80GB: Jetway 7BXAN_2 A01

[ajzchips]

Considering the BIOS release date.... this must be one of the very FIRST 8/1999 Award BIOS releases with support for over 64GB.... I've just checked (just confirming NickS's statement).

@Rainbow, you might want to see what they've done here, especially because it wasn't till very late 1999 upto mid-2000 that other manufacturers provided a release with >64GB support...

[trevorduddle]

Thanks for your interest and help.

I managed to find the files Nick referred to but I can see no sign of the site of what the new releases are supposed to do. How do I find that or is it hidden where only you experts can get at it

Thanks again

Trevor

[ajzchips]

Not all manufacturers mention what the updates fix. Some do so exhaustively (ASUS, etc.), some only mention some of the new features/major fixes (Gigabyte, PCCHIPS , etc.), and others like Jetway don't mention a thing.

The large HDD support is something we checked with a tool for internal (wimsbios.com) use only, developed by one of our mods

[trevorduddle]

Thanks. Glad it was not me being unable to find it

Cheers

Trevor

[NickS]

OK, the main difference between the "D1" and the "D01" versions of "7BXAS_2/7BXAN_2 08-12-1999" is that the "D1" has environmental monitoring like "7BXAN_2 A01 09-24-1998".

Both D versions have a setting for IRQ setting for sound, which I speculated was the difference between the BXAN and the BXAS.

There's a cosmetic difference to do with the password setting menu item as well. (I have just discovered how useful that F2 function in MODBIN is!)

So, Trevor, if I were in your shoes I'd flash with the file Bxas2d1.bin

[trevorduddle]

Hi Nick,

Almost there I think. Checked and double checked everything (including peeling the sticker off the BIOS chip).

Used Uniflash (nicer than Award's effort); decided to go for it

Gave the file name whir and click then a message

Warning: Bootblock Mismatch: Proceed anyway?

At this point my nerve has failed. I know the bootblock is the "safety net" at least getting floppy support if all else fails.

What do I do?

I considered using the advance option of "Flash Bios including bootblock" but decided that might be a worse solution than doing it without. I also have the option to transfer bootblock alone later if the first bit works.

Hope you can help - again!! Thanks a lot Trevor

[NickS]

Rainbow maintains and enhances Uniflash, so I think I would ask his advice on exactly what this indicates. I have seen it, but I cannot remember under exactly what circumstances; and I had another motherboard I could hot-swap re-flash in if it went wrong.

[Rainbow]

That message appears if your current Boot Block is different from the one in the BIOS you want to flash. It's possible that Jetway updated the bootblock too. If you're sure that you have correct BIOS, go to advanced submenu and flash including bootblock.

[NickS]

Update: Trevor emailed me to say that he flashed the board and did "fdisk /mbr" to get rid of the disc overlay software, but it took a couple of days before he realised that the drive had also been set to under-report capacity. I'm putting together some info to put in the "collected wisdom", pointing to drive manufacturers utilities and how to reverse them.