Illegal BIOS

[Tomahawk]

Thanks for your site, novices like myself find these types of sites very helpful.

I installed a 20g hard drive on an old computer, but it won’t recognise it which I assume is a Bios issue.
Having reviewed the information on your site, I was able to ascertain that my BIOS ID string is:
06/21/96-i430VX-2A59Ht5BC-00

This caused me some alarm as it appears that I have an illegal BIOS.


Chipset : Intel Triton VX chipset (Socket 7 based m/b) with an illegal BIOS
Hardware vendors : Tyan
Note: The Award BIOS id for Tyan is T5. There is one exception: if your BIOS Number starts with 2A59H and then t5 or T5, then your motherboard was not manufactured by Tyan. 2A59H indicates an illegal chipset id which might mean that the manufacturer (not Tyan!!) did not pay Award for the BIOS core.

So now I’m not sure who the Motherboard mfg is or where to go to get an upgrade from!......Or am I stuck with what I've got?

Would appreciate if someone could assist me!

Thanks in advance.

[Denniss]

Pcchips VX motherboard with an illegal Bios - Pcchips had a problem with Award Software some years ago.

http://wims.rainbow-software.org/index. ... 0&count=20
-> Latest Bios to support HDD up to 64GB
-> Award Flash might complain "Bios-ID does not match" as the Bios-Id is different from your previous one but the Bios is correct .
Either ignore this message and continue or if this fails use awdflash with options /sn /py or use Uniflash .

Attention : Make sure you pick the right Bios of the two !!
-> If your Bios shows "Release 06/21/1996L" then use the "L"-Version of the Bios otherwise use the "S" Version

[Denniss]

If you want to know your motherboard model number use this Link :
http://www.stud.fernuni-hagen.de/q3998142/pcchips/

But all Pcchips i430VX motherboards use the same Bios except one very rare special one