VOGONS


Reply 20 of 22, by evasive

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1541 wrote on 2020-12-23, 10:27:
Short question: Will the BIOS update just fix the Y2000 issue so it won't switch from 31.12.1999 t0 01.01.1900? Is the effort re […]
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Short question:
Will the BIOS update just fix the Y2000 issue so it won't switch from 31.12.1999 t0 01.01.1900?
Is the effort really worth it, as it won't happen again?
Or does the updated BIOS also support larger drives which would indeed justify the effort?

If this is an award 4.51PG core bios, the large harddisk support can be patched in sometimes.

Reply 21 of 22, by Ayrton

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evasive wrote on 2020-12-23, 12:06:
BinaryDemon wrote on 2020-12-23, 07:15:
Socket3 wrote on 2020-12-23, 06:58:

I copied UNIFLASH and the new bios file onto one of my socket 7 machines, then I pulled the EEPROM while the machine was running. Then I plugged in the EEPROM I sourced for the FIC motherboard, and flashed it using UNIFLASH. After that, I put the new EEPROM into my 486-VIP-IO2, moved the EEPROM voltage jumper from 12v to 5v, and cleared CMOS. A bit fiddly, but it worked.

Wow, I'd be scared to even attempt that. Much respect.

the HOTflash procedure. When you have a non-bootable board and no programmer device around, this is the next best thing. Pay attention with programming voltages and size of the chips etc, but other than that, it is quite safe.

Uhm...
I did a "hot operation" like this many years ago when a defective BIOS upgrade made my ASUS P2B-F (great machine with Intel 440BX and Pentium II SLOT1) unbootable.
But I wonder... that BIOS was a "flash" technology, so I reprogrammed it on another identical motherboard by software, but I always thought that EEPROM BIOS could not be "flashed".
I mean, on the web I read that EEPROM and FLASH technology are two different manufactoring techninques, so I did not take into account to do again the same thing, because I was
sure that EEPROM BIOS could not be "flashed"! For this I was on the way to erase with UV machine and re-program with an hardware EEPROM programmer, and I did not make that
action actually becuase my EEPROM programmer went faulty and a friend of mine could borrow me a good one but I must wait the middle of January, he is out of Italy now.

This post makes me happy, please TELL ME I AM WRONG! Could I really "flash" a TEXAS INSTRUMENTS 27c512-15 chip by usual software flashing on another mobo???
Really? 😀))

Happy Xmas!
Let me now! 😀

Reply 22 of 22, by evasive

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A 27xxx series is an EPROM. Not an EEPROM.

You need to UV-erase that one before reprogramming it.
http://www.citylan.it/wiki/images/f/f3/Tms27c512.pdf
If you have a board that can provide the proper 5V (6.5V) and 12V (13V) programming voltages on the proper pins, then you should be able to flash it. However in this case I would wait for the EPROM programmer.