80GB: MS-6147

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

06/16/1998-i440BX-W977-2A69KM4AC-00

i've got the usual problem that my mobo wont recognise the full capacity, i looked on the microstar website and they have updates for every bios except mine (typical)

Have you tried on http://www.msi-computer.de - they also have biosses for older mainboards

Funnily enough i visited that site straight after posting and it does have a upgrade, what i need to know is if that will cure the problem, and i take it use the award flasher that came with the bios update,

http://www.msi-computer.de/produkte/main.php3?Prod_id=132&Seite=BIOS

will this do the trick?

I'd say it can't hurt to try. Please make sure it's a 6147 board though; when I look here it says Microstar MS-6119-HW behind the exact same bios ID?

[NickS]

No, 1.8 doesn't cure the problem and neither does the 2.1 at Packard Bell. If you want to try the patched 2.1 go to the link at my signature. I also have the 1.8 patched.

2.1: MSI 6147, Packard Bell branded
BIOS ID string: 10/28/1999-i440BX-W977-2A69KM4EC-00
Original BIOS OEM string: W6147P2 V2.1 102899
1.8: MSI MS-6147, MSI
BIOS ID string: 06/16/1998-i440BX?ZX-W97-2A69KM4EC-00
Original BIOS OEM string: W6147MS V1.8 100799

I tried flashing the 1.8 and now my computer wont boot, and the boot block method doesnt work either, so i guess it's knackered.

[NickS]

Did you mean the 2.1 ?

i flashed using the 1.8 on my previous post from the german MSI site

[NickS]

Bedford wrote:

i flashed using the 1.8 on my previous post from the german MSI site

Ah. Time to try the hot-swap (hot-flash) method. See Collected Wisdom, it links to a description of hot flashing at Rainbow's site.

Did the picture of the 6147 at the German MSI site look like your board ? Check the top surface of the board for the ID, it should say MS-6xxx somewhere.

yeh the one on the german site looked just like mine

is there no jumper i can set to activate recovery mode, i've tried looking everywhere but had no luck?

[NickS]

Have you cleared the CMOS ?

if you mean before i flashed the ROM, then no i didnt.

[NickS]

Since ? It's worth a try; people have been known to find all sorts of oddities if they didn't clear CMOS after/during a BIOS flash; BIOS password protected, etc.

no i havn't since

how do i do it?

[NickS]

I was looking for a manual, but there isn't a downloadable one [edit] at the German site[/edit].
Sometimes there's a jumper and you change its position.
Sometimes there's a header and you put a jumper on it.
If you can't identify a jumper (if you haven't got a manual and it's not marked on the board) try removing the CMOS battery (power off the machine) for a while. Denniss also recommends shorting the battery socket contacts if even leaving the battery out overnight doesn't work.