P4P800 Deluxe BIOS

[Silence Seeker]

Greetings,
I just purchased a brand new P4P800 Deluxe mainboard and man it looks
promising!

However, since I am new to this world of modern mainboards, I
encountered a few difficulties and questions I hope you can help me
with:

How can I tell what BIOS version I have? Under Main -> System
Information I get:
AMIBIOS
Version: 08.00.09
Build Date: 11/06/03
ID: P4P81088
But on ASUS web site I see BIOS version numbers like 1012, 1014, etc.
Any idea how to match those numbers to what I have?

I currently have only one UDMA-133 HDD installed. When I enter the
RAID BIOS Utility, it shows up as "Channel0 Master" but none of the
keyboard keys react except for the ESC key which takes me out of this
utility. Is this normal? Could it be that the utility is intelligent
enough to disable all keys if there is only one HDD in the system?

Also, under "Mode" in that HDD line it shows: ATA 100. Why? Why it
only detects ATA100 and not ATA133?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Ken Fox]

Hi,

Greetings,
I just purchased a brand new P4P800 Deluxe mainboard and man it looks
promising!

However, since I am new to this world of modern mainboards, I
encountered a few difficulties and questions I hope you can help me
with:

How can I tell what BIOS version I have? Under Main -> System
Information I get:
AMIBIOS
Version: 08.00.09
Build Date: 11/06/03
ID: P4P81088
But on ASUS web site I see BIOS version numbers like 1012, 1014, etc.
Any idea how to match those numbers to what I have?

The version number 08.00.09 refers to the physical chip; the bios is what
is flashed on the chip. Most probably you have 1012, maybe 1010 bios
installed on your chip, given the date of your system. You can tell which
one by any of a number of free utilities including Sandra, and also the
(included) Asus Update utility that shipped on a CD ROM with your board; one
option is to report the bios information and you can check that. As to
whether or not to update the bios, I would not do so unless there was
functionality you needed or wanted that is not available with your current
bios and is available on an updated one.

I currently have only one UDMA-133 HDD installed. When I enter the
RAID BIOS Utility, it shows up as "Channel0 Master" but none of the
keyboard keys react except for the ESC key which takes me out of this
utility. Is this normal? Could it be that the utility is intelligent
enough to disable all keys if there is only one HDD in the system?

You can't set up a "real" RAID with just one disk; you would be limited to
the default JBOD (just a bunch of disks). Are you sure that you installed
the disk in a RAID channel as opposed to the primary IDE or secondary IDE
channel? An intel chip controls the IDE channels and is limited to ATA-100.
The via controller on the RAID channels should be able to recognize ATA-133,
and if installed on that channel I suspect it has. There are no options on
a RAID with only 1 disk!

Also, under "Mode" in that HDD line it shows: ATA 100. Why? Why it
only detects ATA100 and not ATA133?

this suggests to me that either the HD is really on the primary or secondary
IDE channel, or possibly that a bios upgrade would enable you to recognize
UDMA-5, e.g. ATA133.

Good luck.

ken

 

[Darkfalz]

UDMA-5, e.g. ATA133.

Tiny correction, ATA133 is UDMA6. UMDA5 is ATA100.

 

[Lynn Coffelt]

Also, under "Mode" in that HDD line it shows: ATA 100. Why? Why it
only detects ATA100 and not ATA133?

Thanks,
Sam

I read somewhere on this group that the ATA133 drives will only work at 133
if connected to the "RAID" IDE motherboard connectors, as the normal two IDE
connectors only have ATA100 capability.

Only what I read. There will be no charge.

Lynn

 

[SpongeBob]

I read somewhere on this group that the ATA133 drives will only work at 133
if connected to the "RAID" IDE motherboard connectors, as the normal two IDE
connectors only have ATA100 capability.

Only what I read. There will be no charge.

Lynn

Lynn is correct and Sam you have Bios 1012 which is the 11/06/03 date. 1014
is available at the ASUS website. Follow directions carefully if you plan to
upgrade the bios and use the updated tool included with the bios download.
Also, set your bios to the default values BEFORE updating them if necessary.

 

[MJ]

Hi,



The version number 08.00.09 refers to the physical chip; the bios is what
is flashed on the chip. Most probably you have 1012, maybe 1010 bios
installed on your chip, given the date of your system.

My 3 week old board came with something much earlier than 1010. Maybe
1005.

MJ

 

[Silence Seeker]

Bob & Lynn, both of you are correct. I found the following
http://www.asus.com.tw/inside/product_revno.htm, and after following
the instructions I discovered that my mainboard was shipped with BIOS
1012.

Regretfully, I didn't wait for a reply to update my BIOS and I flashed
it to rev 1014 WITHOUT setting it to the default values first. All
seems well however, so I am wondering: what damage could have I done
by not setting the values to default BEFORE flashing?

Also, I DID connect the HDD to "RAID" IDE motherboard connector,
otherwise it wouldn't show in the RAID BIOS Utility, as I described in
my original posting. So, I am still puzzled: why does it display
ATA100 and not ATA133?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[spongebob]

Bob & Lynn, both of you are correct. I found the following
http://www.asus.com.tw/inside/product_revno.htm, and after following
the instructions I discovered that my mainboard was shipped with BIOS
1012.

Regretfully, I didn't wait for a reply to update my BIOS and I flashed
it to rev 1014 WITHOUT setting it to the default values first. All
seems well however, so I am wondering: what damage could have I done
by not setting the values to default BEFORE flashing?

Also, I DID connect the HDD to "RAID" IDE motherboard connector,
otherwise it wouldn't show in the RAID BIOS Utility, as I described in
my original posting. So, I am still puzzled: why does it display
ATA100 and not ATA133?

Thanks,
Sam

"SpongeBob" <[email protected]> wrote in message

necessary.

Fortunately, you were lucky without resetting you BIOS to default. Many have
also been successful as well.. From what I've read many have had problems by
not resetting. These problems, however, were solved by reflashing the BIOS.
You don't need to worry about any permanent damage if everything is
fine...just remember it for 0115 or 1016. I'm still using 1012 and don't
plan on updating since everything seems to be working fine. Are you sure the
drive is ATA133? Maybe you should check the drives support site...It may be
the drive not the MB. Another great place for answers is
http://www.abxzone.com ...there are many answers to confusing questions
here.

 

[Silence Seeker]

Bob, thank again for your reply. It is quite possible that I didn't
have problems flashing because I didn't change anything substantial in
the settings before flashing (perhaps date, FDD and perhaps a few tiny
things but not CPU speed or other "dangerous" stuff )

As for the UDMA 5 vs 6 - yes I am sure the drive is ATA133. It is the
Samsung 160GB 7200RPM HDD Model SP1614N, which can be found here:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-152-014&depa=1

Is it possible that I need to enable something in that HDD first
before unlocking the ATA133 feature? (I remember something like this
with IBM HDDs years ago).

Or perhaps the BIOS display is meaningless and what really counts is
what the OS shows?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[end user]

If you connected the HD to the ide ports it will only run at ata100.
If you connect it to the raid system/port it will run at ata133. It's
written in the manual and on the asus site (specs for p4p800dlx).

Locust

 

[Silence Seeker]

End user, thanks for your reply. If you read my original posting you
will notice that I implied that I connected the HDD to the raid
system/port. So, why is it still reporting ATA100?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[SpongeBob]

End user, thanks for your reply. If you read my original posting you
will notice that I implied that I connected the HDD to the raid
system/port. So, why is it still reporting ATA100?

Thanks,
Sam

end user <[email protected]> wrote in message

Hmmm...not really sure. Have you tried any info/benchmarking software like
SiSandra? Maybe ATA133 is enabled and just reporting incorrectly???
Here's the link for SiSandra http://www.sisoftware.net/ It's free and you
could get a tremendous amount of info about you system from it.

 

[SpongeBob]

End user, thanks for your reply. If you read my original posting you
will notice that I implied that I connected the HDD to the raid
system/port. So, why is it still reporting ATA100?

Thanks,
Sam

end user <[email protected]> wrote in message

Also...After flashing do you still get all the USB beeps? From what I've
read...If the beeps are still there, the board wasn't fully flashed (that
is, the boot block was not flashed). It seems as if this may be one of the
possible problems in not resetting the BIOS to default before flashing. Pre
1014 you would get a short beep for every USB device attached to the system.
BIOS 1014 eliminated these beeps. So I guess...if your system is quiet at
boot...your Bios were successfully flashed. If not, you may wish to reflash
using the default setting.

 

[Uncooked meat prior to state vector collapse]

Also...After flashing do you still get all the USB beeps? From what I've
read...If the beeps are still there, the board wasn't fully flashed (that
is, the boot block was not flashed). It seems as if this may be one of the
possible problems in not resetting the BIOS to default before flashing. Pre
1014 you would get a short beep for every USB device attached to the system.
BIOS 1014 eliminated these beeps. So I guess...if your system is quiet at
boot...your Bios were successfully flashed. If not, you may wish to reflash
using the default setting.

Hey I was wondering why my beeps had not gone away and why I still had
lockups on boot after changing FSB (resolved in 1014?). I guess I'll try
again.

 

[end user]

my apologies didn't see that part

Locust

End user, thanks for your reply. If you read my original posting you
will notice that I implied that I connected the HDD to the raid
system/port. So, why is it still reporting ATA100?

Thanks,
Sam