Who the hell makes my motherboard?@#$%^

[jimbo]

I've been wanting to update my motherboard with a new BIOS and system drivers now for a long time. Unfortunetly, there is absoletly no manaufacturer name or even a number in the corner or on the back of the motherboard as some form of identification! Luckily, I found this great website and looked in here for the manufacturer of my BIOS by scrolling through the BIOS Codes to find mine. I did find it, however, it gave me two possible manufactures:

07/15/1998-577+ITE8661-2A5LEH0AC-00: PcChips
M577 = Amptron PM9900

So who makes my motherboard, PC Chips or Amptron? I went to both their websites just to find out that the motherboards are exactly alike. I called Amptron and just like any "knowledgeable" Technical Support person they said: "I Don't Know" I was unable to call PC Chips in Hong Kong because it is a nice low rate of $2.19 a minute! Quite frankly I'm not even willing to spend $2.19 for a life time of hassle-free Tech Support.

So, please help me out here. I really need to find the correct manufacturer of my motherboard so that I can download the appropriate system drivers and BIOS upgrade.

Thank you=)

[MR COMPUTER]

PC Chips makes your board.Amptron sells the same board,uses same bios upgrades,and is an easier site. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif


www.amptron.com (http://www.amptron.com)

[Bazango]

The Amptron site also has manuals.

[sjs74]

When you start looking around a lot of cheap motherboards are all identical. I just kept bioses on hand for the Amptrons I saw a lot as a tech and that covered most of the generic brands.

[G_MAN]

if the bios's are the same then what is the difference. you are flashing it right? just upgrade the **** thing.

[Peter M]

Hi!

What you have there is a PC-Chips M577, sold under many aliases, Amptron PM-9900 being one of them.

BIOS is at ftp.pcchips.com.tw/BIOS/M577. To update, use AWDFL628.EXE, _not_ AWDFL711.EXE.

Chipset is VIA MVP3, drivers are at www.via.com.tw.

Onboard sound is a C-Media CMI8330, drivers at www.cmedia.com.tw.

That should be all you need to know.

Regards, Peter

[jimbo]

(((((((((((((((Hey it's jimbo))))))))))))

Peter thanks for the fully developed reply to my question. However, there are a couple of problems.

I did go to PC Chips' FTP site and did find the BIOS for my motherboard but after going to Amptron's site I found that they offered a BIOS for my motherboard too, it was 2 days more update then the one offered by PC Chips, what do I do? The Onboard sound chip is "Sound Pro HT1869+" and both PC Chips and Amptron offer drivers for the 2 identical motherboards. Which company makes the best drivers?

Thank you for the reply =)

[MR COMPUTER]

Both bios files are the same.The Amptron site is simply a easier,friendlier site to use... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[MadMax]

Yes, the PCChips site is woooooozy.... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif

[Peter M]

Hi!

The Amptron BIOS is a bit later, only because they modify what PC-Chips released to show their board name in the sign-on message.

The sound chip is labelled "SoundPro 1869V+", but actually is just a CMI 8330 in disguise. Use CMI's drivers.

Regards, Peter

[jimbo]

((((((((((Hey it's Jimbo)))))))))))))

Thank you Peter.

You were right, "Sound Pro HT1869V+" is the

same as the "CMI8330" sound chip.

Thank's for your indispensable knowledge.