Hello
Maybe someone know what motherboard is it?
It looks similar to this one: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/asem-ast-286b but there are some differences. I would like to know how to get into the BIOS. It is Phonex BIOS and I tried many combinations:
F2,
DEL,
DEL+ALT+S,
CTRL+ALT+S,
CTRL+ALT+ESC,
DEL+ALT+ESC
and I still can't get into the BIOS.
from the manual (in italian):
1) reset the machine (by power off-on; reset by keyboard or switch)
2) before the OS is loaded into memory, press ctrl-alt-esc
3) award setup cmos will show up (you have phoenix though).
Honestly, that's all there is.
Maybe you have to press that combination from reset repeatedly until you find the right time.
PC#1 Pentium 233 MMX - 98SE
PC#2 PIII-1Ghz - 98SE/W2K
"One hates the specialty unobtainium parts, the other laughs in greed listing them under a ridiculous price" - kotel studios
Thank You for quick answer but I saw this documentation on The Retro Web and it is not working because my BIOS is from Phenix. It would be also good solution to have other BIOS for this motherboard. I have a programmer so I could replace it.
Now I saw that there is some BIOS so I have to try it but it looks suspicious because it is version 3.03 and on my board there is also 3.03
Tomek TRV wrote on 2025-05-09, 22:17:Thank You for quick answer but I saw this documentation on The Retro Web and it is not working because my BIOS is from Phenix. It would be also good solution to have other BIOS for this motherboard. I have a programmer so I could replace it.
I'm looking at other boards with this chipset, maybe one has a phoenix bios.
Hang on.
PC#1 Pentium 233 MMX - 98SE
PC#2 PIII-1Ghz - 98SE/W2K
"One hates the specialty unobtainium parts, the other laughs in greed listing them under a ridiculous price" - kotel studios
Tomek TRV wrote on 2025-05-09, 22:17:Thank You for quick answer but I saw this documentation on The Retro Web and it is not working because my BIOS is from Phenix. It would be also good solution to have other BIOS for this motherboard. I have a programmer so I could replace it.
Now I saw that there is some BIOS so I have to try it but it looks suspicious because it is version 3.03 and on my board there is also 3.03
Some boards have setup.exe to access BIOS.
Looks strange.
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/packar … ell-pb286b#docs
edit: hold down ctrl and alt, then press esc (one manual reports this)
PC#1 Pentium 233 MMX - 98SE
PC#2 PIII-1Ghz - 98SE/W2K
"One hates the specialty unobtainium parts, the other laughs in greed listing them under a ridiculous price" - kotel studios
Nexxen wrote on 2025-05-09, 22:30:Some boards have setup.exe to access BIOS. Looks strange. https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/packar … ell-pb286b#docs […]
Tomek TRV wrote on 2025-05-09, 22:17:Thank You for quick answer but I saw this documentation on The Retro Web and it is not working because my BIOS is from Phenix. It would be also good solution to have other BIOS for this motherboard. I have a programmer so I could replace it.
Now I saw that there is some BIOS so I have to try it but it looks suspicious because it is version 3.03 and on my board there is also 3.03
Some boards have setup.exe to access BIOS.
Looks strange.
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/packar … ell-pb286b#docsedit: hold down ctrl and alt, then press esc (one manual reports this)
edit: https://theretroweb.com/motherboard/manual/at … e5273299534.pdf
ctrl+alt+ins
PC#1 Pentium 233 MMX - 98SE
PC#2 PIII-1Ghz - 98SE/W2K
"One hates the specialty unobtainium parts, the other laughs in greed listing them under a ridiculous price" - kotel studios
I'd use gsetup from simtel, personally.
Nexxen wrote on 2025-05-09, 22:39:edit: https://theretroweb.com/motherboard/manual/at … e5273299534.pdf
ctrl+alt+ins
Good find ! Should work !
From other archives "Phoenix BIOS, Phoenix-Award BIOS
Press Del during the POST, immediately after the computer starts. Many older systems required Ctrl+Alt+Esc, Ctrl+Alt+Ins, or Ctrl+Alt+S."
Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun
Be aware that some ancient Phoenix BIOS are weird in that rather than only having a brief window to push the SETUP hotkey, they don't even start listening for it until transferring control to the bootloader, so you can even get into SETUP from the DOS prompt at times.
Hi again. Nothing is working but I found some other motherboard - Acer 910/900 PB87011-3, with the same chipset and I replaced mine so now I have Award BIOS V3.01B (that's on a sticker). This BIOS is very, very primitive - black screen and I have to choose numbers to change options but it is working.
I see that on The Retro Web there is no BIOS for Acer 910/900 PB87011-3 so I attach here dump from mine. I don't know how to add it to The Retro Web so maybe someone can do it.
"Very very primitive" is "expected" for early AT machines.
In fact, "Configured exclusively by DOS companion program, or setup diskette" was "The norm" for awhile in the very very very early AT era. IBM was especially big about this, as was Compaq.
This is why I suggested just using GSETUP from SIMTEL archive, and being done with it.
You usually dont start seeing color CMOS setup programs until the 386 era, and dont start seeing advanced bios until the VERY LATE 386/Mid 486 era.
