I don't think i've ever seen a board that supported the K6 that did not also support the K6-2 even if it was just at 66mhz FSB. Might just need a bios update. Might, also be problematic since it is an OEM HP board.

I've done a bit of googling and it appears this motherboard was made by Asus for HP only, and is not the same as the regular TX97-XV.
Good luck finding a bios for it, and it appears it's a Phoenix bios, not Award or AMI which makes patching it more difficult.

At least try dumping the bios here and myself and others maybe could take a look.

I'm going to test it tomorrow with an Evergreen K6-2 upgrade kit, since I know that system "ran when parked" when I got it. If it works I'll stick in a normal K6-2.

I managed to find a BIOS from 1998, so that should help too. I'm really thinking the K6-2 I used to test it may be a dud.

HP/Asus TX98-XV BIOS 4.06 3/24/98:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/a8f6ixymao5ob5d/ven0324.exe

How compatible is the TX98-XV with the rest of Asus' TX stable? Maybe it will work with a BIOS from a similar model.

No idea, but I managed to get a TX97-XV from a curbside HP a few years ago and that board was waayyy different, layout wise. The TX98 is the narrowest ATX board I've ever seen, the TX97 is a massive behemoth that uses all three rows of mounting screws. It looked identical to the retail model.

The TX97 was faulty so I had to get rid of it. But yeah, same chipset, video, etc. but two cache chips and some huge National Semiconductor chip on it. It may have had a different version of the Mach64, but I don't remember. I'm pretty sure both use the 264-VT judging from the manual. The TX98 uses this bizarre 256x16 45ns EDO VRAM that only one guy on eBay seems to sell.

Ah, integrated video. Quite different, then.

It might be worth asking around about BIOS patching.

Maybe it's a stupid question, but if these different kind of BIOS chips were not interchangeable (perhaps different pinout? I don't know), would it in theory be possible to create a physical adapter or something so one could use an AWARD BIOS in a board like this one? The differences can't really be that great, can it? Often they chanced only some little bits for their customer (in this case HP apparently) as it did what it had to do and was cheaper to implement (meaning only some hacking would be needed to de-OEM the board)?

My technical knowledge about BIOS stuff is very limited, so maybe I don't make any sense here 😊

Also, how low can you set the cpu voltage ? I wouldn't put a K6-2 if the minimum voltage is 2.8v

I've got a socket 7 motherboard that can go to 2.5v so I tried a K6-2 450 that required 2.4v and guess what ? The computer was constantly crashing because the vrm ran too hot. I added a fan on the heatsink and it worked well, but I don't think that's a good idea anyway for my board ... But if your board also have a weak vrm, I won't do that either

Tetrium wrote:

Maybe it's a stupid question, but if these different kind of BIOS chips were not interchangeable (perhaps different pinout? I don't know), would it in theory be possible to create a physical adapter or something so one could use an AWARD BIOS in a board like this one? The differences can't really be that great, can it? Often they chanced only some little bits for their customer (in this case HP apparently) as it did what it had to do and was cheaper to implement (meaning only some hacking would be needed to de-OEM the board)?

My technical knowledge about BIOS stuff is very limited, so maybe I don't make any sense here 😊

No need for a physical adapter when you can just flash the chip.

I'm not sure about AMI, but certainly Award was highly modular with customization being done via those modules, so adapting from one board to another (especially when it's a common chipset) should be doable.

gdjacobs wrote:

Tetrium wrote:

Maybe it's a stupid question, but if these different kind of BIOS chips were not interchangeable (perhaps different pinout? I don't know), would it in theory be possible to create a physical adapter or something so one could use an AWARD BIOS in a board like this one? The differences can't really be that great, can it? Often they chanced only some little bits for their customer (in this case HP apparently) as it did what it had to do and was cheaper to implement (meaning only some hacking would be needed to de-OEM the board)?

My technical knowledge about BIOS stuff is very limited, so maybe I don't make any sense here 😊

No need for a physical adapter when you can just flash the chip.

I'm not sure about AMI, but certainly Award was highly modular with customization being done via those modules, so adapting from one board to another (especially when it's a common chipset) should be doable.

But if that's the case, couldn't the board's current BIOS chip be exchanged for a K6-2 compatible BIOS chip (either AMI or Award) that does work with K6-2? This could fix the k6-2 problem (though create some new ones with maybe onboard stuff or so?).

- Frasco steals from Descent95!

I'm sorry, but I really got to raise the bar and put my TX97-VX on top fighting form and performance.

Did some service on it and now the Ancient Behemoth is running nicely and glowing (at least in my
eyes). During the wonderful time I noticed a K6-2/533Mhz (Hey, that's some hell of a processor for this
Asus board - I thought).

My impression was right. I turned the computer on and the first task to endure didn't take too long:
CPU is identified as: -MMX
What the hell is that ? Why would someone install a K6-2 533Mhz in there ? So unofficial, I hate this!
Gotta check if the VRM area is running too hot. In other words, if Vcore is pushing the board.
- thank you, Deksor for the words of warning.

Just funny how the whole deal is stable! So I guess no conviction this time - I just want to make
it "more official" with a BIOS patch. Furthermore errors are plaguing my Samsung 10GB and 20GB HDs:
"Sectors not found" or "I/O channel check -- Offending segment: 0000, Press F1 to disable NMI, F2 to Reboot".
Never seen such weird messages...

According to ASUS, the fastest CPU for a TX97-VX is a K6-2/333Mhz (BIOS update to version "0112-1 beta" required)
Now, where I find the version 0112-1 BIOS beta?
Vanished ! Just can't be found.
Could you please help me ? This is the file I am looking for: xv5x1121.zip
Can you try to download this file for me?

http://www.mmnt.net/db/0/8/ftp.asus.com/pub/A … S/beta/mb/bios/
ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/beta/mb/bios/xv5x1121.zip

Further investigation on FTP comes empty. When darkness falls! So hard.
Even so, all praises for ASUS. When I realized they still supported this old socket, I got shocked in a good way.

** Just to clear things: The TX97-VX is found in the following systems:
HP - US 8140 & 8160, Asia Pacific 8100, 8111, 8120, 8130 & 8155P
My BIOS is Award, so I assume mine isn't OEM and that's a good thing.

***Another minor problem:

No FAN conector (3 pin) or Chassis FAN connector. Hardware monitor chip is absent.
For a moment I was thinking I got a maculated board, which is not the case.
That eases 😎. Sounds like I am talking about it as the last in its group - Not even close. Looks very common.

I hope I got a plan for it. For now, I am just fixing my hardware collection.

About your problem with the TX98 ? Don't know if I can be of some help. The fact is a K6-2 533 worked
(underclocked) in my TX97-VX out of the box. The BIOS has never been updated.

I will wish you the best, Descent95.

Hey frasco, does this link work for you?

Bullseye. 😎

Let's get to it.

Moving the file from my main HD (no IDE ports) --> USB stick (no boot from USB ports
in that big fellow) --> CF card and finally to the chip.

I should be more careful in my research.

Wait. What about the Flash writer?

I read something about in the manual and ASUS is failing on me, again. Damn. 🤣 🤣

I read the manual. Its called Pflash.exe.
Well, this one should be easier, but I really got to go.

I'll come back. The sooner, the better 😁

Frasco wrote:

Wait. What about the Flash writer? […]
Show full quote

Wait. What about the Flash writer?

I read something about in the manual and ASUS is failing on me, again. Damn. 🤣 🤣

I read the manual. Its called Pflash.exe.
Well, this one should be easier, but I really got to go.

I'll come back. The sooner, the better 😁

Mmmmmmm I downloaded the HP BIOS package and the BIOS file is 256KB in size, but the ASUS BIOS file is only 128KB. Can you check the model number of the flash chip?

lazibayer wrote:

Mmmmmmm I downloaded the HP BIOS package and the BIOS file is 256KB in size, but the ASUS BIOS file is only 128KB. Can you check the model number of the flash chip?

How do you do this ?

I believe Pflash.exe will do this trick, but first I must find the program.
And I'll find it, but right now my eyes are closing.

Are you under the impression my board is from ASUS and modified by HP ? No-no-nooooooo!
Not that!

Thank you for your patient - so far. 😵

Frasco wrote:

How do you do this ? […]
Show full quote

How do you do this ?

I believe Pflash.exe will do this trick, but first I must find the program.
And I'll find it, but right now my eyes are closing.

Are you under the impression my board is from ASUS and modified by HP ? No-no-nooooooo!
Not that!

Thank you for your patient - so far. 😵

I found the HP BIOS and flasher here.

Error

This link was generated for another IP (73.236.151.148) than your IP (177.58.184.115)
It could be if your ISP or sysadmin uses different IP for web surfing and downloading files

Oh man, the novelty.
See how the error shines !
I am so used to it, I just laught.

You have to upload an attachment.

Frasco wrote:

Error […]
Show full quote

Error

This link was generated for another IP (73.236.151.148) than your IP (177.58.184.115)
It could be if your ISP or sysadmin uses different IP for web surfing and downloading files

Oh man, the novelty.
See how the error shines !
I am so used to it, I just laught.

You have to upload an attachment.

oh well