Hello, my current BIOS is extremely buggy and unstable, regularly freezing at the POST screen, so what would happen if I installed Linux BIOS on my machine? I know the motherboard isn't on the list, but it seems to be close to some of the other ones.
System information: CPU: Intel Celeron 2.6 ghz socket 478 Motherboard: MSI pm8m-v (ms7014 v2) Chipset: VIA P4M800 + VT8237R Graphics: Nvidia 6200 AGP card
lspci output: 00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge 00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge 00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge 00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT890 Host Bridge 00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge 00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge 00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge 00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (rev 80) 00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) 00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) 00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) 00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) 00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) 00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86) 00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South] 00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60) 00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] (rev a1)
Bios chip type: PLCC Super I/O: Don't know, but presumably it is a VIA one
So, will Linux BIOS work? Or what would happen if I installed Linux BIOS? Would I be able to backup with awdflh.exe from a floppy if Linux BIOS didn't work? And how far into the Linux BIOS installation can I get without permanently altering the system?
Thanks Jonathan
Hi,
On Sat, Feb 24, 2007 at 07:39:52PM +0100, Jonathan wrote:
Hello, my current BIOS is extremely buggy and unstable, regularly freezing at the POST screen, so what would happen if I installed Linux BIOS on my machine? I know the motherboard isn't on the list, but it seems to be close to some of the other ones.
[...]
Chipset: VIA P4M800 + VT8237R
The chipset is not supported, unfortunately.
Bios chip type: PLCC Super I/O: Don't know, but presumably it is a VIA one
So, will Linux BIOS work?
No, not out of the box, and not without some effort to port it, i.e. adding support for your chipset and mainboard.
Or what would happen if I installed Linux BIOS?
Your machine would not boot anymore.
Would I be able to backup with awdflh.exe from a floppy if Linux BIOS didn't work?
No, I don't think so. Your floppy won't boot anymore if the BIOS (LinuxBIOS or proprietary) is bricked.
Usually you can, however, get an extra PLCC chip and flash a backup of your BIOS on that one. Then try LinuxBIOS and if it fails, you just reinsert the backup PLCC chip and your board will work again.
In your case that won't immediately help, though, as LinuxBIOS doesn't yet support your chipset/mainboard so there's no use trying it (other than having some fun :)
And how far into the Linux BIOS installation can I get without permanently altering the system?
Using the recovery method from above (extra PLCC chip) you could try to get your Super I/O working (you need to write some code). If that works you can get serial output over a null modem cable (for debugging).
Then you'd have to add support for your chipset. You won't be able to boot your system as long as the chipset is not supported.
HTH, Uwe.
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Jonathan -
Uwe Hermann