BIOS Updates forum

I believe that I saved the old BIOS, but not sure. Usually I am quite anal when it comes to updating things. I will check all my floppies to be sure I'm using the right disk (but I think that I didn't have the floppy drive enabled). I went out to the website (www.getac.com) and found the old BIOS r1.10, but it was listed under a different model. Are these files the same across different boards? The r1.14 that is listed next to my board (6020) created the problem that made our paths cross.
Worst Case scenacrio: I can't find my BIOS backup disk, (or didn't do it after all). Can I flash it again, using the CD as my boot drive?

I had gone to MiTAC.com...nothing was there.

You could...if you make a bootable CD and put the flashing stuff on it... (use an RW so you can at least reclaim the disk!!)

They do list a Drdflash.exe disk there for making a bootable floppy if you need that...

Don't know what a KB BIOS is (for keyboard??)...perhaps you need that as well to go along with your new System BIOS?? GURU help...??

I would check all the BIOS settings to make sure they are correct, and that the floppy is on. Hope you do have your old BIOS, that would at least get you going again.

Good Luck!!

One of the gurus here suggested that the hard drive may be the problem, and thought I might try manually setting up the hard drive when I go into the SCU.

Thoughts?

KachiWachi wrote:Don't know what a KB BIOS is (for keyboard?)

Yes, for the keyboard microcontroller. Very rare for that to need to be flashed, or even flashable these days, but there was a period a few years ago when it seemed to be all the rage.

Here's the latest...

I removed the HDD and the machine boots up. I can entet the SCU, but there doesn't seem to be an option for manually setting up the HDD. The machine will boot and give me an A:> prompt, but now I can't find the backup file. I went to the manufacturer's site, but I can only get the newest version from there. I sent them an e-mail to see if they can send me the old BIOS file. Unless somebody knows where I can get the SystemSoft BIOS v1.10 (Intel MobilePro), I'm stuck waiting.

You gurus have any ideas? Can I put a different BIOS in? A different brand, like Ami or Phoenix? Or am I doomed to find the MITAC file for Systemsoft?

Jim

Hello,

What happened with you trying to boot with a good clean bootdisk?

If you have not tried that yet, create a bootdisk from ANY windows machine and remove everything on that disk except for command.com see if it boots from that disk?

It seems to me that, if it does boot from that boot disk, this system is fully functional except for the hard drive.

Do you have the ability to test that hard drive in another system or even maybe a desktop?

They make 2.5" to 3.5" interface adaptors that you can use tro connect the laptop hard drive to a desktop system to test it on.. or if you have another laptop handy, put the drive in that and see what happens..

Joe

Well folks,

I'm up and running again. I contacted MITAC again and asked them to send me ANY BIOS files they had for my board. They sent me 3 versions that they had in archive, but not the one my machine originally had installed. I flashed again with the most recent of the three files -- version 1.08b. It has allowed me to boot up with my new HDD and I'm sending this reply from the machine I've been trying to fix. Everything seems OK except for a message I get when the box is booting:

partition does not exist...
Save to Disk feature is disabled
Press any key to exit

After I press a key, the booting resumes normally and XP comes up.

I have looked in the BIOS to see if there is a way to get rid of that message, but I'm not quite sure I know what it's talking about. Do you guys have any clue?

And thanks for all your help to this point!

Jim

You need a tool to create the partition used to store the system state during hibernation (or what).

Glad you are back up!!

Now that you have a good BIOS file, maybe you can try the newest version again and see what happens...

I'd re-download it to make sure you have a fresh copy...maybe the other one was bad...

Damn...know what??

We never asked how big the HD was...maybe the latest BIOS has a size bug in it by accident...

My upgraded HDD is 30GB Compared to the original at 4GB. Could be a bug. What is this partition that Raibow is talking about, and do I need it?

Jim

Hi,

It's not vital to have that "save to disk" partition, but if you don't want to see that warning message at bootup everytime you'll need to create it.

As Rainbow said, there may be a utility that you can download to create this partition and do away with the message.

The "Save to disk" partition stores the current information right before the system "hibernates" and "resumes" from that point by taking that information and re-loading it into memory and back onto the screen..

Joe

Hmmm...

In the beginning here it seemed this was about new RAM not functioning...you also changed the HD at the same time?

Did the RAM thing ever get fixed??

As a matter of fact, it hasn't. I took the 256MB PC133 SoDiMM back to Best Buy and exchanged it for a 128 MB PC100 SoDIMM. Put the sucker back together for what seemed to be the 100th time, and it would not recognize the new SoDIMM. IS there some setting I'm missing in the BIOS? Could I just be incredibly unlucky and got a bad SoDIMM? Is there something on the board I need to set to enable the second SoDIMM?

Isn't this a different thread now?

Thanks for the interest though. You've all been a great help.

Jim

Make sure your RAM is of the proper type and density, etc... Many posts on that here...see your manual or post chipset type...

The FAQ for your board says "The 6020/6020+ supports 3.3V PC 66/100MHz SDRAM DIMMS Non-ECC. You can purchase memory from most computers suppliers." ...so an SoDIMM won't work...