Advent 8520 PC

Motherboard Information

• BIOS : Licensed AWARD BIOS. 256KB FLASH EEPROM. Supports Plug & Play, DMI, ACPI Function.
• Cache Memory :
  • 32 KB 1st cache memory included in CPU.
  • 256KB/512 KB 2nd cache in CPU.
  • Support DIB speed mode for L2 Cache.
  • 1 66MHz / 133MHz AGP bus.
• Dimension : ATX Form Factor, 4 layers PCB.
• DRAM Memory :
  • 4 banks 168 pins DIMM module sockets on board.
  • Use 8 / 16 / 32 / 64 / 128 / 256 MB 60~70 ns DIMM module DRAM.
  • 8 ~ 1 GB DRAM size.
  • Support 3.3V SDRAM / EDO type DRAM.
  • Support ECC or Non-ECC type DRAM.
• I/O Bus Slots :
  • 4 33MHz Master / Slave PCI-BUS.
  • 3 8MHz 16 bits ISA BUS.
• I/O Ports :
  • 2 16550 COM ports. (Using IRQ4, 3)
  • 1 EPP/ECP LPT port. (Using IRQ7 or 5 and DMA3 or 1)
  • 1 1.44/2.88 MB Floppy port. (Using DMA2 & IRQ6)
  • 2 USB ports.
  • PS/2 Mouse. (Using IRQ 12)
  • PS/2 Keyboard. (Using IRQ 1)
• IDE Ports :
  • 2 Ultra DMA/33 Bus Master IDE channels on board.(Using IRQ14,15)
  • Back ward Support Mode 3,4 IDE & ATAPI CD - ROM.
• Power Management :
  • Suspend mode support.
  • Green switch & LED support.
  • IDE & Display power down support.
  • Monitor all IRQ / DMA / Display / I/O events.
• Processor : Pentium II processor 233 – 633 MHz. 242 pins 66MHz slot1 on board.
• Protection :
  • Onboard Buzzer Alarm when detect "CPU FAN Failure" or "CPU Overheat".
  • Automatically slow down CPU speed when "CPU FAN Failure" or "CPU Overheat".
  • Intel LDCM support.
  • H/W monitor power status (5V, 12V, CPU voltage & CMOS battery voltage).
• Speed :
  • 66 MHz system speed.
  • 66 MHz AGP bus speed. (133MHz 2*mode).
  • 33 MHz PCI-Bus speed.
  • 8 MHz AT bus speed.

CPU Upgrade

The system's speed is fixed to 66.6MHz. The user can change the DIP SWITCH (S1) selection to set up the CPU speed for 233 - 633MHz processor. The CPU speed must match with the frequency RATIO. It will cause system hanging up if the frequency RATIO is higher than CPU's.

Memory Upgrade

The mainboard can be installed with 4 / 8 / 16 / 32 / 64 / 128 / 256 MB 168 pins DIMM module DRAM, and the DRAM speed must be 50 or 60 ns for EDO & 67~100 MHz for SDRAM. The DRAM memory system on mainboard consists of bank 0, 1, 2 & bank 3. Each bank consists of 3 PCS 168 pins DIMM module DRAM.

Because the 168 pins DIMM module is 64 bits width, using 1 PCS which can match a 64 bits system. The total memory size is 8 MB ~ 1 GB EDO / 512MB SDRAM. The DRAM installation position refer to Figure 3.1, and notice the Pin 1 of DIMM module must match with the Pin 1 of DIMM socket. Insert the DRAM DIMM module into the DIMM socket at Vertical angle. If there is a wrong direction of Pin 1, the DRAM DIMM module couldn't be inserted into socket completely.

Known Issues

Recovery Discs

Information on known issues with the 8000 series recovery discs can be found on this page.

"Memory Interrupt Error 35" Error Message

After adding a 64MB DIMM to an Advent 8520 machine, whenever it started up, the machine would crash with the error message "Memory Interrupt Error 35". Turned out to be Norton Utilities V3 causing the problem. Booted into Safe Mode, and uninstalled Norton, machine then booted up perfectly.