It depends on the MB - I remember some hiend Epox boards reporting sensors values during POST. 8K5A3+ for example.
If the actual board doesn't support this feature "by desigh", then I don't think you can easily add it.

havli wrote:

It depends on the MB - I remember some hiend Epox boards reporting sensors values during POST. 8K5A3+ for example.

Nice, have found a video of this board booting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UTs9aYeiwI&t=26
Nowadays EFI BIOSes don't come even close to this cooleness 😒 (have an ASUS Rampage IV Formula in my main rig).

Get hacking 😀 The code should be there in most/some BIOSes to read those values - "just" need to add a few jump points to output them during POST.

Rotating ATI logo at boot looked more cool to me... Too bad it end too fast....Some number nine cards have nice text too at boot.

I like the sound of this, hacking the bios for a Cool POST screen 🤣
Does changing the chip from lets say 256kB to 512kB allow for more space for modifications?

vlask wrote:

Rotating ATI logo at boot looked more cool to me... Too bad it end too fast....Some number nine cards have nice text too at boot.

Taking back number nine booting screens - just checked them and they got only some texts there like - I've got a Ticket to Ride (on revolution 3D) or a little help from your friends (on Revolution IV). Still ATi 3D RAGE II+DVD PCI have nice logo. Seems like some cards had real soul.... . Recorded short video....

https://youtu.be/f3XrMN8fnV4

Stojke wrote:

I like the sound of this, hacking the bios for a Cool POST screen 🤣
Does changing the chip from lets say 256kB to 512kB allow for more space for modifications?

I doubt it. Most BIOSes only occupy the 0xF0000-0xFFFFF range, so a 256KB chip might even not be fully utilized. Also, you'll have to check the address range which the chip is mapped to. If only the 0xF000 segment is mapped to it, you'll be limited to 64KB no matter what chip you use.

GL1zda said; "Does anyone know how to get a POST screen like this one"
If you look on your motherboard between the PCI slots, you will see the model information
of this mobo - (almost certainly MS-6163 VER 1:0).
Your screenshot is an MSI utility called either 'PC Alert II' or PC Alert III'. I'm unsure if it is
actually inside the bios. (It would be interesting to do this test - Disconnect the HD,
start the computer, and see if that screen with the temperature readouts still appears.)
MSI bundled this utility on its driver CD for several of its motherboards.

Here is PC Alert mentioned;
http://www.anandtech.com/show/319/2

Here is the bios download page for MSI motherboard model 'MS-6163 VER 1:0 ' ;
http://web.archive.org/web/20040617232736/htt … ?UID=264&kind=1

alexanrs wrote:

I doubt it. Most BIOSes only occupy the 0xF0000-0xFFFFF range, so a 256KB chip might even not be fully utilized. Also, you'll have to check the address range which the chip is mapped to. If only the 0xF000 segment is mapped to it, you'll be limited to 64KB no matter what chip you use.

The F000 segment is the only segment mapped after boot, during boot a larger range can be mapped since there is no DOS or other software which needs this range.
There is for example no necessity to have the BIOS setup mapped after booting.
Usually the BIOS is compressed, it gets decompressed into RAM and the content of the F000 segment that can be seen after booting is actually this mapped RAM. Just search for "bios decompression" or "bios decompressor".

But wouldn't just grabbing the neighbouring E000 segment, for example, possibly conflict with expansion cards' ROMs? If the BIOS setup (and other stuff) isn't mapped after the OS boot process, then it is probably on another range, and special care should be taken while hacking the BIOS. It could be that it is protected mode code possibly (so it can be mapped to the 3.5GB+ range). Now I'm curious... I'll look into the whole "bios decompression" once I'm done with a few tests today.

vlask wrote:

Taking back number nine booting screens - just checked them and they got only some texts there like - I've got a Ticket to Ride (on revolution 3D) or a little help from your friends (on Revolution IV). Still ATi 3D RAGE II+DVD PCI have nice logo. Seems like some cards had real soul.... . Recorded short video....

Nice, never have seen that one.

buyerninety wrote:

Your screenshot is an MSI utility called either 'PC Alert II' or PC Alert III'. I'm unsure if it is actually inside the bios. (It would be interesting to do this test - Disconnect the HD, start the computer, and see if that screen with the temperature readouts still appears.) MSI bundled this utility on its driver CD for several of its motherboards.

PC Alert II is the Windows software used for monitoring: http://assets.hardwarezone.com/2009/reviews/m … si6163/6163.htm
MSI still has the page for this motherboard, no need to use the Wayback Machine: http://www.msi.com/product/mb/MS6163_Pro.html#hero-overview
They even have the manual, if you look inside, you'll see that you could enable/disable every single line on this screen in the "CPU Plug & Play III" section of their BIOS.

I agree you are correct, PC Alert II is the (MSI) Windows software used for monitoring,
and the MSI add-in to their motherboard bios is more properly identified as 'CPU Plug & Play'.

I believe you are incorrect to identify the motherboard in your 1st post as a "MS6163 Pro".
Here is a picture of a circa August 1999 MS-6163 Pro (PCB silkscreen marking 'MS6163 Ver 2').
http://assets.hardwarezone.com/2009/reviews/m … /msi6163pro.htm

Here is a picture of a circa February 1999 (Pre- or early production) MS-6163 (PCB silkscreen
marking indistinct).
http://assets.hardwarezone.com/2009/reviews/m … 3/6163.htm#good
Here is a picture of a circa June 1999 MS-6163 (PCB silkscreen marking 'MS6163 Ver 1').
http://www.kbench.com/?q=node/1038.htm

Disregarding trivial differences such as colour of parallel port, the presence or absence of
audio components (which were optional in both motherboards) or silkscreened components,
we can see that at the place where the ram socket and the agp socket almost meet is
a capacitor (seen in the centre of your 1st post picture).
A 'MS6163 Pro' has a small black multilegged chip (parallel to the agp socket) and adjacent
to that capacitor, whereas (e.g., an example of the differences between the two pics),
a 'MS6163' has no such chip and not even a silkscreen or solder tracings for it.

Also, the bios screen seen in the 1st post picture is for a MS6163, not a MS6163 Pro.
This is evidenced by the fact that 'MS6163' had bioses identified as this; W6163MJ v2.3 ,
W6163MJ v2.4 , etc., whilst 'MS6163 Pro' had bioses identified as this; W6163MJ v3.3 ,
W6163MJ v3.4 , etc..

I own an MS-6163 Pro without the Audio ports and its POST screen is identical to the one on the first photo. What exactly are we looking for/how can I help?

Excellent! Incidently, have you noticed any warnings about L2 cache errors?
And what version is shown for your bios?
e.g. for 'MS6163 Pro' will be similar to this; W6163MJ v3.x

I haven't used the board much to be honest, I just remember being impressed by the POST 😀.

No cache errors. I'll see if I can maybe quickly set it up and take a look at the version.

OK - hey, maybe tell us what CPU you are using, what multipliers the bios shows it
as using and how much (L2) cache it reports as having...

Okay, that took a while. Really sorry guys, I was busy building other machines and fooling around with my Voodoo5 + Tualatin.

Anyway, I quickly grabbed the board, it's an MS6163 Ver.1. Hooked it up with Pentium III 450 and 128MB RAM and took a couple of photos. Excuse the low quality, these were taken with a crappy cellphone camera. In the second photo, you can see the BIOS reporting 512KB L2 Cache. I'm not really in the mood of setting up another system, so no speedsys or other tests/scores at the moment. If you need anything specific, post it here and I'll see if I can do it 😀.

Wha- you say "MS6163 Ver.1." Where do you see this "Ver.1"?

It's on the board itself. It says MS6163 Ver:1 .

Have I stumbled upon some holy grail of 440BX motherboards 😜? To be honest, I've never really bothered with this board, I have others that are more suitable to my needs!