Hi *
I have a old PC here and it does not see my CD-player and some
types of harddisks (Not a big one 6GB).
Do I need a BIOS update. If so can someone tell which one and
where I can find it.
I do not know much about PC hardware
The BIOS is an:
Award Modular BIOS
V4.50PG
Bios for VTech
BIOS string is:
08/15/95 - UMC - 881/886 - 2a4x5v3hc-00
T.I.A.
6GB: 08/15/95 - UMC - 881/886 - 2a4x5v3hc-00
Is this an old 486 board ? Do you have a manual for it ? Are there any numbers written on the board ?
To be honest, I believe this board probably has an EPROM which cannot be flashed; you would have to get a replacement chip or get that chip erased and reprogrammed if a newer BIOS could be located. At this age, the BIOS may only support 540MB or 4.3GB HDD, and the fact that the CD-ROM is not recognised by the BIOS willl only prevent it booting from the CD-ROM. If you are determined to put a larger disk on this machine, your best route is to buy an add-in disk controller board (Promise, Maxtor, etc) with its own BIOS on board.
Edwin has a VTech 486 manual at
http://www.elhvb.com/mboards/vtech/486.html
Probably not your board, BIOS ID is different, (04/18/95-UMC-881-886A-2A4X5V31-00) but may be similar.
[edit]I see that the board Edwin has a manual for did support "on-board programming"!
[edit]There should be a number on the board starting 35-, like 35-8864-XX. Can you find that ?
To be honest, I believe this board probably has an EPROM which cannot be flashed; you would have to get a replacement chip or get that chip erased and reprogrammed if a newer BIOS could be located. At this age, the BIOS may only support 540MB or 4.3GB HDD, and the fact that the CD-ROM is not recognised by the BIOS willl only prevent it booting from the CD-ROM. If you are determined to put a larger disk on this machine, your best route is to buy an add-in disk controller board (Promise, Maxtor, etc) with its own BIOS on board.
Edwin has a VTech 486 manual at
http://www.elhvb.com/mboards/vtech/486.html
Probably not your board, BIOS ID is different, (04/18/95-UMC-881-886A-2A4X5V31-00) but may be similar.
[edit]I see that the board Edwin has a manual for did support "on-board programming"!
[edit]There should be a number on the board starting 35-, like 35-8864-XX. Can you find that ?
Tested patched BIOSes. Untested patched BIOSes.
Emails *will* be ignored unless the subject line starts "Wim's BIOS forum"
Emails *will* be ignored unless the subject line starts "Wim's BIOS forum"
The UMC 8881+8886 chipset does support Flash ROMs - the board may (or may not) have one installed.
I have a board with this chipset (TD-4IP-UMC-AIO - most probably made by ECS) in my router. It came with Winbond W29EE011 Flash ROM (but it was relabelled with 27something - don't know why...)
I have a board with this chipset (TD-4IP-UMC-AIO - most probably made by ECS) in my router. It came with Winbond W29EE011 Flash ROM (but it was relabelled with 27something - don't know why...)
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
You could email PC-Partner Tech Support (ts@pcpartner.com) with those details and ask if they have a BIOS file they could email you. I do not expect success, but it may be worth trying.
I will see if I can find anything based on those details.
[Edit:]That IS the same board as at Edwin's site, but you have a later BIOS. Manual also online at motherboards.org, see http://www.motherboards.org/manuals/p/V ... /4520.html
I will see if I can find anything based on those details.
[Edit:]That IS the same board as at Edwin's site, but you have a later BIOS. Manual also online at motherboards.org, see http://www.motherboards.org/manuals/p/V ... /4520.html
Perhaps the board is an MB400C - UMC Lite 486
http://web.archive.org/web/199712102152 ... pcpart.htm
(nothing of interest in that link, though)
http://web.archive.org/web/199712102152 ... pcpart.htm
(nothing of interest in that link, though)
