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Click on one of the following questions or read sequentially for information on Chaintech 486 mainboards
CHAINTECH
486 MAINBOARDS
BIOS Updates/Large capacity drives/Y2K
Issue/Jumpersettings
BIOS UPDATES
There are only BIOS updates available for a few of the Chaintech 486 mainboards. To
download the BIOS update for the boards that have one just click on the model name in the Chaintech 486 Mainboard Overview.
Even for the boards that do have an update available
it is still not recommended to update the BIOS !
The BIOS updates only contain small bug fixes which will NOT address important issues such
as large capacity harddrive support or Y2K compliance. The reason why we warn for updating
is that the risk of an unsuccesful update process (ending up with a `dead` PC) is greater
than the possible gains. Also, the number of different PCB versions of a particular board,
some of which may not be able to use the latest BIOS update.
BIOS UPDATING
PROCESS
If you do intend to update your BIOS anyway, make sure to use
the v5.0 flash utility. Also, don`t forget to
save your current BIOS in case the updating process fails. Should the BIOS update process
fail and you are not able to reprogram the BIOS with the saved file, then it will be
necessary to use an EPROM programmer to reprogram the BIOS. If you don`t have one yourself
(most likely) please contact your dealer. If he also cannot help you, then contact one of
our service centers nearest you. For the USA you can contact tech@chaintechusa.com, for Europe contact our
German office at elt@chaintech.de and for other
territories, please contact mail@ccmgate.chaintech.com.tw
ADDRESSING
LARGE CAPACITY HARDDRIVES
One of the most frequently asked questions concerning 486 mainboards is the ability to
address large capacity (>1GB) harddrives on these boards. Due to the limitations of the
chipsets on these boards it is not possible to directly address these type of harddrives.
It is necessary to use third party software such as OnTrack`s DiskManager (or similar) to
address the total space of these harddrives. Due to the limitations of the 486 board`s
chipsets it is also not possible to fully benefit from advanced features of these
harddrives such as higher performance (PIO mode 4, Ultra DMA/33) and other Enhanced IDE`s
benefits.
Y2K COMPLIANCE
None of the Chaintech 486 mainboard's BIOS updates is fully Y2K compliant. In order to
address this issue, Chaintech provides a utility, the TSR2000, which should be installed
just before the year change 1999-2000. After the yearchange has passed, you can remove
this utility. For more information on this Y2K issue please refer to the Y2K section on this website.
JUMPERSETTINGS
Unfortunately, there are no text or PDF files available for the 486 mainboards. In order
to make the jumpersettings of the 486 mainboards available for viewing through the
internet, the jumpersettings were scanned into GIF files, which can be found in the below Chaintech 486 Mainboard Overview. Please note
that the files have been maximally compressed in order to keep downloading times low. The
quality of the scanned pictures has therefore been compromised without loosing its
functionality. If you want us to fax or scan any particular part of the manual of
your 486 board which is not available for downloading here, then please don`t hesitate to
send us an e-mail.
CHAINTECH
486 MAINBOARD OVERVIEW
Please refer to our new model specific support pages for information on BIOS updates,
jumpersettings, etc.
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