Bios Questions

I ran Bios Wizard 2.10

On the report there is a couple of things I wanted to ask about.

(1) Enhanced Disk Drive
Specification : BIOS doesn't support this feature

(2)DMI Version : Current version is 2.0. The minimum DMI version is 2.1

(3)ACPI Version : ACPI is not found

I don't know what 1 and 3 is, Abraxas told me this am what 2 was. My question is: If I find an update for the bios,will this likely fix all three of these? I've found updated bios,but it doesn't say what's being updated.

Also,at the end of the report I found:

Supports LS-120 Booting : The testing of this feature is not supported by the current DMI version.

I have an LS-120 superdisk drive I'd like to use as my floppy a. I bought it a few years back but couldn't get it configured as floppy a.

Do you think an update will allow that?

And, I ran Bios Wizard on the wifes machine. It also said it couldn't support LS-120 booting, but it came with an LS-120 drive as the floppy a so I really don't know how much of these reports are acurate.



Here's the whole report:

BIOS CAPABILITIES TEST REPORT
===============================

Generated by: BIOS Wizard 2.10
Date: March 02, 2003
Time: 13:31

PnP Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 1.0
PCI Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 2.1
PCI IRQ Routing Table : BIOS currently supports this feature
Enhanced Disk Drive
Specification : BIOS doesn't support this feature
DMI Version : Current version is 2.0. The minimum DMI version is
2.1
ACPI Version : ACPI is not found
APM Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 1.2
Booting From CD-ROM : BIOS currently supports this feature
Supports ESCD : BIOS currently supports this feature
Can be Updated (flashed) : BIOS currently supports this feature
Can be Shadowed : BIOS currently supports this feature
BIOS Chip in Socket : BIOS currently supports this feature
Supports Selective Booting : BIOS currently supports this feature
Supports LS-120 Booting : The testing of this feature is not supported by
the current DMI version
Supports ZIP Booting : The testing of this feature is not supported by
the current DMI version
Supports Network Booting : The testing of this feature is not supported by
the current DMI version
BIOS Manufacturer : Award Modular BIOS v4.51PGM
BIOS ID : 02/02/2001-i440BX-ITE867-2A69KH2EC-00
BIOS Date : 02/02/01
BIOS OEM Signon : (M003NL47) Intel i440BX PCIset(TM)
BIOS ROM Size : 256K
Chipset : Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3
Super I/O Chip : ITE 8671 found at port 279h

 

I also run a LS120 drive and I am booting from this drive, But the specs in my Motherboard Manual state that the Motherboard supports booting from LS120.
As I understand, if the Motherboard does not support that feature it will only work as a normal 120mb floppy. LS120 drives are IDE drives and I think that is where it comes in.
I could be wrong though.
good luck

 

It would help some, Blu, if we knew what you were shooting for.

ACPI is Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. It is, among other things, a power-management feature. But it is much more than the name implies.

http://webopedia.com/TERM/A/ACPI.html

It would be very unlikely that a non-ACPI compliant machine would be made compliant by a mere BIOS upgrade.

I am not sure what the Enhanced Disk Drive is. You would have to check your manual about that.

Note that the report did not say that booting from LS120 was not possible, but only that the program was unable to make a determination.

A good way to find out what a new BIOS would add would be to go to your manufacturer's site. Most list the BIOS updates and the features or bugs that each new version addressed. By reading them all, you can get a good idea of all the things that the most recent release includes.

They say you shouldn't update the BIOS unless you need to. I tend to disagree since updates usually include new or improved support for hardware. I always try the updated BIOS when they are released.

Rambling, I know. I think BIOS updates are good. I'd do it if I were you. But don't expect any dramatic changes unless your version contained a bug.

 

Abraxas , Thanks for that reply. I flashed this bios recently so is would support the 80 gig h/d I installed. I flashed it with a file I d/loaded from WimsBios.com. They said it would support the new h/d. But I've always wondered if it was the best one. After I flashed it everything seemed fine for while then it started getting weird, the display did things I've never seen before. Then it wouldn't boot untill I cleared the cmos memory.
So I've just been trying to find out if everything is right it . I've found the correct bios now that will bring up my DMI version and allow me to boot with the LS_120. I got it from http://www.esupport.com/register/remove.cfm

Thanks as always, Blu