Question Will an IDE Bios chip work in a mobo?

[formulav8]

I have an Asus TXP4-X motherboard that needs a bios chip. I have a Promise Ultra66 PCI IDE card that has a bios chip that looks to be the right width and pin out and such.

So, can I take the bios chip out of that Promise controller and hot flash it and put it in that Asus motherboard? Thanks for any info.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Depends on whether the physical IC flash chip is pin-out, as well as internal arrangement (page size/count) compatible. Not all BIOS chips are identical, even if they are both "BIOS chips", with an identical physical size and number of pins.

Why don't you go on ebay or one of those "flash BIOS" or "Bad flash" web sites, and order a replacement BIOS chip for your motherboard, pre-flashed with whatever version of the BIOS that you like? Shouldn't cost more than $20.

That said, I was being slightly pedentic, for safety. Due to economies of scale for PC products,. many probably used the same BIOS chips of that era. If you have chip datasheets and pinouts, and they seem to match up, if you don't care at all whether it burns the hardware, you could try it.

 

[formulav8]

Thanks for the info. I did do some looking around for a bios chip replacement but didn't find anything for a board this old. I have other Socket 7 boards with compatible chips but I want to keep them all in working order.

I've been going through my retro stuff and tinkering with it all and was wanting to test out this TXP4-X board and compare to the others I have but I forgot I took the bios chip out of it years ago and hot-flashed and put it in another board.

So I am trying to find out about the Promise IDE card bios chip before hand because I don't want to fry anything.

 

[Iron Woode]

I have an Asus TXP4-X motherboard that needs a bios chip. I have a Promise Ultra66 PCI IDE card that has a bios chip that looks to be the right width and pin out and such.

So, can I take the bios chip out of that Promise controller and hot flash it and put it in that Asus motherboard? Thanks for any info.

I checked a picture of your board and see that the BIOS chip is socketed to the board.

finding another one looks damn near impossible.

There are sites that sell BIOS chips.

Ebay has a board for sale for $65

 

[formulav8]

Come to find out the bios chip is soldered on the Promise card. So no go anyways...

Maybe I can find someone with a couple cheapo Socket 7 boards with the same bios chip.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well . . . another frustrating day in the life of an old-hardware-junkie enthusiast.

I can see you will explore all the possible options. I've had searches for "parts-only" defunct motherboards turn out to offer benefits worth the chump-change.

For predecessors of my 26-year-old SUV, there was a time when I could put on a serious pair of hiking boots and fatigues to stomp around a junk-yard with a tool and lunch box. I would find stuff I was looking for, and stuff that I could use for the extra chump-change. Nowadays, it's all "on-line". So I found a place out in Indiana or thereabouts named "Fatman's Junkyard". Imagine that! I wish I could find a picture of "Fat-Man". Eh! I looked for it. Two guys who look like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. They may look stoned, but they had my parts and I got my money's-worth.