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Boot Problem Intel WS 440 BX 4W4SB0X0.15A.0019.P14

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2003 11:45 pm
by kbert777
After flashing this Gateway Board to the BIOS in the Subject Line the following problem shows:

Bios was flashed from earlier version because of Win2K compliance.
After the flash BIOS Settings were manually set to recorded settings, no hardware or software changes were done. Boot Time increased from approx. 2 min to 8 min., boot stalls in the middle of Win2K colored Screen with Progress Bar halfway before loading of the mouse driver (using MS IntelliMouse with red LED on front). Replacement of mouse and driver did not change bootup time.

Can not reflash to old version, backup corrupted. Gateway Support useless.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Klaus

Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2003 10:10 pm
by edwin
Did a "Clear configuration data" to Yes in the bios, save and exit after the flash?

Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2003 4:31 pm
by kbert777
yes, cleared configuration and set up BIOS settings from scratch. Even changed battery and tried fresh install of Win2k on another hardrive. Problem is still there.

Klaus

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2003 12:29 pm
by NickS
Any option to "Reset configuration data" in this BIOS ?

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2003 10:18 pm
by kbert777
Yes, there is a "Reset Configuration" options. Still does the same thing even after reseting and rebooting.

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 1:55 am
by edwin
It is almost as if it is trying to detect something that isn't there. Have you set the IDE ports (not controllers) to None for the ones without a harddrive? Intel bioses do a thorough scan of the ports that are set to AUTO.

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 7:49 pm
by kbert777
I am using SCSI Harddrives and a PCI Adaptec UW SCSI Controller, a DVD Drive on IDE1 and a CD-R Drive on IDE2. Both IDE controllers are set to AUTO.

The delay happens after the operating system runs, in the middle of driver activiation. Am I still dealing with BIOS related issues at this point?
I will try to move both drives on IDE1 and disable IDE2 and see what it does.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 10:10 pm
by edwin
Trying to find clues. This is unexpected behaviour, one would think boot times improve after an upgrade...

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 6:33 pm
by kbert777
Well, I changed the drives around and installed them on IDE1 and disabled IDE2. Results are identical, the delay is still there.
I have been checking the boot logs and there is no indication of any problem but after further investigation it seams that the stall happens before the Video Drivers are loaded. I am really starting to wonder what the upgrade altered in the area of AGP support.

The reason why I upgraded was an ongoing problem with USB support in Win2K, which is solved now. Wish I could flash back to previous version to see if problem disapears, but backup of old file is corrupt.

Klaus

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 11:29 pm
by edwin
Any idea of what revision you were running previously?

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2003 9:05 pm
by kbert777
edwin,

if I remember right it was revision P09, dated in 1999.

Thanks,

Klaus

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2003 2:04 am
by edwin
available versions at gateway FTP-server: P04, P07, P14.

Changelog of what has been done in between P09 and P14:
BIOS 4W4SB0X0.15A
Features/Errata Fixes by revisions

P14-0019
* Correct W98 Device Manager warning on PS/2 mouse when only mouse
present is USB.
NOTE: only works when Legacy USB is disabled.
* Date stamp set to 11/04/99 to prevent ACPI OS install.

P13-0018
* Change ACPI DSDT and RSDT OEM REVISION fields from 0 to 1 for W2K
Ready.
* Change \ PFAN. STA 0xFF return value to 0x01 for W2K Ready.
* Revise processor updates for 681.
* Add processor update for 683.
* Correct "A" and "E" processor suffix display.
* Display processor speed up to 1200MHz.
* Date stamp set to 11/03/99 to prevent ACPI OS install.

P12-0017
* Corrected cache autosize bug introduced in P11.
* Date stamp set to 11/02/99 to prevent ACPI OS install.

P11-0016
* Installed latest processor updates.
* Added support for 68x-class processors.
* Added up to 800MHz processor speed.
* Date stamp set to 11/01/99 to prevent ACPI OS install.

P10-0015
* Installed latest Processor BIOS updates.
* Removed HDD boot sector protection.
and things you will lose when using P07:
P09-0014
* Installed latest Processor BIOS updates.
* Installed HDD boot sector protection, with fix to prevent it from
being automatically enabled whenever the supervisor password is set.
* Fixed PSN BEL Test failure.

P08-0013
* Fix for WHQL Manual USB test.
* 550MHz Pentium III Support, with 673 processor update
* Fix for L2 Cache not being initialized at 550MHz
* AGP Aperture Size fix
* Fix for customer specific PCI card
* Added support for disabling the User logo via DMI switch
* Added DMI code for automated reporting of max CPU speed
I don't think you want P07.


What is the bios revision on that Adaptec?

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 7:50 pm
by kbert777
edwin,

adaptec identifies as AHA-2940UW, BIOS V 1.25, is lableled with HP part number. I looked at the Adaptec site and it lists a different version, but cautions just to use it on Retail adapters.

Thanks for looking up the BIOS versions for the board, don't know why I didn't find them when I was looking.

Klaus

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2003 1:31 am
by edwin
They're not at the Gateway site, I found them in a newsgroup posting. You could try and find an updated bios at the HP website for that Adaptec. If you happen to have another system around, please use that to flash the HP/Adaptec, as I cannot predict how things will work out in your current board. That is an ancient bios on there, I know for a fact Intel boards are fighting (not just having trouble) with early Adaptec bioses. Come to think of it, I'm surprised your board boots at all.

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2003 10:33 pm
by kbert777
edwin,

unistalled Adapter and flashed AHA 2940 UW with BIOS 2.57.2 from HP site and cleared configuration on MB. Unfortunately problem is still there, but on the other hand HD access time is faster now (was set to 40.0 before and after).

Any more ideas?

Thanks,

Klaus