K7S5A/K7S5A - Pro Bios Question

[CuriousBuilder]

I have built two machines with K7S5A's. One is rock solid and stable the other stable, but quirkey. Last night I installed Aida32 in both to do, a, so to speak, side by side comparission.

When I ran the program, one of the boards, the quirkey one was ID'd as a Pro version? They are identical in appearance. The only difference I recall observing, I will confirm tonight was a version/run number on one of the edges. The one ID'd as a Pro has the number 5 the other the number 3. I will be reasearching sysopt more tonight. They both came boxed and Id'd as ver. 3.1. As I recall the Pro version had not yet hit the streets in the US. I believe Aida32 provides the date of manufacture, will check.

My questions are, has anyone encountered this situation before? I have flashed the Bios w/ non-Pro bios with no appearant problems. I do plan to upgrade, should I be using the Pro- Bios or the vanilla version? In the big picture If it walks like a duck and Quacks like a duck it is a K7S5a miss Id'd, and don't worry about it?

Any and all feedback will be appreciated.

Thanks,
CB

[BipolarBill]

Oh man. It says Pro right on the box! The Pro has no game port, one serial port and 4 USB 2.0 ports in the rear. It's also called version 5 as you've already noted.

The regular BIOS will work in the Pro, but you're missing out on other updates:

http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/k7s5a_pro.html

It's the one on the bottom.

You cannot use the 1st PCI slot in the Pro board, BTW.

[CuriousBuilder]

Well, both have game ports and two USB connectors. The one Id'd as a Pro, does not like cards installed in the 1st PCI slot. Go figure.

Thanks,
CB

[BipolarBill]

It sounds like someone mistakenly flashed a standard board with the Pro BIOS. Look at the board itself. The version is silkscreened on there either by the last PCI slot or the "northbridge".

Aida32 goes by BIOS data. If it's flashed with the Pro BIOS, it will show as one.

[Peter M]

I take it's actually a Pro. If so, then no, you can't use PCI slot 1 as long as you got the onboard VIA USB 2.0 controller enabled.

But yes, if it's not a Pro (rev. 5), then you seem to have the wrong BIOS in it. That'd explain every kind of odd behaviour.

[CuriousBuilder]

Good point about the BIOS BPB. I flashed with a version of CHEEPOMAN and I may have downloaded incorrectly. I will check, I still have the disk.

I will know about the version number tonight, when I check under hood. I just swear I read version 5. What caught my attention was the lock mechanism for the AGP slot was dif and I believe the board was a dif color.

Thanks, Peter & BPB

[Peter M]

The board can be a different color just as well, in any revision. Traditionally the retail "K7S5A" runs were mostly opaque black, while the brandless OEM "M830" were a more traditional transparent yellowish color. It's still the same thing though.