MP975
Year 2000 Information Status
Systems with BIOS Version 1.35 or higher are Y2K compliant.
How to tell if your computer is compliant
Turn the computer on and look at the first screen which appears.
There will be 2 lines of copyright information followed by a double line which runs
all the way across the screen. Read the line just below this double line. This
line is your BIOS Version. If the number is 1.35 or higher then you are Y2K
compliant
What if your computer is not compliant
If your serial number begins with the characters "A7" or
"A8" you can simply download and install the updated BIOS.
Note when reading the serial number label, many
people confuse systems with "A8" and "AB", so please read your serial
number carefully.
If your serial number begins with "AA" or "AB"
you need to determine the chipset used in the computer. There are 2 different core
logic chipsets used in this model. You can only update your BIOS if you have the
more recent version of the chipset. There are 2 different ways to determine your
chipset:
- If you have Windows 95 installed, Go to Control Panel, System, Device
Manager, and look under Hard Disk Controllers. If you have an OPTI Dual PCI
Controller listed, you have the more recent chipset and are able to update the BIOS
If you have a Standard IDE/ESDI controller, you have the older chipset and
CANNOT update the BIOS.
- If you do not have Windows 95 installed, you have to read the number
directly off of the chip on the mainboard. To read the chip number, you must do the
following:
- Turn the computer off and remove all power sources
- Open the screen and move it back as far as it will go
- There is one plate which contains the power button, the small status
window, and also covers the screen hinges. Grasp this plate near the screen hinges
and lift upward to remove.
- With this plate removed, you need to lift the keyboard up. Note that
there may be a single screw holding the keyboard down which is located next to the Print
Screen key in the upper right corner.
- Look at the large square chip just under the keyboard ribbon cables.
Note that there are usually stickers on top of this chip which may have to be peeled back
to read the numbers. If the number on this chip ends with "M" you have the
more recent chipset and are able to update the BIOS. If this chip number does not
end in the letter "M" you have the older chipset.
If you determine that you have the newer chipset as represented by
the OPTI Dual PCI Controller in Windows 95 or the "M" on the end of the chipset
number you can Just Update Your BIOS
If you find that your computer has the older chipset, the only way
in which to make this computer Y2K compliant is to replace the mainboard with one which
contains the newer chipset. Whatever you do, DO NOT attempt to update your BIOS,
using the newer BIOS on the old chipset will make computer unstable and possibly unusable
.Although this computer will not automatically roll over to 2000, it will correctly handle
Y2K dates if the date is set manually. This means that if you update the date on
1/1/2021 either manually or by synchronizing the time with a network, the computer will
process dates correctly. This would only have to be done once, unless the date was
reset.
BIOS Updates
Click on the links below to download a BIOS update. Note that the
BIOS is very specific and loading the wrong BIOS may make your computer
un-usable. Please check your system before downloading the
BIOS. You should ONLY update your BIOS if your system requires it.
Download
Instructions
- Click on the correct link on the right
- When prompted by your browser, select save the program to your
computer. Note, DO NOT save the file on to a floppy Disk.
- Make sure you have a blank floppy disk and the floppy drive
installed in your computer
- Double click the downloaded file. The file will
self-extract and launch a program which will create a BIOS
update floppy.
- Follow the on screen instruction.
Note to WinNT users: This
process must be run from a DOS/Win9.x boot disk. If you have
Win NT you must create a boot floppy on a DOS/Win9x system.
Once you have this floppy, extract the files and copy the contents
of \DOWNLOAD on to the floppy. Reboot the system from the
floppy and the update will begin automatically. |
Download Links
Version
1.38 for systems with
256K
Version
1.38 for systems with
512K
Determining Cache Size
Cache size is displayed during the boot. This appears on the
second screen which appears after powering the system on.
Cache size is also displayed in the CMOS setup. You may access
this by pressing CTRL+ALT+ESC when prompted during the boot. |
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