Gateway 2000 Mobo BOIS

How-to identify your motherboard ?
dragonlord
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I recently aquired a gateway mobo, the manufacturer is MSI, and the board is marked as an MS-6330. (microstar K7T series). After looking for
the MSI bios for the mobo, MSI doesn't support this revision, (version 2.1)
only the 1.0a..b...c...d, and the 3.0. the gateway part number is 2508785.
the board is SLIGHTLY different physical layout the the MSI retails. (no audio, minus one serial port). Tried to update to the MSI bioses (MANY version) and they all come back as not the correct board. Can ya give me opinions on forcing one of the MSI bois images to the board? I can't change the EPROM easily (soldered) and would trash the bois it the MFR bois didn't work....

Opinions and ideas please.....
NickS
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Why do you need an update ?
dragonlord
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36G HDD limit, processor support, plus the BOIS is VERY restrictive. (a no brainer bois)
NickS
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Very dodgy flashing a vanilla BIOS to a different (and OEM) version of a board - e.g. some Time OEMed MSI boards have been a real headache in the past. To get the processor and HDD support it may be better to patch your existing BIOS with "bp" from apple_rom (www.rom.by). We can do that for you if you like.
Denniss
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Are you sure you did not "forgot" to remove the 32GB limitation clip from your HDD ?

Please wait for a reply from Edwin - I'm sure he knows what to do with this board
dragonlord
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I know about the MSI OEMs being troublesome...been there several times...I don't see when the MSI bois wouldn't work, EXCEPT the bios they provide looks at the board for it's version and it's features, (raid, ddr, etc) I can't see where they have changed it much from the K7T pro2 rev 1.0d, EXCEPT some minor layout changes, and omissions (serial, audio), uses same chipset, etc...BUT, not sure about V reg programming etc..the board is just an extra toy, but, no sense in breaking the toy for the hell of it...I don't think a board this old has a boot block on it...


drive doesn't have clip at 36g..thanks for the thought
Denniss
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Try the Forum at www.motherboards.org
Use the search function (look for MS-6330) - I have seen some topics about this special mainboard/revision
dragonlord
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After doing a little more searching through MSI's discoed products, this
board is dead on for the layout of a MS-6330-190 (K7T Turbo Lite), maybe this will shed a little more light on the subject. Here is the link
if it may matter:

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/deta ... urbo_Lite3

Thanks again...
Steve
dragonlord
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Must be tired...I didn't replay to the last post... I did a search on their site,
only things that I found were a couple ppl with the same board and the
same problem....

Thanks again
Steve
NickS
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So is someone going to take the plunge ? Or would you like your current BIOS patched ?
Denniss
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AFAIK all MS-6330 Boards from MSI have one Bios ( 6330 family Bios ) .
It might be possible your board run with the standard Bios but there's a chance it will not

So if you want to risk your board or your flashrom then try it otherwise do not especially if your flashrom is soldered onto your board
dragonlord
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Think I'm going to take the plunge...but, wanted to check out few other items like the PLL and the Vreg to make sure they the same units. I think
the PLL has been changed on this....not sure yet..

I really appreciate all the feedback on (another) royal pain from a department store manufacturer


Steve
edwin
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Front panel connections:
http://members.aol.com/simmike/

Latest bios:
http://support.gateway.com/support/driv ... p&id=13130

Check board surface for one of the 25xxxxx numbers and click that page, you might encounter some shreds of info. As to using a regular Award bios on this thing: no info found about any attempts. Best of luck if you decide to go through, let us know of the result.
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
dragonlord
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well..flashed it with the latest version....post locks up between processor ID and memory test....no great loss......it's a gateway
NickS
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Ah well, you've added to the store of knowledge - you can go back to those other forums and say "it doesn't work".
If you're really keen I guess it's theoretically possible to build a little circuit to force a checksum error during the BIOS self-check to make it enter the bootblock BIOS ?
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