1. m748bios.zip Driver
2. readme.txt File Contents

readme.txt Driver File Contents (m748bios.zip)

M748LMRT Motherboard BIOS update Process.

The BIOS update on the M748LMRT motherboard is fairly straightforward, but requires to be done with great care to ensure that the motherboard will remain fully operational after the update.  This is equivalent to brain surgery for a computer.  It is suggested to print this document, and to follow each steps carefully.  If you are unsure, DON`T DO IT, as it is better to have a computer with a few snags, than no computer at all.  The process goes as follows:


1-  DETERMINE THE BIOS TYPE ON YOUR M748LMRT MOTHERBOARD.

This information is shown as the first line on the monitor at the initial power-up of the computer.  If necessary, use computer the reset switch as to get all required information.  If the first line shows AMERICAN MEGATRENDS, then your computer is equipped with AMI BIOS, and the AMIFL815.EXE utility will be required.  If the computers refers to AWARD BIOS, then the AWARD bios and their utility will be required.  You can get this from www.pcchips.com.tw/bios and follow the instructions to get the proper bios for your motherboard.  Because my computer was equipped with AMI BIOS, the rest of the files are included here.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND TO USE THESE FILES IF YOUR COMPUTER IS EQUIPPED WITH A DIFFERENT BIOS THAN AMI.


2-  DETERMINE THE DATE OF YOUR BIOS.

The files in here are for an AMI BIOS dated 01-11-2000 for a M748LMRT motherboard.  The date of your BIOS is printed as the second line on the monitor at initial power up of your computer.  If the date is older than 01-11-2000, and your computer has AMI BIOS, then your computer is a good candidate for a bios update. 


3-  GET ALL OF THE CURRENT CMOS SETTINGS.

When the new BIOS will be installed, the computer CMOS memory will initially report a checksum error.  This is normal, as the checksum bytes in the CMOS will be different of the one contained in the new BIOS.  In order to restore the proper settings later, it is recommended to TAKE NOTE OF ALL CURRENT SETTINGS in your CMOS at this time.  To do this, turn off the computer, and press the DEL key a few times at the computer initial startup.  This will bring you to the computer built in AMIBIOS SIMPLE SETUP UTILITY.  By using all required keystrokes, navigate in all of the menus, and take note of ALL of the settings.  These will have to be restored by yourself when the BIOS update will be completed later on.  While you are in the CMOs settings, ensure that the ADVANCED SETUP sub-nemu shows that the FLOPPY can be used as the first boot device.  If not, use the cursor keys to select this option.  (you can also take note of the previous reading, and restore it to that once the process il all completed).  If it is felt that a mistake was made by inadvertently changing a parameter, just exit WITHOUT SAVING, and redo the process once more.  Once all parameter values have been written down, EXIT the CMOS WITHOUT SAVING, and proceed to step 4.


4-  FORMAT A FLOPPY DISK AS A BOOTABLE DISK.

It is VERY important to do the BIOS update using only DOS.  To to this,  a bootable diskette shall be used.  This can be done in Windows 98 (what I use) by clicking on MyComputer, than RIGHT click on the 3 1/2 floppy drive (drive A), and select Format...  This should open the disk format window.  Select 'Quick Erase', and select 'Display summary when finished', and the most important, 'Copy system files'.  Then insert a formatted disk you no longer require in drive A, and press 'Start'.  This should create a bootable disk.


5- COPY THE REQUIRED FILE ON THE BOOT DISK.

This step is self explanatory.  It requires to COPY the AMIFL815.EXE UTILITY, and the new BIOS FILE 2K0111s.rom on the bootable floppy located in drive A.  You are now ready to proceed with a BIOS update.


6-  STARTUP YOUR COMPUTER ON DRIVE A

Start-up (or restart) your computer with the bootable floppy disk that was created on drive A.  If everything goes well, your computer WILL NOT START WINDOWS, and WILL SHOW a good old 'a>' prompt instead.  If you got there, you are now imminently ready to update your machine BIOS, which will be done as the next step.  If you have cold feet and want to quit, QUIT now by rebooting your computer without this floppy disk.


7-  UPDATE THE BIOS

This is the critical moment.  The "brain surgery" is about to start. Make sure that the POWER CANNOT be interrupted from your computer during that time, and that the RESET key is NOT to be used. During the update  process, not much will happen, and will last about two minutes.  The critical stuff required by the computer will be copied into the computer RAM while the Flash BIOS gets updated with the new code contained on floppy disk.   Because of this, if the computer is turned OFF while the update is in progress, the computer will probably be unusable after, and the BIOS chip will have to be reblown by a technician.  However, because the floppy disk contains the CODE to be burned into the BIOS, this becomes a fairly simple exercise if you know the right people.  When all required checks have been made, and you are ready to proceed, type the following command at the prompt.


		AMIFL815 2k0111s.ROM

and hit return (The above line was for an AMI BIOS.  The AWARD BIOS utility, and BIOS file is different.  Get it from www.pcchips.com.tw/bios).

If everything is OK, the computer will read the DOS command utility and execute it.  The command will then perform some checks on your motherboard to make sure that is is of the right kind, that the new BIOS file is valid for that motherboard, and that it is more recent than the one currently on the computer.  If all is validated and OK, it will ask you to proceed.  This is when the BIOS update will be done.  If you proceed, A small barograph made out of dots will be shown on screen, and the program will give you an update on the process.  This is when the "brain surgery" is actually done. Just wait in the guess room if you are too nervous, and come back later.  After about one to two minutes, the process is completed with success.  MAKE SURE THAT THE PROCESS IS SUCCESSFULL BEFORE TURNING OFF THE COMPUTER.


8 - RESET the CMOS memory parameters.

Once the new BIOS is successfully updated, turn off the computer.  Remove the floppy disk, and reboot the computer.  At this time, the computer will warn about bad checksum, and will ask to proceed with default values.  It is suggested to re-enter the CMOS update utility by pressing the DEL key at start-up, and to navigate through all of the menus to reset all values to what they were before the BIOS update.  If the CDROM parameter gives difficulty, press the autodetect, and the parameters will enter by themselves, then correct them if needed.  When this is done, EXIT and SAVE the new values.  The computer will now restart normally, and your new BIOS is installed.  Congratulations it's a 01-11-2000.


Francois Ouellet
March 2000.