Higher Intellect | preterhuman.net

Discussion => Computing, Internet & Technology => Topic started by: netfreak on August 07, 2017, 04:56:19 pm

Title: 07/04/97-VXPro+-USB-Ultr-2A5LDH09C-00 new BIOS update
Post by: netfreak on August 07, 2017, 04:56:19 pm
So I've got a no-name socket 7 Pentium board with the ID string 07/04/97-VXPro+-USB-Ultr-2A5LDH09C-00 and I needed to update the BIOS due to a 32mb limit per SDRAM slot. I still don't know the manufacturer of my exact board but it looks VERY close to the PC Chips M537 which has the same VXpro chipset. I think the only visible difference is some chips are in different spots on the board. I decided to take the risk of flashing the PC Chips M537 BIOS update onto my board, and so far it seems like everything still works plus I've got all my SDRAM showing up now. Here's how to do it:

1) Download https://preterhuman.net/download/misc/PC_Chips_M537DMA.zip which is the BIOS image I used.
2) Also download https://preterhuman.net/download/misc/original_bios.zip which includes the AWDFLASH.EXE utility plus a backup of the original board BIOS
3) Ensure your board jumper setting allows for flash update
4) Create a DOS boot floopy with the PC Chips M537 BIOS and AWDFLASH.EXE application. I just used a Win 98 boot disk and deleted the non-critical stuff to make enough space.
5) Boot and run the AWDFLASH.EXE application. Enter the new BIOS image from the PC Chips zip file when prompted. You can also make a backup if you want. You'll get an error about the BIOS ID strings not matching and this is expected since the board is not a PC Chips board. Assuming you're brave, continue with the flash. Reset when complete.
6) If the system seems to lock up during POST, reboot again and hit Del to get into the BIOS settings. Choose the option to set everything to BIOS default and save/reboot.
7) Assuming step 6 worked, go back into BIOS settings and enable everything you need.

I'm not sure specifically what setting the PC Chips BIOS didn't like, but I re-enabled all the options I recall being enabled on the original BIOS and haven't had any issues with lockups. The PC Chips M537 archive I link to is I believe a 1998 firmware image. I don't know the full change history but it does support my 256MB SDRAM and possibly large HDs (well, large for that era). Also I've heard even though the board has USB it won't work since the standard changed during manufacture. I set mine to disabled in the BIOS.