80GB PC-Chips A101 V1.4

[januszaj]

Hello,
There is patched BIOS (10/15/97-i430VX-02271997C-00 small block flash) for this motherboard on wimsbios.com, but it's limited to <64GB HDDs. Since I don't have any spare HDD that meets this requirement, the result is that computer can't boot, it just hangs on "SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS". Also autodetection in BIOS SETUP makes computer unresponsive.

Would be great if it's possible to remove this 64GB limit.
Thanks in advance!

[edwin]

I will see what I can do. Usually if a bios was patched only for 32GB+ not 64GB+ it means it had an issue. However seeing this one is done long ago, maybe before the 64GB limit could be tackled, it might work.

[januszaj]

Thanks, after reading http://www.ryston.cz/petr/bios/ga586hx_mod.html and looking into BIOS file itself, I conclude that fix for >32GB is pretty straightforward (even found the same code in AJZ's patched BIOS), but >64GB is a unbreakable wall for me

[januszaj]

Sorry for being impatient, but may I ask if there's any progress in this case?

[Adam06]

Thanks, after reading http://www.ryston.cz/petr/bios/ga586hx_mod.html paris shuttle airports and looking into BIOS file itself, I conclude that fix for >32GB is pretty straightforward (even found the same code in AJZ's patched BIOS), but >64GB is a unbreakable wall for me

Hello, this is really bad luck for you, so there is nothing more to do?

[januszaj]

Thanks, after reading http://www.ryston.cz/petr/bios/ga586hx_mod.html paris shuttle airports and looking into BIOS file itself, I conclude that fix for >32GB is pretty straightforward (even found the same code in AJZ's patched BIOS), but >64GB is a unbreakable wall for me

Hello, this is really bad luck for you, so there is nothing more to do?

Fortunately things get better over time, as I found on wimsbios that Jan Steunebrink modded M520 BIOS (which is compatible with A101) to support up to 128GB HDDs and much more, like K6-2 and K6-III support. I contacted him this year and he sent me this BIOS!

Code: Select all

PCChips M520 motherboard BIOS Release 1.1A (12/07/98)
with patch J.2 for Cx MII, AMD K6-2CXT, K6-III, K6-2+ and K6-III+ support,
and for IDE HDDs up to 128GB (32GB bugfix).
11/08/2007
by Jan Steunebrink

The latest, and probably final, BIOS upgrade from PCChips for the M520 is
Release 1.1A. This BIOS does not support the (mobile) K6-2+/III+ CPUs.
Also the original K6-2CXT / K6-III, and Cyrix MII CPUs with 4.0x multiplier,
are not properly supported.
To overcome these problems, I have patched the Rel 1.1A BIOS to include proper
recognition and handling of the MII, K6-2CXT, K6-III, and K6-2+/III+.
I've made the following changes:
- Added detection of the Cyrix MII when set to 4.0x multiplier
- Added detection of the K6-2+, and K6-III+ CPUs
- Expanded the K6 Write Allocation feature to work also on all K6-2/III CPUs
  with the CXT core and enabled this feature for the K6-2+ and K6-III+ as well
- Expanded the CPU Type display routine for correct display of the AMD-
  K6(tm)-2+, and K6(tm)-III+ strings
- Extended CPU speed support for the K6-2, K6-III, K6-2+, and K6-III+
  to 450MHz (6.0x75).

In addition I have applied Petr Soucek's patch to remove the 32GB IDE harddisk
limit bug, and made another patch to remove an additional 64GB limit bug.
This patch J.2 BIOS supports now IDE drives upto 128GB, provided the harddisks
TYPE and MODE are set on Auto for drives larger than 64GB. 
(Note: Due to another bug the BIOS SETUP hangs when manually inserting
HD parameters above 65535MB or when using the IDE HDD Auto Detection
function of the BIOS on drives larger than 64GB. Just set the Harddisks
TYPE and MODE to Auto for any drive above 64GB to avoid this error.)

For all other functions, the patched BIOS is identical to the original Rel.1.1A,
so you don't have to clear the CMOS if you upgrade from this BIOS.

The filename of the patched BIOS is M520_J2.BIN and you can flash it with
the flash program you normally use to flash an M520 BIOS upgrade.
Please take the usual precautions when flashing your BIOS.

Note that, although this patched BIOS has been tested on different M520
systems without any problems, it is provided "as is" and you use it
at your own risk.

I like to thank everybody who participated in testing this BIOS.
Jan.

Homepage: http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/J.Steunebrink/
E-mail  : J.Steunebrink@net.HCC.nl