analog_programmer wrote on 2025-09-17, 17:55:

Yep, "useful for some AMI" means exactly what we discussed here some time ago and also what I described today (especially for yo […]
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TechieDude wrote on 2025-09-17, 14:27:

Yes, really. Read what you highlighted in green. Read it carefully. It says "useful for some AMI", NOT "only works on AMI"

Yep, "useful for some AMI" means exactly what we discussed here some time ago and also what I described today (especially for you): It may work on some AMI BIOSes and doesn't work on Award/Phoenix.

TechieDude wrote on 2025-09-17, 14:27:

I have. Never used that switch, though, since I don't mind that line of text.

So, you're trying to convince someone in something, that you've never ever tried... good luck next time!

...Yet YOU didn't even try the /L switch on an Award BIOS, did you? The one board I wanted to try it on can't even be patched with 6.00, only 4.23, which doesn't even have that switch.

TechieDude wrote on 2025-09-17, 12:06:

I don't know why you guys went through all the trouble hex editing the executable, when there's a perfectly usable /l switch on […]
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I don't know why you guys went through all the trouble hex editing the executable, when there's a perfectly usable /l switch on the 6.00Alpha15

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Haven't found this in other versions, but this is what I use anyway. The BIOS on the AB-PD5N was the only one that needed an older version (4.23 to be precise)

There are a lot more boards that unfortunately don't get along with BP 6.00A15
mine included: Re: "Bios Patcher" questions

TechieDude wrote on 2025-09-17, 21:31:

...Yet YOU didn't even try the /L switch on an Award BIOS, did you?

Are you just trolling me or what?

I'm always trying /L switch with BP 6.00 as it costs me nothing and it never worked on Award/Phoenix BIOSes! And that's why I came with the patched version of BP 6.00 alpha 15. If you think it's 'broken" - I'm not gonna convince you, that it is not as you obviously have some weird view of things, especially the things you've only read about, but never tried or even understood.

TechieDude wrote on 2025-09-17, 21:31:

The on board I wanted to try it on can't even be patched with 6.00, only 4.23, which doesn't even have that switch.

Dude... this is entirely different problem and has nothing to do with the freakin' /L switch! And thinking nowadays became such a luxury.

BIOS Patcher 6.00 is an alpha version and it was not made by "apple_rom" (the original BP author), so probably BP 6.00 is less compatible than BP 4.xx versions.

And all of the BP versions depend on external programs like CBROM and AMIBCP. CBROM versions 2.07 and 2.08 are not universal even if on the original BP-site these are recommended! There's also CBROM6 for Award core 6.00 BIOSes as CBROM works on Award core 4.5x(P)G only. AMIBCP also has different versions which are compatible with different AMI BIOSes depending on the year they've been released. So, trying different versions of AMIBCP with BP 6.00 alpha 15 and different versions of CBROM with different BP versions sometimes may help. And there's also cases with factory heavily modified BIOSes - no version of BP will work on these.

EOT.

analog_programmer wrote on 2025-09-18, 04:58:

Are you just trolling me or what?

I'm always trying /L switch with BP 6.00 as it costs me nothing and it never worked on Award/Phoenix BIOSes! And that's why I came with the patched version of BP 6.00 alpha 15. If you think it's 'broken" - I'm not gonna convince you, that it is not as you obviously have some weird view of things, especially the things you've only read about, but never tried or even understood.

You weren't clear on that, and it's not my fault if you never bothered to post those results

analog_programmer wrote on 2025-09-18, 04:58:

Dude... this is entirely different problem and has nothing to do with the freakin' /L switch! And thinking nowadays became such […]
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Dude... this is entirely different problem and has nothing to do with the freakin' /L switch! And thinking nowadays became such a luxury.

BIOS Patcher 6.00 is an alpha version and it was not made by "apple_rom" (the original BP author), so probably BP 6.00 is less compatible than BP 4.xx versions.

And all of the BP versions depend on external programs like CBROM and AMIBCP. CBROM versions 2.07 and 2.08 are not universal even if on the original BP-site these are recommended! There's also CBROM6 for Award core 6.00 BIOSes as CBROM works on Award core 4.5x(P)G only. AMIBCP also has different versions which are compatible with different AMI BIOSes depending on the year they've been released. So, trying different versions of AMIBCP with BP 6.00 alpha 15 and different versions of CBROM with different BP versions sometimes may help. And there's also cases with factory heavily modified BIOSes - no version of BP will work on these.

EOT.

I didn't say it was because of the lack of /L switch, just that this is where I WOULD have liked it... Is reading comprehension (or manners) illegal or something??
I know about CBROM and AMIBCP, but I haven't encountered this issue so far, save for some early Award 4.50 BIOSes so far for some 486 board (I basically wanted to have larger HDD support, not so much for the capacity, but just to have an HDD in the first place, since sub-20GB HDDs are either rare, or dead most of the time where I find them), and I'm not even sure an older version would work either. I've used multiple bpxx.exe executables on the same directory, with the same exact CBROM, mind you, and in my case, it really was BIOS Patcher itself. To be precise, BIOS Patcher 4.23 worked, while 4.51 AND 6.00Alpha15 failed WITH THE SAME EXACT CBROM. Is that clear now?? The other versions complained about not having enough space in the ROM.
As for heavily modified BIOSes not working with any version of BP, I know that, too.

B24Fox wrote on 2025-09-17, 22:19:

There are a lot more boards that unfortunately don't get along with BP 6.00A15
mine included: Re: "Bios Patcher" questions

Hmm, how about we make a list or something?

As an external reader with no beef in this game, you did post a pretty condescending message basically assuming that people did not know about a well documented flag. Next time maybe ask first if people know about it and what's the problem with it if any. My 2 cents from a neutral pov. Cheers

Anyone know why bp6a.exe will fail with the following:

1Error 10 - Module ID is not found.
2
3!! Module Manipulation Failure !!
4
54. 32Gb-problem   :error!
60002>File not found

I recognize the "!! Module Manipulation Failure !!" from AMIBCP.EXE when you issue a wrong command. I'm guessing my BIOS ROM doesn't have an ID module?

This is for a Trenton TR-P6V Pentium Pro SBC.

megatog615 wrote on 2026-03-29, 02:12:

Anyone know why bp6a.exe will fail with the following: […]
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Anyone know why bp6a.exe will fail with the following:

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1Error 10 - Module ID is not found.
2
3!! Module Manipulation Failure !!
4
54. 32Gb-problem   :error!
60002>File not found

I recognize the "!! Module Manipulation Failure !!" from AMIBCP.EXE when you issue a wrong command. I'm guessing my BIOS ROM doesn't have an ID module?

This is for a Trenton TR-P6V Pentium Pro SBC.

Hi Megatog615,

I have been looking at both the TR02 and TR04 BIOS for this TR-P6V SBC, and as expected for a 1996/1997 BIOS, they are only 1Mbit (128KB) in size.
These BIOSes are fully packed including two 32KB add-on ROMs for the on-board Cirrus Logic GD5446 Videochip and the Symbios Logic 53C860 SCSI Adapter. This leaves less than 8KB of available space in the BIOS chip.

These BIOSes lack the Int13h interface extensions for > 8GB HDD support. I don’t know if BIOS Patcher 6a is able to add these Int13h extensions but if it can, the module it needs to add will definitely be larger than 8KB. These extensions need a sizeable amount of code.

So my guess is that the “Mode Manipulation Failure” error is due to insufficient space for the new module that BP wants to add.
If you don’t need the SCSI interface, you could try to delete the SCSI ROM with AMIBCP, and try BP6a again. The SCSI ROM is the one with DevID:VenID 0006:1000. The other with ID 00B3:1013 is the Video ROM.

Cheers, Jan

I'm not sure if it would work in this SBC but could I switch to a 256KB EEPROM?

It currently uses a Intel 28F001BX-T 128Kx8 DIP-32 EEPROM. There is a 256Kx8, 2mbit version of this EEPROM(28F002BC) but none show up on ebay(the DIP package one is 40-pins anyway). The SBC has a built-in BIOS flasher activated by mashing ctrl+home when you turn the machine on, and I'm not sure if a 'compatible' replacement would support the onboard flashing.

megatog615 wrote on 2026-03-29, 18:19:

I'm not sure if it would work in this SBC but could I switch to a 256KB EEPROM?

I’m sure this won’t work. The BIOS code is written for an 128KB BIOS and wouldn’t know what to do with the extra 128KB on a 256KB chip.

But lets rewind a bit, what BIOS limitation were you trying to lift with BP6a? Perhaps there is a different solution.

Jan

Chkcpu wrote on 2026-03-29, 20:19:

I’m sure this won’t work. The BIOS code is written for an 128KB BIOS and wouldn’t know what to do with the extra 128KB on a 256K […]
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megatog615 wrote on 2026-03-29, 18:19:

I'm not sure if it would work in this SBC but could I switch to a 256KB EEPROM?

I’m sure this won’t work. The BIOS code is written for an 128KB BIOS and wouldn’t know what to do with the extra 128KB on a 256KB chip.

But lets rewind a bit, what BIOS limitation were you trying to lift with BP6a? Perhaps there is a different solution.

Jan

Disk size limit again. I tried to fit XTIDE into the 5KB of space but I was unable to fit it, even with a custom build.

megatog615 wrote on 2026-03-29, 20:48:

Chkcpu wrote on 2026-03-29, 20:19:

I’m sure this won’t work. The BIOS code is written for an 128KB BIOS and wouldn’t know what to do with the extra 128KB on a 256K […]
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megatog615 wrote on 2026-03-29, 18:19:

I'm not sure if it would work in this SBC but could I switch to a 256KB EEPROM?

I’m sure this won’t work. The BIOS code is written for an 128KB BIOS and wouldn’t know what to do with the extra 128KB on a 256KB chip.

But lets rewind a bit, what BIOS limitation were you trying to lift with BP6a? Perhaps there is a different solution.

Jan

Disk size limit again. I tried to fit XTIDE into the 5KB of space but I was unable to fit it, even with a custom build.

I have been playing with BP6a, on several 1996-1998 AMI BIOSes.
I’ve found that BP6a calls on AMIBCP to decompress several modules from the BIOS and store them into TMP files. AMIBCP identifies these modules by their ModuleID.

To scan for bugs, BP6a needs to look at modules 00_POST, 02_Runtime, 04_Setup Client, 08_Interface, and 0D_Int-13.
I’ve seen the 0D_Int-13 module only in 1997 and later AMI BIOSes that support the In13h Extensions. As can be seen in the above listing of your TR04 BIOS, module 0D_INT-13 is not present and this is the cause of the “Error 10 - Module ID is not found” message you got.
So my previous assumption that this message is due to insufficient free BIOS space was incorrect. BP6a has a different “Error 9 - BIOS ROM file overflow” message for that.

I also found that BP6a only attempts to fix 32GB and 64GB limit bugs on BIOSes that support the Int13h Extensions. BP6a doesn’t add these extensions if they are missing.
This means you can’t use BIOS Patcher to fix your 8GB limited BIOS.

You already tried to fit XTIDE in the BIOS.
One alternate solution could be just that, but then use a 256KB flashchip afterall. The AMI BIOS then goes unchanged in the top 128KB part, and XTIDE in the lower 128KB part. XTIDE needs to be put there as is by using a hexeditor, so uncompressed and preferably halfway in the lower 128KB space. That should put its startaddress at D0000h.
However, I have no idea if the AMI BIOS scans this address range for option ROMs and if it doesn't, then this whole idea will fail.

A second idea is to use a 8GB drive for the OS and ready to use software, and make a network connection to another system or NAS for mass storage.

Let us know what develops.
Cheers, Jan