BIOS Updates forum

I have this mainboard which i suspect to be QDI or VIA, bios says 07/12/2000-MVP3-586B-866-2A5LEQ1AC-00.
QDI has some 2A5xxQ1AC, but not exactly same as my mainboard.
Is there any possibility to get new upgrade for drives over 160GB?

And what can be done with "OEM ROM", "EPA ROM" and "LOGO ROM"?
Just took a look with award bios editor 1.0, and wondered as thought that "epa pattern" is where to set .epa logos, and "fullscreen bitmap" is where to set 640x480 boot logo...
Can there be multiple fullscreen bitmaps to make animation, or is it just to choose one from x pictures?

I believe all you'll ever get is 120GB support...

liteFun wrote:I have this mainboard which i suspect to be QDI or VIA, bios says 07/12/2000-MVP3-586B-866-2A5LEQ1AC-00

QDI-Legend Advance 3
OEM Sign-On: MVP3/A3 BIOS V3.0 SL Jul.12 2000
07/12/2000-MVP3-586B-866-2A5LEQ1AC-00
http://www.qdigrp.com/qdisite/eng/products/advance3.htm

on QDI site is only patched to 76.8GB, my version recognise 136GB... didn't i mention it?

maybe i should upload somewhere that bios file.

edit:
advance 3 bios download page says following:
date: 10-21-99
so it is older and probably recognises up to 8GB, or probably 32GB...

edit2: 03/17/99-MVP3-586B-8661-2A5LEQ1AC-00 is that official newest and my pc runs with 07/12/2000-MVP3-586B-866-2A5LEQ1AC-00 and has 136GB hdd support, on http://www.qdigrp.com/qdisite/eng/suppo ... chbios.htm i found 76.8GB patched version (A3).

liteFun wrote:my version recognise 136GB....

With 32GiB and 64GiB bugs fixed the BIOS will support 128GiB. Yours probably doesn't have new extensions that support >128GiB.
1 GB= 1000x1000x1000 bytes
1 GiB= 1024x1024x1024 bytes=1 073 741 824 bytes
128 GiB= 137 438 953 472 bytes, approximately 136GB usable

The 76GB is probably a typo for 67GB (68.7GB=64GiB, i.e. 64GiB bug fixed).

With Win2000,XP or Linux you are able to use the full HDD capacity regardless of what your Bios detects.
www.48bitlba.com

In most cases it's not possible with older OS.

Advance 5 133 A5133_v17e.zip Support large HDD over 76G
BrillianX 1S B1s_v22e.zip Support large HDD(75g)and CII CPU
BrillianX 9 B9_v13b.zip Support large HDD over75G
LegenX 4 L4_v20b.zip Support win2000(APM)and large HDD(76.8G)
LegenX 7 L7_v20a.zip Support large HDD(76G)
LegenX 9 L9_b30c.zip Support large HDD(76.8G)(PCB1.0 and PCB2.0£©
These all are just typo?

SX2EP s2epv13a.BIN Support large HDD over240G
SX5EP s5epv12a.BIN Support large HDD over240G
SX5EP(V2.0) 2s5pv17a.BIN Support large HDD over240G
W1E w1e_v31a.BIN Support large HDD over137G
These are some unbelievable misspelled typos then..

I don't care about some lame standards for bytes that says 1000 bytes is 1 kilobyte, truth just is 2^13(bits)/8=1kB.
So, if that 76.8GB would become 64"modern-GB", it is ok.
If that 64GB would become 76.8"modern-GB", it is ok too.

Does my current bios support 136GB? Yes it does. That is what it says for this 160GB drive on boot.

If my bios supports up to 136GB hdd, it can support up to 160GB too, and over too as does some patches claim.
If possible, i would like to get know how could my bios be patched to support to 160GB or 240GB drive, it would be fine for next couple years.

You can compare A3 76.8GB patched bios and my current bios for example with HexCmp program that finds with google.
That bios files have same dates, but my (aptiva1.bin) knows up to 136GB hdd.
Extract QDI patch from zip and then extract with AwardMod RomBase.bin from that qdi .bin and aptiva1.bin, after that you can compare RomBase.bins that are different, all other files are same.
Is there some updated microcode or something? Could there be taken 240GB patch from some other QDI patched bios?

For more information about this mainboard i have:

This is from IBM Aptiva type 2193 model 420, and IBM pages says different mainboard for that model.
For some reason it has got replaced on production line (bugs?), there is replacement note on page (replaces FRU something).

OR this mainboard may have been replaced by previous owner, still everything else that has IBM FRU codes are same, even case which is so small that my SoundBlaster 32 didn't fit on it so i had to replace mainboard to other case with 250W PSU instead of original 90W PSU it had (i thought that 90W is not enough for that AMD K6-2 500 (~30W), 160GB hdd and CD-RW and something else i will use).

(editaftereditafteredit...)
That Aptiva BIOS i have on it, was probably flashed by previous owner, i don't know who (s)he is, and where (s)he found bios that supports 136GB hdd. Any case, windows 2000 sp4 don't recognise 160GB hdd, only 128GB.
But there is solution to install VIA EIDE driver that shows it correctly, and windows 2000 will be happy and see 157.xxGB hdd.
Why i would need 160GB support for bios then? For faster boot. Automatic hdd detection is slow, it would be much faster when it would have correct setup in bios for hdd (and cd-rw too).

Couple years ago, i was satisfied with PC that had AMD K6-2, running at 300MHz. It was just fine.
Until i bought 40GB hdd, and bios showed only 8GB :/ No, any driver for hdd or so didn't help. I looked for mainboard drivers (M575, PCChips), no success.
I previously tried few bios updates, but they had some weird bugs.
I had to update bios, and i was scared that it will do again and again those weird things it had done previously. But suddenly, it worked fine! I didn't believe, bios that had some bug to cause hangs etc worked...

But there was only 32GB hdd... Well, it is ok, there is 8GB for linux then.
So it was for some time, until i tried even newer bios, and it supported whole 40GB hdd so i removed linux partition and with partition magic i formatted that 8GB and inserted as subdirectory to previous partition and then deleted and last partition was 8GB bigger.

Maybe this episode has been playing on my mind since, and i know it is possible (somehow) to patch bios to make it support new larger hdd.
I have had luck with flashing that PC's bios, but this "aptiva" i'm afraid, maybe it will never boot again and i don't think M575 is suitable for hotflash (that sounds so scary that i will let it be definitely LAST option, before that, i will search new mainboard..).

I just wish i could have eeprommer to test these bioses on "spare" bios chip, but no.
I just need to be sure bios is working before i flash it. If i found, i will check all possible CRC's, and try to go through bios setup in modbin, if that all works, it _MAY_ be working bios to be flashed... Just need more information but i have time to search about award bios bootblock code i think if it works bios still can be flashed in case of fail.

I give moderators permission to cut all extra info on my posts if they are not needed.
All these (stupid?) posts only comes because i want to learn, i have looked these few bios files with award bios editor 1.0, and compared with HexCmp and next step may be trying to reverse engineer some parts if i can get suitable programs to make codes for example assembler listings even i have always hated PC assembler instructions and loved C64 assembler instructions

These all are just typo? ..These are some unbelievable misspelled typos then

I think you are correct, it is not a typo - probably the "76GB" means "tested with an 80GB drive" and 76GB is what you get when formatted, another "anomaly" that gives the HDD manufacturers a bigger size to advertise. If there is an address limit explanation for 76GB I would be interested to hear it.

Does my current bios support 136GB? Yes it does. That is what it says for this 160GB drive on boot. If my bios supports up to 136GB hdd, it can support up to 160GB too, and over too as does some patches claim.

This shows that it has the older 28-bit Int 13h extensions supporting only up to 128GiB=137GB, otherwise it would show 160GB. Check out Samsung's HDD FAQ. To support >137GB you need a substitute Int 13h handler that does the new 48-bit LBA standard (see table below). (I expect there are still some some bugs to find - maybe in 5 years we will patch for the 2 TB bug).

I don't care about some lame standards for bytes that says 1000 bytes is 1 kilobyte

The standard (1000m=1 km) is just the Systeme International scientific standard used for decades before discs were invented, but we computer types got used to loose talk about "64K" (65536) etc. IEC introduced the binary prefixes Ki, Mi, Gi, Ti to clear up the confusion, but they are not much used

Maybe this episode has been playing on my mind since, and i know it is possible (somehow) to patch bios to make it support new larger hdd....Could there be taken 240GB patch from some other QDI patched bios?

My Soltek SL75-KV+ BIOS says it supports HDD to 137GB and, like you, I think it should be possible to steal an extended Int 13h handler from another BIOS, but as I do not have a drive >137GB to test, I have not tried.
Handy table:

hotflash (that sounds so scary that i will let it be definitely LAST option, before that, i will search new mainboard..).

I have hot-flashed several times; just make sure that you do not short-circuit anything and that you insert the chip the right way round. Loosen the BIOS chip that you are booting from so that it is just resting on the contacts of the socket and can be removed with fingers; power on, boot the diskette with the flasher, remove the original chip; insert the other chip, flash and power off.

I just wish i could have eeprommer to test these bioses on "spare" bios chip, but no.

Maybe you could build a programmer? The ready-built ones on eBay are still a little too expensive for me. Uniflash supports C't-flasher.

next step may be trying to reverse engineer some parts

http://www.ryston.cz/petr/bios/ is helpful in understanding the Award 4.51 bugs and code.

NickS wrote:I think you are correct, it is not a typo - probably the "76GB" means "tested with an 80GB drive" and 76GB is what you get when formatted, another "anomaly" that gives the HDD manufacturers a bigger size to advertise. If there is an address limit explanation for 76GB I would be interested to hear it.

Well, i think there is *something* for that 80GB drives, and next problems are 160GB ones (over 136GB).

NickS wrote:To support >137GB you need a substitute Int 13h handler that does the new 48-bit LBA standard (see table below). (I expect there are still some some bugs to find - maybe in 5 years we will patch for the 2 TB bug).

And that handler could be stolen from QDI 240GB patch i guess.

NickS wrote:My Soltek SL75-KV+ BIOS says it supports HDD to 137GB and, like you, I think it should be possible to steal an extended Int 13h handler from another BIOS, but as I do not have a drive >137GB to test, I have not tried.

I would try, if i would have eeprommer and identical chip as this current bios just to have backup of working bios if something goes wrong.

NickS wrote:

Code: Select all

Drive capacity with 512-byte sectors
24-bit LBA:           8,589,934,592
28-bit LBA:         137,438,953,472
48-bit LBA: 144,115,188,075,855,872

Well. 24bit = 8GB, 28bit = 128GB?
Could you check those 25/26/27 bits if there is for 80GB's why some bioses patched to 76.8GB?

NickS wrote:Maybe you could build a programmer? The ready-built ones on eBay are still a little too expensive for me. Uniflash supports C't-flasher.

Not using eBay. And i have been thinking c't-flasher but it will take some time to do it if i ever will do.

But now, how to steal that 240GB patched int13h thing and set to my bios?
Also for others too as i found apple_rom's bp patcher that could easily do the job... Hey mr. apple_rom, update needed

liteFun wrote:Could you check those 25/26/27 bits if there is for 80GB's why some bioses patched to 76.8GB?

I think it is just the reported capacity they tested. If they fixed the Award 4.51 bugs in size detection and display they should have a working 28-bit LBA BIOS that will go up to 137GB. Perhaps they only tested with an "80GB" drive that gives you 76.8GB usable. http://www.techspot.com/vb/archive/index/t-10413.html shows different capacity for different 80GB drives;

Maxtor 80GB thats Capacity : 81,948,430,336 but also, 76.3G

80 GB Segate Barracuda...my drive only displays 74.5gb

Also, the utility that you are using can affect the displayed capacity. The spec for the WD WD800JB 80GB guarantees 80,026,361,856 bytes. If you display that in K it is 78,150,744K. If you divide by 1024 to display in Megs you get 76,319. If you divide by 1024 again to display in Gigs you get 74.5. So I think they tested this BIOS with a particular "80GB" drive and utility.

Probably so, so what they actually patched, they patched bios to show up correctly drives between 32 - 80GB.. (32GB barrier fix up to 80-137GB?)
Still, that A3 bios on qdi page is different than this i have currently in use.
maybe i could check if hexcmp has option to make diff file what is different between that 2 bioses (my and qdi web page(78.6)).

On my windows 2000 i have "via bus master ultra ata controller" driver, chip name VT82C586B bus master ide, it is ok and shows that 160GB for windows.
Maxtor 6Y160L0 is my new and current hdd, on secondary ide channel (primary is somehow broken on this mainboard), as i have that via ultra ata driver i see in device manager (secondary ide channel properties/advance tab) that capacity is 152.7GB, cylinders 16383, heads 16, sectors 63... (though it is being using LBA that don't need that oldschool cylinders etc..)

But give me some advice, probably some tools i could use to get that 240GB patch microcode(?) from other bios and set to this bios if possible so i could think how these things work for understanding them better.

Just for Info :

You have the latest official Tech-Bios (a beta-Bios by QDI)
http://www.qdigrp.com/qdisite/eng/suppo ... chbios.htm

no, i have other.
that on qdi page is for 76.8GB and my bios is 136GB. there are differences in bios rom files.

No - you HAVE this Rev 3.0 Tech Bios tested with an 80GB HDD but supporting up to 128/137GB.