Flashing bios Dell mobo with an Intel bios? (I think the board may be made by Intel)

[MichaelD]

I need to look at it again, but if memory serves me correctly, I remember seeing "Intel" stamped on the board itself (not the chips...but they prolly say it).

It's the mobo that came in my Dell PIII550e system. 100FSB/PC100 memory.

The bios is a proprietary Dell jobbie and doesn't let you disable "no KB/mouse" errors. Thinking about making this little box my server...my current server is a heat-producing monster...and it's loud too boot.

Ideas please?

 

[John]

Wost case scenario is that you kill the bios and it no longer posts. Do it!

 

[MichaelD]

OK, what do I do? Just DL a bios from Intel's page? I've never had an Intel mobo before....I guess I need a model number for the mobo too....I'll have to look at it carefully; Dell tech support is laughable.

 

[MichaelD]

Uppity-up-up.

 

[igowerf]

I used to frequent the Dell support forums and a lot of people flashed to Intel BIOS's to add processor support. At the time, the motherboards were 440BX boards for Pentium II's and people would flash their BIOS's so they could install PIII's and higher clocked Celerons. Try looking at their forums. There's an "Update BIOS" section for each of their system forums.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: igowerf
I used to frequent the Dell support forums and a lot of people flashed to Intel BIOS's to add processor support. At the time, the motherboards were 440BX boards for Pentium II's and people would flash their BIOS's so they could install PIII's and higher clocked Celerons. Try looking at their forums. There's an "Update BIOS" section for each of their system forums.

Allrighty. You get the "I am The Man!" award for today! Thanks, Igowerf. *zooms off to the Dell forums!*

 

[PushHands]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Dell tech support is laughable.

Agreed! Not all their consumers are average users...geez.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: PushHands

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Dell tech support is laughable.

Agreed! Not all their consumers are average users...geez.

Heh, the average AT member knows more than their Level II Supervisors! Even back in 2000, when I was considering building my own PC for the first time, I knew more about my Dell than either the Level I or II guys! I RTFM, that's how!!!! They were telling me things like "um, well, you can put a AGP graphics card in there to boost your gaming perfomance." Which was interesting as my Dell doesn't have an AGP slot.

 

[oldfart]

I've done it twice. Once on a Dell, once on a Gateway. Both were BX boards. You have to use the bios recovery method. You make a special bootable bios recovery floppy. The instrutions are on Intels site with the BIOS. Its a bit scary since it is a blind operation. You move a jumper to the recovery or diag or something like that position and boot from that floppy. The monitor stays black. You can't see any progress messages. Finally, you get a series of beeps meaning its done. It worked fine both times.

 

[bunker]

If this helps, I've got a Dell PIII600 slot one sitting over in the corner and its an Intel SE440BX (rev 3 I think)

Download Sisoft Sandra and it should tell you the motherboard info.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: oldfart
I've done it twice. Once on a Dell, once on a Gateway. Both were BX boards. You have to use the bios recovery method. You make a special bootable bios recovery floppy. The instrutions are on Intels site with the BIOS. Its a bit scary since it is a blind operation. You move a jumper to the recovery or diag or something like that position and boot from that floppy. The monitor stays black. You can't see any progress messages. Finally, you get a series of beeps meaning its done. It worked fine both times.

If this helps, I've got a Dell PIII600 slot one sitting over in the corner and its an Intel SE440BX (rev 3 I think)

Download Sisoft Sandra and it should tell you the motherboard info.

Thanks a lot guys. I remember about the "recovery jumper"...doesn't quite operate like a "clear CMOS" jumper...kinda made me jumpy the first few times I used it. How do I find out if the board I have is 440BX board? Do the north/south bridges say "440" on them or something? I'm not very experienced with Pentium mobos.

If I can sucessfully flash the bios and turn the Dell into a real PC, I may just turn that into my server. The box is dead quiet with only the PSU fan. Thanks.

 

[MikeMike]

What about a Dimension 8200 with a 1.9 p4? can i use an intel bios for that also what is the sisoft site?

 

[oldfart]

Find the model of the board before you flash the BIOS with the Intel version. I'm not sure the Intel BIOS will get you the feature you need, but it's worth a shot. Take a look HERE and see if it helps.