80GB: 61-0816-001437-00101111-071595-ali1621-M726mrt_v1.2

[simbit]

Is there a more upto date bios that will recognise my WD caviar 80g hard drive?

My current bios is

Bios Date : 08/16/99
Bios type : American megatrend
Bios ID : 61-0816-001437-00101111-071595-ali1621-M726mrt_v1.2
OEM Sign on : 08/16/99 s
Superio : NSC 332 rev 8 found at port 2Eh

OS : Win2000 pro
CPU : Pentium III - 450mhz
rom size 256k

[Denniss]

http://www.pcchips.com.tw/BIOS.html

>> New name is M726T

There are two Biosfiles - one 128KByte and one 256KByte
> Your flashprog should warn you if you try to flash the wrong one

Does the Bios only detect 32GB or is it hanging during IDE detection ?

[simbit]

It actually detects my 30gig hard drive ok but when I connect the 80gig drive it just hangs during detection.

Shabs

[Denniss]

Make sure the jumpersetting on the WD HDD are correct - uses a non-standard Single-Master setting if only the HDD is connected to one channel
Is the IDE-port the HDD is connected to set to Auto-Detect on each system start ?
> Try "IDE HDD Autodetection" in Bios
> The HDD or WD website should have Cyl Head Sector values written onto it - try to enter these values manually in Bios and enable LBA

If this does not work upgrade Bios

[ajzchips]

A friend of mine has my old M726mrt with the 128KB BIOS working just fine with an 80GB HDD (latest BIOS release).

[simbit]

I have checked jumper settings and HDD auto detect with no joy. I have not tried manual setting cylinder head values. I will give a try, but i suspect it is the bios version as ajzchips says.

The question is how do I know which one is the right version for my board. 128k or 256K? My current version has a 256k rom.

Shabs

[NickS]

If it has a 256K ROM, use the 256K image.

[simbit]

Ok. I have tried to flash the upgrade as recommended by pc chips on their website but I keep getting chipset/flash part is unavailable. this function will be invalid

Shabs

[Denniss]

What's the flash prog you've used ?
Read the manual - maybe there is some kind of flash protection active

[simbit]

I used AMINF336.EXE and the only instructions are those posted on the PC chips site. doesn't say anything about flash protection

[Rainbow]

Try older AMIFlash - one can be found on my page, or use UniFlash.

[simbit]

I've downloaded AMIflash, but is there an easy step by step instructions on how to use it?
The instructions i have found so far look daunting.

[Rainbow]

usage: amiflash.exe bios.rom
(where amiflash.exe is the name of the utility and bios.rom is name of the file to flash)
The amiflash from my site is tested on M726 (non-MRT), UniFlash works fine too on M726.

[simbit]

Since there appears to be 2 bios update files for the M726T( I believe this the new model number for M726MRT), how can I be sure which is the correct file. Is it the 2k1106s or the 991204s, or will Amiflash warn me if I try to flash the wrong one?

[NickS]

If it has a 256K ROM, use the 256K image.