Unidentified motherboard, corrupt BIOS

Hot-swapping and Boot-Block flash & Boot block flash and floppy support
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Kristoffer
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A customer brought in a CompUSAPC computer with a corrupt BIOS. However, I can't find ANY BIOS for this board; CompUSA's site is no help in identifying the board and the numbers from the board come up with no results when searched for in Google.

If I could find the BIOS string it would be a simple matter to identify the BIOS, but the only thing that displays onscreen when the computer boots is a request for a floppy, presumably one that will allow it to boot and restore the BIOS.

Following is all the information I have regarding this motherboard:
  • It came from a CompUSAPC from their Home line, presumably before they sold other manufacturers' computers.
  • The Award 686 BIOS has 188078068 printed on it
  • The CPU is a Socket-1 PIII 500MHz (500/512/100/2.0V)
  • The chipset is a VIA and the Northbridge has VT82C693A, 9944CD, and 14C427961 on it while the Southbridge has VT82C596B, 9944CD, and 14C0N4771 printed on it.
  • It has a Creative ES1373 onboard sound chip on it
  • Micro ATX, 3 DIMM slots, 66/100/133 FSB, x3 to x6.5 multiplier, stickers next to the DIMM slots have "S/N: PR11992275" and "*210519949103008*" printed on them.
  • multiplier and FSB are set by jumpers
I hope this is neither too much nor not enough information. Any help on this matter is much appreciated.
Last edited by Kristoffer on Thu Jul 10, 2003 11:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
soupy
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Flash your BIOS at your own risk.
Kristoffer
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No, that's not it. This one is Micro-ATX, not full-size ATX. The board itself is green. There are 1 AGP, 3 PCI, and 1 ISA with the ISA sharing a spot with the last PCI.

I will, however, look around on MSI's site and see if any of them match visually.
Last edited by Kristoffer on Thu Jul 10, 2003 11:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Kristoffer
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I didn't find it on MSI's site, but I did remember one other resource for finding motherboards. It's actually focused more on finding one to buy but it does narrow the search down considerably.

http://www.acme.com/build_a_pc/boardfinder/
Denniss
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It seems the Emergency Bootblock Bios is still active

Tried to Clear CMOS and set FSB to 66MHz ? > Maybe try a different stick of SDRAM
>> To prevent a Bios misconfiguration or CPU/SDRAM issues causing this problem

Plase have a look into the corners/edges of the board - sometimes there are model numbers or revision numbers printed onto it
Kristoffer
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Denniss wrote:It seems the Emergency Bootblock Bios is still active
Yes, it is.
Denniss wrote:Tried to Clear CMOS and set FSB to 66MHz ? > Maybe try a different stick of SDRAM
No luck
Denniss wrote:Plase have a look into the corners/edges of the board - sometimes there are model numbers or revision numbers printed onto it
No printing of any kind along the edges. On the backside of the board it says PWB 20720-001 REV:C01 MADE IN TAIWAN.

I entered the part before "Made it Taiwan" into google...and found the board. It's a BCM GT693VA. I found a BIOS for it and am right now trying to flash that BIOS onto the chip. Wish me luck!
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