Many users don't know the name of their clone motherboard. This is
because the company name is not mentioned anywhere in the manual, or on the motherboard.
If you want to upgrade your BIOS you really
have to know the motherboard manufacturer, because if you flash the wrong BIOS upgrade
your system could stop booting.
Luckily, Award and AMI BIOS have a unique BIOS ID (= BIOS Number)
which identifies the manufacturer and chipset of the board. Phoenix BIOSs, in most
cases, do NOT.
A much easier way to get the Award/AMI BIOS number & possible
manufacturer is by using CTBIOS v1.5. Run it and it'll give you the BIOS number, possible manufacturer and more. If you
want to know the name of your chipset you can also download ctpci330.zip.
Let's show you an example of an Award BIOS id: 2A59IZ1DC-00
The first 5 characters identify the chipset. 2A59I stands for the Intel Triton TX chipset.
You can find an extensive list of chipsets if you scroll down a bit.
The sixth & seventh character identify the manufacturer: in this case it's Z1.
If you look at the Award Hardware Vendors list (see below) you'll find that the manufacturer is Zida/Tomato
The 8th character (most of the times, not always!) identifies the model. I say 'most of the times' because the manufacturer can use the same
8th character for all models based on a particular chipset!.
The C-00 at the end doesn't mean much.
