intel gt 440zx help??

[tdean]

i have a system that i cant find any info on. the mobo is supposedly gt440zx, and cpu is p3 500. i cant find anything on it. the chipset has this written on it :
intel
pci set
fw82371eb
f9191f64
sl37m
intel 98
anyway, i cant find any info at the intel site. the problem is that id like to upgrade the bios. only one usb port is functional and there are jumpers on the board that im wondering could be causing this. device mgr is only listing a few things... advanced power mgt support (?)... no monitor, vid card, sound... it just seems strange. when i boot up, the monitor doesnt display graphics.... i get one long beep and 3 short ones and the system shuts off. then i restart it and it works. the current bios is an award v 1.01. a chip next to the award chip says winbond on it and #w83977ef-aw. if anyone thinks they can help, please do. i hope some of this makes sense.

 

[Crashman]

The other chip from the chipset probably tells what the chipset is.
Anyway, if you can get it to POST and give us the mumber from teh bottom of the screen, it is easy to identify the board from that number.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

 

[tdean]

well, the number from the post screen is 11/29/1999 i440bx/zx-za69kb3mc-00. i couldnt find anything other than the creative, onboard audio chip to help id the board... a few very very small chips (w/letters cet on them)and green heat sink in middle. is it common for one of the two usb ports to stop working? there is nothing physically wrong with it as far as i can see. how about my device mgr, i thought it was strange so many things were not listed. thanks for the help crashman.

 

[Crashman]

I'm fairly certain you have the BCM GT440ZX. You can see details of it <A HREF="http://www.bcmcom.com/tech/GT440ZX/GT440ZX.htm" target="_new">HERE</A>
Because BCM is mainly an OEM supplier, and the ZX only supports 2 USB ports, it is quite possible that one USB port was disabled, and a header provided for a case front USB connection instead. HP loved to do that, I'm sure there were others that did the same.
The best news here is that this motherboard supports all 100MHz FSB PIII's and all Celerons. You could easily put a 750 on it, even an FC-PGA CPU with an converter card ("Slotket"). Or overclock a Celeron 566 to 850 on it, using an Abit Slotket III (the cheapest slotket to provide voltage and bus speed controlls).
As for only having one available USB port, Compgeeks is running a special on 4 port hubs for $10.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

 

[Crashman]

Oh, and I am almost certain that this is your board. Asearch of the web with your bios string would NOT give you that information it required special expertise, so all thanks are apreciated.
The link I gave you should provide the jumper information you need. Remember that if you want to upgrade the procesor, all Coppermines have internal multiplier locks, making onboard multipliers useless.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

 

[tdean]

yup... thats it. thanks again for your help. i'll be headed to compgeeks for a usb hub.