A New Year & A New BP6 BIOS!

Post by **Derek** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 10:49 pm

Thanks to Shane, we have a new version of the BP6 BIOS dubbed "RV". Shane took the time to fix some leftover bugs in the old version and update it.

Here’s a snippet of the readme.txt included with the BIOS:

readme.txt wrote: - Fixed ACPI table. See details at: http://acpi.sourceforge.net/dsdt/view.php?id=129
Instead of having to compile the fixed DSDT into the kernel or load it via initrd, the acpitbl.bin file is updated. The BIOS date is also updated to 01/01/04 to avoid being blacklisted by the Linux kernel. Tested on my motherboard (works for me).

- Updated CPU microcode for all socket 370 based Intel CPUs (this includes
Coppermine and Tualatin).

- Patched with BIOS Patcher (enhanced CPU detection & speed reporting).

- Dubbed this release RV.

Shane wrote:The fixes are to the original RU BIOS by Abit. The details to the fixes are in the readme.txt.

re: P3 code
The reason why I did what I did was that most of the versions that claimed to have added support were incomplete. The other custom BIOSes used microcode from other motherboards and either had incomplete support for all socketed 370 processors or included microcode for processors that aren't socketed. No big deal, but many didn't actually have the right microcode for Tualatin processors.

So since I was adding microcode, I decided to be complete and looked up the Intel docs and added ALL the microcode of socket 370 processors Intel ever produced. Not that it ended up mattering. I couldn't get the Tualatin & adapter (Powerleap PL-370/T) to work at all in my BP6. I was hoping that was a simple drop-in solution, but it didn't turn out to be the case. Odd that it claims to work in the BM6, but not the BP6 (even in single configuration).

BP6 RV BIOS
BP6 RV Without HPT

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Sat Jan 03, 2004 7:50 am

Xcellent! This is Awesome!

The BP6 will never die!

Thanx, Shane!

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Sat Jan 03, 2004 10:31 am

Hmmm...

I wonder if the ACPI correction will eliminate the non-fatal errors (ACPI error on CPUx) we see in the system log file when running Linux.

InactiveX · Post by **InactiveX** » Sat Jan 03, 2004 10:54 am

Thank you Shane!

Long live the Abit BP6.

kuun · Post by **kuun** » Sat Jan 03, 2004 5:29 pm

hey awesome

im glad someone that has the knowledge actualy cares enough to continue to to support the old board..

may bp6 never die

the_flames · Post by **the_flames** » Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:38 pm

so does this bios make the BP6 run faster ??? more stable ??? than the RU bios .... if ether of the answers are yes I'll put it onto my board

blackdodge17 · Post by **blackdodge17** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 4:48 pm

I joined this forum few days ago for the reason to get latest bios for my BP6 I found at an used computer store a couple of weeks ago for $60.. Flashed it and working like new with two Cel 366 oc to 561 MHZ (So says AIDA32)!! Cool!!

Post by **Derek** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 5:03 pm

blackdodge17 wrote:I joined this forum few days ago for the reason to get latest bios for my BP6 I found at an used computer store a couple of weeks ago for $60.. Flashed it and working like new with two Cel 366 oc to 561 MHZ (So says AIDA32)!! Cool!!

Welcome and congrats, blackdodge!!

Stick around and have some fun

Derek

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 8:45 pm

Flashed to RV.

Nice, Pengiun!

The HPT366 BIOS used to show my ATA drive size at 19xxxK something. The new 1.28 revision shows 20010K! Cool!

This is from Win2KPro. I'll try Linux soon.

late...

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 8:56 pm

hyperspace wrote:Flashed to RV.

Nice, Pengiun!

The HPT366 BIOS used to show my ATA drive size at 19xxxK something. The new 1.28 revision shows 20010K! Cool!

This is from Win2KPro. I'll try Linux soon.

late...

Linux goes into file sysem repair. hde8, the ATA drive. Yet, I can access the same drive from Win2KPro. Buggers! Off I go...

InactiveX · Post by **InactiveX** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 9:11 pm

I had a bad flash with the BIOS without the HPT firmware. The update seemed to go OK (checksum FA69H), but when I rebooted it went to the boot-block rescue stage.

I flashed to the BIOS with HPT firmware and it seems fine so far. Giving it a good thrashing now.

I'll keep you posted.

the_flames · Post by **the_flames** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 6:16 am

the new bios seems to be stable on my pc ... just no real changes when running the original celerons

Post by **Derek** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 10:11 am

File bp6rv_noHPT.zip updated.

iSDn · Post by **iSDn** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 4:42 pm

Awesome, after such a long time such a nice bios!!!
Thank you very much, that was the bios i was waiting for....

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 8:57 am

hyperspace wrote:Linux goes into file system repair. hde8, the ATA drive. Yet, I can access the same drive from Win2KPro. Buggers! Off I go...

Well, after learning about Linux filesystem recovery, which included becoming familiar with e2fsck, dumpe2fs, mke2fs, fdisk, superblocks, and more; I finally isolated the problem. Don't get me wrong, I learned alot about things I didn't know. I am really glad I know about these commands, now.

The device name for the ATA drive was hde after the installation of 9.1. As I was trying to resolve this issue going the "bad superblock" route; nothing worked trying the different commands. Except for fdisk -l. Then I ran dumpe2fs /dev/hda8 and all the information that people were talking about scrolled down the screen. I ran e2fsck -b "alternate superblock" /dev/hdax and e2fsck -f /dev/hdax just to make sure, rebooted and saw hda during the boot messages. Got into /etc/fstab with vi and changed all the hde to hda, rebooted and everything came up way the it should.

the_yeti · Post by **the_yeti** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 10:52 am

Thanks for this update, I'll fix my board soon, and reinstall the Win2k3 server sofware !

Long life to the BP6 !!!!!

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 12:20 pm

hyperspace wrote:Hmmm...

I wonder if the ACPI correction will eliminate the non-fatal errors (ACPI error on CPUx) we see in the system log file when running Linux.

Still see these errors in syslog. rats!

Bighitter · Post by **Bighitter** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:25 pm

Am I missing something? All the zip files are 0 bytes so I can not get the latest bios. Any hints or help?

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:38 pm

Bighitter wrote:Am I missing something? All the zip files are 0 bytes so I can not get the latest bios. Any hints or help?

Welcome to BP6.Com, Bighitter !

I just downloaded RV and a variant of RU, everything is there. Which ones are you talking about? All of them or...?

gothboy · Post by **gothboy** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 8:21 pm

Well, I downloaded & flashed the new RV BIOS (tried both of them actually) and haven't had any luck with a Spectra III 1.4GHz Tualatin Upgrade.

Not trying to do SMP or anything, just want a single processor BP6 running at 1.4.

The RV BIOS says it has Tualatin microcode in it, but still no POST with the Spectra.

Am I missing something here? Is there something I forgot to do? The Spectra III is supposed to do the same job as the Lin-Lin and s370 sandwich, right? Plug and go?

I'd hate to have blown all this money on a new processor and I'd hate even more to have to give up my BP6 so I can use it. Any help appreciated!

Post by **Derek** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 10:40 pm

I don't think we ever had any luck with the Spectras; I'll have to ask Tim.

cuba24 · Post by **cuba24** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 1:28 pm

the new rv bios, only a litlle more overclocking. from 466@581 to 466@585 with the same system, and rock stable
SiSoftware Sandra

System
Host Name : M-DCMJELSNMLFE4
User : mick
Domain : M-DCMJELSNMLFE4

Processor
Model : 1x Intel(R) Celeron(tm)
Speed : 586MHz
Performance Rating : PR703 (estimated)
Type : Standard
L2 On-board Cache : 128kB ECC Synchronous Write-Back (4-way, 32 byte line size)

Mainboard
Bus(es) : ISA AGP PCI IMB USB i2c/SMBus
MP Support : 2 CPU(s)
MP APIC : Yes
System BIOS : Award Software International, Inc. 4.51 PG
Mainboard : <http://www.abit.com.tw> i440BX-W83977 (BP6)
Total Memory : 255MB SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : Intel Corporation 82443BX/ZX 440BX/ZX CPU to PCI Bridge (AGP Implemented)
Front Side Bus Speed : 1x 84MHz (84MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 256MB SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed : 1x 84MHz (84MHz data rate)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : HiSync 775N
Monitor/Panel : Televisión genérica
Adapter : 3dfx Voodoo3

Physical Storage Devices
Removable Drive : Unidad de disquete
Hard Disk : Maxtor 6 Y080L0 SCSI Disk Device (76.3GB)
Hard Disk : Maxtor 6 Y120P0 SCSI Disk Device (114.5GB)
CD-ROM/DVD : HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8520B (CD 40X Rd, 52X Wr)
CD-ROM/DVD : JLMS XJ-HD165H (CD 48X Rd) (DVD 6X Rd)

Logical Storage Devices
1.44MB 3.5" (A:) : N/A
Hd (C:) : 114.5GB (33.0GB, 29% Free) (NTFS)
Mn102_01 (D:) : 656MB (0MB, 0% Free) (CDFS)
Key_largo (E:) : 4.2GB (0MB, 0% Free) (UDF)
Maxtor2003 (F:) : 76.3GB (8.7GB, 11% Free) (NTFS)

Peripherals
Serial/Parallel Port(s) : 2 COM / 1 LPT
USB Controller/Hub : Controlador de host universal PCI a USB 82371AB/EB de Intel(r)
USB Controller/Hub : Concentrador raíz USB
USB Controller/Hub : Compatibilidad con impresoras USB
Keyboard : Teclado estándar de 101/102 teclas o Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse : Mouse compatible PS/2

MultiMedia Device(s)
Device : Puerto de juegos estándar

Communication Device(s)
Device : MicroLink 56k Fun USB EU

Printers and Faxes
Model : Canon S100
Model : Adobe PDF
Model : Acrobat PDFWriter
Model : Acrobat Distiller

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP/2002 Professional (Win32 x86) 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 1)

Network Services
Network Drivers Enabled : Yes

InactiveX · Post by **InactiveX** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 8:57 pm

Both of the RV BIOSs work great for me.

The only anomaly I have seen is that when I boot from cold, it says

>
Celeron (Mendocino) CPU at xxxMHz , 2 Processor(s)

When I do a soft reboot, it just says

>
Celeron (Mendocino) CPU at xxxMHz

Not really important, as both my Cellies are seen by my OS, but I don't remember that happening with RU.

Anyone else get the same?

24seven · Post by **24seven** » Tue Feb 03, 2004 4:32 am

I think mine does the same with the RU Bios? Could be wrong, I ant rebooted for a while so dont really remember.

426boone · Post by **426boone** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 9:29 pm

Question. I noticed some comments about the HTP366 drivers on this new RV bios. Can this bios be easily installed? Does this bios require AWDFlash? Will a re-install of HTP366 drivers be required after installing this Bios? I have a single P3 850 {cDo} on a Neo370 running pretty good, but I am always open for a better bios. I really would love the true CPU ID addition on boot up. I graciously await your answer. THanks.

A New Year & A New BP6 BIOS!

A New Year & A New BP6 BIOS!

RV Bios HTP366 question.