Intel Triton 430FX rev 2, no "official" BIOS avail

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ForsakenArdor
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Hello, I have an old motherboard, identified as the one above. It's a Packard Bell system, and as you might know, Packard Bell called it quits in the states years ago. I have applied numerous upgrades across the span of ownership to keep it mostly current for at least a few more years. I bought a Spectra400 processor upgrade from Evergreen Technologies (http://www.evertech.com) a few years ago. It's basically a special bridge from a Socket 7 for Pentium I to an AMD K6-2. The old BIOS of course didn't support the new processor, so Evergreen provides custom BIOS updates on a CD and copies the most appropriate BIOS to a diskette with flashing software.

The old BIOS, which was already flashed to the most recent version, 1007CP0R, didn't have many configuration options. It was from American Megatrends. The image is only 64.1 KB.

The new BIOS is MR BIOS v3.46, BIOS ID 097B5NN. Tried Google with no results for an update. I tried www.mrbios.com, which turned into www.esupport.com. I submit my info, but they sent me an e-mail asking to call before 4:30 PST on weekdays, which I cannot do.

The BIOS works well enough, but if I do a soft reboot, my secondary IDE slave sometimes doesn't get detected. Don't know about a primary slave since I don't have one. The only way to fix that is if I change the detection setting from Legacy to Auto, and that adds at least two minutes to boot time.

But what I'm concerned about is IRQ steering. I bought an iPod, and to be able to use it, I bought a SIIG USB 2.0+FireWire Combo DV-Kit. Windows detects PCI OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller and it's assigned IRQ 11; VIA PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller using IRQ 9; two VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controllers using IRQ 9 and 10.

My soundcard is currently sharing IRQ 10 and my video card is sharing IRQ 9.

My problem is with USB. My FireWire connection to my iPod has had absolutely zero problems, but when I try to insert my scanner/printer or my gamepad into a USB port, the system freezes up eventually. Erratic behavior trying to scan or print attempt (and probably a freeze) and I get a yellow exclamation mark icon for the gamepad.

I've been working at this for weeks. It's the kind of situation where you'd ring your computer's neck if it had one, while screaming, "WHY WON'T YOU DO WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO?!" I've downloaded an update from Microsoft that addresses timing issues with AMD processors faster than 350 mhz and VIA cards. But after a lot of research, I found out that no matter what Windows tells you, USB does not like to share IRQs with anything. I also read at http://www.usbman.org "Properly Installed the USB upgrade host controller should share the same IRQ as the onboard USB host controller". I take that as I need to get the Enhanced and Universal controllers all on the same IRQ.

The BIOS has four PCI slot assignment areas in the PCI Bus screen. The upper left is slot 1, upper right slot 2, lower left slot 3, and slot 4 is disabled, as there are only three PCI slots. Each assignment area has an Int A, Int B, Int C and Int D. Int D is disabled and any other setting has no effect and adds the same setting to slot 4. Basically, despite each slot getting four possible IRQs, Slot 1A affects 2B and 3C. 1B affects 2A and 3C. 1C affects 2B and 3A. So, I can't really give one slot more than one IRQ and I can't use more than three IRQs. I've tried every combination with no luck. Windows doesn't allow me to change any IRQ settings. IRQ Steering is shown as disabled. There aren't any USB options in the BIOS.

I've tried using TweakBIOS, but my system just freezes at bootup. Tried switching slots and lost blood in the process (PCI card edges are sharper than you think).

Is there anything I can do? I'm thinking that I can either get a BIOS that was meant for another mobo, I can do something that'll get TweakBIOS to work, or I'm just out of luck, unless I remove either the video or the sound card, which is not an option because ISA just won't due with video and not really for sound.

Help! My OS is Win98SE, by the way.
edwin
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The reason your PCI slots won't give out more than one IRQ per card is a chipset limit. You have finally reached the useable lifespan of your motherboard. There's nothing that can be done about this, that board simply does not fully support the firewire/USB 2.0 card.
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
Rainbow
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BTW: VIA USB controllers are known to cause problems...
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
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KachiWachi
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Have you tried updating to the latest SIIG drivers for the card?

I have an Adaptec version of what you have there, and I've had no problems with it so far. I'm not in front of that machine now, but I'll report in later on what I've got going on. I am sharing IRQ and everything is OK. Win98SE.

I'm not sure if my USB1.1 and USB2.0 are sharing an IRQ, but I do know the IEEE1394 is on a different one.

I don't think a BIOS change will help, since the motherboard chipset isn't doing the USB. I have my motherboard USB turned off in the BIOS since the on-board ports were problematic.

What other cards do you have installed, etc...?
ForsakenArdor
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Edwin: I don't really know if my chipset has the limit you have. On top of IRQs 9, 10 and 11, I have IRQ 3 free. Serial COM port disabled. Never use that. And the card is already using more than one IRQ. The issue is getting the steering right. I really only need to use 9, 10 and 11, and the cards are using those exact IRQs. All I need to do is to be able to get the right IRQs to the right cards, then I'd be golden.

Rainbow: Now you tell me. Although it only says VIA on some chips on the card, not on the box. It was the best deal for a quick run at CompUSA. One more USB port than all the other combo cards, plus an included DV editing software. Like that's gonna happen on this old bucket.

KachiWachi: I contacted SIIG support already and they gave me some generic suggestions and I already tried updating drivers. There was only one other issue with the card, and of course it didn't apply to my situation. I have a 3DFX Voodoo3 sharing 9 with the Enhanced controller. A Turtle Beach Quadzilla Montego II (with SB emulation disabled) sharing IRQ 10 with one of the Universal controllers. I took out a DVD-decoder-only card to make room for the SIIG card. I figure I could replace the Voodoo3 with a nice 64MB card that decodes DVD as well(definitely the very last upgrade) until I build myself a bad boy PC when all the cool new stuff is out in 2005. The IEEE1394 and the other Universal controller are sharing 11. At the moment. There's a 56K modem and a Soundblaster AWE64 in the two ISA slots. Windows seems to let me change the IRQs for those at will.

I once took out the TB soundcard (the one I cut my finger on) and I managed to change the IRQ settings so that everything shares IRQ 10. Windows booted without freezing, and I think it was this configuration that I was able to scan through the USB port without any problems. Didn't test printing. I tried to put the gamepad in then and it froze.

Another thing I tried with TweakBIOS, I set all of the settings in my BIOS to disable and Windows was able to load up without freezing, although bootup took about five minutes. Audio support wasn't very good either. A sound would only play for like 1.5 seconds and then stop short. Eventually, it froze.

I just don't get it. I downloaded a couple programs, and they all verified that USB is fully supported on here. I'll tinker some more and report if I get any success. Thank you all for responding.
KachiWachi
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Have you tried a powered hub? Perhaps the motherboard PS can't support the devices you are attaching.

I know my card came with a seperate power cable for the IEEE 1394 to attach it directly to an unused PS connector...

My Adaptec card uses NEC Controllers, and as I thought the IEEE 1394 was on a seperate IRQ than the USB1.1/2.0 Controllers. However, all of the USB Controllers were sharing the same IRQ. In turn, their IRQ is shared with other devices on my system (which of course I forgot to bring in the list this morning :-(). If I remember correctly, my S3 Video Card and Linksys 10/100 NIC are shared with the USB, and the IEEE 1394 shares with my Adaptec SCSI card.
edwin
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Ah, NEC controllers. The ones that do not support Sony Digicams. Only Texas Instruments chips seem to do that. The days and ages of long ago return, you need to know what chips they used on the card...
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
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