Page 1 of 1

80GB: 10/20/1998-i440BX-W977-2A69KM4JC-00

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 8:55 pm
by orcrist
hi my bios details are
Program: Unicore BIOS Wizard Version 3.23
Program: eSupport.com BIOS Detect v1.2 July 21, 2003
BIOS Date: 10/20/98
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
BIOS ID: 10/20/1998-i440BX-W977-2A69KM4JC-00
Chipset: Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3
Superio: Winbond 977EF rev 4 found at port 3F0h
OS: Microsoft Windows 98 SE
CPU Type: Pentium III
CPU Speed: 450 Mhz
BIOS ROM In Socket: Yes
BIOS ROM Size: 256K
Memory Installed: 192 MB

I would like to replace the 8GB hard drive with an 80 GB if possible.
Can this BIOS set up handle it without an upgrade?
what is the biggest HD this bios can handle?
I have had nothing but bad luck with PCs but we really do need a bigger HD. I've read what can go wrong, but it does seem pretty straight forward, plus the pc guy wants £20 just to check the bios!
the pc clock is always 10 minutes behind i have to reset it everyday is this a sign the battery is running out?
thanks for ur time guys!
:?

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 9:19 pm
by NickS
This looks like a version of MSI MS-6154/MS-6190 and at that date it probably supports up to 32GiB HDD.
What we would like to know is the message which appears under the Award logo on the memory test screen, or the "manufacturer" of the board, as these boards were sold by different "Original Equipment Manufacturers" (OEMs) such as Vobis and Fujitsu as well as directly by Microstar (MSI).
We have patched some versions of MS-6154/MS-6190 BIOS already.

The message might look like:
W6190ZXM7 V1.8B4 052400 16:07:34
or
W6154MS V1.0 031699 19:00:00

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:57 pm
by Denniss
To your second question :
Looks indeed your battery is dying - get a new one

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:59 pm
by orcrist
is this what you're after?

OEM Sign-On: W6166ZXG3 V1.2 051099 (327-K05GB2)

apologies if i posted the original message in the wrong place.

thanks

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:03 pm
by orcrist
with regards to the battery, is replacing it a big job?

I'm having vision problems (temporarily I hope) so small things are difficult to see.

Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:08 am
by Denniss
MSI-6166ZX OEM'ed for Time Computers

Retail MSI Bios might work( maybe patching is still needed) or one of the mods patches a copy of your Bios for you .

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2004 9:02 pm
by orcrist
hi
I cant find the MSI-6166ZX bios at the msicomputer.com website. They have MS-6165 and the next one is MS-6174. Had no luck at motherboards.org either...
maybe there is no upgrade for this motherboard, and I'm stuck with an 8 Gig hard drive for ever?

thanks for your time

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:28 am
by Ritchie
I went to the MSI Site and searched for the BIOS by selecting the Mainboard and 440BX chipset categories. Also for me, the 6166 did not show up.

But I typed in the model name and searched that way, and found the BIOS under the following link:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/d ... =266&kind=

Apparently the site you went to, http://www.msicomputer.com is a different MSI website. I could not find it under that website. There is also http://www.msicomputer.com.au which defaults to the Tawain (http://www.msi.com.tw) site once you get into the BIOS area.

These sites to do not mention MSI-6166ZX (I think they just call it MS-6166 which is probably the same thing. Just be careful that your board is really an MSI version and not an OEM version such as Vobis or Fujitsu or Time Computers such as Denniss and Nick were talking about. Ask them to verify this first for you unless you are sure that it is just a plain MSI version.

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 1:08 pm
by Denniss
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/b ... 266&kind=1
Alls versions are specified for ZX chipset only

With OEM-Bios = Award and Retail Bios = Award flashing from OEM to MSI Retail Bios usually should be no problem

If you want to have the MSI 1.4 Bios patched please give me a PM with working mail address and you'll get it patched .
If you want your Bios patched send me a backup of your Bios - Use Uniflash for backupping your Bios !

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 8:31 pm
by orcrist
thanks for helping guys.
I tried using uniflash through DOS, all I got was a message saying chip is not 486, plus something else I've forgotten!
Should I try backing up the BIOS using the method in the collected wisdom from the soyousa.com link?
failing that, I'll PM you my email Denniss for the MSI 1.4 Bios.

just wondering, what is the largest HD my current BIOS can handle?

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 9:47 pm
by Denniss
32GB