[LinuxBIOS] Is the MSI 694T Pro MS-6309 (v5.0) ATX mainboard supported?

[Marko Mäkelä]

Hi all,

I have built a personal video recorder using VDR and vdr-softdevice
plugin on a MSI 694T mainboard running a 900 MHz Celeron.  I would
like to speed up the boot process: the BIOS needs over 10 seconds
before starting LILO.

I need the following features:

- ATX wakeup timer
  - nvram-wakeup needs a reboot for the changes to take effect
- wake-on-LAN (for starting the computer by the remote control unit
  bundled with the DVB-T tuner card; see my hardware hack at
  http://www.iki.fi/~msmakela/electronics/worc5/)
- PCI, AGP and IDE (USB is not needed)

Here's the lspci output:

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C693A/694x
[Apollo PRO133x] (rev c4)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C598/694x
[Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP]
0000:00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686
[Apollo Super South] (rev 40)
0000:00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc.
VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
0000:00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx
UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a)
0000:00:07.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx
UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a)
0000:00:07.4 Bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686
[Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 40)
0000:00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc.
VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
0000:00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M
[Tornado] (rev 74)
0000:00:10.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Winfast TV2000 XP (rev 05)
0000:00:10.2 Multimedia controller: Conexant: Unknown device 8802 (rev 05)
0000:00:10.4 Multimedia controller: Conexant: Unknown device 8804 (rev 05)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc.
MGA G400 AGP (rev 82)

The superio chip is a VIA 686, identified by Linux as

VP_IDE: VIA vt82c686b (rev 40) IDE UDMA100 controller on pci0000:00:07.1
    ide0: BM-DMA at 0xff00-0xff07, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA
    ide1: BM-DMA at 0xff08-0xff0f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:pio

and

ALSA device list:
  #0: VIA 82C686A/B rev50 with ICE1232 at 0xdc00, irq 18

The markings on the chip are VIA VT82C686B 0130CD TAIWAN 13C002600.

The south bridge (next to the processor, I hope this is the correct
terminology) is a VIA VT82C694T 0130CD TAIWAN 2IB0004361.

The BIOS device is a PLCC chip with 9 pins on the long side and 7 pins
on the short side.  I can peel off the AMIBIOS label if needed.

Here is some more information on this motherboard:

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/detail_spec/694T_Pro.htm
http://www.mainboard.cz/mb/msi/694TPRO.htm

If you need any more information, please let me know.

	Marko

[Ronald G. Minnich]

wow, that's an old bridge! I think it is very similar to 8601, so it might 
be made to work.

ron

[Marko Mäkelä]

On Fri, Jul 29, 2005 at 08:47:16AM -0600, Ronald G. Minnich wrote:
> wow, that's an old bridge! I think it is very similar to 8601, so it might 
> be made to work.

Well, based on some further Googling, I don't have high hopes on the
availability or quality of VIA documentation.

I guess I'll have to acquire a spare flash chip, so that my "production"
system won't become unusable.

What would you advise as the next step?  Or should I try to get an
Intel-based system instead?  I might get an Asus P2B 99 (sp?) board
that has a 900 MHz Slot 1 Pentium III processor.

With best regards,

	Marko Mäkelä

[Ronald G. Minnich]

look for chips you know we support, is your best bet.

ron