120GB: 61-0503-001169-00101111-071595-440BX/ZX

BIOS update, EIDE card, or overlay software? (FAQ Hard disk recognition)
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Phorck
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Hey there,

My friend just bought a new Maxtor DiamondMAX PLUS 9 120GB 7200RPM 2MB 8.5MS ATA133 Quiet HDD and am having trouble installing it. Window XP can see it, but it won't show up in the BIOS. I'm pretty sure that I need to upgrade the BIOS in order to get the drive to work. I've had trouble finding the upgrade, so I thought I would check with the people here so see if anyone knew which was the correct BIOS to get. I know that BIOS upgrading is dangerous so I want to be sure I'm doing the right thing.


Here's my BIOS Wizard Info:
Generated by: BIOS Wizard 2.10
Date: November 08, 2003
Time: 19:44

PnP Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 1.0
PCI Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 2.1
PCI IRQ Routing Table : BIOS currently supports this feature
Enhanced Disk Drive
Specification : BIOS currently supports this feature
DMI Version : BIOS supports minimum version 2.1. Latest is
version 2.3
ACPI Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 1.0
APM Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 1.2
Booting From CD-ROM : BIOS currently supports this feature
Supports ESCD : BIOS currently supports this feature
Can be Updated (flashed) : BIOS currently supports this feature
Can be Shadowed : BIOS currently supports this feature
BIOS Chip in Socket : BIOS doesn't support this feature
Supports Selective Booting : BIOS currently supports this feature
Supports LS-120 Booting : BIOS doesn't support this feature
Supports ZIP Booting : BIOS doesn't support this feature
Supports Network Booting : The testing of this feature is not supported by
the current DMI version
BIOS Manufacturer : American Megatrends
BIOS ID : 61-0503-001169-00101111-071595-440BX/ZX
BIOS Date : 05/03/99
BIOS OEM Signon :
BIOS ROM Size : 256K
Chipset : Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3
Super I/O Chip : Winbond 83977TF found at port 3F0h

Any help that someone can give would be great.

*edit*
I almost forgot. It's an 450 MHz Pentium II NEC computer. The mobo says its an ms6156 ver:1.0BX7

*edit2*
I thought that I had found the right one here: http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/b ... =MS-6156BX but when i tried to flash it gave me an error message so I didn't continue.
NickS
BIOS Bodhisattva
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Location: Thames Valley, UK

The one you have found is an Award BIOS for the MSI retail version of the board. The current BIOS on your board is an AMI BIOS which may have been used by an OEM (reseller) e.g Time or Tiny or Fujitsu-Siemens - oops, I see you say NEC, who sold the board as part of a system. Sometimes there are slight differences between the OEM board and the MSI retail item which can slightly or totally screw things up; sometimes, as with the Fujitsu-Siemens versions, there is no difference.

The Award flash utility will be complaining about the fact that you are trying to flash over a BIOS that it does not recognise (because it has a different ID or in this case because it is not Award). Best bet is to use Uniflash to flash the BIOS, and ensure you flash the bootblock. Have you checked at NEC/Packard Bell for an update ?
Last edited by NickS on Thu Nov 20, 2003 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Tested patched BIOSes. Untested patched BIOSes.
Emails *will* be ignored unless the subject line starts "Wim's BIOS forum"
Denniss
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Location: Near Hannover (CEBIT) Germany
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Please use the Bios Agent linked on top of www.wimsbios.com
We need the Bios OEM message / Bios OEM signon message and the Bios agent should be capable of detecting it ( or look yourselft - just below the AMI Logo on startup-screen)

Do a Forum-search for MS-6156
Denniss
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In an old thread I linked a possible Bios upgrade but it's for the REv 2.x and you have the older Rev 1.x board so it might not work
NickS
BIOS Bodhisattva
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Joined: Fri May 03, 2002 10:34 am
Location: Thames Valley, UK

The 1.6 Award BIOS for the rev 1.0 board with BX chipset (according to www.msi-computer.de) appears to be the one in the url above (or at http://www.msi-computer.de/download/bio ... 56b_16.exe and claims to support HDD >65GB.
Tested patched BIOSes. Untested patched BIOSes.
Emails *will* be ignored unless the subject line starts "Wim's BIOS forum"
Phorck
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Here's bios string and OEM signon from POST:
A6156P5 V2.4 050399
61-0503-001169-0010111-071595-440BX/ZX-1440B000-H

I tried the bios you suggested NickS but it gave the same error.

I did another search of the board and found this post: http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/viewtopi ... light=6156. This is the same problem that I've had. Should I try flashing the bios using AMIFlash and the Award 1.6 version?
NickS
BIOS Bodhisattva
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Joined: Fri May 03, 2002 10:34 am
Location: Thames Valley, UK

Yes, or use uniflash (www.uniflash.org); and flash "with bootblock".
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
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P5 in OEM -> Packard Bell/NEC
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
JDAVIS
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Hello,
I had exactly the same problem with the same board and an AMI bios. I used the Award 1.6 and the AMI flash..everything worked fine. New HDD recoognized.

John
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