VOGONS


How about a MR-BIOS ROM file repository?

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Reply 60 of 385, by keropi

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I have added the OPTi 82C291 v1.43 image in my list post here , this was only possible because pixelmischief send me the SBC card he got - so the credit is his! 😊

6ljFnJhl.jpg

A couple of notes :

a. the motherboard chipset is the 82C291 + 82C206 but the BIOS reports it's for the "OPTi 349 chipset" , maybe an internal name or does this chipset also exists so the BIOS can be used in both? 😕

4ORcz4Cl.jpg

b. I include in the archive 2 dumps, a .BIN made with some programmers and a NSSI .BIO image - there are some bytes different , maybe they don't matter and it's just the way they are accessed by either the system or the programmers but it's better to have both just in case. The .BIN file is the same with all 3 programmers I tested, original eprom is an AM27C512.

Anyways it's nice to add yet another dump, I hope more turn out in the future! 😊

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 61 of 385, by Bj0rn83

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I was searching for for a newer bios for my Intel advanced/as Atlantis motherboard, the version i have now is a Ami 100.06.cl0 and i wanted to get version 100.07.cl0but unfornately i can not find it on the internet but what i found is a MR-bios version for this motherboard called MR_ATLAN.ZIP, is it worth it to try? In the MR_ATLAN.TXT file they warning it's possible to damage the motherboard as the bios eprom is soldered.

Asus p3v133 | P533mhz | AWE64 | MT-32 | SC-55 |MU80

Reply 62 of 385, by Anonymous Coward

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Ah. MR BIOS for OPTi 291. I believe my Alaris Leopard board uses the 295. Too bad, I was so close!

And speaking of Alaris, I believe I have found a copy of MR-BIOS for one of their boards called "Tornado 2". From what I can tell this is a 486 board based on an EFAR chipset, but I haven't determined which one yet, but it should be EC802GL.

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"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 63 of 385, by keropi

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@ Bj0rn83
you can try but be prepared for the even that the mobo won't boot correctly or even at all. To be sure install a socket for the BIOS rom - use a programmer to dump the original one and write the MR-BIOS version. If it does not work then just write the original one from your backup.

@Anonymous Coward
thanks for the file, I'll add it on the specific-mobo section. The string inside the file reads: ALARIS (r) V3.02 EFAR42S

In an unrelated note I got an OPTI 495XLC based mobo (BEK-3739) with a TX486DLC/E cpu and the mr-bios image worked fine - a good upgrade from the original AMIBIOS.
There was some funny business going on with that mobo and it's cache size - there was some rework on the solder-jumpers on the backside and eventhough amibios reported 128kb the actuall size was 32kb. So it was 1/4 fake cache 🤣 Restoring the jumpers and using a set of good and tested 125kb sram ICs all went back to normal.
The TX486DLC/E cpu gets INSANELY hot, wtf... stable though!

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 64 of 385, by feipoa

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Yeah it does. I personally don't run a DLC without a heatsink, although I assume it is fine without one because that's how I always seen them installed.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 65 of 385, by ATauenis

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kixs wrote:

I'll check my boards for Mr. BIOS. Although only 3-4 might have it. Over the weekend I played a little with Alaris Cougar II 486BL that seems to have Opti 82C499.

Do you (or anyone) have BIOS dump for the RYC/Alaris Cougar II 486BL or make it? I've got similar motherboard but with BIOS and some other chips been removed. All parts except BIOS are found, after power up nothing smokes and the board trying to read something from empty ROM socket. Which image should be flashed into 27C512? Google didn't helped me.

2×Soviet ZX-Speccy, 1×MacIIsi, 1×086, 1×286, 2×386DX, 1×386SX, 2×486, 1×P54C, 7×P55C, 6×Slot1, 4×S370, 1×SlotA, 2×S462, ∞×Modern.

Reply 66 of 385, by Anonymous Coward

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Here is the MR BIOS for the Alaris Cougar (not sure which revision), but it has the OPTi 82C499 chipset. This is from Michal on the OS/2 Museum website.

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  • Filename
    cougar-mrb-1.65.zip
    File size
    49.02 KiB
    Downloads
    214 downloads
    File comment
    Alaris Cougar BIOS version 1.65
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 67 of 385, by ATauenis

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Thanks very much! The motherboard is now trying to start, but fails due to RTC chip. It has fried even 2 chips, one was unplugged from a died mobo and other was working until I had installed it into the Cougar and now it is not visible even by the donor board. 😀

Anonymous Coward wrote:

(not sure which revision), but it has the OPTi 82C499 chipset

It's "MR BIOS (r) V1.65 OPTI481 04/18/94 Alaris, Inc." (read from raw strings in the dump). The board revision probably is same as shown in the OS/2 Museum which is similar to mine.

2×Soviet ZX-Speccy, 1×MacIIsi, 1×086, 1×286, 2×386DX, 1×386SX, 2×486, 1×P54C, 7×P55C, 6×Slot1, 4×S370, 1×SlotA, 2×S462, ∞×Modern.

Reply 68 of 385, by keropi

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Added it to the index post, thanks Anonymous Coward!

I also got an Alaris Leopard mobo with the 66mhz SLC2 cpu - I hope one day we also find a suitable MR-BIOS for it!

edit:
I forgot I grabbed this site at some point - could also be Madowax showing me this can't be sure 🤣
This is a list of most the MR-BIOS identification strings that are located at the top right corner of the Summary Screen - for example:

- the OPTi 439 SBC I posted about is "OPTi 82C291 SxWB Single-Chip WriteBack with 82C711 Combo I/O"
- the OPTi 481 Alaris Cougar is "OPTi 82C499 DxSC Single Chip with 82C711 Combo I/O"

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🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 69 of 385, by sayjionix

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Great to see that there are already so many MR-BIOS dumps saved! 😀
I'm desperately searching for the ETEQ Cougar (82C491/82C492 chipset) version of MR-BIOS for quite a while, so if anybody owns this BIOS, I would highly appreciate a ROM dump!

Reply 71 of 385, by mat919

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Greetings everyone.
I have no idea why, but recently I decided to build vintage DOS gaming machine. Maybe I just wanted to introduce my kids to the fantastic world of good old classic games. Regardless...., that lead me to discovery of this forum. I guess I was not the only one who did.
I used to own 386DX40 with MR.BIOS and mainly for sentimental reason I am trying to build a box with said ROM again.
I knew it would not be an easy task, because even back then MR BIOS was something unusual. I liked it for its simplicity, warm boot option, hardware cache on/off keyboard sequence and simply probably because it was unique among ubiquitous AMI.
Initially I wanted a build based on Socket1 with AGP graphics, but after browsing hundreds of ebay listings and this forum I realized that the most I could find with MR is Socket 5/7 Pentium PCI based motherboards.
My questions so far:
1. From your experience; what would be highest CPU (speed/model) supported by MR.?
2. What would be highest chipset that MR supports in regard to graphics architecture (ISA, PCI, AGP, VLB)?
3. Is it better to look for a motherboard with MR (quite difficult taks), or buy one with AMI/Award and then upgrade to MR (not easy either)?
I apologize if some of these questions repeat, but the more I read, the more confused and overwhelmed I am.
I am impressed with huge knowledge members possess, and I am far from finding the right answers without your help. What are my options?

Last edited by mat919 on 2018-11-05, 12:20. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 72 of 385, by mat919

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keropi wrote:
According to the 04-OCT-2001 archived MR-BIOS Chipset Support page there are BIOSes for the following chipsets: […]
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According to the 04-OCT-2001 archived MR-BIOS Chipset Support page there are BIOSes for the following chipsets:

MR BIOS supports the following chipsets: […]
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MR BIOS supports the following chipsets:

  • Acer M1209
  • Acer M1217 mirror1
  • Atmel AT40281
  • Atmel AT40391/392
  • Atmel AT40493/392
  • Atmel AT40495/392
  • Atmel AT40498
  • C&T 8230
  • C&T 8230
  • C&T NEAT + EMS
  • C&T SCAT-SX
  • C&T PEAK-DM
  • Contaq 82C591/2
  • Contaq 82C596
  • Efar 82EC495
  • Efar 82EC798
  • Efar 82EC800
  • Efar 82EC802G
  • Efar 82EC802GL
  • Elite Eagle (Rev A1)
  • Eteq Cougar
  • Eteq Bobcat
  • Eteq Bengal
  • Eteq Panda
  • Evertech + EMS
  • Forex 300/200/402
  • Forex 36C311
  • Forex 46C411/402
  • Forex 46C421/422
  • Forex 46C521
  • FDTI 82C3480-AP
  • FDTI 82C3480-XM
  • FDTI 82C3480-XMVL
  • Headland HT12 + EMS
  • Headland HT18
  • Headland HT22
  • Headland HT320
  • Headland HT340 + HT44
  • Intel Triton FX, HX, VX
  • Macronix 83C305/6
  • Micronics (Discrete)
  • Micronics 362/3
  • Micronics 461/2
  • Micronics 470
  • Mosel MS400
  • Opti 82C281
  • Opti 82C283
  • Opti 82C291 mirror1 thanks to pixelmischief !
  • Opti 82C295
  • Opti 82C381
  • Opti 82C391 mirror1
  • Opti 82C481
  • Opti 82C491
  • Opti 82C493 mirror1
  • Opti 82C495
  • Opti 82C495sx mirror1
  • Opti 82C495slc
  • Opti 82C495xlc mirror1
  • Opti 82C496
  • Opti 82C498
  • Opti 82C499
  • Opti 82C801
  • Opti 82C802
  • Opti 82C802G
  • Opti 82C895 mirror1
  • Opti 82C546
  • Opti 82C596
  • Percom
  • Pico-Power Redwood
  • Sarc RC2016 + EMS
  • SiS Rabbit
  • SiS 85C460
  • SiS 85C461V
  • SiS 85C471
  • Symphony Labs Hayden
  • Symphony Labs Wagner
  • Syslogic
  • TI TACT83000
  • UMC UM82C330
  • UMC 82C481 mirror1
  • UMC 82C491
  • VIA 82C496G
  • VLSI Topcat
Specific motherboard BIOS images: […]
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Specific motherboard BIOS images:

Hippo VL+ MR-BIOS v1.52 uploaded by appiah - HT34407 chipset
Hippo VL+ MR-BIOS v3.21 with 2GB-HDD support uploaded by appiah - HT34407 chipset
Forex 36C300 MR-BIOS v1.40 uploaded by Auzner
Octek Jaguar V MR-BIOS v1.40 uploaded by Anonymous Coward - MXIC307 chipset
Alaris Tornado 2 MR-BIOS v3.02 uploaded by Anonymous Coward - EFAR42S chipset
Alaris Cougar MR-BIOS v1.65 uploaded by Anonymous Coward - OPTi 82C499 chipset

MR-BIOS Documentation : http://www.mediafire.com/file/zq847c44q870m74 … cumentation.rar […]
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MR-BIOS Documentation : http://www.mediafire.com/file/zq847c44q870m74 … cumentation.rar

Archive containing manuals for:

  • bios versions 3.40-3.46
  • bios versions 1.66-1.73
  • X30-VLB motherboard
  • JX30G-VLB motherboard
  • JX30GC-VLB motherboard

I have added all I could find in my mediafire account as "mirror1" (sources for these files are stated inside txt or diz or whatever text file the archive came with).
Really hope we can get this list complete! 😊

These are chipsets. How do I translate these to actual motherboards names? Searching for most of these gave me no viable results.

Reply 73 of 385, by mat919

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keropi wrote:

these FTPs have some BIOSes for newer socket7/8 systems - we need the good-old stuff 😀

Any luck finding some good Pentium mobos with MR? I would appreciate some actual names, numbers, revision numbers. Something I can use when browsing eBay.

Reply 74 of 385, by arteq

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have two mb Octec Jaguar V rev 1.4 , for both diagnostic card display code 1312 ;/
Do you have any idea what could be wrong, I have already changed ram and graphic card , no progress

any other hints ?

Some items for sale 😀
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YNG8R … dit?usp=sharing

Reply 75 of 385, by Windows9566

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i can only find the MR bios for the intel branded 430fx mobos only, no hx or vx unfortunately, i want to upgrade one of my Advanced/ML boards to the Mr. BIOS

R5 5600X, 32 GB RAM, RTX 3060 TI, Win11
P3 600, 256 MB RAM, nVidia Riva TNT2 M64, SB Vibra 16S, Win98
PMMX 200, 128 MB RAM, S3 Virge DX, Yamaha YMF719, Win95
486DX2 66, 32 MB RAM, Trident TGUI9440, ESS ES688F, DOS

Reply 76 of 385, by Anonymous Coward

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Hmm...that's odd. I was pretty sure that the archive of MR-BIOS for socket 5/7 baords was extensive and largely intact. Did you check the backup of the metropoli ftp?

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 77 of 385, by Windows9566

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where do i find the backup?

R5 5600X, 32 GB RAM, RTX 3060 TI, Win11
P3 600, 256 MB RAM, nVidia Riva TNT2 M64, SB Vibra 16S, Win98
PMMX 200, 128 MB RAM, S3 Virge DX, Yamaha YMF719, Win95
486DX2 66, 32 MB RAM, Trident TGUI9440, ESS ES688F, DOS

Reply 78 of 385, by appiah4

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OK, guys, I am super excited to share this link with you.. Because I have either hit the MR BIOS Rom motherload.. Or I just found out something you all already knew and I'm getting all excited about nothing, but: http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/archive/power_utils/cdroms.txt

And the CD contents are here: http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/archive/power_utils/

There are literally dozens of MR BIOS roms here..

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 79 of 385, by Miasmark

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I believe the Spectra Utilities disk contains most of the socket 5/7 bioses. and award bioses
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?file … &menustate=54,0
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?file … &menustate=54,0
I can't tell exactly which one is which since they are listed by numbers. likely have to boot the "Install disk" to see if the cd has a bios first. then you use the utility in windows to copy it to the floppy and then boot the floppy again to use it. Tested on a PB 640 and Advanced EV motherboard and both ended up with MR BIOS 3.46.

Im also curious what the differnce in the different versions of the disk are. since I have V1 of the cd.