80GB: 02/02/2000-ALADDIN5-2A5KKF9BC-00

BIOS update, EIDE card, or overlay software? (FAQ Hard disk recognition)
siroce
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I tried a patch from http://wims.rainbow-software.org but did not work (motherboard is dead at the moment)

Can anyone patch my bios to support some newer hdds, the size iz 256KB, don't remember the numbers :( but hope I'll find them (when I return the old bios)
Denniss
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The patch is a patched Bios and a copy of the original Bios is needed.
The patch is only for a specific motherboard and not generally a patch for a chipset. You can't use a patched Gigabyte Bios for an ALI-V based mainboard on an Asus ALI-V Mainboard !!
Ritchie
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Users of this site cannot patch a BIOS for you. All Wim's does is:

* Provide tools and information that may assist you in updating your BIOS.
* Help you locate the correct BIOS image for your board.
* Make available patched BIOSs when the BIOS available from the manufacturer of a board is not sufficient for a user's requirements, such as HDD size.


What to do now:
1) If you get no display at all at present, you may need to flash your BIOS with the correct image for your board. Users of this forum should be able to provide advice on how to do this.

2) If you do get a display, your BIOS is probably intact. Depending on what problem you are experience, the BIOS settings may need to be reset, or your current BIOS may not support the size HDD you are trying to install, or there may be something else that needs to be done. Forum users should also be able to provide on this.

In either case, you can probably get some advice here, but you will need to provide more information on your problem.

And please note also, 256KB sounds very much like the amount of RAM your BIOS is reporting, which is different to HDD size. If you can get into your BIOS setup at present, have a careful look through until you find your HDD setup information. And you never know, your HDD might be properly installed without you even realising it (although this is a best case scenario).
siroce
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I flashed a wrong bios. The board is dead for now, but I will program the eeprom with programator.. to get the old bios back.
256kb is the size of the fios file (2Mbit :)
**I asked if someone knows anything abouth patching bios to support 80gb hard disk..
thanx
NickS
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Ritchie wrote:Users of this site cannot patch a BIOS for you. All Wim's does is:

* Provide tools and information that may assist you in updating your BIOS.
* Help you locate the correct BIOS image for your board.
* Make available patched BIOSs when the BIOS available from the manufacturer of a board is not sufficient for a user's requirements, such as HDD size.
To clarify, moderators can patch certain Award BIOSes to fix some bugs that stopped the BIOS working correctly up to 128GiB.
What to do now:
1) If you get no display at all at present, you may need to flash your BIOS with the correct image for your board. Users of this forum should be able to provide advice on how to do this.
Try the FAQ at the main Wim's BIOS site" or look at some advice on the "My Motherboard is dead" forum.
In either case, you can probably get some advice here, but you will need to provide more information on your problem.
Yes!
And please note also, 256KB sounds very much like the amount of RAM your BIOS is reporting
Ritchie, I think that's the size of his BIOS. I haven't come across a system with 256KB RAM since my Acorn BBC Master. Even my IBM PC-AT came with 512KB. :wink:
Tested patched BIOSes. Untested patched BIOSes.
Emails *will* be ignored unless the subject line starts "Wim's BIOS forum"
Denniss
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@siroce :
If ou tell us what motherboard you have we may be able to locate a suitable Bios upgrade for you and we may be able to tell you if this Bios needs patching or not.

We can't help without more information !
siroce
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I used Award Bios editor and extracted some text from the flash file:

Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
02/02/2000-ALADDIN5-2A5KKF9BC-00
FOR AGP-ALI PCI/ISA/AGP VER:3.3_66

p.s. 80gb hdd does not work - system hangs up. I can limit it to 32gb or install maxblast (dynamic-disc-overlay) workaround, but it's NOT very stable solution.. I'd like bios patch more.. :)

thank you for trying..
ajzchips
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The ACORP version of your very same BIOS:
BIOS ID string: 02/02/2000-ALADDIN5-2A5KKF9BC-00
BIOS OEM string: FOR 5ALI61 PCI/ISA/AGP VER:3.3_66
http://www.acorp.com.tw/eng/download/do ... 7&lineid=1

...though being of the very same release date, seems to provide support for large HDDS. Our utility displays:
BIOS already supports HDDs over 32GB & 64GB
You might want to try that particular version.
Ritchie
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Sorry to confuse the 256KB issue.

When I read the original post I thought he was seeing 256 on the POST screen and, confuisng MB with KB, assumed he was looking at RAM size.

But looking at Nick's comments and the original post again, I see that I made an error and that 256 is the size of the BIOS.
Denniss
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Just for Info :
Is the Bios-ID you gave us from the file you tried to flash or from the backup-Bios you saved ?
siroce
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The id string is from the backup bios, it was on the bottom of the screen when the computer was booting...

I've downloaded that bios from acorp, and I will tell you if it works.

And something interesting:
When I pack my old bios, the new acorp, and an other one with WinRar - they have different CRC.. But they all have the axact same id string..
Ritchie
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Try WinZip and see if you get that peculiarity.

I like to stick with WinZip because it is what most people use now and therefore it is the easiest way to send compressed files with confidence that people should be able to open them.

However I admit that in the days of DOS I used to use other compression software because at the time I found that I could get files slightly smaller than with using zip files. However, the current versions of WinZip are now better than those DOS programs.
siroce
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I tried to flash the old bios on an intel440 board (live flash) and it flashed only the half of the bios(the board's bios was 128kb so I think it couldn't "see" the other 128kb).

That half contains the boot block so the computer booted. It said 'bios checksum error' and tried to search for floppy but it reported error (floppy was 1.44 win98 bootable disk)

Does the system search for bootable disk (to start command.com) or just awdflash.exe????
NickS
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Re: bootable disk - there seems to be confusion on this point. Some say you need a bootable disk with an autoexec.bat calling awdflash.exe with parameters, others think the disk need not be bootable. Look at this post from DOSfreak and see if it sounds familiar.
Tested patched BIOSes. Untested patched BIOSes.
Emails *will* be ignored unless the subject line starts "Wim's BIOS forum"
siroce
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-seen that post before
-tried bootable disk with awdflash.exe and nothing happend - except the floppy error
-tried some other disks - the same problem :(

Could this be some third case?? Maybe the old bios searches for some other file?

p.s. The floppy didn't sound like it tried to read some file, only the light went on, end it reported floppy disk error after about 3 seconds
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