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:

1. Turn the computer off and remove all power sources
2. Open the screen and move it back as far as it will go
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.