New BIOS for A7N8X Deluxe rev2.0 1008 and A7N8X rev2.0 1010.

[RedDwarf]

Oh man.... I hate having to be the guy to ask questions like these but after reading through several entire threads they were never asked or answered, so...

1) What does "CPC off" mean when refering to Bios modding?

2) I've manged to fill my only hard drive (a WD 800jb) and just bought an additional SATA drive (WD 800jd)... its not here yet but I'm interested in having the newest/fastest/bestest drivers and such for it. I read all this stuff about being able to update SATA Bios, and have infered that SATA Bios is in addition to/seperate from your system/motherboard BIOS. Why have a SATA bios? Can you access it and change options like you would a motherboard bios? Can the SATA bios be flashed/updated seperate from your motherboard bios?

3) I've also infered that SATA bios is piggy-backed in motherboard bios files right? So since I have a A7N8X Deluxe R2, I was bios ver 1008 but from there I'm confused on all the versions available. For example, you can't run the newest SATA bios with the oldest motherboard bios right? Because its not backwards compatible?

4) Reddwarf, thank you, first of all, for offering everyone your modified bios files. But which one is best for my system? I'm somewhat confused on the files which differ by boot order, "cpc on" and off, etc, etc. Any hints?

Thank you for your time!

Seth

1) there is info somewhere on this so I won't explain it here.
2) no it can't with an intergrated solution, it can with a PCI card one though.
3) I'm not sure about that, don't see why it shouldn't work, although old Bioses could still have corruption problems with SATA.
4) adding to what tahuru said you have 2x256MB memory so won't really need CPC Off so go with one of the none- 2T Bioses depending on what Boot order you want as default. If you boot from your IDE drive then use the 1008Mod3_HDD0 Boot as this has the third boot item set to HDD0 by default, if you plan on booting from SATA then get the 1008mod3_SATA Boot file as that boots from SATA by default. No need to set them after a CMOS clear. They can be changed after the Bios flash but that is the order they return to by default.

RedDwarf

[Loibisch]

Here is my Original Uber style with the new SATA Bios installed.
MD5 is F4EC92302615B71D27E1F6CD5F5756C0

The link isn't working anymore, 404
Did anyone test this BIOS?
This is for an A7N8X Deluxe 2.0 with no CPC modifications, right?

[RedDwarf]

Fixed now, I put the wrong filename, I thought I had corrected that as I did notice it before. I haven't tested that Bios. So unless you have a Bios Saviour or can find someone that can confirm that it works then don't use it.

RedDwarf

[mtnmanseth]

ok, thanks RedDwarf, downloaded 1008mod3_sata_boot_4250.zip and extracted the relevant .bin file successfully. Created a boot disk and put on awdflash.exe and your .bin bios. Do I need to shorten the filename in windows first though because I cannot fit all those characters in the file field in awdflash... do I just rename it something shorter? Sorry for the newbie ?'s... (kinda fun to feel "green" again)

Thanks,

Seth

[mtnmanseth]

SORRY BOUT THE DOUBLE POST... WEIRD---

ok, thanks RedDwarf, downloaded 1008mod3_sata_boot_4250.zip and extracted the relevant .bin file successfully. Created a boot disk and put on awdflash.exe and your .bin bios. Do I need to shorten the filename in windows first though because I cannot fit all those characters in the file field in awdflash... do I just rename it something shorter? Sorry for the newbie ?'s... (kinda fun to feel "green" again)

Thanks,

Seth

[mtnmanseth]

Bah! Renamed the file to 1008.bin, tried to flash using AWDflash.exe but it just flashes "Please wait!" for like 10 minutes before I give up and reset it (thankfully it didn't screw up the bios). Any ideas? Also, and this is weird, I cannot delete the extracted awdflash.exe file now... it says another program is using it, which isn't happening. And if I copy it to another folder it says the same thing when I try to delete it. Anyway, not relevant I suppose, any clue whats going on when I try to flash to 1008 now?

[RedDwarf]

Bah! Renamed the file to 1008.bin, tried to flash using AWDflash.exe but it just flashes "Please wait!" for like 10 minutes before I give up and reset it (thankfully it didn't screw up the bios). Any ideas? Also, and this is weird, I cannot delete the extracted awdflash.exe file now... it says another program is using it, which isn't happening. And if I copy it to another folder it says the same thing when I try to delete it. Anyway, not relevant I suppose, any clue whats going on when I try to flash to 1008 now?

Thats another windows bug, not being able to delete the file, I have come across it. How are you trying to flash the Bios? Using the Bios inbuilt flash routine? I could never get that working after a few attempts I gave up and just use a floppy now. Are you trying to flash from inside windows? I would never attempt that, I tried flashing my DVD bios with a winflash program last night and had to rescue the drive after windows crashed in the middle, left me not able to boot either, I had to reflash it on my other computer to get it working again. Best to make a dos disk and copy the awdflash and the Bios file onto it with the dos files, then do an autoexec.bat to autorun the flash with the correct options. Thats the safest way of doing it. The filename will have to be short (max 8 chars plus 3 extension). If I was you I would get a Bios Saviour before attempting it, they are fairly cheap and are invaluable when testing Bioses and would save you from Bad flashes, screw ups and any other Bios related problem.

RedDwarf

[mtnmanseth]

Thanks for the reply. Weird about that windows bug... I guess its good to hear that others have the same problem.

Anyway, I'm using a boot disk in DOS to attempt to flash my bios. Creating a boot disk, copying awdflash.exe, and 1008.bin (your renamed bios) to that disk and running it at the DOS prompt. I've thought about it and MAYBE the reason it won't flash now is because I still have SATA disabled by jumper on my mobo because my new drive hasnt come yet (should be here tomorrow) and maybe its looking for the SATA component before flashing..... I don't know. I'll probably just wait to tinker with my bios after my drive comes and I physically install it. If I still can't flash using dos and awdflash.exe, I don't know what to do.

Lastly, is there a CPC-on, 4250 SATA bios injected, uber 1008 with all options available to change but not pre-set by you or anyone else? I think I'd prefer that. Did you make one?

Thanks again,

Seth

[mtnmanseth]

Ok, figured out my bios flash problems. Apparently, in the last year, my floppy drive has failed and was giving me real problems when trying to use it. Borrowed a friends floppy, flashed my Bios, installed my new SATA drive and everything is working well. In fact, I do believe my system at 210 X 11 is more stable as it does not fail in Prime95 anymore! Sweet.

-S

[x86-based]

first of all, hi
iam new on nforcershq

RedDwarf

i have red the hole topic trough, and some people seem to have probs with downloading the Uber style BIOS from your link. So here is my question:
May/can i host also your BIOS versions ?

when your answer is yes, i will post the download link here