First post, by alexanrs
Hi guys.
I'm pretty satisfied with my Compaq Deskpro 5200MMX, but its BIOS bugs me a little. Nice hardware, somewhat annoying software. The whole "needs an HDD partition" deal is a bit of a pain, and the BIOS is a bit stupid (no way to do simple things like disable caches and such, takes 10-20 seconds to start the computer setup and etc.), so I decided to look into crossflashing. I did not find much, but in the process I ended up opening the PC and identifying a bunch of ICs:
- IS61C632A-71Q (two) = 128KB (each) of cache SRAM
- VT82C595 + VT82C586B = Northbridge + Southbridge (Apollo VP2/97 chipset)
- SDT71V256 = Tag RAM (probably what enables 256MB of RAM to be cacheable)
- KM4132G271AQ-10 = 1MB SGRAM (for the onboard vídeo). There is an empty place with pads exactly like the ones this IC uses right next to it. I'm guessing I could just solder another IC there and get 2MB of VRAM without hunting for the expensive and not-so-common and proprietary vídeo RAM upgrade.
- CY2267PVC-1 = Clock Generator
- PC87307-IBY/VUL = SuperIO
- Compaq w/ Part Number 278781-101 = Google tells me this is a 256KB AM29F002, the BIOS chip (non socketed, unfortunately).
- Trio64V2/GX = lovely onboard vídeo that doesn't give me trouble 😀
So, I guess that a MoBo with similar enough components could provide me with a nice alternative BIOS. Am I right on this assumption? Or should I just forget the whole deal? And any of you guys know a suitable "donor" board?