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PCCHIPS M810L v7.1C latest BIOS

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First post, by tauro

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I'm looking for 030513S.rom check sum:BAEFh (what kind of checksum is that?)
Info taken from the archived PCChips website.

Currently I have this BIOS

M810L71C.BIN.zip

I'm attaching it in case it's useful to someone or maybe it helps to find out what kind of checksum is that.

This is the bios string:
62-1106-001131-00101111-071595-SiS730S$M810LR7Release 11/06/2002

According to the website, it should be: 021106S.rom and check sum should be 74FEh

I intend to change the CPU fan, but it has some sort of RPM detection, and if doesn't reach a certain threshold (a really high one), it automatically shuts down.
According to the changelog, this was fixed in version 030310S.

Here's the full changelog:
File name:030513S.rom check sum:BAEFh 1.Fixed some ATA100 HDD can't work well.
File name:030414S.rom check sum:574Bh 1.Support AMD CPU up to Pro2000+
File name: 030310S.rom check sum: B141h 1.Support lower speed fan
File name:030103S.rom check sum:5E34h 1.Support EFST flash part
File name: 021106S.rom check sum: 74FEh 1.Adjust timing for stability and compatibility
File name: 020926S.rom check sum: A4B7h 1.Adjust timing for stability and compatibility.
File name: 020913S.rom check sum: E3B9h 1.Fixed that DC-395U SCSI card can't boot from CDROM.
File name: 020912s.rom check sum: 01B3h 1.First released.

I looked it up on theretroweb but I couldn't find this particular BIOS (matching string, date). I also found that there are other bios for different PCChips motherboards that share the same release dates, so it wouldn't be wise to put a random BIOS unless we can find a way to confirm it has the right checksum.

Sample image of the board, taken from a post by forum user PTherapist.

m810l.7.1c.jpeg

Reply 1 of 6, by Horun

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At bottom of your uncompressed bios is: M810LR7..........[...11/06/02...
Found one M810L_030513s.exe and at bottom is: M810LR7..........[...05/13/03...
So it should be the proper BIOS based on PCchips rom stamping. Let me do some hex check sum work (wish they would state WHAT type of checksum)
added: Hex Workshop says your rom checksum-16 is 9BFF and should be 74FE. The 030513S is B69E and should be BAEF IF they are doing Checksum-16. who knows.....
Ohh it is am AMI bios so probably an AMI bios checksum effen crap 🤣
added2: inside your rom is: $BID$1131.M810LR7.00.0309.00 and $PCCHIPSM810LR 7.1C110602$BIOSLOCKFUNCTION
and in found one is: $BID$1131.M810LR7.00.0309.00 and $PCCHIPSM810LR 7.1C051303$BIOSLOCKFUNCTION

So I am confident it is the right bios. Any input from other greatly appreciated.

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

Reply 2 of 6, by tauro

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Horun wrote on 2023-07-03, 00:56:

At bottom of your uncompressed bios is: M810LR7..........[...11/06/02...
Found one M810L_030513s.exe and at bottom is: M810LR7..........[...05/13/03...
So it should be the proper BIOS based on PCchips rom stamping. Let me do some hex check sum work (wish they would state WHAT type of checksum)

Nice! Can you figure out what kind of checksum that is? It may take some 90's BIOS wizard kind of knowledge.

I suppose that if the bios string is the same, then it probably is the right one. The thing is, PCChips made a lot of these M810 boards with different revisions. Really a lot of them. It would take an old hardware scholar to tell them apart 🤣 I'd bet that they themselves couldn't tell which one was which...
Bios are probably interchangeable to some extent but there's no guaranteed compatibility.

On the top of that, they also had other BIOSes with the same date for different boards. I found a 030513s but it's for a different board, M825LU.

The M810L has a Duron 900 D900AUT1B, running at 950MHz, with an overclocked FSB (210MT/s) and there are no settings regarding memory timings or CPU voltage/clock tweaking.

What really sets the M810 apart is that they have an universal AGP and that the chipset SiS 730S supports DDMA.

Reply 3 of 6, by tauro

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I just saw you updated your answer... I'll try it now 🚀

Reply 4 of 6, by Horun

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Yeah with BID$1131.M810LR7.00.0309.00 and $PCCHIPSM810LR 7.1C110602$BIOSLOCKFUNCTION and
$BID$1131.M810LR7.00.0309.00 and $PCCHIPSM810LR 7.1C051303$BIOSLOCKFUNCTION
having M810LR7 and M810LR 7.1C embeded in both that is why am confident it is for your board. If it were me would use my TL866 plus and program the bios with new one as I do not trust flashing apps as much as I do a real programmer.

added: Ohh DO NOT flash the bios with an APP if you are overclocking (think that Gibbs rule 32 or something 😁)

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

Reply 5 of 6, by tauro

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And... it's a success! Thank you very much @Horun! I'm surprised by the little time it took you to actually find the correct file and share it here.

Now I can plug in a different fan and have a silent and cool board and not a turbo jet engine.

Horun wrote on 2023-07-03, 01:38:

If it were me would use my TL866 plus and program the bios with new one as I do not trust flashing apps as much as I do a real programmer.

added: Ohh DO NOT flash the bios with an APP if you are overclocking (think that Gibbs rule 32 or something 😁)

In fact, I use a TL866II Plus for most of my e/eprom reading/programming. The little thing has payed for itself many times over. Sometimes I use Uniflash too, but as you said, it's not the best practice. In this case, the bios overclocks the CPU by default. And you can't modify this... You're forced to run the system overclocked.

I benchmarked the system with the old and the new bios, and the results are the same. Here are some collages with info and benchmarks.

m810l.7.1c.info.benchmarks.png
m810l.7.1c.info.benchmarks2.png

Reply 6 of 6, by Horun

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Great ! Glad it worked.

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

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