VOGONS


Reply 200 of 385, by keropi

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dataino.it wrote on 2020-12-26, 22:42:

I saw this picture of a motherboard and it struck me that it has both an AMI bios but also that there is a chip marked "MR BIOS" V303UT next to the keyboard connector.

what is that ?

it's a MR.BIOS keyboard controller so not really interesting to us in this thread

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Reply 202 of 385, by jheronimus

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Does anyone by any chance has an image of Mr.BIOS for Opti 596/597 chipset? I understand that if anyone had it, it already would be on the first page of this topic, but I had to ask 😀

MR BIOS catalog
Unicore catalog

Reply 203 of 385, by Anonymous Coward

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Is that their EISA Pentium chipset?

"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 204 of 385, by jheronimus

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Anonymous Coward wrote on 2021-01-12, 04:17:

Is that their EISA Pentium chipset?

VLB Pentium.

I've tried to google for Opti 596 MR BIOS, found out a mention of a BIOS for Shuttle HOT-543 here, but unfortunately, the link only leads to some bloatware.

Manufacturer: Holco (Shuttle) Model(s): MRBIOS V076B508 is correct PART. Chipset: OPTi 82C822/596/597 Release Date: 2000-01- […]
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Manufacturer: Holco (Shuttle)
Model(s): MRBIOS V076B508 is correct PART.
Chipset: OPTi 82C822/596/597
Release Date: 2000-01-01
BIOS ID:
Chip Size: 128k

MR BIOS catalog
Unicore catalog

Reply 205 of 385, by Hatta

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What do you figure "2X-OSC" means in the description of this bios?

V037B407 UMC_407 x037B403 (CL+) (NO turbo, for 486SX 2X-OSC)

My board has a Turbo button, but it disables the cache. Which, if I understand correctly, means I want the CL+ version of the BIOS.
But I have a 486DX2, not a 486SX. Is it likely to work anyway?

Reply 207 of 385, by Anonymous Coward

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I have a DTK motherboard that has a jumper that lets you handle the way the CPU oscillator is divided. Normally for 486s OSC should be twice the rated bus frequency of the CPU, but for some reason for the DX-50, this board lets you use a 50MHz oscillator if you change the jumper.
Maybe your board has a BIOS implementation that does something similar?

"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 209 of 385, by jheronimus

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Miasmark wrote on 2019-02-05, 07:26:
I believe the Spectra Utilities disk contains most of the socket 5/7 bioses. and award bioses http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfi […]
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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.

Does anybody have the V1 version of that CD? I could only find what I believe is V3, but I'm hoping the earlier version might have BIOS files for earlier Socket 5 chipsets including my Opti596/597. I've PM'ed Miasmark, but it doesn't seem like he visits Vogons anymore.

MR BIOS catalog
Unicore catalog

Reply 210 of 385, by jheronimus

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So I did a thing where I've cross referenced most of the known MR BIOS files with official documentation and made a list of everything. There are around 500 files, but many of those are different versions of the same BIOS (especially when it comes to Intel/Asus motherboards).

Here's the list, everybody can comment on the table.

Here are all the files.

I've taken the following archives:

Evergreen Spectra Utilities CD v4
an 8-part archive I've found on Archive.org (can't find the original link for the moment, but it's been published on this thread as well)
ftp://ftp.mpoli.fi/unpacked/hardware/rom/mrbios/
ftp://ftp.dyu.edu.tw/pub/Hardware/stuff/bios/mb/MR_BIOS/
http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/archive/power_utils/

and all (but I'll have to double check) files from this thread.

I think right now this will be most useful to Soc5/Soc7 users (because the Spectra disks contain a lot of ROMs with no descriptions), but this might also be a good way to organise the files and upload them to Vogonsdrivers so everybody could find them using Google.

I wanted to get some feedback and if this proves useful to other people, continue polishing this:

- fixing typos and correcting mistakes transferred from MR docs
- finding missing descriptions
- organising all folders by part IDs (e.g. V09AB5UE)
- maybe compiling a list of known part IDs with missing files

For now, this could be considered version 0.0.1 😀

Last edited by jheronimus on 2021-04-09, 21:29. Edited 1 time in total.

MR BIOS catalog
Unicore catalog

Reply 212 of 385, by RichardG867

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I've successfully decompressed the .ETI files from the Evergreen Spectra v2.01 (found by @jheronimus a few posts up) and v4 CDs after a couple days of reverse engineering attempts. Aside from the MR BIOS files, the CDs also include Unicore Award upgrades for many Socket 5 and 7 boards and even a few 686 ones somehow.

The decompressed files have been uploaded to archive.org: https://archive.org/details/evergreenspectrabios

Reply 213 of 385, by bjwil1991

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Is there a specific EPROM speed that's required to work with the MR BIOS on a Jetway OPTI-495SX 3/486WB board? All I get are ---- on the POST card.

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Reply 214 of 385, by jheronimus

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RichardG867 wrote on 2021-04-11, 00:46:

I've successfully decompressed the .ETI files from the Evergreen Spectra v2.01 (found by @jheronimus a few posts up) and v4 CDs after a couple days of reverse engineering attempts. Aside from the MR BIOS files, the CDs also include Unicore Award upgrades for many Socket 5 and 7 boards and even a few 686 ones somehow.

The decompressed files have been uploaded to archive.org: https://archive.org/details/evergreenspectrabios

Woah, I did not actually realise that ETI files were archives, not flashable ROM files. Gotta update my archive as well. Awesome work 😀

MR BIOS catalog
Unicore catalog

Reply 215 of 385, by Am386DX-40

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Guys, I have a couple of those (in)famous PcChips M912 motherboards that usually come with dual-bios (Award + AMI) on the same eprom chip and use UMC UM8498F / UM8496F chipset.
Is there a Mr.Bios for them? The boards I have seem to be OEM and have a "PerComp" sticker on the chipset, and the bios they come with is quite old and seems it was stripped of almost every useful option (and it's award only), and the hard disk support is ridiculous, only 540Mb.

Reply 216 of 385, by bjwil1991

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dionb wrote on 2019-10-27, 19:53:

Quick bump to confirm the Opti 82C495sx BIOS works beautifully on my "VESA Bus 495SX" board, which is either a See-Thru Data Systems STO 98-5VL, Auva CAM33-Px, J-Mark OPTI-495SX 3/486WB or DataExpert OPTI-495SX-2VL.

In any event, it previously had some kind of BIOS bug stopping it from booting into any device (POST and AMIBIOS setup went fine), after flashing MRBIOS that problem was gone and all the MRBIOS glory was revealed to me.

I have a J-Mark OPTI 495SX 3/486WB and flashed the MR BIOS on a 27c512 EPROM 55ns chip and it does power on, but it locks up after the memory count.

Is it a good idea to flash another BIOS or swap back and forth between the AMIBIOS and the MR BIOS and see if that clears it?

The plus side is I can use 3 floppy drives (3.5" 1.44MB, 5.25" 1.2MB, and 5.25" 260KB) without having to use an XT-FDC BIOS, but the hard drive detection isn't working for some reason (probably because it's past 504MB, but I digress).

It also shows that the chipset is a 495XLC and not a 495SX at the summary section.

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Reply 217 of 385, by douglar

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jheronimus wrote on 2021-04-09, 21:26:

So I did a thing where I've cross referenced most of the known MR BIOS files with official documentation and made a list of everything. There are around 500 files, but many of those are different versions of the same BIOS (especially when it comes to Intel/Asus motherboards).

I'd like to copy the roms and put the document here if that's OK: http://vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=77&menustate=32,29

Any idea what the differences between these ROMS are?
OPTi 82C391 - 386 WriteBack x020B324 (T-)
OPTi 82C391 - 386 WriteBack x020B324 (T+)
OPTi 82C391 - 386 WriteBack x020B324 (CL-)
OPTi 82C391 - 386 WriteBack x020B324 (CL+)

Reply 218 of 385, by Anonymous Coward

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There should be a document included with the ROM images that explains what those things mean.
I believe it mostly has to do with the function of the turbo switch.

"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 219 of 385, by GigAHerZ

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douglar wrote on 2021-04-27, 18:41:
I'd like to copy the roms and put the document here if that's OK: http://vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=77&menustate=32,29 […]
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jheronimus wrote on 2021-04-09, 21:26:

So I did a thing where I've cross referenced most of the known MR BIOS files with official documentation and made a list of everything. There are around 500 files, but many of those are different versions of the same BIOS (especially when it comes to Intel/Asus motherboards).

I'd like to copy the roms and put the document here if that's OK: http://vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=77&menustate=32,29

Any idea what the differences between these ROMS are?
OPTi 82C391 - 386 WriteBack x020B324 (T-)
OPTi 82C391 - 386 WriteBack x020B324 (T+)
OPTi 82C391 - 386 WriteBack x020B324 (CL-)
OPTi 82C391 - 386 WriteBack x020B324 (CL+)

Re: Chipset datasheet for M321 (PC Chips)

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - And i intend to get every last bit out of it even after loading every damn driver!