Query Re: Gateway PIII 600 and Ultra 66 bios

I got a second hand computer...no manuals. I wiped out windows and
installed slack linux....this is not a Linux question. Regardless, having
problems with a serial port config and modem then discovered something about
the bios.

Does anyone know or is it possible that the bios info is stored on the hard
drive. If I take out the orginal hard drive.. which now has Linux, and
install a hard drive from another Linux box I get an error message that the
bios can't be loaded etc. FYI, the orginal hard drive works fine with Linux

Also, when I reinstall the orginal HD and hit the tab key to view the boot
messages I get the following:

Serial Presence Detected (SPD) device data missing or inconclusive... I
can't seem to find any info on this message. Is this a ram problem??? I'm
getting conflicting info on this matter.

model name : Pentium III (Coppermine)
stepping : 1
cpu MHz : 596.933


Any help, pointers etc appreciated.

ken

The BIOS is NOT stored on the hard drive of a Gateway computer. The motherboard
is very likely a generic Intel design (or close) with a Gateway splash screen in
the BIOS.

"Serial Presence Detected (SPD) device data missing or inconclusive" tells you
that either the memory in the computer is PC66 or that it does not conform to
the industry JEDEC standard for circuitry to identify its speed and capacity.

The phrase "Ultra 66 bios" in the subject line implies to me that the system has
an add-in IDE card with its own hard disk BIOS... Ben Myers


On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 01:13:06 GMT, No_One <no_one@no_where.com> wrote:

>I got a second hand computer...no manuals. I wiped out windows and
>installed slack linux....this is not a Linux question. Regardless, having
>problems with a serial port config and modem then discovered something about
>the bios.
>
>Does anyone know or is it possible that the bios info is stored on the hard
>drive. If I take out the orginal hard drive.. which now has Linux, and
>install a hard drive from another Linux box I get an error message that the
>bios can't be loaded etc. FYI, the orginal hard drive works fine with Linux
>
>Also, when I reinstall the orginal HD and hit the tab key to view the boot
>messages I get the following:
>
>Serial Presence Detected (SPD) device data missing or inconclusive... I
>can't seem to find any info on this message. Is this a ram problem??? I'm
>getting conflicting info on this matter.
>
>model name : Pentium III (Coppermine)
>stepping : 1
>cpu MHz : 596.933
>
>
>Any help, pointers etc appreciated.
>
>ken

On 2007-04-10, Ben Myers <ben_myers_spam_me_not@charter.net> wrote:
> The BIOS is NOT stored on the hard drive of a Gateway computer. The motherboard
> is very likely a generic Intel design (or close) with a Gateway splash screen in
> the BIOS.
>
> "Serial Presence Detected (SPD) device data missing or inconclusive" tells you
> that either the memory in the computer is PC66 or that it does not conform to
> the industry JEDEC standard for circuitry to identify its speed and capacity.
>
> The phrase "Ultra 66 bios" in the subject line implies to me that the system has
> an add-in IDE card with its own hard disk BIOS... Ben Myers
>
>

Thanks for the info. Now I understand....the help is appreciated.

ken