The safest way to flash bioses on these old boards is to get yourself an eprom programmer, some chips, and a UV eraser if needed.
That way you can flash bioses to Your hearts content and see what happens, then revert to the original IC if you run into problems.

Imperious wrote:

The safest way to flash bioses on these old boards is to get yourself an eprom programmer, some chips, and a UV eraser if needed.
That way you can flash bioses to Your hearts content and see what happens, then revert to the original IC if you run into problems.

That sounds great for this purpose because I want to try a few and see what works best,
May I ask if you know what flash chip I should use?

It's pretty easy to figure out. If The bios is 128kb in size, also known as 1 MegaBit, then a 27c1001(101) or equivalent usually is correct. I would suggest electronically getting eraseable chips, it's easier than messing with UV eraseable ic's.

The Legend of Zida: A Tomato to the Past

andreja6 wrote on 2019-10-28, 06:07:

I recently received this board in fully working condition, but the BIOS doesn't support drives ~40gb, and just refuses to boot w […]
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I recently received this board in fully working condition, but the BIOS doesn't support drives ~40gb, and just refuses to boot with them
It's a 1998 board, so I'd expect the BIOS to support it.

A few websites gave me information for 1.01 rev boards, but never 1.20.

I found these BIOS files:

https://www.zida-bios.com/download-bios-151-f … with-id-34.html
https://www.zida-bios.com/download-bios-152-f … with-id-34.html

but I'm not sure how to flash them and more importantly if they are compatible with my motherboard. It only says TX98-3D

The current BIOS version is 1.09 (981228)

51-1228-008031-00111111-071595-VIAVPX-TX98-3D-HK0-F

According to the site, I also need AMIFLASH 5.24, but that doesn't exist anywhere!

I'm dealing with the same issue. Did you manage to flash via software or did you acquire a flashing tool?

Did the BIOS on the Zida site give you an error when unzipping?

Here is everything you need to know about the Zida TX98-3D:
http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/5825

I have added every version of BIOS to the page (from web archive or elhvb). There is also a manual if you need it.
I have tested all of them on my rev. 1.20 board (including the unofficial one) and they all work just fine.

You could use AFUDOS to flash them, but I found that some versions do not work on certain boards (in this case as well).
I've had the best experience with UNIFLASH, which you can find here: http://www.win3x.org/win3board/viewtopic.php? … 455&language=en

Version 1.16m has an optional boot logo at startup, which is neat.

computerguy08 wrote on 2020-11-03, 10:17:

Here is everything you need to know about the Zida TX98-3D: http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/5825 […]
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Here is everything you need to know about the Zida TX98-3D:
http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/5825

I have added every version of BIOS to the page (from web archive or elhvb). There is also a manual if you need it.
I have tested all of them on my rev. 1.20 board (including the unofficial one) and they all work just fine.

You could use AFUDOS to flash them, but I found that some versions do not work on certain boards (in this case as well).
I've had the best experience with UNIFLASH, which you can find here: http://www.win3x.org/win3board/viewtopic.php? … 455&language=en

Version 1.16m has an optional boot logo at startup, which is neat.

Huge thank-you. Worked perfectly as you described.

For those who wonder, when running UniFlash choose the write bootblock option.

This update solved some issues for me with an IDE-to-SD adapter using a 16GB SD card. I tried a 120GB SSD through an IDE-to-SATA adapter which worked as long as the drive type was set to "auto" in Basic CMOS menu. I also had a small FAT32 partition though I'm not sure if that made a difference. The BIOS appears to support up to 64GB.

Best wishes from Canada.