This site made with this PB Updated September 3, 1998			Packard Bell 520R System Type

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Table of Contents

The motherboard How to determine which motherboard you have PB 520r Motherboard Diagram Jumpers BIOS for the PB 520r Synchronize your system's clock THE CPU  CPU Upgrades PowerLeap Upgrade Overclocking

Memory  Video Memory How to install Video Memory Cache Memory Upgrade Adding RAM Video  Hard Drive  PB 520r Manual? Read Upgrade Stories from Other PB 520r Owners

Contact Me especially if you have information that I may want to add.

The motherboard is the center of any system, because it will determine what components your system will support. Everything from the CPU to your sound card is connected to the motherboard. The identification of which board is in your system is the key to answering questions relating to your system.

This page is dedicated to the PB 520r motherboard.  The 520r can have 2 SIMM sockets or 4 SIMM sockets.  Here may also be other differences between 520r motherboards, however I can not find a pattern or a way to ID the differences.

The 5PB 520 motherboard is very similar to the 520r, however it uses a different BIOS. The PB 520 also has 8 MB of onboard RAM and uses a different video chip.  The video on the PB 520 is the ATI Mach32.  Please see this Packard Bell Web Page for info on the PB 520.

Which motherboard do you have?
To find out your motherboard type, visit my motherboard page.

PB 520r Motherboard Diagram -

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Jumpers
There are a number of jumpers on this motherboard.
For info on the CPU Jumpers, see below.
 

	Description	Pin/Setting	Description
J15 Color	VGA Mode	1-2	MONO
		2-3	COLOR (default)
J16 PW	Password	1-2	Normal (Enabled) (default)
		2-3	Clear (Disabled)
J17 BB	Flash Boot Block	1-2	Recovery Mode
		2-3	Normal Mode (default)
J18 WP	Flash Write Enable  Flash Write Disable	1-2	Flash Write Enabled (default)
		2-3	Flash Write Protected
J19 CMOS CLR	CMOS Clear	1-2	Clear
		2-3	Normal (default)
J20 SETUP	CMOS Setup	1-2	Enable (default)
		2-3	Disable
J37 SPKR	Ext. Speaker Header/Jumper	3-4	Enable on-board speaker  Remove to disable

PLEASE NOTE:  I have reports that not all PB 520r motherboards have all the jumpers listed here, there may be more then one revision of this motherboard.

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BIOS

The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is essential to operate your computer; it provides the basic instructions that allow your computer to boot up.  To learn more on BIOS try this page called Bios Information. BIOS installation can be risky, so please research this issue before you try anything.

Here is a link on how to install bios:

General Instructions on Bios Upgrades - Intel

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BIOS for the PB 520r motherboard
Unfortunately the BIOS for this system was not posted on the Packard Bell web site at the time I wrote this, so I can not tell you the file name, but here is the link to the PB BIOS download page. http://support.packardbell.com/ftp/drivers.asp?bios

Also see this web page for more info on the BIOS for this system.
http://support.packardbell.com/upgrades/PB520rupg.asp

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Synchronize your system's clock
 
Visit my PB Tools Page for this service.

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The CPU

The CPU is probably the central part of the computer; it does most of the work. There are several types of processors on the market today. Intel is the leader with their successful Pentium Processors.  Click here to see the insides of the Pentium chip (Large Graphic File).

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WHAT CPU CAN I PUT IN MY PB 520r?

The PB 520r motherboard comes with a 60 MHz Pentium processor.  This system uses the 273-pin Type 4 Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) CPU Socket.  Packard Bell says "When performing a CPU upgrade there is no jumpers to change.", however there is a jumper to change the bus speed from 60 MHz to 66 Mhz.

Jumper J7 changes the CPU voltage:

1-2 CPUVCC = 5.00v for 60MHz
2-3 CPUVCC = 5.25v for 66MHz

Jumper J14 changes the CPU Speed:

1-2 = 66MHz
2-3 = 60MHz

PLEASE NOTE:  I have reports that not all PB 520r motherboards have all the jumpers listed here, there may be more then one revision of this motherboard.

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PowerLeap Upgrade
There had been some problems with the PowerLeap PL-54C/MMX, however a solution has been found.  Read the following email that was sent to me:
 

 "This message was forwarded from the PowerLeap Discussion group: I did exactly as Paul did (see above post from proche@stacinc.com), that is I had 1.00.09.BC0R BIOS, took the adaptor and popped the CPU out and set the adaptor JP2 jumper to 60MHz and left the motherboard set to 66mhz J14. And sure as he-l it booted right up!!!!!!!! (I don't have old fan on yet, just PL fan) I have been up for about 25 minutes. CPU Control Panel is reporting the CPU as a Pentium 233MMX!!!  Wintune is reporting P55C with MMX and clockspeed of 233!!! Scores are all up! 427 MIPS, 135 MFLOPS (i think the P60 was 34 MFLOPS)! (of course i need to let it run a while, test the cdrom, and run landmark). Thanks to Nob Sato for "inspiring" Paul R and thanks PaulR for your solution!! Later, J:
 

I would suggest you chack the PowerLeap Discussion Group for the latest on this subject.  I find it odd that the motherboard is set at 66 MHz and the PL-54C/MMX is set to 60 MHz, but I am sure we will hear more on that later.   I have also got email claiming the Intel interposer helps with some problems the PowerLeap adapter may have on the PB 520r motherboard.
 

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OVERCLOCKING
This system may be able to be overclcoked to 66 MHz.

Read my Overclcoking a Packard Bell Computer Web Page for more information on overclocking.

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Memory

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Video Memory Upgrade
 
The video on the PB 520r can be upgraded to 2MB by adding two 256kx16-70ns SOJ DRAM chips,  these chips install into sockets

The PB 520r motherboard features 1 MB of video memory.  You can upgrade your system's video memory to 2 MB by using the following procedure:
Install two 256Kx16 Fast Page Mode (70ns) DRAM SOJ chips in sockets (U10A1) and (U11A1). 

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How to install Video memory -  To install video memory, find (U10A1) and (U11A1) sockets.  Install one SOJ chip into each socket.  Be sure that pin one is in line.  This can be done by aligning the indented dot on the SOJ chip with the cut corner of the socket.  The chip then needs to be uniformly pressed into place.

 
 

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Cache Memory Upgrade
The PB 520r motherboards either come with 256k L2 cache or without.  There is no upgrade available.  Those systems with the 256k L2 cache can not be upgraded to 512 L2 cache.  You have only as much L2 cache as when you bought the system, no more and no less.

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Adding RAM - Some PB 520r systems have 2 SIMM sockets and some have 4 SIMM sockets, this will affect the total amount of RAM that the system can be upgraded to.  72 MB for the 2 SIMM systems and 136 MB for the 4 SIMM systems.
 

SIMM Bank 0		SIMM Bank 1		Total System Memory
72 pin 4, 8MB X 32		72 pin 4, 8MB X 32
4MB	4MB	None	None	16MB
4MB	4MB	4MB	4MB	24MB
4MB	4MB	8MB	8MB	32MB
4MB	4MB	16MB	16MB	48MB
4MB	4MB	32MB	32MB	80MB
8MB	8MB	None	None	24MB
8MB	8MB	4MB	4MB	32MB
8MB	8MB	8MB	8MB	40MB
8MB	8MB	16MB	16MB	56MB
8MB	8MB	32MB	32MB	88MB
16MB	16MB	None	None	40MB
16MB	16MB	4MB	4MB	48MB
16MB	16MB	8MB	8MB	56MB
16MB	16MB	16MB	16MB	72MB
16MB	16MB	32MB	32MB	104MB
32MB	32MB	None	None	72MB
32MB	32MB	4MB	4MB	80MB
32MB	32MB	8MB	8MB	86MB
32MB	32MB	16MB	16MB	104MB
32MB	32MB	32MB	32MB	136MB

 

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Video
The  motherboard has a Cirrus Logic video card.  The video is on the motherboard and can not be removed, however it should disable itsself when a new video card is installed.

I have got reports os successful video upgrades for this system, see my video upgrade project for more details.

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Hard Drive

The Hard Drives on Packard Bell Systems are not uniform, each motherboard can have a different size and manufacturer of the hard drives.

If you want more information I suggest you contact the individual manufacturer of your hard drive.


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The PB 520r manual
At this time I know of no known electronic manual for this system, a printed manual may have been provided with some systems, but I do not have a manual.

If you want more info on this system visit these web pages

Packard Bell 520r Upgrade Page
Tandy Computer Support Information - This web page is specific to the Legend 100CD, but it is a PB 520r motherboard so the info is basically the same.