DenizOezmen wrote on 2023-07-19, 20:18:

Baoran wrote on 2023-07-19, 17:55:

Do any of these bios files work with standard Asus Cuv4x that has the isa slot and no audio?

Probably not. If you're willing to test, I could try and prepare a port sometime in the next few days.

There is no need to rush but one of my main retro PCs has that motherboard and I would really like more options.

I installed this bios on my P3B-F and it’s working like a charm!

I do have one question. I’ve got a Promise SuperTrak SX6000 installed and it has a rather beefy rom sitting at C0000-D0000. The bios doesn’t cover the first part of the C0000 range so I can’t shadow this rom. Are there any possibilities to add extra shadow regions?

Zerthimon wrote on 2023-07-19, 20:29:

I would like to know if it's gonna work.

Baoran wrote on 2023-07-19, 21:10:

There is no need to rush but one of my main retro PCs has that motherboard and I would really like more options.

Here's a test build anyway. 😉

riplin wrote on 2023-07-19, 21:19:

I do have one question. I’ve got a Promise SuperTrak SX6000 installed and it has a rather beefy rom sitting at C0000-D0000. The bios doesn’t cover the first part of the C0000 range so I can’t shadow this rom. Are there any possibilities to add extra shadow regions?

The BIOS does handle shadowing of the C0000-C7FFF range, which it specifically uses for the video ROM, so this "hides" behind the "Video ROM BIOS Shadow" option.

However, ROMs of PCI cards are always shadowed into RAM anyway, and the (PnP) BIOS determines the memory range by itself. So you should need the shadowing options only for ISA cards.

[Edit: Moved download. See first post.]

DenizOezmen wrote on 2023-07-20, 16:18:

Zerthimon wrote on 2023-07-19, 20:29:

I would like to know if it's gonna work.

Baoran wrote on 2023-07-19, 21:10:

There is no need to rush but one of my main retro PCs has that motherboard and I would really like more options.

Here's a test build anyway. ;

Thanks, Deniz!
That was so fast. Nice one!
However, i'm not able to test your BIOS as I don't have this motherboard yet. I do have the DLS version though, but I thought I'd wait to see how the things go with the cuv4x BIOS first.

DenizOezmen wrote on 2023-07-20, 16:18:

Zerthimon wrote on 2023-07-19, 20:29:

I would like to know if it's gonna work.

Baoran wrote on 2023-07-19, 21:10:

There is no need to rush but one of my main retro PCs has that motherboard and I would really like more options.

Here's a test build anyway. 😉

Thank you. You managed to do it really fast.

Hey Deniz! Just wanted to let you know that I've restored my P3B-F and programmed the latest BIOS, the -5V rail monitoring error is gone as expected - can choose between Ignore and N/A in HW monitoring, guess that's the desired result 😀 big thanks as usual!

Thanks for all the feedback! Glad to read the mods are helpful to you.

Zerthimon wrote on 2023-07-20, 17:07:

However, i'm not able to test your BIOS as I don't have this motherboard yet. I do have the DLS version though, but I thought I'd wait to see how the things go with the cuv4x BIOS first.

No problem. In case you want to try it sometime, here's a test build for the DLS.

[Edit: Moved download. See first post.]

DenizOezmen wrote on 2023-07-22, 13:42:

In case you want to try it sometime, here's a test build for the DLS.

Thanks, Deniz!
Will test it next week and report back.

DenizOezmen wrote on 2023-07-20, 16:18:

Zerthimon wrote on 2023-07-19, 20:29:

I would like to know if it's gonna work.

Baoran wrote on 2023-07-19, 21:10:

There is no need to rush but one of my main retro PCs has that motherboard and I would really like more options.

Here's a test build anyway. 😉

CUV4X version seems to be working fine. I have a coppermine cpu running at 1.5V and hardware monitor shows the set voltage correctly too.

Sorry for the n00b question. I was running a memtest and suddenly the program started stuttering and I was hearing high pitched beeping from the speaker and the power led was flashing. This lasted less than a minute and then it stopped. The memtest itself was still running fine, no errors detected, so I don't think it came from there? I rebooted into the BIOS but I didn't see any messages (or perhaps I didn't look in the right place). I restarted the memtest again and it started beeping again.

The CPU heatsink didn't really feel very hot and the fan was spinning just fine. The video card on the other hand was quite hot. No idea if it's normal for the model I have. An NVidia Geforce4 Ti 4600 128MB.

System is a P3B-F with a 1Ghz Coppermine SL52R @ 133Mhz FSB, voltage is at 1.75V.

This is with BIOS patch 20230709.

Edit, I ran it again and immediately rebooted into the BIOS to see the HW monitor values when it started beeping:

About those voltages, I'm using a brand new EVGA 100-W1-0500-KR 500 W1, 80+ White 500W, 3 Year Warranty, Power Supply 100-W1-0500-KR

Baoran wrote on 2023-07-22, 19:05:

CUV4X version seems to be working fine. I have a coppermine cpu running at 1.5V and hardware monitor shows the set voltage correctly too.

Interesting, thanks! The CUV4X BIOS is based on a relatively new build. Maybe ASUS had moved initialization of VCore to an earlier spot by then.

riplin wrote on 2023-07-25, 02:15:

I was running a memtest and suddenly the program started stuttering and I was hearing high pitched beeping from the speaker and the power led was flashing. This lasted less than a minute and then it stopped.
[...]
About those voltages, I'm using a brand new EVGA 100-W1-0500-KR 500 W1, 80+ White 500W, 3 Year Warranty, Power Supply 100-W1-0500-KR

I'm not sure what exactly might cause the beeping and stuttering, but if you want to make sure it's not the mod's fault, you could try again using the stock BIOS. It should work in your configuration (except for the non-critical hardware monitor error due to the missing -5 V rail).

A note on the voltages: Strictly speaking, the +5 V rail is out of spec according to the ATX standard (5 V +/- 5%, so no less than 4.75 V).

Usage of the rails (and thus the design of power supplies) has changed considerably since the days of early ATX systems: Back then, PCs got most of their power from the +3.3 V and +5 V rails, while today's PCs depend heavily on the +12 V rail(s). This means two things:

• While your power supply can nominally deliver 500 W, a Pentium III system cannot utilize most of this power. Instead, it draws almost excusively from the +3.3 V and +5 V rails, which are rated with a combined output of "only" 120 W. (The +12 V power basically only goes to the system's drives.)
• The PSU is loaded "the wrong way" (cross load): Since today's PSUs expect to be primarily loaded on the +12 V rails, some of them can develop problems if that is not the case.

I'm not saying that this is necessarily the problem here (and there are debates on how much of an issue this actually is unless you want to run a power-hungry Athlon system). Still, it is something to be aware of when choosing a PSU for a retro system. Should you have a different PSU at hand, you might want to try that one.

DenizOezmen wrote on 2023-07-25, 16:11:

I'm not sure what exactly might cause the beeping and stuttering, but if you want to make sure it's not the mod's fault, you cou […]
Show full quote

riplin wrote on 2023-07-25, 02:15:

I was running a memtest and suddenly the program started stuttering and I was hearing high pitched beeping from the speaker and the power led was flashing. This lasted less than a minute and then it stopped.
[...]
About those voltages, I'm using a brand new EVGA 100-W1-0500-KR 500 W1, 80+ White 500W, 3 Year Warranty, Power Supply 100-W1-0500-KR

I'm not sure what exactly might cause the beeping and stuttering, but if you want to make sure it's not the mod's fault, you could try again using the stock BIOS. It should work in your configuration (except for the non-critical hardware monitor error due to the missing -5 V rail).

A note on the voltages: Strictly speaking, the +5 V rail is out of spec according to the ATX standard (5 V +/- 5%, so no less than 4.75 V).

Usage of the rails (and thus the design of power supplies) has changed considerably since the days of early ATX systems: Back then, PCs got most of their power from the +3.3 V and +5 V rails, while today's PCs depend heavily on the +12 V rail(s). This means two things:

• While your power supply can nominally deliver 500 W, a Pentium III system cannot utilize most of this power. Instead, it draws almost excusively from the +3.3 V and +5 V rails, which are rated with a combined output of "only" 120 W. (The +12 V power basically only goes to the system's drives.)
• The PSU is loaded "the wrong way" (cross load): Since today's PSUs expect to be primarily loaded on the +12 V rails, some of them can develop problems if that is not the case.

I'm not saying that this is necessarily the problem here (and there are debates on how much of an issue this actually is unless you want to run a power-hungry Athlon system). Still, it is something to be aware of when choosing a PSU for a retro system. Should you have a different PSU at hand, you might want to try that one.

I just upgraded the system to a Tualatin 1.4GHz CPU so I would have to still run a modified BIOS.

As for the power, I do load the 12V with 3 hard drives. I'll check to see if the 5V rail is in spec on initial boot. Perhaps the drop below 4.75V is what's triggering the beeping? Not sure what to do about that other than swapping out the power supply. Anyone have a suggestion for a good modern replacement?

I've also googled the issue and one thing that came up was people mentioning that P3B's have issues with certain power rails to the processor having spikes. They soldered on all kinds of capacitors on their slotkets. I really hope I won't have to go that route.

I should probably also mention that the cpu temperature bounces around between 52c and 60c while just sitting in hardware monitor. I’m not sure if I 100% trust the numbers it’s reporting there.

Edit: I disabled the CPU temp monitor and now the beeps seem to be gone. It's been running memtest86 for almost half an hour now and it would usually start beeping around 10 minutes in.

Edit: I ran CPUBurn for an hour and all is fine.

riplin wrote on 2023-07-25, 16:58:

I should probably also mention that the cpu temperature bounces around between 52c and 60c while just sitting in hardware monitor. I’m not sure if I 100% trust the numbers it’s reporting there.

Edit: I disabled the CPU temp monitor and now the beeps seem to be gone. It's been running memtest86 for almost half an hour now and it would usually start beeping around 10 minutes in.

Edit: I ran CPUBurn for an hour and all is fine.

Ah, that makes sense. I seem to remember seeing a board with strange CPU temp fluctuations. No idea what causes this, though.

@DenizOezmen - I would like to request from you please your excellent treatment for the Asus P2B-S as well (which POSTs with the Ezra-T, unlike the P3B-F). Please see attached BIOS (downloaded straight from Asus). Thank you very much again for all your great work!

mockingbird wrote on 2023-08-03, 06:01:

@DenizOezmen - I would like to request from you please your excellent treatment for the Asus P2B-S as well (which POSTs with the Ezra-T, unlike the P3B-F). Please see attached BIOS (downloaded straight from Asus). Thank you very much again for all your great work!

Should be possible. Here's a quick test build.

[Edit: Removed obsolete attachment.]

DenizOezmen wrote on 2023-08-03, 17:31:

Should be possible. Here's a quick test build.

Thank you! I will test it and report back.

mockingbird wrote on 2023-08-03, 17:41:

Thank you! I will test it and report back.

Sorry, I'll have to push a correction. I got some offsets wrong in the last build ...

[Edit: Moved attachment.]

Hi!
Just found out about this modified bios, great @DenizOezmen !! 😀

Will try on my p3b-f.

I also have an another 440BX motherboard called P2BXA made by a company called DCS.

Would it be possible to make a compatible bios for that motherboard as well in the future?

nizce wrote on 2023-08-05, 20:27:

I also have an another 440BX motherboard called P2BXA made by a company called DCS.

Would it be possible to make a compatible bios for that motherboard as well in the future?

Thanks!

A mod for this board would need fresh reverse engineering work and possibly a new code base. As I don't own related hardware, I'm probably not going to port all kinds of changes blindly. If there's something specific that doesn't work for you, I can try and take a look at that, though.

DenizOezmen wrote on 2023-08-03, 21:19:

Sorry, I'll have to push a correction. I got some offsets wrong in the last build ...

Thanks! Confirmed working great as expected... Best wishes.