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Help! My old BIOS is not working properly - update?
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 3:20 am
by M. Lowe
I have an old Unika computer, with the following BIOS -
Award Modular Bios v4.51PG,
plus an Award Plug & Play Bios Extension version 1.0A
Motherboard is M5ALC (whatever that means)
The computer will not boot properly - it gets part-way through start-up, and stops with the error message as follows -
"Automatic Skip Driver
Windows stopped responding while trying to perform one of the following tasks - Calling a PnPBIOS=>Get Statically Allocated Resource Information
The reference number for this problem is -
OA 00 00 00 98 03 FO 00
To solve this problem you should contact your computer manufacturer"
I tried to contact Unika, they are French and are un-contactable. I tried Phoenix Technologies, and they said a BIOS upgrade is available that might solve the problem, but they never called back! They do not respond to my e-mails!!
What can I do?
M. Lowe.
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 3:50 am
by KURIAKI
Re: Help! My old BIOS is not working properly - update?
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:43 am
by zonxar
Appears to be a Biostar M5ALC, compare with this image:
Manual is available here:
http://motherboards.org/mobot/motherboa ... TAR/M5ALC/
This doesn't help with your current problem, but at least you know what board you have for starters.
There is a BIOS download (patched for 128 GB hard disk) available here:
http://wims.rainbow-software.org/index.php?count=-1
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:48 pm
by M. Lowe
Thanks for your replies.
Zonxar is right, that is exactly the right Motherboard.
At the moment I do not have the disabled computer on, when I plug it in I will check the BIOS string data and post it here.
Thanks again for your help, much appreciated.
M. Lowe.
Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 12:08 am
by KURIAKI
M. Lowe wrote:when I plug it in I will check the BIOS string data and post it here.
It's very important.
Biostar M5ALC has two versions:
2A5KKB0FC 1mbit BIOS size
2A5KKB0DC 2mbits BIOS size
Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 10:49 pm
by M. Lowe
Hello again,
Sorry for the delay with this information. I switched on the old computer, and found the information that you want. In the bottom left of the screen is -
06/17/1999 - ALADDIN5 - 2A5KKBODC-00
I'm not sure if I have the right 0 or O, but that's what it looks like. Any ideas if it can be updated or improved, the old computer now will not boot at all.
Thanks again for your help.
M. Lowe.
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:09 am
by KURIAKI
Biostar M5ALC (2mbits)
Patched BIOS courtesy of Rainbow:
http://wims.rainbow-software.org/rainbo ... 0256KB.zip
Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:40 pm
by M. Lowe
Thanks Kurikai,
I downloaded the zip file containing the BIOS upgrade. Now what do I do with it? Is there some kind of DOS page that I need to call up, to type in a kind of command to tell the file to upgrade the BIOS? I'm not familiar at all with DOS and so do not know anything about DOS command prompts.
Looking forward to your reply.
Thanks,
M.Lowe.
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:37 am
by KURIAKI
Biostar instructions for old models:
Award BIOS upgrade procedures
Download the new BIOS ROM file and upgrade utility - AWDFLASH.EXE, and copy both files to a floppy.
ftp://ftp.biostar-usa.com/drivers/utili ... 23_DOS.exe
Turn the machine on and boot into DOS mode with a Windows 98 bootdisk.
Execute AWDFLASH.EXE under DOS prompt.
Input the new BIOS ROM file name, then enter.
User will get an error message: "Do You Want To Save BIOS (Y/N)?". Press "N" if you do not want to save the old Bios ROM to file.
User will get another error message: "Are you sure to program ?". Press "Y" for upgrading.
Reset the system while you have completed upgrade.
Press "Delete" to enter CMOS setup menu. User may select "LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS" and press "Y" to confirm.
User may select "SAVE & EXIT" to reboot the system.
