Unfortunately, your assumption is wrong, as the CPUs are modifying the multipliers when dinamically changing frequency, not the FSB (Front Side Bus), which is a fixed value and is directly linked with the chipset's internal clock (BCLK). Desktop motherboards (not all of them) have the possibility to modify the FSB value independently from the BCLK, laptops can't.
The main issue with 400-vs-533 FSB is not the frequency itself, but the CPU voltage table. In theory, all 533-667-800 MHz FSB CPUs should work in 400 MHz motherboards with a lower resulting speed (the multiplier remains the same), but they have different voltage requirements at the same given speed and, if the motherboard is not giving the proper voltage, the system will not work, that's why a BIOS upgrade is a must. If the manufacturer is not willing to release such updates, you're out of luck.