My Board is also unknown

[Rettungsholgi]

My board is called TBA 1008A manufactured by BIOSTAR.
But on the downloadpage theres no Board called like this.
ID String: 10/08/1998-i440BX-SMC60-2A69KB0CC-00


And the other Problem is:
At initial Boot the Processor is shown as an PII 450
At Windows XP and all benchmarkprogramms it is called PIII 450.
What kind of processor did I have?
Can anyone help?

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers Rettungsholgi

Well, if you bios was last updated in 1998 it wouldn't know about PIII processors they didn't become available until 1999. A simple bios update would put the problem straight - but as you say, this board is no longer supported.


download WcpuID and run it - it should tell you exactly what you have.

[confus-ed]

My board is called TBA 1008A manufactured by BIOSTAR.
But on the downloadpage theres no Board called like this.

Nope I can't find it either, but my best bet is that's its a m6tba as I can find a match on the "2A69KB0CC-00" bit here which after a bit of googling appears to be a slot 1, 440bx chipset (strangely enough ) , so I think the description may get sorted out 'for sure' once a new bios is applied. But even though there's mention on the biostar site of that model board, there's no bios available from the download list.

As far as I can figure out This is the latest bios for that board, back up your existing one first though before trying .

[NooNoo]

Updating a bios you must be sure that the bios file is for the intended motherboard. If not the motherboard can be rendered useless. While Confus-ed has made a best guess, and his experience tells me its a very good guess, it is still a guess.

It is still down to you to make sure that this is the right file for you. If you flash the bios with the file, it is your problem if the motherboard no longer works.

[Ruslan]

Motherboard's model name should be printed somewhere on the printed board, probably it is actually M6TBA (I've seen already those MBs), and 1008A is most like current BIOS version...

Use Hardware info utilities like HWInfo and ASTRA to see what they are saying about motherboard's name...

[Rettungsholgi]

Thanks al lot for answer to my Questions. I think the best that i can do is throwing it away and buy a new one. Doesnt`it

[NooNoo]

Do you intend to buy a whole new rig or just get a 2nd hand board from ebay that will run that processor?

[confus-ed]

Thanks al lot for answer to my Questions. I think the best that i can do is throwing it away and buy a new one. Doesnt`it

Well if that's how you feel about matters, try the bios flash I suggested ! Noo was just trying to make clear, that the wrong file (I've just used experience to locate a 'likely' match) can stop that board from booting, but its unlikely to damage anything else, & if you know how its quite possible to reverse matters anyway, but thats not a procedure for a novice, so the warnings were by way of 'careful if you aren't so sure, this might take some undoing' .. (not 'its gonna blow up & kill you' type )

If this ain't a dumb question, just what's made you think you need a new bios ? Processor misrecognition like you report won't be slowing it down, or make any practical difference ..

[Ruslan]

I think the best that i can do is throwing it away and buy a new one. Doesnt`it

Very interesting approach for solving problems...

[drivers]

There is an easier way to ID the chip. If it is a Slot 1 CPU it is almost certainly a Pentium II. If you have a Socket 370, you most likely have a Pentium III. A Slot 1 CPU is a big, bulky, black PCB mounted sideways (in most cases), whereas a Pentium III is a much smaller chip mounted flat on the board with a fan directly on top of it, blowing the heat up off the mobo. The Slot 1 CPU, being mounted vertically, blows the heat from the fan across the mobo. There are numerous other ways to ID the chip. By all means, however, don't throw away the motherboard and CPU. First off it is illegal! Second, it is worth money on eBay, there is great demand for the Slot 1 CPUs in the higher range (450 and up) and even some demand for Slot 1 mobos. I would be happy to give further assistance, just post me a reply.

Good Luck, Larry

[Garak]

If this ain't a dumb question, just what's made you think you need a new bios ? Processor misrecognition like you report won't be slowing it down, or make any practical difference ..

Mismatched information always inspires curiousity well, it does in my case.

As for the matter in hand, I'd do the update if you feel confident that it will work. If you have a way of taking a picture of the motherboand and posting it here we maybe able to help you further.