motherboard id

[penlost]

i need help!. I am new to the computing world and have a very old system with a pentium 1 processor. I would like to know if I can upgrade it at all from 100mhz to maybee 200 plus. I have found the bios number of vt82c570m 2a5l7m49c-00. I think it may be a ms5117 board but i have read conflicting information. From what i can read the 'm' denotes a different chipset to what it should be?. Can anybody help confirm the board I have and point me in the right direction so that I can find a suitable upgrade that I can just plug in and go, without having to upgrade anything else but the processor. Hope this makes sense!.

[edwin]

Bios string indicates you have an MS-5117. The board should be marked as such, maybe it's marked with vi1 as well.

Manual:
http://www.msi.com.tw/support/manual/ma ... el=MS-5117

Pentium 200 max. No MMX (P54C, not P55C). should be marked 80502200 and not 80503200

[ajzchips]

Remembering this case, I came across an MS-5117 Ver.2 the other day and backed up a copy of its BIOS. It was running a P200 classic (P54C), and was being used as a simple server. I was told it was a very stable motherboard.

I can't open the backed up file with version 4.50.80 of modbin, so I'll link it and if any of you mods can check its release date (and/or its integrity), it'd be nice. I'm almost 100% convinced the file ISN'T corrupt.

http://fgm.port5.com/MS5117V2.BIN

[NickS]

Remembering this case, I came across an MS-5117 Ver.2 the other day and backed up a copy of its BIOS. It was running a P200 classic (P54C), and was being used as a simple server. I was told it was a very stable motherboard.

I can't open the backed up file with version 4.50.80 of modbin, so I'll link it and if any of you mods can check its release date (and/or its integrity), it'd be nice. I'm almost 100% convinced the file ISN'T corrupt.

http://fgm.port5.com/MS5117V2.BIN

CBROM 205 says free space is -29.62k. I think it's corrupt, it won't open with any ModBin I have.

[Rainbow]

That BIOS is "10/12/95-VT82C570-2A5L7M49C-00". It does not look healthy.

[ajzchips]

Rainbow.... mind explaining how YOU managed?
...and how "unhealty" is it?

[Rainbow]

I use DOS Navigator as file manager - it will open Award BIOSes as a LHA archive and can extract the first file inside - it's the main block in 128KB BIOSes (it launches external LHA program). MODBIN works on the unpacked main block too...
I haven't examined the BIOS thoroughly but looks like there are some errors after the main block (maybe some extra bytes?). It might be corrupted out of the factory.

[Denniss]

Bios maybe here :
http://www.msi-computer.de/support/prod ... 3?CPU_id=1

[NickS]

I use DOS Navigator as file manager - it will open Award BIOSes as a LHA archive and can extract the first file inside - it's the main block in 128KB BIOSes (it launches external LHA program). MODBIN works on the unpacked main block too...
I haven't examined the BIOS thoroughly but looks like there are some errors after the main block (maybe some extra bytes?). It might be corrupted out of the factory.

I threw it into my current favourite hex editor, xvi32. That shows that the last few bytes at the end of the file are all FFh, so the power-on/reset jump instruction and the checksum are messed up. You can find the modules inside by looking for the "-lh5-" string which starts each .lzh archive. They seem to pass the lha archive consistency check, so it's probably just the boot address and checksum. The boot address could be tricky to guess....

[update] No, the address is OK (F000:E05Bh).

[Rainbow]

You mean from 1FF77 to 1FFEF? That's normal - other BIOSes have this too.
BTW.: DOS Navigator has also simple nice hex editor.

[NickS]

You mean from 1FF77 to 1FFEF? That's normal - other BIOSes have this too.
BTW.: DOS Navigator has also simple nice hex editor.

It's the very end of the corrupt file which seems to have a load of FFs, starting just after the jump to POST at 1FFF0. After, that a lot of them seem to have the "*MRB*" string, followed by 02 00 FF FF.

All that is FFs in this case. I had the feeling from a half-remembered discussion about 10 years ago that the last "FF FF" was the checksum and that some "filler" bytes elsewhere were tweaked to ensure that this turned out correct. Do you know if this is right ?

I don't know DOS Navigator. Do you have a URL ? XVI32 does good stuff like block mark, save block to file, search/replace, with the convenient feature that it remembers last setting and keeps string and hex searches separate. There are some annoying things like jumping back to zero if you re-size the window in the version I have, no "jump to end", etc., but it works in Windows so I can just drag and drop a file onto the shortcut.

[Rainbow]

http://www.dnosp.ru/ The hex editor is simple but it's enough for minor modifications. The best thing to edit (not only) BIOS files is Hacker's View (HIEW) - hex editor with built-in assembler/disassembler. I use the free version. Looks like the site is currently down http://www.serje.net/sen/