Changing hidden BIOS settings????

[Ovi]

Hi everyone
I really need your help on this one!!
I have an Intel 440zx based mobo (Acorp) with Award Bios. Now I’ve been having some problems installing Win2k (Hardware Malfunction Errors) for which I’ve already done a lot of troubleshooting, more info <b>here</b>
Anyway, after doing a lot of searching I’ve found that changing the <b>PCI Latency</b> in the BIOS can help, but when I checked, I found no such setting in my BIOS! Now, is there any program that can change these hidden settings in the CMOS, so that the BIOS is not modified, and the settings can be reset on clearing the CMOS?? Please help!!!!
Cheers
Ovi

[Gurm]

Try SoftBIOS or TweakBIOS.

- Gurm

[Ovi]

Thanks Gurm
I checked out both of these, but both require some OS to work, as they need to load a file each time on startup. What I need is something that changes settings at CMOS level. I tried MODBIN (used to configure BIOSes) on an image of my BIOS, but that didn't list any setting related to PCI latency!! Maybe this setting is not available in v4.51 series of Award BIOSes!!
But I found another utility(can't recall the name!) that can save the CMOS settings to a file and then later restore them if needed, so maybe if there's a program that can modify this stored file!!!
Cheers
Ovi

[Jorden]

I don't know of any program that can do that, but for a hexadecimal editor.

Can't any overclocking program do what you want?

[Gurm]

I believe that if you REGISTER TweakBIOS it will let you save the settings to CMOS.

- Gurm

[Ovi]

Jorden: Though I don't know of any overclocking program that can do that, even if one could, it would require some OS to load the settings each time!
Gurm: Thanks a lot for the info, I'll check it out!
Cheers
Ovi

[Ovi]

I just checked out the registration thing for tweakbios. This is what it says:
**
Why register?

The registered version will let you save your favourite settings to a file. Then you can run TweakBIOS in your autoexec.bat, and let it automatically load the settings each time you start your computer!
**
But since I want to install Win2k from scratch on a formatted drive by booting off the Win2k CD, this won't work for me! Boo,hoo Looks like there is no such utility which can directly change the CMOS settings!!
But since there is a utility which can save and later restore CMOS settings, I'll see if I can modify that saved file and then restore it!
Thanks a lot for the help
Cheers
Ovi

[Rick]

What you need is probably WPCredit and WPcreset. Both by H. Oda.

http://www.h-oda.com/

[Ovi]

Thanks Rick
I'll check these out!
Cheers
Ovi

[Gurm]

Nah, WPCRSet needs an OS to load as well.

If you want your settings to be stored in the BIOS you might be out of luck, I _thought_ this was what TweakBIOS did, and that it was alone in this regard.

- Gurm

[Ovi]

Yup Gurm, you are right about WPCRSet!!
But I did manage to find a utility which lets one directly edit the CMOS- Its called EdCMOS and its made by Award itself!!
But the thing is that it shows the registers of the CMOS directly along with their values etc., and as a result I'm left staring blankly at the screen, not knowing what to change!! It's similar to CMOS dump given by Sisoft Sandra. So the question now is: What registers do I edit to change the PCI Latency??
Thanks for helping me out!
Cheers
Ovi

[agallag]

I see from your other thread the you've already flashed the bios... did you get if from here? If so, check out their current homepage. Still have that warm fuzzy feeling about that bios?

In case they've fixed the homepage, this is what was there when I found it:

THIS SITE WAS CRACKED BY GeTweel {-(

(: VARNA, BULGARIA

[Ovi]

Hi Agallag!
Yes, I got the BIOS from Acorp's homesite. That site has been hacked before also, so I again downloaded and flashed the BIOS just to make sure I didn't have a tampered version!!
But I also tried using the previous BIOS version (6zx86 v2b, the one the mobo came with) and that also gave me the same errors

Ovi

[Jorden]

Just checking, but have you tried putting the soundcard in another PCI slot? Maybe the PCI slot you use it in is broken? Does Win2k give you hardware errors with other hardware in that slot as well?

[Ovi]

Hi Jorden!
Yes, I tried putting the soundcard in another PCI slot but still got the error. My board has only 3 PCI slots, and the first one shares its IRQ with the AGP, so only the remaining two are usable, and I've tried both! I don't have any other PCI card, the only other card in the system being the G200 (AGP)! I did replace the soundcard though, but that didn't help either!
I have a question: If Win2k is giving these hardware malfunction errors, would WinXP give those too, since its based on Win2k??
Thanks
Cheers
Ovi