BIOS Updates forum

Hi, I have an old IBM Valuepoint 6384 M40 hanging around which I'd like to set up as a standalone OpenBSD Firewall for my home network, but I can’t add a HD larger then 512mb as the IBM is so old.

I was wondering if there’s a bios update out there which would allow me to put a small 2Gig HD in and get her up and running, as I can’t seem to find any place to download it.

So far I've only found ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/ps1aptiva/update_files/bios/ but I don’t know which file I should download, some info would be very helpful

Thanks
arden

I'd just use drive overlay software.

This document says that the BIOS is not flashable. It also says that the IDE interface does not support ATAPI drives.
This document gives additional information.

Thanks for the info.

I noticed it says 'The IDE controller does not support ATAPI devices, such as IDE CD-ROM drives or IDE tape streamers', yet I have a IDE CD-ROM (4x) connected and it works fine.

Quote: 'Maximum hard disk size is 504MB (effective, formatted size)'

With regards to the Maximum drive size being 504mb, would it work if I was to make 4 partitions on the same drive, all 504mb or would it still only read the first partition?

Thanks again,
arden

http://thef-nym.sci.kun.nl/cgi-pieterh/ ... html#ss6.5

6.7 I have no fancy EBIOS, but I have an 1GB partition and it works.
Some try to work around the 504MB / 1024 cylinders issue by making a large partition using a friend's computer, Linux' fdisk, or something else. They use it for a day or two, conclude that it works, then post a triumphant article claiming that they found the Solution To Everyone's Problems[TM].

It will work... for precisely 1024 cylinders. The very moment the OS or anything else attempts to write something to cylinder 1025 through int13 calls, the write wraps around to cylinder 0. This cylinder happens to hold some of the most important data structures on the disk: the Master Boot Record, partition table, both FAT copies and the root directory of the first partition. Overwrite these and probably only a specialized data recovery company will be able to salvage your data.

Try it if you must. If you know exactly what you're doing, you can make it work using Win95. Sort of. The first error will be fatal. But please don't post any stories about it, recommending the procedure to everyone. The spectres of their valuable data will come back to haunt you.