fudge a little with it to get RH to find it, (Mounting
 JB>  /dev/cdrom, and cdrom1 first seemed to do it.) but MEPIS was a
 JB> little brain dead on the USB front.

Ouch! Ouch! I iggorant about running Linix.

 JB> The MB, I know is by Intel, with an 810 vid. built in.

 JH> I think not likely.  Intel sold the 810 chips to a number of board
 JH> makers, like the Asus here.

 JB> Again, I'll have to dig around. Somewhere told me it was an Intel MB.

News to me if Intel ever made a 5" x 7" mainboard.  Maybe next time on
internet you can snag a little program named  CTBIOS.EXE.  That will
usually ID mainboard manufacturer, and yield lots of other info.  Runs
from either a working HDD or a bootable floppy.

 JH> Ouch!  Looks like time to go to Ebay and look for a 2.5" drive.

 JB> Ya... One of the *few* HDs I purchased new, and FRAP! I was informed
 JB> they don't use actuators any more, so reseating a spring isn't going to
 JB> fix it.... (Actuator slammin' then SMART tells me to "BACK UP
NOW!" or
 JB> somesuch.)

Waitaminute, James.  You purchased a _new_ HDD for _this_ system? If it
puked on you, is it too late for an RMA?

 JH> Sorry no definitive answers from here.  Have you email contacted their
 JH> Tech support and asked them?

 JB> I couldn't rightly tell you.

You "can't rightly tell" me if you have ever asked at  -
support{at}saintsong.com.tw         ?
Seems strange.

 JB> Just before I lost my gratis ISP account,
 JB> I had *just* purchased the HD and SODIMM. The CPU was a payback from a
 JB> friend, (466M Celeron) so I just ran with that until something better
 JB> availed itself, and I could gather a more definitive answer.

So you bought a bare system, and later added a HDD, SODIMM, Celeron
466 with HS&F and an external DVD burner?  How long did all that work
before the HDD 'died'?

- - -  JimH.
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