VOGONS


First post, by 8bitbubsy

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I need someone with a Packard Bell 680 series (aka. Multimedia CLE, Multi Media CLE 1211, etc.) to help me out!
BIOS version must end with "DN0R", and the motherboard chipset is Intel NV430VX.

I accidentally flashed MR BIOS to my unit without dumping the original BIOS first, so I'm looking for someone who can run DUMP.BAT (found below) on their Packard Bell machine and upload the outputted BIOS.REC to somewhere. I can't just get the original Packard Bell BIOS online and flash it back, not even in BIOS recovery mode, as MR BIOS changes too much of the original BIOS.

The machine must be of the PB68x series, have no onboard audio, and must have an S3 TrioV64+ integrated GPU.

Machine must look like this: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/MJ4AAOSwRlpjtgyi/s-l400.jpg
And the motherboard like this: http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/pb/mb/682.htm

Here's a .ZIP with the tools needed, just run DUMP.BAT under MS-DOS (in real mode, not under Windows): https://16-bits.org/etc/PBSTUFF.ZIP

Thanks!

386:
- CPU: 386DX-40 (128kB external L1 cache)
- RAM: 8MB (0 waitstates at 40MHz)
- VGA: Diamond SpeedSTAR VGA (ET4000AX 1MB ISA)
- Audio: SB Pro 2.0 + GUS 1MB
- ISA PS/2 mouse card + ISA USB card
- MS-DOS 6.22 + Win 3.1
- MR BIOS

Reply 1 of 2, by dionb

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Don't have the machine I'm afraid, but to help you narrow it down:

- it's not the machine that needs to be a PB68x, it's he motherboard. They were used in a lot of different machines with different names per market. It also does not matter for the motherboard - the BIOSs were not system-specific so any system with PB68x motherboard is good enough, also if it has a different form factor (i.e. the more common 3x3 or 4x4 'frog' desktops instead of that 'pizza tower').
- the PB68x with S3 Trio was the PB682 (the PB683 had a Virge onboard)

Reply 2 of 2, by 8bitbubsy

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I think it's important that the motherboard to dump the BIOS from is a PB682, as it needs the S3 Trio64V+ VGA BIOS.
When the DN0R BIOS is flashed to the motherboard, maybe it picks the relevant VGA BIOS from the BIOS update package, instead of having two VGA BIOSes in the one and same BIOS on the flash chip?

As said, I can't just use the original 1.00.12.DN0R BIOS package as the flasher doesn't like the new MR BIOS stuff, it refuses to flash. Same when I'm in BIOS recovery mode.

386:
- CPU: 386DX-40 (128kB external L1 cache)
- RAM: 8MB (0 waitstates at 40MHz)
- VGA: Diamond SpeedSTAR VGA (ET4000AX 1MB ISA)
- Audio: SB Pro 2.0 + GUS 1MB
- ISA PS/2 mouse card + ISA USB card
- MS-DOS 6.22 + Win 3.1
- MR BIOS