FIC AZ31 (oem UWAVE)

Questions that don't belong in the other forums.
sulbert
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kltsin wrote: You have a second pc that has a flashboard of some sort, either isa, pci or ide. (Ive heard you can actually build one, somewhere...)
Then REprogrammed the original chip, or did you have a new chip that you programmed using c't flasher?
c't flasher is a small ISA card for programming 5V parallel flash chips. And yes, I used it on one of my other computers. I didn't reprogram the original chip since I had some chips of the same type (Winbond W49F002U) lying around - just took another one and flashed the FIC AZ31 BIOS image into that.
kltsin wrote: I also was curious if this would allow ALL of the Compaq boards that use the FIC AZ31 (UWAVE, UWAVE-2, UWAVE-3, UWAVE-R) to actually now utilise the K133 chipsets 133mhz speeds.
Compaq used only 100mhz on all except the UWAVE-3, but left the 100-133 mhz jumper.
AFAIK UWAVE-3 has KT133A chipset. Never seen a KT133 board running at 133MHz...
kltsin wrote: Compaq also seems to have removed the multiplier jumpers also, well at least on the UWAVE, not sure about others...
Are there multiplier jumpers on AZ31? They are not mentioned in the manual...
The multiplier of socket A processors can always bet set using the so-called pin-mod.

News on my tests:
My UWAVE board has been running memtest86+ more than 24h without any problems now. Will try to install Windows and/or Linux (not decided yet) to see if all the other devices on the board work normally.
sulbert
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Knoppix runs just fine on the board :) And all the options in the BIOS (AZ31 BIOS patched with apple-rom's patcher to recognize my 1.2-GHz Duron correctly and w/o the fullscreen logo (didn't like it)) I have tried so far also. If I get some time, I'll install it in one of my computers.
sulbert
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I'm writing this message from a W2K computer that has an UWAVE board with FIC BIOS. So I guess it's the end of the story. Managed to render it unbootable once with playing around with memory settings in BIOS (after clearing CMOS everything was OK again), but that might also be because of the oddball 1-rank 512-MB DIMM (sixteen 64Mx4 memory chips) I'm using in this computer.
uknown1234
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sulbert wrote:Knoppix runs just fine on the board :) And all the options in the BIOS (AZ31 BIOS patched with apple-rom's patcher to recognize my 1.2-GHz Duron correctly and w/o the fullscreen logo (didn't like it)) I have tried so far also. If I get some time, I'll install it in one of my computers.
Link to this patched bios please.
kltsin
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Ty for all of the great info.

There is a jumper for 133/100 FSB... Also thats how the Via K_133 got its name..

BTW, you are correct that that motherboard doesnt use any jumpers for fsb or multipliers, there used to be a jumper for magic tuner though. I think this is for cpu voltage change.
Also I may have been looking at the az11 which uses dips for multiplier...
clockworx
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Hi all,

A friend gave this board to me and I wanted to use it in an HTPC, so I was interested in some tweaking and possibly underclocking it. Obviously, the Compaq BIOS sucks and I want to flash it, just not sure if this thread suggests it is more or less safe. I unfortunately don't have a flasher, not do I know anyone with one.

I've also heard all the warnings of people flashing the board with the manufacturers (FIC AZ31) bios, but I don't think I've actually seen a post about killing the mobo. I have heard lots of people saying THEY heard horror stories, but have not seen one myself. All I've seen is people saying "I'm gonna try it, will post results!" and then no more replies on the thread.

I flashed the BIOS with the latest compaq (786K1) version, just to make sure it was working. I tried using the backup BIOS it created to edit/unlock it using BIOS patcher, but BIOS catcher refused to work with it ("couldn't find *BBS*" or similar message), altho CBROM /D shows 2 files inside. I also tried to use my own backup.bin that I made using award bios backup util, with the same results. I figure using ROM patcher to unlock the current bios is safer than flashing the straight AZ31 bios on there.

So....after reading this thread, I'm wondering again. Is it safe to flash to FIC AZ31 ROM on there? I'm a little new to BIOS tweaking, so I don't see how using an external flasher would be more/less successful than an internal one, other than recoverability if something went wrong. But the actual usability of the board after flashing should be the same, whether flashed onboard or externally, right?

If an external flasher is required to use the FIC bios, is there any way I can extract the Compaq BIOS in some way that the patcher will recognize? I've already run the patcher on the AZ31 bios (vdb41.bin or whatever), so the patcher appears to be working, it just refuses to touch my backup of the compaq Bios.

Any ideas for how to proceed?

TIA
MegaloDon
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OK, I figured out the solution for my mobo....

Hope it works for yours.

The original download works, but you gotta add some switches to it.

http://www.fic.com.tw/support/download. ... info=vdb41

Download the zip file and extract the files to a DOS bootable floppy....
I created a batch file called "flash.bat" with the following:

flash73 vdb41.bin /py/sn/f/cc/r

Boot from the floppy and type "flash"

It will reprogram it, then reboot automatically. Remove the floppy and when it reboots, enter CMOS setup and load the optimized defaults. Then reboot again.

You will see a lot of new options in the BIOS now and you can install Win2K/WinXP!!
ymm
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MegaloDon wrote:Download the zip file and extract the files to a DOS bootable floppy....
I created a batch file called "flash.bat" with the following:

flash73 vdb41.bin /py/sn/f/cc/r

Boot from the floppy and type "flash"
Dind't work for me... Got error message.

My curent BIOS (786K1) is a .rom and this is a .bin. This might be the problem?

Thanks,
YMM [/quote]
NickS
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kltsin wrote:Ty for all of the great info.

There is a jumper for 133/100 FSB... Also thats how the Via K_133 got its name..
KT133 doesn't support 133MHz FSB, only 133MHz memory. (Good marketing ploy). The 100/133 FSB jumper can be there (as on my Soltek SL75KVxx) but it just means that later when the KT133A is available the manufacturer can put the KT133A on the same PCB and change the jumper.
Dind't work for me... Got error message.

My curent BIOS (786K1) is a .rom and this is a .bin. This might be the problem?
.rom indicates that your current BIOS is probably AMI and .bin indicates that the one you are trying to flash is probably Award.
- What is the error message?
- Have you tried Uniflash?
Tested patched BIOSes. Untested patched BIOSes.
Emails *will* be ignored unless the subject line starts "Wim's BIOS forum"
go_for
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Inspired by this thread I also tried to update my uwave v1.3 (FIC AZ31) with FIC's own BIOS. Did not work.

1st used the flash73 program and the params as in this thread, it complained something like: this is not new award bios, update ROM BIOS first.
So I went for Uniflash instead. It did not recognize the flash chip....So I opened the box, checked the soldered on flash chip, it was a PMC F29002T, ok so I took the code 91d1 from the chipset list and tried a force flash...darn...write verify error, a couple of blocks at the end part. I had to switch back to the backup rom, did not dare to risk it, others are using this comp daily so I would have to clean up the mess if it screwed up.
Do you think it might have worked anyway? Why would it not flash successfully? I had once upgraded the compaq version BIOS on this mobo, that went ok.
Do I need to dig out the flash program used in compaq's rompac and attempt loading the vdb41.bin file, or what?
Titiuu
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Hi, this is bit offtopic, but has someone tried to overclock duron/thunderbird with connecting first the L1 bridges within the prosessor core and then playing with the other bridges(L3, L6, L7 etc.) to change multiplier and voltages?

OCinside has a interactive guide for this :) Argh sorry couldnt get the direct url but i'll guide you to there ;D www.ocinside.de and select the english ofc, then from the links in the left select 'workshop' from there select 'Interactive painting guide - TB and Duron overclocking by pencil and knife' from under the 'socket a' topic.

So just a thought if it would work?

EDIT: BTW hmm I'm pretty sure that az31 (uwave etc) bios doesn't support multiplier changing, does it even allow fsb changing, am I right?
Alph Tech / STUART
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OK, I'm pretty much completely inexperienced in this area, but I have a UWave 2 mobo with something to the tune of a Mobile Athlon XP processor (EDIT: Duron) in it. (I think it might be a stepping processor although I'm not sure.) The computer I took it from had it clocked at 1.1Ghz, but in the new system it reads as 500 Mhz. So, would a BIOS update allow me to overclock this to something decent? Bridge modding? Hardware switches? Where are they?

Toby B's website seems like it would be helpful here but it seems to be somewhat crashed at the moment.

EDIT: From http://www.ocinside.de/go_e.html?/html/ ... ct_id.html:

Duron Processor 1100 MHz
(C)PGA (Ceramic) Pin Grid Array 1.55 Volt max. Temp. 100°C
64 KB L2 Cache 200 MHz Systembus (100 MHz FSB) x 11

(DHM1100AHQ1B)
alanacjr
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Hi

1st sorry by my english, i'm from Brazil.

I flash a UWAVE whith the FIC BIOS, but only work whem i did it in another MOBO. I use another flash chip in another MB and did a HOT SWAP.

So try use the UNIFLASH in other MOBO.

In UWAVE, it not recognise the flash type.

My UWAVe have a SST39SF020 and i have a SST39SF020A, from a ASUS damaged A7S266-VM, so i use a SOYO DRAGON to hot flash, the result was a error in write process, but whem i put this flashed chip in Uwave, boot block worked fine and i use UNIFLASH to flash again de FIC bios, and in this time it recognise the flash chip and write was OK !

I need help to obtain Apple ROM Pacher to do the mobo recognise the DUROM 1200 , it´s now like Atlhon 1200.
fw
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Damn, so looks like I got the same exact problem as "go_for" in a previous post. That's some kind of write-protection, right? Is there anyway to bypass it?

Thanks
go_for
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I did not find a way to do the update on that board, it had soldered BIOS chip. If there is a way, could be to open up the bios rompaq from compaq, then replace the BIOS image, while it need be modified to correct size, before. The FIC is 256k and compaq is maybe 512k, can't recall. There is a tip here on the forum how to do the modification. As for opening the rompaq, I did not find the right tool.

On another Uwave from the same model compaq, had a socketed chip, so I made a hotflash using uniflash in a kt400 board and put the FIC bios onto the uwave, worked nicely.
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