majestyk wrote on 2022-11-18, 20:11:

Kudos to you for the effort! Onboard SCSI still doesn´t get an IRQ, VGA does. I suspect that ASUS salted this BIOS with their o […]
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Kudos to you for the effort!
Onboard SCSI still doesn´t get an IRQ, VGA does. I suspect that ASUS salted this BIOS with their own "magic" that also prevents many BIOS tools from working successfully.

SCSI and cacheable area are my main focus here, I could live with an extra ISA I/O card. I entered the first 5 lines from the original BIOS into the FIC routing table and PCI cards are identified in the right slot 1-4 now.
But onboard SCSI is ignored at the moment, because I couldn´t find a way to add additional lines for the missing two entries that take care of "slot 0" which probably is onboard SCSI.
The last line consists of zeroes only, can this one be omitted?

I also found some more AWARD files like for the Iwill P55TU that also has the 8770 SCSI chip. For whatecer reasons this and several more AWARD BIOSes that explicitly support the SMC 669 SIO don´t manage to make it work on the 54TPI.

Just don't understand how that could be 😀
OK, BIOS didn't assign any IRQ. But what about Windows? Is there a record for the SCSI in Device Manager?

I don't think it is possible to insert / add new IRQ route especially using bios editing tools - only modify. Usually there's no free space near table inside of BIOS. Maybe the whole IrqRouteTable could be transfer to another place of BIOS but then all pointers must be properly changed. And the problem is how to find all the pointers. Because they usually are relative values not absolute ones.
Sorry, I haven't understood about "last line consists of zeroes". I've opened FIC PT-2000 bios in amibcp and haven't found them.
If you've mentioned another (AMI) one then in AMIBCP place cursor to field "reg#" in necessary line of irq table and change 00h value to 60-63h. After that you can change the INT Pin field value to DEB8h. The SCSI dev number in an irq table is 40h.
IMO, FIC PT-2000 bios should find the SCSI in slot 1. Just don't set any PCI card into slot 1.

P.S. Maybe I'll try to look into the original 54TPI BIOS again 😀

Interesting that AIR (AKA Megastar) also had a dual CPU board based on same chipset (HX+SMC+7880). Known as 54tdp.
Although it also has a AMI BIOS am wondering if it could shed some light on how to integrate the scsi bios. Just a thought.

Horun wrote on 2022-11-19, 04:07:

Interesting that AIR (AKA Megastar) also had a dual CPU board based on same chipset (HX+SMC+7880). Known as 54tdp.
Although it also has a AMI BIOS am wondering if it could shed some light on how to integrate the scsi bios. Just a thought.

Might be able to just use a dual board bios…?

majestyk wrote on 2022-11-07, 07:55:

I set 7:6 to "10" (512K L2 cache) 5:4 to "11" (there are 4 cache chips onboard so I guess thery are wired as "two banks") 3 […]
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I set
7:6 to "10" (512K L2 cache)
5:4 to "11" (there are 4 cache chips onboard so I guess thery are wired as "two banks")
3 to "0" (normal cache operation)
2 to "1" (512 MB extended, this is what it´s all about)
1 to "1" (see table in the description of binary "0")
0 to "0" (same as above)

"10110101" converted to hexadecimal would be "B6". I tried that - still 64MB! I also tried some variants - to no avail.

Am I getting something wrong here? Or why are the registers not applied at startup?

BTW , "10110101" = B5h.
B6h causes bit[1:0]=10b result "Disabled; tag invalidate on reads". But maybe it doesn't matter.
I was very naїve at my first try. There're so many places in BIOS modules where 52h is accessed.

Cheers Roman555,
here´s some more info / thoughts:
1. In the 52h string bit 1 is SCFMI, bit 0 is FLCE. In the table under FLCI in the 430HX-docu it´s the other way round, FLCE comes first, then comes SCFMI, so I think the desired FLCE=1 and SCFMI=0 means "01" for the last two binaries (1:0). Hence the "5b" string.

2. The BIOS for the AIR 54TDP does not work on the TPI. But this board has 2 TAG-RAMs per default so I bet the bios enables the enlarged cacheable area.

3. As for the PCI/IRQ routing in the AMI BIOSes, here´s the original 54TPI BIOS table

and here´s the original FIC-2200 AMI table

Question: Is the 7th line in the 54TPI table just a dummy / placeholder that could be omitted?

What I did was enter the first 5 lines from the 54TPI into the FIC table. Then PCI cards get identified in the correct slots, since - of course - the 54TPI table knows the true wiring of the INTx-lines. The onboard SCSI didn´t get an IRQ, under the original FIC table it was assigned IRQ10. I don´t know if the 54TPI BIOS assigns one, it´s not very verbose in the summary screen.
Point is, when we manage to include the Adaptec 7880 Option BIOS into the FIC BIOS I want to enter "Cntrl.+A", configure a SCSI drive and SCSI DVD and then install an OS.
Would the onboard SCSI need a BIOS-assigned IRQ for that? (I assumed it would)

majestyk wrote on 2022-11-19, 14:38:

What I did was enter the first 5 lines from the 54TPI into the FIC table. Then PCI cards get identified in the correct slots, since - of course - the 54TPI table knows the true wiring of the INTx-lines. The onboard SCSI didn´t get an IRQ, under the original FIC table it was assigned IRQ10. I don´t know if the 54TPI BIOS assigns one, it´s not very verbose in the summary screen.
Point is, when we manage to include the Adaptec 7880 Option BIOS into the FIC BIOS I want to enter "Cntrl.+A", configure a SCSI drive and SCSI DVD and then install an OS.
Would the onboard SCSI need a BIOS-assigned IRQ for that? (I assumed it would)

Cheers ,
1) B5h (not 5bh), low bits are at right. I think the datasheet is correct because I see corresponding manipulations in the code.

majestyk, you can try to edit the seventh row of 54TPI BIOS, of course. It's editable although only an experiment will show whether it's applied. But I don't understand for what. 54TPI BIOS doesn't have problems with IRQ routes.

I've thought the native IRQ table of FIC-2200 is alright for 54TPI. You don't have to modify it. Because IRQ table of FIC-2200 has device number 40h in it (in the first line). So IRQ is assigned for the SCSI, IMO. But don't set any PCI card into Slot 1 because it would conflict with SCSI. Also you can extract SCSI OpROM and insert it into the FIC BIOS (using AMIBCP) .

I spent some time disassembling original 54TPI BIOS and I found code that set 512MB cacheable area. majestyk, have you try to install into AIR 54TPI more than 64MB of RAM ? ECE bit is set only if amount of RAM is bigger than 64MB

During all tests RAM was either 256MB or 512MB FPM.
Just tried the orig. FIC BIOS again, SCSI -> IRQ 10, VGA -> IRQ11.
Slot 1 is unused and probably unusable.
[My Gigabyte GA-586DX, also with onboard 7880 has it hooked to Slot 4 and they say Slot 4 can be used for "Slave-PCI cards" only. I haven´t found any card that was functional in Slot 4.]

Oh, I always entered "B5h", this was just twisted numbers in my last posting...

I also extracted the SCSI BIOS and inserted it into the FIC (had to delete the "Green PC" module due to lack of space).
SCSI ROM appears at startup now, but I cant use "Cntrl.+A" - maybe one has to use a seperate DOS utility for SCSI config here?
The BIOS menue entry for enabling/disabling onboard SCSI is missing under "peripheral".

majestyk wrote on 2022-11-19, 17:42:

... I also extracted the SCSI BIOS and inserted it into the FIC (had to delete the "Green PC" module due to lack of space). SCSI […]
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...
I also extracted the SCSI BIOS and inserted it into the FIC (had to delete the "Green PC" module due to lack of space).
SCSI ROM appears at startup now, but I cant use "Cntrl.+A" - maybe one has to use a seperate DOS utility for SCSI config here?
The BIOS menue entry for enabling/disabling onboard SCSI is missing under "peripheral".

I don't think so but I'm not experienced about it 😀 Don't you forget to set DevID:VenID and ModuleID properly [8078:9004 and 20]?

It's a next modded bios. Maybe we will be lucky this time 😀

Congrats! This one does the trick!
😀 😀

Btw. Ctrl.+A doesn´t work with the original BIOS also, it just complains "No SCSI Boot Device Found", "BIOS Not Installed".
But to provide some SCSI boot drive I need some config util.

majestyk wrote on 2022-11-19, 18:42:

Congrats! This one does the trick! :) :) […]
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Congrats! This one does the trick!
😀 😀

Btw. Ctrl.+A doesn´t work with the original BIOS also, it just complains "No SCSI Boot Device Found", "BIOS Not Installed".
But to provide some SCSI boot drive I need some config util.

Super! Thanks for good news 😀

It's strange. Have you seen any messages of the SCSI OpROM during start of the motherboard ? (something like Press 'Ctrl-A' to get into SCSI config util)

If the SCSI starts well it shows "BIOS Installed Successfully!" It doesn't show what to press to get into setup.
I didn't find text message "<<< Press <Ctrl><A> for SCSISelect(TM) Utility! >>>" in OpROM image. Maybe it is compressed...
Have you managed to get into SCSI OpROM setup using original BIOS (not modded) ?

...and big thanks and cheers to you!

No such message (same with original BIOS).
I have a 5 1/4" SCSI caddy connected and the key, that locks the drawer and turns power on and off was in the "off" position 🙁
Now the drive is detected and given the drive letter "C" and SCSI BIOS outputs the message "BIOS installed successfully". Then the startup continues.
Maybe the BIOS just assigns drive letters? All drives are JBOD anyway (there´s no RAID option here).

You can probably issue a command in DOS DEBUG to enter the SCSISelect and enable the ctrl-a prompt. That's how you do it on normal adaptec cards once you've disabled it

But where would the setting for "show Cltrl-A" respectively enable/disable SCSIselect be stored?
CMOS/ RTC was replaced a couple of times so old settings should be gone.
Is there some ROM space inside the AIC-7880 chip?

majestyk wrote on 2022-11-20, 10:49:

But where would the setting for "show Cltrl-A" respectively enable/disable SCSIselect be stored?
CMOS/ RTC was replaced a couple of times so old settings should be gone.
Is there some ROM space inside the AIC-7880 chip?

Maybe there were a dedicated SCSI utilities by AIR. I don't know how to find them. Webarchive's links are for ftp (so utils were not saved).
Also AIC7880 OpROMs are really different for ASUS (Award BIOS) and AIR (AMI BIOS) although they both are version v.1.24

P.S. I can try to replace the SCSI OpROM (if AIR ROM has enough of free space inside)

"SCSI utility disk for P5-TPI Cntrl-A function" - This is what you were supposed to use.
And space seems to be the issue. The extracted original Op-ROM is about 20K, I downloaded a 7880 1.24 BIOS that´s 64K (for dedicaded BIOS chip), after unpacking the file it was still about 49k. It was far too large for the 54TPI Bios, even after removing modules. I managed to load it compressed using the usual parameters but it would not appear at startup at all.

The AWARD BIOS for Iwill P55TU has Adaptec OpROM 1.26 integrated but that´s even larger I´m afraid.

Found the utility after some research:

...and it works like a charm

Wow - all issues solved, installed WIN98SE for fun, all the stuff on the mainboard works o.k.
Thanks everybody for info and help - and Roman555 for his brilliant BIOS Kung Fu!

P.S.: They say "the internet never forgets" but when it comes to legacy hardware related stuff there´s increasing Web-Amnesia.

That is great ! I saw on wayback machine the reference to TPIutil at airwebs, but nothing about it at megastar who sort of took over all the AIR stuff after about mid-1998..
http://web.archive.org/web/19970420212448/htt … com/support.htm
Curious which SMC chip is on your board, the 37c665 or the 37c669 ?

On mine is the SMC-669. There must have been other versions, I found a couple of BIOSes for the 54TPI and they didn´t work with the 669.
There must also have been a BIOS version 5.00 (54TPI500):

majestyk wrote on 2022-11-20, 15:22:

"SCSI utility disk for P5-TPI Cntrl-A function" - This is what you were supposed to use. And space seems to be the issue. The ex […]
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"SCSI utility disk for P5-TPI Cntrl-A function" - This is what you were supposed to use.
And space seems to be the issue. The extracted original Op-ROM is about 20K, I downloaded a 7880 1.24 BIOS that´s 64K (for dedicaded BIOS chip), after unpacking the file it was still about 49k. It was far too large for the 54TPI Bios, even after removing modules. I managed to load it compressed using the usual parameters but it would not appear at startup at all.
...
Wow - all issues solved, installed WIN98SE for fun, all the stuff on the mainboard works o.k.
Thanks everybody for info and help - and Roman555 for his brilliant BIOS Kung Fu!

P.S.: They say "the internet never forgets" but when it comes to legacy hardware related stuff there´s increasing Web-Amnesia.

majestyk, PCI-card's BIOS for dedicaded BIOS chip wouldn't work as OpROM.
A SCSI OpROM of the ASUS mainboard has a similar size (32KB). So maybe it.
I'm glad all the goals were achieved."The road will be mastered by the walking" 😀

Horun wrote on 2022-11-20, 16:34:

That is great ! I saw on wayback machine the reference to TPIutil at airwebs, but nothing about it at megastar who sort of took over all the AIR stuff after about mid-1998..
http://web.archive.org/web/19970420212448/htt … com/support.htm
Curious which SMC chip is on your board, the 37c665 or the 37c669 ?

Maybe the utility is named differently...

I think that v5.00 bios was dropped 1997 in the later tech sup pages being replaced with the v6.
majestyk, thanks for the 7880util, I found the 7880ul2k and the txt file for them.....

Yeah I remember feipoa tried to insert newer adaptec bios into the NEC Proserva and ran into issues due to the >8gb bios 1.3x was bigger than 32k, the original 1.2x (that did not have >8gb hd support) was less than 32k and fit in the soldered eeprom...

Roman555 wrote on 2022-11-20, 18:08:

Maybe the utility is named differently...

Yep Good thinking !! those pointing to tpi121 files do not have those 7880 utils but Found it in 7880 Drive for MegaStar SCSI Mainboard listed above them...
specifically in 7880 Family Manager Set V1.30 Disk 2/3 named 78801302.zip at Megastar website
http://web.archive.org/web/19970420220009/htt … ad/78801302.zip
Also found here: https://www.idealine.info/legacydrivers/index … /aic78xx/disk2/
I will try to upload to Vogons driver library later as those utils may come in handy for other boards with 7880 and cannot get to Ctrl-A....