Amptron PM9800 motherboard dead, looking for revival

w00tDr · Sat Mar 04, 2017 3:05 am

The tale of woe:

The motherboard is Amptron PM9800 ver 3.6 socket 7 from 1997
It didn't recognize a 30GB hard drive, so I wanted to update the AMI BIOS.
Amptron's website is gone, and I found only one BIOS online here: http://files.mpoli.fi/hardware/ROM/OTHER/
The plan was to use the supplied flash program to make a backup of the existing BIOS, since I had no backup, and the then proceed with flashing to the new BIOS. What happened was the flash program executed and *did something* after which the board was dead.

Next, I tried the method suggested here for AMI BIOS recovery: Rename the downloaded file to AMIBOOT.ROM. Copy to floppy. Power on. Press Home key to force, if necessary. Result: no drive activity.

Next, I hired a BIOS recovery service to copy the BIOS from the site linked above to a new DIP. Result: the system attempts to POST, but hangs at POST code 2A. Rearrangement of memory modules and/or video card in various PCI slots resulted in no difference.

Therefore, I think this BIOS may be incorrect for this motherboard.
I am out of things to try, unless someone has another idea?

Wed May 03, 2017 8:29 pm

any AMIBIOS after 01-01-1998 was fixed for HDD >8GB and in that process they also fixed the 32GB barrier it is claimed. I have found a 27-11-1998 version but cannot upload it here. PM me an email address I can send it to please.

w00tDr · Mon May 08, 2017 3:27 pm

edwin wrote:any AMIBIOS after 01-01-1998 was fixed for HDD >8GB and in that process they also fixed the 32GB barrier it is claimed. I have found a 27-11-1998 version but cannot upload it here. PM me an email address I can send it to please.

Hi, thanks for looking for the BIOS. It seems that I do not have enough posts here to use PM.

w00tDr · Thu May 11, 2017 11:22 pm

I will try to make some more replies to improve post count.

w00tDr · Sat May 13, 2017 7:38 pm

Increasing my participation, to gain PM priveleges.

w00tDr · Sun May 14, 2017 4:10 pm

It's a new day, and another post to increase post count so I can get PM privelege so I can send email privately so I can try to get a BIOS.

w00tDr · Fri May 26, 2017 9:48 pm

edwin wrote:any AMIBIOS after 01-01-1998 was fixed for HDD >8GB and in that process they also fixed the 32GB barrier it is claimed. I have found a 27-11-1998 version but cannot upload it here. PM me an email address I can send it to please.

I sent you a PM with my information. Let me know if you receive it.

w00tDr · Fri Jun 09, 2017 9:47 pm

edwin wrote:any AMIBIOS after 01-01-1998 was fixed for HDD >8GB and in that process they also fixed the 32GB barrier it is claimed. I have found a 27-11-1998 version but cannot upload it here. PM me an email address I can send it to please.

I sent another PM today, in case the first PM was lost. Also, it is summer, and many people have vacation without internet. Therefore I will wait for some time.

Tue Feb 20, 2018 3:27 pm

My apologies for the long wait. Life came in between. I replied via PM, will check where the file is and email it to you.

w00tDr · Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:09 am