I need old Bios for Intel SE440BX-2 mobo.

[Reverend Maynard]

Howdy all. I updated my dad's mobo bios the other night and ran into a problem. Apparently the SE440BX-2 mobo isn't compatible with the P3 600E cpu. The old revision he was using had no problem running it, but with the new bios I get an error at startup saying the E series cpu isn't supported. Stupidly I didn't make a backup of the old bios, this is where I could use some help. I am currently using the 4S4EB2X0.86A revision, if anyone out there has an older version I would be very grateful to get ahold of it.

[Kruzin]

I have an SE440BX-2 in my office.
Not sure of what version BIOS it has.
If you will link me to whatever util I would need to back up the BIOS, I will check what version it is, and get a copy of it for you....

[Paulr]

Hiya,
First thing is that although the older BIOS's didn't give the error message when using the 600E CPU, the board isn't really compatible.
I can't remember all the details, but it had something to do with the voltage regulator, only certain revisions of the board officially accepted the 600E.
So please note that even if you use an older version of the BIOS you are still shortening the life of your CPU.
Anyway, back to the question in hand.
As you know the latest BIOS for the SE440BX-2 can be located here:
ftp://download.intel.com/design/motherbd/se2/SE2BIO17.exe
It has been a while since I used an Intel SE440BX-2 MB, but it always used to be the case where you could simply download any BIOS version you like from Intel's FTP server.
So for example, the BIOS revision 2 earlier than the latest could be located here:
ftp://download.intel.com/design/motherbd/se2/SE2BIO15.exe
Just change the file name your looking for, or even better just browse the Intel FTP site:
ftp://download.intel.com/design/motherbd/se2/

Paul

[Reverend Maynard]

Outstanding! I couldn't find the old bios on their site but I can't believe I didn't think of the ftp thing. It worked perfectly, thanks ever so much. And I was indeed aware of the voltage problem, but hey if my dad doesn't wanna pay for a new mobo we work around it, heh. Thanks again.