SUCCESS! Intel D845GRG Motherboard BIOS CHANGE !!!!!!!!!!

[khuebl]

Hello,

I have a OEM (Gateway) Computer less than one year old, and am looking for more advanced options to be available to me in my BIOS. After determining which type of board I have by my BIOS version, I have determined the following:

P4 3.06HT 533MHz FSB
1024 DDR 333MHz SDRAM
Intel D845GRG Motherboard

BIOS version RG84510A.15A.0037.P15
***According to Intel's website, the RG84510A means my motherboard is an Intel D845GRG
***However, they mention that the second part of the version xxxxxxxx.15A.xxxx.xxx means that it is from an OEM manufacturer. In this case, I assume the 15A means it is a board for Gateway instead of from intel directly, which would be a 86A.

I am very confidant that if I can flash update my bios to the most recent version which is RG84510A.86A.0033.P17, not only would I benefit from the most recent updates, but many extra features that are locked out on OEM bios chips would be available as well.

However, when attempting to Flash my BIOS with Intel's Flash Memory Update Utility iflash, it gives me an error (which I expect) saying the previous version of my bios is incompatible with the update.

First off, is there any way to completely wipe my bios so when I use Intel's iflash it wont give me the error?

Secondly, is it possible to edit my bios so that it says the version is 86A vs 15A?

Finally, is there any other way to flash an Intel BIOS besides using Intel's Flash BIOS updater?

Thanks for your time!!!
Kyran

[Denniss]

It might be possible to flash the original Intel Bios over the Gateway or whatever OEM-Bios using the Recovery jumper

For details see the main page FAQ

[edwin]

Doing so wil be at your own risk, in any case keep a floppy with the gateway version handy. and let us know of the results.

[khuebl]

Well,

It worked! After a few editions to the Intel Flash BIOS boot disc, I have succeeded!

I made a somewhat hybrid Intel / Gateway BIOS driver boot disc, using the startup files from the Gateway and replacing some of the files from the Intel package.

I moved the recovery jumper, booted off the disc, waited about 120 seconds, and heard the double-beep!

I put the jumper back on, booted up into a now Intel based BIOS!

Many more options were available, including AGP aperature, but the FSB speed and such were still disabled. I guess I will now read up to see if it is possible to overclock!

Thanks for the tip and if needed I can post a guide on how I did it!

Thanks,
Kyran

[Denniss]

To overclock your FSB try Speedfan CPUFSB or CPUCOOL

[edwin]

Multiplier is locked inside the CPU.

FSB is locked apart from burn-in option on newer boards.

You may get away with one of the two utilities mentioned but I would not count on it. And thanks for taking the plunge.

[khuebl]

Just for the heck of it, what would a burn in option be?

Thx,

Kyran

[edwin]

If it is implemented you should find that somewhere in your bios settings.

[wess]

Hi, I have the exact same problem you did. Can you hook me up with the procedure you took to change from Gateway to Intel? It would be appreciated! Thanks

[khuebl]

Ok,

So my BIOS works fine, computer works well. I downloaded CPUFSB.

I looked on my motherboard and found the PLL chip which isa Cypress/ICW CY283460C, which says from the CPUFSB website that it supports being written to.

So after goofing around with it, I see that certain FSB settings will work, others freeze. My default FSB is 133.36MHz which gives my CPU a clock speed of 3067.18

I clocked mine up to 144.36MHz which is stable (Stock cooling) which says my clock speed is around 3.295Ghz, or approx 3.3 GHZ

I was wondering if this really even does anything? Does a program like that really make the chip faster?

When I run 3DMark2001 on the regular speed, I got a 9400 (I have a crappy 8500DV 64MegaByte Radeon All In Wonder. I have my video card overclocked with Rage3D to 261MHz Core and 210.38MHz Memory Clock. The stock on this card is 230MHz Core and 190MHz Memory. I read that it is slower to keep the cost lower, and the memory chips are crappy 5ns chips, which is why the memory speed is so low.

When I run it clocked to 3.3 GHz, I got a 9684. Should I see a bigger improvement?

Does my 3Dmark2001 score suck?? I put it at default settings and put all my video card settings to performance. I didnt bother with clean installing windows or killing all backround applications.

My computer is Intel 845 chipset P4 3.06GHz w/ 533 FSB, 1024 MB of DDR 333MHz Ram. Radeon AIW 8500DV 64Mb card.

Also, now that the settings are unlocked in the BIOS, I was messing with my memory timing settings. Right now they are 2.5 CAS, 3 RAS to CAS, 3 RAS, 7 Cycle Time.

If I try to make any of those lower, the system gets really screwed up and doesnt work.

Do you think that is because of me reflashing the BIOS or because I have crappy memory?

Sorry about all the questions,
Thanks
Kyran

[edwin]

Hi, I have the exact same problem you did. Can you hook me up with the procedure you took to change from Gateway to Intel? It would be appreciated! Thanks

Easiest: Make the Intel bios update disk according to the instructions found at the Intel website. Power off, open case, locate the only jumper on the board, write down its position on a piece of paper, remove the jumper, put in diskette, power on, wait for a double-beep after a few minutes, power off, remove diskette, put jumper back on and that should be it.

[khuebl]

When I tried to do it, it wouldnt work and made the bad beeping noise more like an alarm clock. I dont know why.

[d.j.h.]

I'd like to add to this discussion if I may. I am a Senior Network Administrator where I work. I've been looking high and low all over the net to figure out how to flash the Bios of my Gateway D875PBZ motherboard at home with the normal retail BIOS version from Intel. After reading this thread, I took the advice here and removed the BIOS jumper to allow it to go into recovery mode. I then made a boot disk with the retail Intel BIOS and made an AUTOEXEC.BAT file to run the IFLASH utility automatically since recovery mode has no video. After several "clicks" from the onboard speaker (about 30 seconds), the machine automatically power itself off. I hesitantly pressed the power button, and saw that it worked! My Gateway board now has the most up to date Intel Retail Bios on it. I bought the board off eBay, along with a 3.2 Ghz OEM processor. Got a great deal on it. It looks like it was probably pulled from an E-6100 Gateway Desktop. The reason why I think that is 2 paragraphs below.

The reason for me trying like crazy to flash the bios is because my computer has trouble detecting my 100GB Western Digital hard drive. The only time it has trouble though is when it is powered up after being powered down for a long time. In other words, if I turn the PC off at night, then turn it on the next morning, the hard drive will not be detected. The PC would just sit at the Gateway logo, then eventually give the message about not being detected. I turned the logo off in the BIOS, to see what was "behind the curtain", but there's no error message as it is "trying" to detect the hard disk. My IDE CD-Roms detect just fine. The drive spins up normal as well. The strange part is that after I press reset a few times, the motherboard finally detects the hard disk and I'm off and running.

I figured this HAD to be a BIOS issue. Gateway's last BIOS update (they call their board "WASP") was posted back in May of this year. Since Intel just released their newest BIOS on Oct 24th, I decided to try to flash. Like I said above, it worked.

I've got a few questions though. When I go into the BIOS, it displays the correct BIOS ID and additional options that were not present with Gateway's BIOS. That's awesome. On the first BIOS page however, I click on "Additional Information". It says the board was made by Gateway, that it is an E-6100, and gives the serial number for the board, etc. Also, now that I've flashed the BIOS, the read DIAG light on the motherboard is lit. How can I make this motherboard a "true" Intel D875PBZ motherboard, getting rid of the Gateway code completely, and also make that red DIAG light disappear? The light was not illuminated prior to flashing the BIOS. I know there's got to be a flash utility out there somewhere that changes the "unchangeable" in the BIOS. If a Dell rep ever has to come where I work and put in a new motherboard in a laptop, the motherboard's BIOS is blank until he runs a utility that puts in the serial number, etc.

My PC runs great by the way after installing that latest BIOS update. I turned the PC off for about 2 hours, then turned it back on and it detected the hard drive just fine. Windows XP redetected everything beautifully.

I called Intel to see if they would help with the hard drive detection issue, but they couldn't because it was OEM. Obviously I can't call Gateway for help since I bought the board off eBay.

I searched for awhile and finally found this site and eventually this post which really helped out. Thanks a lot guys.

By the way, if the DIAG light does not go out, and I can't get rid of the Gateway info in the BIOS, that's fine. At least I'm up to the latest Intel BIOS, my hard drive is getting detected properly, and now I can just go to Intel's site and get a newer BIOS if I need to without hassle.

Any help on answering the questions above would be appreciated.

Thanks again,

d.j.h.

[edwin]

My guess is that the WD drive is sitting by its own on a cable and is set for master. Which is wrong, it should be set for "single drive" (remove the jumper from the drive).

[khuebl]

You cant change it. You can go into the additional info on my board as well to see it is a Gateway Yorktown board. The thing is for Dell, Gateway, ect, the actual board is made by Intel for that company, so that specific board model is not able to be changed. For example, although I used the BIOS for the 845GRG board in my case, the BIOS actually shows the board being a 845PECE. After looking at Intel's website, the PECE board is an OEM only model that offers no end-user support. I tried flashing mine with the PECE BIOS and it didnt work.

The only way that might possibly work would be to replace your BIOS chip with that of a non-OEM board, which in that case you may as well just buy a different one.