New BIOS (2.01) for MSI K7T Pro mainboards. Impressions.

[MANKOU]

I downloaded and installed BIOS [it was my first BIOS updating and I was very anxious about it ]. This is what it does:
"Changes since v1.60

- Use New DRAM Timing Setup item and DRAM Timing algorithm by SPD.

- Fixed cannot turn off CRT on MS-DOS mode after press
sleep button,when install Microsoft Power Manager
Version 1.0 utility

- FIX L2 CACHE SIZE DETECT ERROR

- FIX ASKEY modem card plug WOR Fail (W98ME)
- FiX ACT ACPI two machine PROBLEM
- FIX HCT PCI2.1 CARD FAIL

- change promise rom file release bios

- auto detect Promise Raid PCI card ,Promise U100 PCI card

- Fixed that some serial Mouse can not work after waking from S1.

- Support Promise Raid PCI card

- Support AMD K7 FSB 133Mhz CPU (change KT133->KT133a)

- fix smartdled report error when plug 3 dimm"

Well, I had really good impressions, especially about that "Support AMD K7 FSB 133Mhz CPU (change KT133->KT133a)" thing. In Sisoft Sandra 2000 I was getting 359/399 in memory benchmark with "HostCLC+33". Now I get 402/490 ! This happens if I leave the mainboard to fix the RAM timing automatically (don't remember exactly the setting-you'll see yourselves what I mean). By just setting the RAM timing in 133 didn't produce any serious improvement.
Anyway, what I can't understand is "change KT133->KT133a". What KT133A is? Is it a newer version of KT133? And if yes, what are the improvements?

 

[MANKOU]

Just replying for subscribing to this thread (disabled when I was posting)
Sorry.

 

[AMD4ME2]

Yes the KT133a is the new chipset supporting the 133mhz athlon chips. should be available in the MSI Turbo board, and the Abit KT7A and KT7A-Raid. Both boards should be out this month im hoping! I'm assuming that the bios update you used also is for the MSI Turbo board and thats why it has that message about the support for the 133mhz CPU's.

 

[John]

Please supply a URL. I do not see it here http://www.msi.com.tw/support/bios/mainboard/6xxx/k7tpro2/k7tpro2.htm

 

[MANKOU]

You are looking in K7T Pro 2 drivers section. It is in K7T Pro section.
http://www.msi-technology.de/download/bios/63xx/6330_201.exe

 

[undercover]

It's not in another language I hope

 

[MANKOU]

There is some german but the procedure is exactly the same (boot disc-copy new BIOS to boot disc-startup PC from boot disc-update).

[LIVE UPDATE SUCKS]

 

[acenuts]

I updated my bios to 2.01 and yet nothing's changed in the cmos setup. I have no HostCLC+33 nor can I go over 132 FSB. Did I miss something?

 

[John]

To get the same effect as host clk + 33 set the dram clock to 133. I am not so sure that this bios is intended for the Pro2 / Pro2a mainboards.

 

[MANKOU]

ACENUT, read my first post. I got the best results for my K7T Pro by setting the RAM timing to "auto" something (I still don't remember the exact setting but it's the first from the top). On the other hand HOST CLK+33 is the same as "133".

 

[John]

I updated my Pro2 bios and it was successful. However this BIOS is slower on memory performance than the overclocker bios. I tried to flash back and now it will not reprogram. It hangs everytime. Looks like I killed it, but it still boots to the OS. Very odd, and this was a bad experience.

 

[MANKOU]

John, I can see that you have a K7T Pro 2. You should have stayed with the BIOS writen for it. There is another thread that gives answers to a guy that killed his motherboard. Read it.

 

[ZoSo]

Try this, it will fix a bad flash according to MSI.

FOR AWARD BIOS
--------------
Make a bootable floopy disk
Copy the Award flash utility & BIOS file to the said floppy disk
Create an autoexec.bat with "awdfl535 biosfilename" in the content (e.g. awdfl535 a619mj21.bin)
Boot up system with the said floppy (it will take less than 2 minutes before screen comes up)
Re-flash the BIOS & reboot.

 

[John]

ZoSo, I tried that right after I started having problems and it didn't work. The only good thing is that my PC still boots to the OS and runs fine. I simply cannot flash the bios anymore.

I will swap motherboards in a little while if I can round one up.