I can solder, just not those types of chips.

ok

I'll bet there is. What thread would be appropriate to un-brick this board and put the latest bios update on it?

snickersnack wrote:

Ah that's great, you're not too far away. […]
Show full quote

Ah that's great, you're not too far away.

I don't currently have the soldering skill either but I've been meaning to build it. I've been playing around with the coreboot/ libreboot replacement firmware on some of my Core2 systems and I'm about at the point where I'd like to try some customizations. Being just a tinker, I see bricked boards in my future and I need to be able to recover from that.

If that particular board has sentimental value, I wouldn't be surprised if someone here could replace the BIOS if you made it worth their while. There are some very skilled people here.

Well, I guess I'll go check out that spare Thor now. I'll let you know how it looks.

Good news. The Intel Thor looks good. I loaded up FreeDOS and ran DOS Quake for a bit. Seems fine. I also tried that hack that another user posted about a year ago to update the Gateway firmware to Intel's latest 1.00.06.CN0 BIOS. That also seems fine.

If swapping boards sound appealing to you, just send me PM and we exchange shipping info. I have three of these boards, although one doesn't work (I hope to revive that one some day).

If you'd like to solicit help for externally reflashing that BIOS chip, I think a new thread would be appropriate. Someone will let you know if there is a better place.

That Intel 1.00.06.CN0 BIOS update would probably be useful for such a repair. I'll go upload that to my dropbox and post a link.

Think I'd rather trade places with you. I'd like to get that one with the latest Intel Bios on there. The one I got could be another one you could revive for yourself. How about that? 😀 Also, what case would you recommend I put this in? The original Gateway 2000 case that I have, the front bezel is hosed, all yellowed up, the buttons broke off and stuff.

Cool, we can swap boards then. I'll send you the v1.00.06.CN0 BIOS board. I'll send you a PM and we can exchange shipping info.

I put my Intel Thor in a Rosewill mid tower that accommodates a full ATX motherboard. Nothing special, it's just what I had on hand. If I were to buy a new tower, I might try one of those Fractal Design cases with a door that covers the drive bays. That way I might be able to limit dust sucked into a 5.25 floppy drive, should I install one. Another consideration is if you have any of those really long ISA cards like a Roland LAPC-I. You'll need to make sure your case is long enough to accommodate them without running into a drive bay. Nothing a saw couldn't fix though I suppose. 😉

One small thing about the Thor is that the IO shield seems to be used as the support for the corner of the motherboard near the CPU. I don't think the Gateway I/O shield will fit in a modern ATX case without modification. You can leave it floating unsupported and be careful with it, or perhaps jam something non-conductive in between the board and the case to give it a little support. A project I have on my list for the future is to buy a blank IO shield for a modern case and cut holes for the Thor, using the Gateway IO shield as a template.

pm sent

snickersnack wrote:

Cool, we can swap boards then. I'll send you the v1.00.06.CN0 BIOS board. I'll send you a PM and we can exchange shipping info.

I put my Intel Thor in a Rosewill mid tower that accommodates a full ATX motherboard. Nothing special, it's just what I had on hand. If I were to buy a new tower, I might try one of those Fractal Design cases with a door that covers the drive bays. That way I might be able to limit dust sucked into a 5.25 floppy drive, should I install one. Another consideration is if you have any of those really long ISA cards like a Roland LAPC-I. You'll need to make sure your case is long enough to accommodate them without running into a drive bay. Nothing a saw couldn't fix though I suppose. 😉

One small thing about the Thor is that the IO shield seems to be used as the support for the corner of the motherboard near the CPU. I don't think the Gateway I/O shield will fit in a modern ATX case without modification. You can leave it floating unsupported and be careful with it, or perhaps jam something non-conductive in between the board and the case to give it a little support. A project I have on my list for the future is to buy a blank IO shield for a modern case and cut holes for the Thor, using the Gateway IO shield as a template.