NF7-S: BIOS 1.3 or 1.6 - What's that?

External Since: Jan 07, 2004 Posts: 33

When looking to download Abit's winbond Hardware Monitor Utility, they
apparently have 2 versions: one for BIOS 1.3 and another for BIOS 1.6. No
such versions are reported in the first boot screen displayed. I hit the
Del key to enter the BIOS screens but, of course, they don't bother
reporting its version there. On the first boot screen, it has:

top line = "Phoenix Award v6.00PG"
bottom line = "10/09/2003-nVidia-nForce-6A61BA1BC-19"

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that my BIOS is at version 1.9 (from the
"-19" in the last line). This opinion is reinforced by using their
FlashMenu program to update the BIOS which then went to a "-21" in the
bottom line of the boot screen. By the way, the FlashMenu v1.3 that I got
as a download from their general Downloads web page won't run on my box.
When I try to have it to a LiveUpdate, it bitches about being an old version
and refuses to retrieve the BIOS update(s). However, if instead I go to the
product description page for the NF7-S motherboard and click on the
rightside link to Drivers then there was a link to the older version 1.2 of
FlashMenu -- and that one ran okay. So what's up with FlashMenu 1.3 saying
it is an old version that cannot perform the LiveUpdate when the actually
older version 1.2 works okay? I might uninstall their FlashMenu program
just because of this flakiness, plus they aren't even complete enough to
realize that they should add some text to the taskbar button for the program
(i.e., you get a blank taskbar button for FlashMenu).

I've heard some nasty murmurings regarding version 21 (so I guess that's
version 2.1) so I don't know if I want to stay with that BIOS version.
FlashMenu did offer a "20" download. Also, back to the original question,
the winbond Hardware Monitor Utility downloads are listed for BIOS 1.3 and
BIOS 1.6. So is the second version supposed to be for BIOS version 1.6
(16?) AND UP? Or am I screwed and there is no winbond hardware monitor that
I can use for my NF7-S mobo that had BIOS version 19 (1.9?) and now has BIOS
version 21 (2.1?)? I have downloading the one listed for BIOS 1.6 and it
seems to run okay but I notice the voltage readings fluctuate a little, like
5.00V to 5.03V, which is pretty small. I don't know if it is a fault in too
large a granularity in readings possible with the winbond chip or if the
voltages are actually wavering a wee bit from the power supply (a Fortron
Aurora 350W model FSP350-60PN). It's nice to have a hardware monitor
running in the background but it sure would be nice if it didn't bother to
plaster its screen in your face when it gets loaded. Is there a
command-line parameter to load the hardware monitor *without* it displaying
its status screen? I'd like to put a shortcut to it in my Startup group so
it gets loaded everytime I log in but having to close its status window
everytime I login will be a pain. Are there any other utilities around,
preferrably free, that will also read the winbond chip to get the values
(and behave more like a monitor utility that remains in the background and
unseen until there is a problem or the user opts to look)?

One of the changes in BIOS was an "IDE Busmaster" setting under, I think, an
Onchip PCI Device setting under the Integrated Peripherals menu. No
description of it in the rightside pane, however, but I figured it sounded
good and now have enabled it. Hopefully it gives me something better than
before. The default setting for it was Disabled. So far it hasn't died and
I haven't noticed problems but it's only been an hour or so since the BIOS
update and changing this setting.

Another artifact of updating the BIOS (to version 21, or maybe that's 2.1)
is that the report from the SATA controller's BIOS regarding the drives
attached to it has changed. Under BIOS version 19, the SiliconGraphics BIOS
reported the one drive on the first SATA port and "No drive found" on the
second SATA port. After the update to BIOS version 21, it just lists the
one drive on the first SATA port and doesn't bother mentioning that no drive
was found on the second SATA port. Maybe they decided to no longer bother
to report what doesn't exist.

External Since: Jan 04, 2004 Posts: 162

*Vanguard* wrote:
> When looking to download Abit's winbond Hardware Monitor Utility, they
> apparently have 2 versions: one for BIOS 1.3 and another for BIOS
> 1.6. No such versions are reported in the first boot screen
> displayed. I hit the Del key to enter the BIOS screens but, of
> course, they don't bother reporting its version there. On the first
> boot screen, it has:
>
> top line = "Phoenix Award v6.00PG"
> bottom line = "10/09/2003-nVidia-nForce-6A61BA1BC-19"

Yes, that's BIOS version 19

>
[snip]

Your mixing up utilities for the NF7-S version 1.0~1.2 and 2.0

If you have the version 2.0, this is what you want:

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/bios/bios_revision1.php?categories=1&model=124" target="_blank">http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/bios/bios_revision1.php?categories=1&model=124</a>

If it's a version 1.0~1.2 this is it:

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/bios.php?categories=1&model=6" target="_blank">http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/bios.php?categories=1&model=6</a>

BTW, stay away from the new 21 BIOS, especially if using SATA. If you
flashed to it, go back to an earlier version.