A 'once and for all' declaration regarding L88M mask MC68040 CPUs

[Andy]

Here's an eBay seller in China offering chips with mask 02E31F. Do these look legit?

Motorola 68040 XC68040RC33M MC68040RC 02E31F 33MHz Vintage CPU PGA | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Motorola 68040 XC68040RC33M MC68040RC 02E31F 33MHz Vintage CPU PGA at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I bought a 02E31F MC68040RC40 from ericwoosrarechips on eBay and it was exactly as advertised, not remarked and fully functional. Out of stock right now but more do appear now and then. https://www.ebay.com/itm/383675636030

I'm glad this thread was bumped because I got to learn about what process my cpu is.

 

[Paralel]

Just for this information to be recorded somewhere, here is the data from the Powerbook 550c CPU's of which I am aware, including my own.

All of them are Motorola XC68040FE33M QFP184

All of them have the same mask & location of production: 02E31F Malaysia

Part Numbers: QEES9519A, QEEB9517B, QEBP9511A, QEBQ9511A

I found information on another one, Part Number: QECW9514A

 

[MrFahrenheit]

I bought a 02E31F MC68040RC40 from ericwoosrarechips on eBay and it was exactly as advertised, not remarked and fully functional. Out of stock right now but more do appear now and then. https://www.ebay.com/itm/383675636030

I'm glad this thread was bumped because I got to learn about what process my cpu is.

From my experience buying various 68040 chips on eBay from a variety of sellers, I would trust Eric Woo 100%, and I would be very , very suspect of any other seller. Especially ones sourced from China. I have purchased some which said California and they drop shipped from China.

Advice for those who are looking for full 68940 chips or higher rated ones than they have: put a notification on Eric Woo and when he lists an item you’ll get notified, and buy from him.

 

[jessenator]

That means 3.3V supply, but accepts 3.3V or 5V inputs. See table C.7.1 in the datasheet addendum. They cannot run on more than 3.6V supply.

Thank you! I knew I was missing something.

I would trust Eric Woo 100%

I trust them more than UTSource—a recommendation from me, as well. He even sent me another MC68040LRC40 when one from my order was a dud.

 

[cheesestraws]

Thirding: Eric Woo has been solid for me always.

 

[Paralel]

I need to self-crit on this. I'm making strides to move beyond my weird obsessions. I honestly, now, couldn't care less I've apologized privately to the individual I went full passive-agressive on regarding the issue (which is/was my issue), and I don't want to let something that is made up of a load of pixels and energy get the best of me. </confession>

I haven't seen any QPFs beyond embedded iterations of the 040—but I am far from the expert there. Found this in the NXP documentation:
View attachment 53112
So unless it's 3.3V I don't think they did, sadly :/

Just to follow up on this after doing some in-depth research, it turns out that Apple likely used all XC parts in the 550c, but the full 68040 in the QFP was eventually qualified, so the MC68040FE33A did exist, but was never used by Apple. Also, the MC68040FE40A did indeed exist, but was not a Motorola original part. The MC68040FE40A was created by NXP in the 21st century after successive die shrinks made it possible to for it to run cool enough for its intended purposes as an embedded part. However, it had a very limited run and was not widely used, so pieces are rare and command upwards of $350+ on the secondary market. I would love to try and place one on a CPU daughtercard, along with the appropriate clock and the ROM from the 550c to see if the fastest full 68040 possible in a Powerbook is possible.

 

[Bolle]

Why would you want the 550 ROM? Full 040s just work with the 520/540 ROM as well.
It's a myth that the 550 ROM is needed for the FPU to be detected.

 

[jeremywork]

I remember reading a detailed swap attempt on hackaday a few years ago which ended with the assumption that something in ROM must be different. Maybe they just had two bad chips in a row, though the second seemed relatively thoroughly checked.

Powerbook 500 – Hackaday

hackaday.com

 

[Bolle]

They likely had bad/remarked LC chips.
With a known good full 040 replacing the LC040 on a 540 CPU module just works... FPU is detected and works, no further modifications needed.

 

[jeremywork]

They likely had bad/remarked LC chips.
With a known good full 040 replacing the LC040 on a 540 CPU module just works... FPU is detected and works, no further modifications needed.
View attachment 53177

That's good news! Thanks for confirming

 

[Paralel]

They likely had bad/remarked LC chips.
With a known good full 040 replacing the LC040 on a 540 CPU module just works... FPU is detected and works, no further modifications needed.
View attachment 53177

Given the crystal on that chip, does the chip run at 33/66? What does the "H" before the FE stand for? Is that the extended extended temperature range chip?

Huh, so it was just a bad chip. Makes sense since the non-Mac OS that doesn't rely on the ROM couldn't detect it either.

Makes me wonder about the G3 upgrade that was attempted for the Blackbird, if the chip was no good? Makes me want to try another chip.

 

[Phipli]

What does the "H" before the FE stand for?

They're extended temperature range chips I believe. I found a reference but lost it again.