From craig@postnewspapers.com.au Thu Nov 6 15:40:59 2003 From: craig@postnewspapers.com.au (Craig Ringer) Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2003 23:40:59 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] useful reference; bios recovery Message-ID: <3FAA6B8B.7070905@postnewspapers.com.au> First, I've found a rather handy reference on the NSC Geode-based boards for use with Linux: http://www.larwe.com/technical/geode_linux.html in case that's handy. It finially explains the weird issues I was having with accel video. Also... does anybody know how to reflash a zeroed BIOS on one of these? The normal procedure for an award BIOS is a bootable MSDOS disk with an autoexec.bat than runs awdflash to program the bios, but this system doesn't even seem to be looking for the floppy drive. It's like the bootblock BIOS is gone too :-( or they're weird/custom somehow. If nobody knows, then since this recovery trick has failed it's off to get a PLCC flash chip reprogrammed - *sigh*. Craig Ringer From harrymc@decisions-and-designs.com.au Fri Nov 7 03:45:14 2003 From: harrymc@decisions-and-designs.com.au (Harry McNally) Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 11:45:14 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] useful reference; bios recovery In-Reply-To: <3FAA6B8B.7070905@postnewspapers.com.au> References: <3FAA6B8B.7070905@postnewspapers.com.au> Message-ID: <20031107114514.02816334.harrymc@decisions-and-designs.com.au> On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 23:40:59 +0800 Craig Ringer wrote: > First, I've found a rather handy reference on the NSC Geode-based boards > for use with Linux: > > http://www.larwe.com/technical/geode_linux.html > > in case that's handy. It finially explains the weird issues I was having > with accel video. > > Also... does anybody know how to reflash a zeroed BIOS on one of these? > The normal procedure for an award BIOS is a bootable MSDOS disk with an > autoexec.bat than runs awdflash to program the bios, but this system > doesn't even seem to be looking for the floppy drive. It's like the > bootblock BIOS is gone too :-( or they're weird/custom somehow. If > nobody knows, then since this recovery trick has failed it's off to get > a PLCC flash chip reprogrammed - *sigh*. Hi Craig As you may be aware (and for anyone else with dead m/bs), Mike Langan at Worldwide Electronic Components, George Street, Kensington has the gear to reflash BIOSes. Beware that his hours are non-geek. He is usually there before 7am and knocks off at 3. Whoa betide if you come in after 2.45! Anyone who knows Mike will know what I mean :-) He tells me he gets quite a few people plodding in with the "my BIOS didn't reflash properly" stories tho'. He used to charge $5 I think but don't quote me. Let us know how you get on. Harry -- linux.conf.au 2004 The Australian Linux Technical Conference http://lca2004.linux.org.au/ 12-17 January 2004, Adelaide, South Australia Are you a computer angel? http://www.computerangels.org.au/ From starfox@iinet.net.au Sun Nov 16 01:21:02 2003 From: starfox@iinet.net.au (Dave Hng) Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2003 09:21:02 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] bios reprogramming Message-ID: <3FB6D0FE.4070804@iinet.net.au> Hey everyone, Seeing that i'm nearly done with exams i decided to play around with my wizard a bit. I was mucking around with awardmod and modbin and changing settings in the bios file (trying to reduce the 4 second boot delay), and managed to flash a corrupted bios to my wizard. Looks like they have a standard W29C020 bios which is pretty common motherboards these days. Does anyone know where you can get a bios reprogrammed in Perth? I've been wondering this for a while. (If i can't find someone in Perth, looks like i'll be mailing it to Europe.. ^^) Dave From harrymc@decisions-and-designs.com.au Sun Nov 16 01:32:31 2003 From: harrymc@decisions-and-designs.com.au (Harry McNally) Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2003 09:32:31 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] bios reprogramming In-Reply-To: <3FB6D0FE.4070804@iinet.net.au> References: <3FB6D0FE.4070804@iinet.net.au> Message-ID: <20031116093231.565ad4b7.harrymc@decisions-and-designs.com.au> On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 09:21:02 +0800 Dave Hng wrote: > Hey everyone, > > Seeing that i'm nearly done with exams i decided to play around with my > wizard a bit. I was mucking around with awardmod and modbin and changing > settings in the bios file (trying to reduce the 4 second boot delay), > and managed to flash a corrupted bios to my wizard. > > Looks like they have a standard W29C020 bios which is pretty common > motherboards these days. Does anyone know where you can get a bios > reprogrammed in Perth? I've been wondering this for a while. (If i can't > find someone in Perth, looks like i'll be mailing it to Europe.. ^^) Heck, no need for that :-) Craig Ringer is wondering whether he'll need to reflash one too and I suggested elsewhere: " As you may be aware (and for anyone else with dead m/bs), Mike Langan at Worldwide Electronic Components, George Street, Kensington has the gear to reflash BIOSes. Beware that his hours are non-geek. He is usually there before 7am and knocks off at 3. Whoa betide if you come in after 2.45! Anyone who knows Mike will know what I mean :-) He tells me he gets quite a few people plodding in with the "my BIOS didn't reflash properly" stories tho'. He used to charge $5 I think but don't quote me. " There you go :) Harry ps I have a chip extracter for the J-leg chips I can bring along to UCC next time but I suspect the tool cabinet has one down there. This true Bernard, James, Nick ? pps If you are very careful, you can use two jewellers screwdrivers in the open corners and prise the chip out but it's best to watch someone do this successfully before tackling it yourself. -- linux.conf.au 2004 The Australian Linux Technical Conference http://lca2004.linux.org.au/ 12-17 January 2004, Adelaide, South Australia Are you a computer angel? http://www.computerangels.org.au/ From harrymc@decisions-and-designs.com.au Sun Nov 16 03:43:05 2003 From: harrymc@decisions-and-designs.com.au (Harry McNally) Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2003 11:43:05 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] RAM upgrade In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20031116114305.322fd592.harrymc@decisions-and-designs.com.au> On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 09:31:56 +0800 (WST) James Mandy wrote: > I've just ordered a pile of Kingston 128Mb SO-DIMMS, hoping they work > okay... will advise of outcome, and if anyone's interested, Hello again James What was the outcome for these RAMs ? Did your order come through and did they work ok for you ? Just interested in your progress. Given that there are 900 or so Wizards out there, I'm sure other people would be interested too :-) All the best Harry -- linux.conf.au 2004 The Australian Linux Technical Conference http://lca2004.linux.org.au/ 12-17 January 2004, Adelaide, South Australia Are you a computer angel? http://www.computerangels.org.au/ From bernard@blackham.com.au Sat Nov 29 09:35:13 2003 From: bernard@blackham.com.au (Bernard Blackham) Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 17:35:13 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Cooling them down Message-ID: <20031129093513.GF1337@amidala> I burnt myself today on a stack of three wizards all switched on :( What I've found though, is by passing the IDE ribbon cable over the top of the USB connector instead of flat over the CPU heatsink, it gives the heatsink room to breathe and they don't get quite so burnable. This involves unscrewing the USB connector, pushing the IDE ribbon cable into the edge of the case and pushing the USB connector back into place underneath it... They're running *much* cooler now! (Well cool enough not to burn me) AND! Even more exciting... I was playing with 2.4 IPSec (debian's 2.4 backport) today and to cut a long story short, it sucked, so I went to compile 2.6.0-test11 to see if it was less buggy. I came across the following unrelated kernel compile option: <*> Cyrix MediaGX/NatSemi Geode Suspend Modulation "CONFIG_X86_GX_SUSPMOD This adds the CPUFreq driver for NatSemi Geode processors which suport suspend modulation." Looks very very promising! I'm about to head out so haven't got a chance to play yet, but will probably tomorrow. I'll keep the list posted on if it really does cool it down :) Bernard. -- Bernard Blackham From fruchle@globaldial.com Sat Nov 29 17:26:55 2003 From: fruchle@globaldial.com (Mike Fineberg) Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 01:26:55 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Cooling them down In-Reply-To: <20031129093513.GF1337@amidala> References: <20031129093513.GF1337@amidala> Message-ID: <200311300126550835.42100609@mail.arach.net.au> heh, yeah, I bend all my cables around to uncover the heatsink - my serial= and parallel cables go around the opposite edge... It still gets rather= hot, esp underneath. I'll often run mine playing mp3s all night (at about 45%-55% CPU usage),= and in the morning it will be HOT to the touch. I don't want to add any= active cooling, so I'm going to add bigger heatsinks and touch them to the= case, see how well that helps conduct heat away... - Michael *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 29/11/2003 at 5:35 PM Bernard Blackham wrote: >I burnt myself today on a stack of three wizards all switched on :( > >What I've found though, is by passing the IDE ribbon cable over the >top of the USB connector instead of flat over the CPU heatsink, it >gives the heatsink room to breathe and they don't get quite so >burnable. This involves unscrewing the USB connector, pushing the >IDE ribbon cable into the edge of the case and pushing the USB >connector back into place underneath it... They're running *much* >cooler now! (Well cool enough not to burn me) > >AND! Even more exciting... I was playing with 2.4 IPSec (debian's >2.4 backport) today and to cut a long story short, it sucked, so I >went to compile 2.6.0-test11 to see if it was less buggy. I came >across the following unrelated kernel compile option: > ><*> Cyrix MediaGX/NatSemi Geode Suspend Modulation > >"CONFIG_X86_GX_SUSPMOD >This adds the CPUFreq driver for NatSemi Geode processors which >suport suspend modulation." > >Looks very very promising! I'm about to head out so haven't got a >chance to play yet, but will probably tomorrow. I'll keep the list >posted on if it really does cool it down :) > >Bernard. > >-- > Bernard Blackham > >_______________________________________________ >Wizard mailing list >Wizard@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au >http://lists.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/wizard