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how to know what bios version you have?

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cruising

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How do i find out what version of bios my xt have? there is 3 versions right? do i need a software to print my version on screen?

And also, my system has 576K mem, aint that a little odd numbers? my MB is a 64-256k and have 1 mem card that should then a 320k?
Im sure there is some logic behind this, but i cant figure it out haha :D
 
See this thread. Normally IBM XT BIOS ROMs (U18 and U19) will have part numbers printed on them. You can try using these part numbers to figure out the version.

Also if you're able to boot your system, you can run DEBUG, do D FFFF:0000 command, and check the date show in the first line on the right (ASCII) output. (And then refer to the thread above to find detailed info).
 
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You might have a 384K memory card and bank 5 could be dead or unpopulated or it could be configured incorrectly, e.g., 320K instead of 384K.
 
sergey said:
See this thread. Normally IBM XT BIOS ROMs (U18 and U19) will have part numbers printed on them. You can try using these part numbers to figure out the version.

Also if you're able to boot your system, you can run DEBUG, do D FFFF:0000 command, and check the date show in the first line on the right (ASCII) output. (And then refer to the thread above to find detailed info).
Click to expand...


It says 11/08/82. so then i have second version right?
Stone said:
You might have a 384K memory card and bank 5 could be dead or unpopulated or it could be configured incorrectly, e.g., 320K instead of 384K.
Click to expand...

now when you say it, if im not remember wrong, i saw bank 5 unpopulated, so that could be the thing!
 
You'd use a UV eraser to clear the original chip (if it has a window, can't remember), then an EPROM programmer to burn in the new image, then install the chip. (Or just program a new chip).
Personally I wouldn't bother unless you really needed a particular feature.
 
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You can't flash the existing chip. You need to get another chip to flash. You wouldn't want to flash the original chip even if you could. What if something went wrong and you had no BIOS chip that worked? :)
 
hehe yeah I just thought of that, edited it, then spot you'd snapped me :)
I've been working with newer boards too much lately - built 4 8088 clones in the last few months.
 
SpidersWeb said:
You'd use a UV eraser to clear the original chip (if it has a window, can't remember), then an EPROM programmer to burn in the new image, then install the chip. (Or just program a new chip).
Personally I wouldn't bother unless you really needed a particular feature.
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what i meant, but in other words :) ofc i would never do such a thing on the og chip. but after all...i have no such equipment or knowledge to burn a new bios.
But for what i can understand they did make newer bios for a purpose to fix bugs and things like that? first bios could only read 544k mem, that was fixed in second version?

But i have no trouble with the bios i have atm. and i have a backpacker 1.44mb ext floppy being shipped to me, so in that way i will be able to use floppys when the 5.25" aint working properly of some reason.

I would be happy for answers in y other post about the floppy trouble :)
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?42069-My-IBM_XT-har-arrived!-but-need-help!
 
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Note that there is a lot of IBM 5160 (IBM XT) information at http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/index.htm

cruising said:
first bios could only read 544k mem, that was fixed in second version?
Click to expand...
That limitation (not a bug) is in the early BIOS versions of the IBM 5150 (IBM PC), not the IBM 5160 (IBM XT).

cruising said:
But i have no trouble with the bios i have atm. and i have a backpacker 1.44mb ext floppy being shipped to me, so in that way i will be able to use floppys when the 5.25" aint working properly of some reason.
Click to expand...
Note though that you will not be able boot from the Backpack drive.

For booting from a 3.5" diskette on an IBM 5160, one option is to connect a 1.44M drive to the floppy controller, and then boot from a 720K sized diskette. More information about that is [here].
 
modem7 said:
Note though that you will not be able boot from the Backpack drive.

For booting from a 3.5" diskette on an IBM 5160, one option is to connect a 1.44M drive to the floppy controller, and then boot from a 720K sized diskette. More information about that is [here].
Click to expand...


I didnt know i couldnt boot from that one, but since i have dos 3.20 on my HDD i dont need to boot from a FDD. And i do not have the right cable to add a 1.44Mb FDD to my floppy controller, both the controller and the FDD has that flat edge connector.

And i still want my full height FDD to be mounted, or else i will have a gaping hole in the front, i think i have a half height unknown reading size at my parents house, might be a 1.2Mb one, but still i have the wrong controller card i think (630k limited).
 
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