I-Appliance BBS The Official Source for Internet Appliance Upgrades and Mods Click Here! BBS Main List | Sign In | Sign Up | Search | Help | Linux-Hacker.net Reply to Thread | Printer |

Home / WebSurfer Areas / WebSurfer Technical Stuff FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer

FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ FIRST, This post is kinda long.. THIS WILL BREAK YOUR ONBOARD IDE CONTROLLER's ABILITY TO BOOT FROM IT. THIS WILL BREAK YOUR ONBOARD IDE CONTROLLER's ABILITY TO BOOT FROM IT. THIS WILL BREAK YOUR ONBOARD IDE CONTROLLER's ABILITY TO BOOT FROM IT. In order to fix any of this you will HAVE TO reflash your bios in your websurfer. I think we have a situation SIMILAR to the i-opener, I think the bios that is in the websurfer is made to be very unsuportive. -- Or its just an OLD outdated version from the original OEM unit. I took the OEM version of the bios for this unit and re-flashed 1 of my websurfers with it. (I have 2, both I added the onboard IDE connector to) -- This was a NON websurfer based bios. I think it's for the orginal 1030 model. First thing I noticed there is a couple more options in the bios setup. (boot from on-board lan adapter and some USB legacy support) Bad thing was that now I could NO LONGER boot from my modified ide controller on mainboard. I could boot from 2940 now though! which I could NOT do on the old bios, this was cool but it was just a test. Well I was trying to figure away to make the new bios boot off the internal controller by using hiew and comparing the boot strap routines between the original WEBSURFER bios and the newest OEM bios for that motherboard, I found a couple differences and changed them but was unable to succeed. (I gave up pretty quick, I still think it can be done) -- Someone should really focus on this, then we can have access back to the onboard IDE controller.. So anyhow, today I decided I would just use the OLD bios so I could use my onboard IDE controller and stick a PCI network card in it. Well I couldnt get ANY SINGLE pci network card to work in this damn machine, 0, I tried like 4 different brands. (The closest that came to working was the compaq 10/100) So I had just about given up when I thought let me see if I can re-flash BACK to the OEM bios and stick 2 cards in the riser socket. (An Intel e100b was the first I tried, and an ISA IDE card that I new worked) -- I had to remove the bracket from the IDE card so that BOTH cards would fit in the riser at the same time. Also you MIGHT need to have the bracket out that holds the PCI inplace at the back of the unit. (I dont know, I had mine out at the time) Well it still booted, and win98se detected my network card again, and I figured it was going to NOT work like it had not every time before with 4 different network cards... NOPE! it came right up and worked fine! - So then I pulled the e100b out and stuck a compaq back in, figuring I would try that one that would not work before either.. Yep that one worked also! ALSO, both times the PCI network card used Int 15, which on my old bios win98se would complain about. Played a 26 megabyte 192K mp3 with no skipping over the network card. (I did hear a couple tiny high Freq. pops, but I dont know if its the sound support or winamp.. or the output on the websurfer audio) Can anyone recommend a good mp3 player that is low overhead compared to winamp? So if anyone needs better then USB network support and wants some information/help this is what wound up working for me. It would not surprise me AT ALL, if more IDE cards started working also because of this. (I cannot promise anything, just that it fixed allot of problems for *ME*) If someone wants to HOST this OEM bios for the WEBSURFER, leave your email here and I will send it. PLEASE only people that can host this file so others can download it. Thanks _MiSFiT_ 04-30-2000 13:01:12

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) Bolex I've had the same results trying to get any card that has any type of BIOS to work. I think that your on the right track. _Misfit_ .. where did you get the original OEM bios from, and how did you flash it? BOLEX 04-30-2000 13:24:15

host bios file (modified 0 times) diversity Profile diversity@hushmail.com be happy to put it up for everyone on: http://www.geocities.com/d1v3rs1ty/ 04-30-2000 13:27:42

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ I just sent the zip containing the bios file and the version of awdflash I used diversity. Thanks 04-30-2000 13:43:51

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) hanky That sure is a lot of work when you can just use a $5 ISA card. Mygod, it's not a $2000 300MHZ PIII! 04-30-2000 13:47:59

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ I think you miss the point Hanky. Some of us have extra equipment laying around, and the further interest to push this $50.00 machine to it's full potential with any of this extra equipment we might have.. And this is hacking, it's not allot of work if you know what your doing. - its one command to re-flash your bios. Most that hack actually enjoy messing around with the stuff their hacking. It's not about money, at least not for me. The amount of time I have spent with this unit if I was billing someone and working I could have bought a real pc. -- Not to mention the I-Opener! haha It's fun. =) 04-30-2000 14:00:16

hosted file (modified 0 times) diverse Profile Ok here it is: http://www.geocities.com/d1v3rs1ty/new_websurferpro_bios.zip 04-30-2000 14:11:27

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) Rick I was always able to boot off of my Promise Ultra DMA 66 card which uses IRQ 15, but then I have DOS Compatability Mode Problems, because that conflicts with the IDE controler on the mobo. When I upgraded the bios, not only did that problem not go away, but my system became unstable. When I downgraded back it was fine again. Maybe I'm missing something.. what are your BIOS settings? Where did you get this BIOS? BTW, I'm running Win98FE. Thanx, --Rick 04-30-2000 18:04:16

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ It's a bios for the OEM version of the websurfer. The company that distributes websurfer. (Innovator) oem's them. I now tried all my PCI based network cards that were NOT working with the older bios(4 total) They ALL work now. My system is stable also(win98SE lite), I will test more. I never tried with a Promise. Try turning off auto assignment of IRQ's in bios and set IRQ 15 as in use by ISA card, then the promise will pick a different IRQ on boot. 04-30-2000 18:14:54

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) Solder Boy Misfit I found this link http://jagermicro.com/faq/faq1.htm, look at the irq routing section. See if it helps you. I tried this early on in my tinkering, didn't help. I can't get to my WSP now. I'll try it again tomorrow. machine.inf might contain some interesting hacks. Solder Boy 04-30-2000 18:49:29

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ Just a follow up.. I have had my machine running for around 1.5 hours now playing mp3's and doing some other stuff every 15 or so minutes.. (playing mp3's the whole time) No stability problems for me yet.. Also, noticed that playing Mp3's over a PCI Network card is a hell of allot less intensive then my USB network adapter. I can actually move windows around while playin mp3's without major screen redraw lag with winamp(I would get major refresh probs when running the USB ethernet). It's allot more responsive.. I just wish I could get the NEW bios to boot off the internal IDE controller on the mainboard. I will have to do some more comparing of the bootstrap routine between it and the boot strap on the old bios when I get more time.. Also RICK, can you do me a favor for testing if you got time and do not mind.. Try upgrading back to the NEW bios, and re-installing win98se fresh and see if you notice and improvment in stability. I cannot remember now if I installed win98se before or after I updated to the newer bios. 04-30-2000 20:08:44

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) Amino Profile Does the DOC work with the OEM bios? 04-30-2000 20:43:47

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ Sorry Amino havent tried the newer bios with booting off DOC. I pulled both out of my unit's. I will when I get a chance though.. 04-30-2000 21:07:56

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) IZen _MiSFiT_ If I understand your posts you have just solved my problem. I am trying to run an old seagate ISA IDE and an Addtron PCI NIC using Win95 OSR2.5 stripped. IDE works great, NIC installs fine with no conflicts but uses Int15. Everything looks like it should work but it won't see my network and vice versa. Have you noticed any other anomalies with the OEM bios besides loss of on board IDE? Thanks for the great work -IZen 04-30-2000 21:14:22

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) Rick MisFit, I don't have a full copy of Win98SE I have the upgrade version though.. so that's semi-fresh, and I'll try 98lite "Chunky" too. Lot's of projects due this week, as soon as I have a break (may be as soon as 4am, or as late as Friday.. haha) I'll give it a shot. --Rick 04-30-2000 21:16:09

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ IZen Yes what you describe sounds very similar to what I experienced with the orginal WebSurfer bios and my COMPAQ 10/100 NIC, it's drivers would install fine and win98se would not report any PROBLEMS with it within system settings, even the login would pop up.. It would just not work, it would report no domain controller found when I went to log in. All the other PCI NIC's I tried would just fail with errors under win98se. In any case yes upgrading to the newer bios solved all the problems for me. The compaq NIC which was acting similar to what you describe worked, and the others that would just error out worked also.. I am in the process now of comparing the new bios to the old to see why it wont allow you to boot off the on board IDE controller anylonger. Funny thing is with the new bios the setup still scans and see's the IDE device attached, it just wont boot from it. I assume this new bios has probably been tweeked to ignore any drives on the internal controller on bootup. It still boots fine off an IDE card in the ISA slot assuming the onboard is disabled in setup. If you do upgrade to the NEW bios, do me a favor just upgrade then see if your current install of windows looses stability even though your network card should start working.. Rick here wound up with windows being more unstable after upgrading the bios. (I did not) I would like to see if the same happens for you, if it does try and do a fresh re-install to see if it then becomes stable. Thanks 04-30-2000 21:37:33

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) IZen _MiSFiT_ I'll try the new bios with my existing install as soon as I can get it down from diverse's site. The file is "currently unavailable." Diverse if your listening can you check this? thanx I'm also using the win95xallc40.zip countained Cyrix MediaGX Certified Win9x Drivers 4.0.exe for PCI support. Is this what you are using? -IZen 04-30-2000 21:45:09

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 ... (modified 0 times) guy2000 Profile I just flashed to the new BIOS and it solved all my PCI IDE problems! Thank you for posting this! I have been trying to get two different PCI Ultra-66 cards to work (one SIIG, one Digital Research) and to load Win2k. (please no flames, also planning to dual boot linux, but added extra 64 Meg PC100 to run Win2k as it is faster for my applications than Win9x) Under the WS BIOS: -- The SIIG card booted fine but Win2k Setup always hung after loading -- The Digital Research card only booted after I tweaked all the PNP settings to restrict choice to IRQ2-7; it got further than the SIIG in Win2k Setup, but the system always hung half way through copying the files -- The DR card uses the same chip as the Promise I think... by the way Staples are giving these away if you buy a 15Gig 7200 Ultra 66 for $139... not cheap but a convenient package Under the new BIOS: -- Both cards detected and booted the hard disk immediately with fully automatic PNP settings -- Win2k setup perfectly (apart from sound & video drivers which I will ask about in a separate thread) -- USB and other motherboard devices show up with native win2k drivers -- there is one unknown PCI bridge device but its lack of a driver doesnt seem to cause any problems I have no need for the onboard IDE and plan to add an ISA NIC card as well. Currently I am using a Linksys USB. 04-30-2000 21:51:18

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) done waitin Just a quick question can you set your boot options to A: on the new bios??? thanks 04-30-2000 22:02:33

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) IZen guy2000 did you get the NEW bios from diverse's site. I can't seem to get at the file and I'm itching to give this a try. 04-30-2000 22:04:10

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) guy2000 Profile IZen Yes I got the new BIOS from Diverse's site. I'd be happy to email it to you until his site comes back. 04-30-2000 22:07:30

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) IZen guy2000 I forgot to mention you can get the PCI bridge drivers here: http://www.avt.com.hk/mediagx/gxm3.asp. I forget who gets credit for this find but it was in an earlier thread:) -IZen 04-30-2000 22:08:04

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) IZen Guy2000 Please do email to Qizen@qnewington.qcom minus the 'Q's of course. Thanx 04-30-2000 22:10:08

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ I think I just fixed the NEW bios so it will boot off the Internal IDE header now.. Only 1 byte changed a JE to a JNE and now I am booting off my internal IDE controller on the mainboard.. Will test it some more tomorrow, gotta go to sleep. Will release the "hacked" new bios tomorrow night if it turns out to be working well. I think I need to figure out where else in the CODE to accomplish the same thing, It just acted a bit flaky on me when I switched out a 2 gig to 6 gig drive on the mainboard IDE. I had to turn it off and on like 2 times, It did boot eventually. Which is something.. NEW bios, and I am booting off internal IDE. (I am also going to try installing the UDMA driver now as a TEST, running of motherboard IDE with new bios) -- See if the new bios helps that out at all.. Hmm well using the UDMA drivers trashed my hd, screwed the fat table up beyond repair.. Will have to do allot of testing with this. Will re-install win98 tomorrow off the new hacked bios, WITHOUT installing the UDMA drivers and see how it goes.. 04-30-2000 22:12:19

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ Well I just had to do one more thing before going to sleep.. I re-installed win98se lite without any UDMA drivers.. With the NEW bios and hacked so it will work off internal IDE controller. I also figured out why it was acting weird when I was switching drives around. The internal IDE is on INT 15 I think, and the network card was trying to use it. So I just set manual in CMOS setup and set ISA in use to INT 10-15. Re-installed win98se lite with Video drivers and Audio + Intel 100B PCI nic, and its working fine.. Will let it run over night and see what happens. If this works ok for awhile I will release the NEW bios with the hack in place so any of those that want to use the NEW bios but still want to use the internal IDE you so carefully enabled you can+instructions. Maybe tomorrow night.. 04-30-2000 22:59:58

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) IZen MISFIT you da man. I flashed the new bios (thanks guy200) with my existing Win95 install, rebooted and my NIC works great. So far everything seems stable. I'll post if I find any incompatabilities. I think I'll put off the on board IDE upgrade until I need a free slot:) -IZen 04-30-2000 23:34:22

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) Corporal Clegg _MiSFiT_ Everything sounds really good so far, I'm quite impressed. However, before you post the new Bios, could you please verify whether or not the DoC chip still works? I know that this was mentioned above, but I haven't seen a responce yet in this thread. Also, could you post the original WS Bios as well? That's assuming of course that if I "don't like" the way the new Bios works, that I can simply re-flash with the old Bios. That way I don't have to worry about hosing my system... Thanks. (c: 04-30-2000 23:41:02

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) gern blanston Profile DOC still works with the new bios. Solved my PCI NIC problems. MANY THANKS! 04-30-2000 23:43:00

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) gern blanston Profile Beware that the instructions included with the bios, do NOT include a backup of the original BIOS. Be careful and checkout awd761 /? 04-30-2000 23:45:57

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ Yes when I release the NEW bios that can boot of the IDE on mainboard I will make sure to include a copy of the original WebSurfer bios with it. And I will try to test the ability to boot from the DOC also. 05-01-2000 03:24:22

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) Beeblebrox Really nice work, _MiSFiT_ I'm impressed. 05-01-2000 11:04:07

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ Well the new oem hacked bios seems to work well enough for me, I am going to e-mail it packaged with all the bios files so far to diversity.. Note, each bios file has the logo info removed. There is a long readme with some other info in the file. Hopefully he will put it up tonight. If someone else that is using the internal IDE controller can test this, that would be great. Thanks, _MiSFiT_ His Page: http://www.geocities.com/d1v3rs1ty/ 05-01-2000 17:12:34

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) diverse Profile Thanks to _MisFiT_ for files, I just posted the newly updated bios from him: http://www.geocities.com/d1v3rs1ty/ 05-01-2000 19:57:29

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) _MiSFiT_ Oh forgot to add.. The DOC does still seem to work with the newer hacked bios. 05-01-2000 20:18:00

RE:FIX! - For using PCI Network cards OR Adaptec 2940 and possibly many other's.. with WebSurfer (modified 0 times) Solder Boy Just tried the new modified bios. It works GREAT!!!! I'm using the internal IDE and a Netgear PCI NIC. Came up on the first try, no conflicts. GREAT JOB!! Solder Boy 05-01-2000 21:10:36

Reply to Thread | Printer | All times are PST Powered by UltraBoard v1.62

I-Appliance BBS General - NEWS, Breaking NEWS - linux-hacker.net BBS on CD Questions - User Groups in Your Town - E-Bay, Yahoo Auction LINKS ONLY (MODERATED) - Jokes & Humor - usdtv box I-Opener Areas - I-Opener General Posts - I-Opener Technical Stuff - I-Opener Technical Info Reference (MODERATED) WebSurfer Areas - WebSurfer General Posts - WebSurfer Technical Stuff - WebSurfer Technical Info Reference (MODERATED) Other I-Appliances - Virgin Webplayer - WebPal - MailStation - 3Com Audrey - ThinkNIC / Oracle NIC - Gateway/AOL Connected Touch Pad - Philips/AOL-TV - ACER NT-150 STB - MSN Companion - Compaq IA - Emachines IA - IBM NetVista IA - Intel dot.station - MSNTV2 Network Computers - Fujitsu-Siemens Scovery Linux Net Computers - GallantWeb Server Consoles - Dreamcast - xbox hacking Web Pads - Epods One General Post - Panasonic CF-01 - Fujitsu Stylistic 1200 - Cybiko Thin Clients - Thin Clients DigitalVideoRecorders - DTV Recorders, Replay, TiVo, Etc... - Tivo Hacks Linux - Midori Linux General Board - ITX MotherBoards Single Board Computers - Earth Computers mARMalade Elite Member Area MISC Areas - The Swap Meet WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY TRANSACTION HERE AND NO COMMERCIAL POST PERIOD !!! - Wireless Net - Cameras - Robotics - Routers/Gateways - Mattel JuiceBox