BIOS for PCChips Board M863G V1.5C desperately seeked

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

Here's a link to make a self extracting bios disc for the m863g motherboard, it doesn't say for which version though. http://support.cybertronpc.com/cgi-bin/ ... t&file=150

I have m863g rev. 1.5c mobo, If you want to get it's bios, reply.

Hello,

i have a M863G v3.0C mainboard which 'lost' it's bios. I got the board working again with a bios from the v1.5A, but i can't install any operation system, i think i need the v3.0C bios version.
Unfortunately i can't find the mainboard or the bios-files on any ECS/PC-Chips website and all links in this thread are dead.

I would be very grateful if anyone could give me the correct bios file. According to this thread (62-0100-001131-00101111-101404-SIS741-863GV30C) the file should be 041014S.rom. If you don't have the file, but have the mainboard with v3.0C with a working bios, you can save the bios with the flash-tool from PC-Chips.

[edwin]

the link to the Cybertron variant points to a V1.5 bios file (found in the archives somewhere).

I have been looking for M863G socket 563 (since this boards uses a mobile Athlon, that's why it's protesting with the V1.5 bios I think). I have found a bios for the V7.1C variant but cannot ID what socket it's using.

It's possible a bios update for this board was never released since it is a very low-budget one designed to sell the overstock of low-end mobile Athlon processors ECS/PCChips still had, hasn't been long in production either.

The v7.1C version which can be found on the PC-Chips website uses the 964L southbridge, just like the v5.1a socket version. The v3.0C has got the 963L southbridge, like the v1.5a version. So i don't think the bios of the v7.1C will work.

On the website it is stated, that the v7.1C uses a Geode NX CPU, they typically use socket 462 (A) or they are soldered directly to the mainboard without socket.

The CPU on my M863G v3.0C is correctly recognized as XP-M 2400+, but the Windows setup always hangs at the start (Vista/7 with STOP 0x00000005 bluescreen, XP with blackscreen). I can boot a live Linux from the dvd-drive, but if i install Linux on the harddrive i get a Read DMA and invalid CHS sector 0 error on first boot. I already swapped the dvds, memory, harddrive, PATA-cables and psu, i also tried a PCI PATA controller (HighPoint Rocket133), i always get the same errors.
Memtest86+, Windows Memory Diagnostic and the samsung hdd tool ESTool are running for hours without error.

[edwin]

What Linux distro/version/patchlevel? Some of them don't play nice with the SiS963. From what I have been reading elsewhere the 30C bios is basically a 15A bios with a different ID string only. You can boot from a floppy/hotflash the bios on this board, right? Maybe it's an idea to try the very latest 1.5A bios then.

It was Linux Mint 12 rc and Fedora 14. Mint only booted the DVD when i chose compatibility mode.

I already have the latest 1.5A Bios.

Hello,

i recently got an identical mainboard from ebay and i was successful in hotflashing the broken mainboard back to life.

So for everyone who has the same problem, i uploaded the bios file for the PC-Chips M863G v3.0C Socket 563 Mainboard:
http://uploadingit.com/file/6fuuner7zvmqqccy/M863Gv30c.zip
http://oron.com/kbzn5mtol8gu
http://www.mediafire.com/file/wt4ufqiznqn765y/M863Gv30c.zip

[edwin]

Made a backup copy. MUCH appreciated, thank you !