Before create a paperweight- modbin6 question

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

I did enable the bios section that allowed choosing the output, kept it set at 'auto' and WinXP refused to boot. Dos and Fedora Core 4 64bit worked fine. I assume it was a vid driver issue in XP, probably just needed to set to VGA, flash, reboot and then let windows find drivers. I did not go that far, was not worth it to me because the HP ATI VGA bios wound not run vista-aeroglass so I went and loaded up the MSI VGA bios into the HP. If you load up the MSI it does have added output support versus the HP VGA, exactly what I forget but check out the msi-7093 mobo (RS480M2), has:
- 1 x VGA Prot
- 1 x S-Video port
- 1 x Composite TV-Out

So if the connectors and any intermediate HW for the physical display is in place on the mobo, it may be good to go.

Thanks for the information. The PC I got does not have a floppy, and the bios is 3.14. So I need some hack to do.

whydothis,

I am back after being out of the loop for a while (since I have modded the BIOS to do everything I needed/wanted it to do[WOL,MEMtimings,etc...), I am now having problems with PCI IDE Raid controller card and my HD's on this mobo...

Long Story, Check here for all the details:
Poor Raid 5 preformance @ Storage Review (HDtach Screenshots included)

Long Story Short:
I think the A8AE-LE is the culprit for my poor Raid and standard IDE HD preformance.

I don't want/need to setup the Sata RAID you have, but rather get better preformance out of my PCI ide raid controller card & the IDE ports on the MoBo (which are only transfering at ATA33 as opposed to ATA100 or ATA133 as they should be).
Any thoughts on what to do to correct this?

-Could it be PCI Latency Timer (clk) which is set to 64 ? or is this correct
-or could it have to do with the LDT+PCUI Bus control settings?
-or could it be the drivers that I have installed in WinXP?
I don't know i am just throwing out ideas

Thanks Buddy, I appreciate all the help,
-BassKozz

Can anyone post 3.14 Bios ? Thanks.

htpcbuilder wrote:

Can anyone post 3.14 Bios ? Thanks.

You said in a previous post you already have 3.14...

htpcbuilder wrote:

Thanks for the information. The PC I got does not have a floppy, and the bios is 3.14. So I need some hack to do.

Why do you need it?
Why can't your own backup ?

I do have 3.14 bios but my system does not have a floppy to work on. Is there any way to backuo the bios without the floppy ? Thanks.

htpcbuilder wrote:

I do have 3.14 bios but my system does not have a floppy to work on. Is there any way to backuo the bios without the floppy ? Thanks.

I found this little app on the net that will do the trick...
Go here:
http://rapidshare.de/files/18971931/flash.zip.html

Download and Unzip... then run flash.exe
Then go to File -> Save Old Bios
Save the *.bin file where ever you want

Please Note:
i take no responsibility for the usage of this application
If you "F" up your computer because you used this app don't call me
Also I don't know how this app got on the internet, or who posted it, but it wasn't me

WhyDoThis1001,

Are you even around anymore?

Still here :-)

Ok, for one thing on the PCI slots, there seems to be no way to get them to run with 0 wait states. The experiments I did showed they will run with 1 wait state no matter what. The same PCI Sata raid card/raid stripe set plugged into the a8ae-le showed 60mb/s, peak 63. Taking that components as a set and dropping them into another mobo that did allow pci wait state control took the set to 100mb/s. There are strings in the bios for '0 ws' but nothing to select them. Queries I sent to ATI and HP went un-answered on the wait state issue.

Second thing, is your pci raid card 66mhz capable? Using pcimon or sandra show the bus running at 33, even though the sata card I have tellsl the system they can go at 66.

I do agree with the ideas on your storagereview thread, looks like the drives are doing udma33. As far as your onboard ide ports go, there are bios choices for that, they start with IDE and are hidden in the stock bios. Are your settings set to 'Auto' or are you trying to force a mode?

Gene

whydothis1001 wrote:

Still here

Ok, for one thing on the PCI slots, there seems to be no way to get them to run with 0 wait states. The experiments I did showed they will run with 1 wait state no matter what. The same PCI Sata raid card/raid stripe set plugged into the a8ae-le showed 60mb/s, peak 63. Taking that components as a set and dropping them into another mobo that did allow pci wait state control took the set to 100mb/s. There are strings in the bios for '0 ws' but nothing to select them. Queries I sent to ATI and HP went un-answered on the wait state issue.

Second thing, is your pci raid card 66mhz capable? Using pcimon or sandra show the bus running at 33, even though the sata card I have tellsl the system they can go at 66.

I do agree with the ideas on your storagereview thread, looks like the drives are doing udma33. As far as your onboard ide ports go, there are bios choices for that, they start with IDE and are hidden in the stock bios. Are your settings set to 'Auto' or are you trying to force a mode?

Gene

Gene,
Good to see you again old friend ...
So your saying there's no way to improve the preformance of my Raid Array on this Mobo.

Here is an output of the PCI info from SiSandra:

Code: Select all

SiSoftware Sandra

Device Information
Device Type : RAID Disk Controller
Device ID : bus 2, device 8, function 0
Windows Device Name : LSI Logic MegaRAID i4 IDE RAID Controller
OEM Device Name : American Megatrends Inc 80960RP i960RP Microprocessor
OEM Hardware ID : FUN_0, VEN_101E, DEV_1960, REV_02
Device Name : Dell Computer Corp 80960RP i960RP Microprocessor
Product ID : VEN_1028, DEV_0511
Revision : A / 3 (2)

Power Management Features
Version : 2.00
Supports Clock Slow-down : Yes
Supports D1 PM State : No
Supports D2 PM State : No
Supports PME# : No
Supports PME Clock : No

Device Capabilities
Line Cache Size : 8 byte(s)
Latency Timer : 64 clk
I/O port resources : No
Memory resources : Yes
Bus Master Capable : Yes
Special Cycle Recognition : No
Memory Write & Invalidate : No
VGA Palette Snoop : No
Parity Error Response : No
Address/Data Stepping : No
System Error Line : No
Fast back-to-back Transactions : No
Detects Parity Errors : No
Supports System Error Line : No
Supports Parity Line : No
User Defined Format : No
66MHz Bus Support : No
New Capability List : Yes
Device Select Timing : Medium
Multi-Function Device : No
Header : 00
Interface : 00

Hardware Resources
Memory Range : FDEF0000
Irq. No. : 16
INT Pin : A#
Expansion ROM : FDCC0000
Dynamic Management : Yes


Also I've updated the StorageReview thread since you last read it (Check it out when you get a chance)... I found out that the cables I was using to connect the HD's directly to the Mobo's IDE controller were too long... I swapped them out and got UDMA Mode 5.
But I also swapped the cables on my RAID controller card, and I am still seeing the same LAME preformance... I assume due to this PCI restriction. Is there anything we can do?
Modding the BIOS etc... ?

Thanks for all your help WhyDoThis... I owe you huge... you name it

I have a request for Basskozz or Whydothis1001 if you're still around. I've been searching for the 3.14 firmware but haven't had any luck. If one of you still have it could you send me a copy? I'm struggling with a memory performance issue (< 1500 MB/sec with PC3200 @ 400 mhz) right now and this is the last thing I'm going to try before sending my SR1834NX back to HP.

Thanks,
Perry

Can anyone point me to a spot where I can download the latest modbin(I believe it's 2.01.01)? I've scoured the internet looking for it to no avail. It's no longer available at http://bnobtc.pix-art.com/en or the other pages maintained by the same author.

Thanks for any help.

try this link:
http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sisubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=000004

I am newbie regarding BIOS mod. Can you please help in answering the following questions:

Referring to http://www.geocities.com/whydothis1000/ ... erinem.htm

************************
Use of 'Check8'

Load the SiI raid bios module with 'debug', change last byte of file to 0 and write it out (last byte is file checksum).
************************

1. How do you load the SiI raid bios module with 'debug'?
2. How do you change last byte of file to 0?
3. How do you write it out?
What tools do you use for the three actions above?

I have a Compaq SR1710nx with the same motherboard A8AE-LE.
I'm having a problem where Linux (FC5) sometimes refuses to boot saying my system has reached critcal temperature and then it immediately shutsdown. This appears to be because the temperature read by the Linux ACPI support is really high despite the actual system temperature to be lower. It's a sempron 3400+ and actually runs so cool the heatsink is barely warm. Also, the BIOS temp display is much lower.
In winXP, I can check the sensor readings with SpeedFan. One sensor labeled AUX alwats reads about 15-20 degrees C above what it gets from the K8 thermal diode. The ACPI temp in Linux seems to correspond to this AUX reading.

I'm currently at bios version 3.13. Any chance 3.14 might fix this? Anyone know where I can get it?