BH6 Bios help plz

[zzwave]

I am trying to upgrade my Abit BH6 bios but I am confused. There sre 2 sets of bios upgrades at the Abit site. One for the V1.0x and one for the V1.1. It states there to either check the ISA slot for ID. My board says BH6-OK-V1.1 on the ISA slot sticker. It also says you can check your bios ID string and then choose the update. My bios id string says 6-7-99-i440bx-W83977-2A69KA1EC-LH. This is in the boot screen and verified with BIOS WIZARD. The last two letters, LH indicate the early V1.0x. and that ver is listed under the V1.0x list, yet the ISA sticker is reading V1.1.
To make matters more complex I have read that the V1.1 has color marked serial,lpt and ps2 connectors and v1.0x has black. Mine are black. With the ISA cleariy showing V1.1, I am totally lost!
To add more confusion, my current bios date 6-7-99 is not listed under EITHER of the listings!
I need to upgrade the bios to add a bigger hd and BIOS WIZARD shows "enhanced hard disk test" as FAILED,"bios does not support this feature".
Reading of all the failed bios upgrades using the wrong version has led me here. I would appreciate any input on this. Thanking you all in advance.

[SPEEDO]

When detecting the drive did you set the bios to auto detect?
In LBA mode your drive should be recognized!

Sorry right answer wrong thread!!


[This message has been edited by SPEEDO (edited 09-04-2001).]

[Thud]

Check this page (http://www.motherboards.org/biosup.html/filter=manuf/manufid=2//filter=partnumID/specs=107/) on motherboards.org. It shows the LH BIOS version released on 6-11-99, which appears to be the same version you have now. That one's for the version 1.0x, and the release date is the closest one to what your mobo is telling you.

My guess is that the sticker is wrong. I feel your pain, though, because as it also says on that website:

Upgrading your motherboard BIOS is not for the faint of heart.

I also use the 1.0x version of the BH6. I used the BIOS string to identify it, and successfully flashed it to the SS version a while back.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!!

[zzwave]

Tnx for the replies...I haven't tryed a large drive yet. I wanted to throw a 40 gig in and I know you need to upgrade the bios for that> problem is, if I can't figure out which version to use!
I, ve been to every forum, site, newsgroup on the web and it,s still unclear. If the sticker is wrong, trying a V1.1 bios might be a catastrophe. I also wonder if a V1.1 board could be flashed with the older V1.0x bios and still run? OR is the bios chip removable and has been replaced with an older V.1.0x bios chip and would that run on the V1.1 mobo?
All I know is I have a real bad headache from reading 1000's of posts ! hehe. I hope someone will popup and help sort this out.

[Target]

Seems like the answer to your problem is pretty clear based on the process of elimination you have already done.

You said that you have verified the bios you are currently running is for the v1.0 board, and that the integrated connectors are black instead of colored....also indicating a v1.0 board. Given those two things, I think its pretty safe to say that the sticker on the ISA slot is incorrect, OR, the V1.1 which is referred to on it does not necessarily indicate the board revision.

Bottom line I guess for me in deciding which way to go on this, would be to give greater creedance to the two things you are sure of (current bios and connector colors)....which both indicate that you have a version 1.0 board.

Since you already have a functioning motherboard using a version 1.0 bios, I would flash with a replacement bios for a version 1.0 board, and make a backup of your current bios during the flash process just in case.

[Thud]

The SS is the newest version for the rev 1.0x. I'd give that one a go if I were you.

[zzwave]

Just thought I'd post this email I received from ABIT:



Dear Customer,
The sticker that you got is wrong your board is version 1.0

Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Jeff Wong

***IF THIS E-MAIL DOES NOT SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM.
PLEASE REPLY INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE
PLUS YOUR TOTAL SYSTEM HARDWARE CONFIGURATION INFORMATION.***
***IF TOTAL SYSTEM HARDWARE CONFIGURATION IS NOT PROVIDED IT WILL
DELAY OUR ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTION.***

ABIT COMPUTER (USA) CORPORATION
46808 Lakeview Blvd.
Fremont, CA 94538

HIGHPOINT RAID CONTROLLER FAQ:
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/370faq.htm

FAE GROUP DISCUSSION and NEW FAQ SITE!!!
http://fae.abit.com.tw/eng

Download AWDFLASH here:
http://fae.abit.com.tw/download/utilities/award_flash/awdflash.exe

DOWNLOAD THE LATEST VIA DRIVERS ONLY IF YOU HAVE VIA CHIPSET MOTHERBOARD
http://www.viahardware.com/download/index.shtm
A GREAT PLACE FOR HELP
http://forums.anandtech.com/
Technical Support: 510-492-0968
RMA: 510-623-0500
Sales:510-623-0500
BIOS CHIPS: 510-623-0500
Fax. 510-623-1092

Follow this link to see instructions on BIOS update
http://fae.abit.com.tw/eng/download/bioshelp.htm
http://www.abit-usa.com

[LutaWicasa]

Well, ya got yer answer already :) I was going to suggest that ya check what PLL IC is on the board. The ver 1.1 supports many more freqs.