Need Boot CD

[BobCharlie]

I have a Biostar A780L3L board I bought as a used set up with no CD. I just found out the CD that comes with it has some features to unlock in the BIOS I so desperately need. Can someone plz be a saint and offer up an ISO for that CD? I've Googled and nothing is coming up. Worse case I can buy a whole board from newweg but I probably won't get my full price back

 

[jaquith]

Your BIOSTAR A780L3L seems to support LIMITED ACC {Advanced Clock Calibration}; in the BIOS Advanced Clock Calibration -> All Cores
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_700_chipset_series#Advanced_Clock_Calibration

It does NOT support Core Unlocking e.g. BIOSTAR 'unlocKING'

unlocKING supported MOBOs.
See -> http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/event/biounlocking/features.htm
Supported -> http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/event/biounlocking/model.php

A780L3L Ver. 6.x -> http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en-us/mb/bios.php?S_ID=495
Everything on the CD is here:
Drivers -> http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en-us/mb/driver.php?S_ID=495

 

[BobCharlie]

I just got off the phone with a Biostar Tech and I'm apparently missing a voltage tab in my Bios. I have been able to get a stable OC of 3.70Ghz, but need more than 1.4000v to go further. The tech said he'll contact me tomorrow with possible regards to a different BIOS update as the one on their site didn't include thie tab I'm missing. I'd really like to have the Boot CD as I'm not sure what is or isn't on it. I've looked on other threads with people OC ing with this board and they have extra settings that I'm missing. I already downloaded the manual earlier. This board's BIOS does have a core unlocking feature, but you've got to have a correct processor like a 3 core. I'm not trying or interested in unlocking cores as my 250 doesn't have any to unlock.

 

[BobCharlie]

Your BIOSTAR A780L3L seems to support LIMITED ACC {Advanced Clock Calibration}; in the BIOS Advanced Clock Calibration -> All Cores
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_700_chipset_series#Advanced_Clock_Calibration

It does NOT support Core Unlocking e.g. BIOSTAR 'unlocKING'

Core unlocking can apparently be done 2 ways with my board. The wiki you posted for Advanced Calibration (which this board has) would be one way, the other is pressing F3 or F4 during boot if I'm understanding it correctly.

 

[jaquith]

Your MOBO is not listed with the feature, and the BIOSTAR MOBO's that have that feature use this 'Badge' so if it magically does then BIOSTAR should have listed it in either the the unlocKING or spec page.

I assume you asked what's on the CD when you were on the'phone with a Biostar Tech' -- what did they say?

I never use or have the need for the MOBO's CD/DVD.

 

[BobCharlie]

I'm not sure why they don't advertise the unlocking, but it definitely has Bio-unlocking whether through F3-F4 or the Advance Calibration. It actually has up to 5 cores in the BIOS setting that can possibly be active. It's possible it was an afterthought or they don't care to update, I dunno.


Eh, even though I think I was talking to someone in Florida, I got the impression I was talking to "Peggy" as the background sounded like someone's house 0_o and everyone spoke with thick accents and were somewhat rude and impolite. I never got the chance to discuss a CD as I was asking about why my voltage was prevented from going above 1.4 and why the multiplier was limited to x15 when the board below and above this one have features I don't. Particularly the setting that gives a small % boost in voltage to be applied to the main voltage. I'm content with 3.72Ghz that seems to be stable at the moment (was getting semi-stable @3.8Ghz) but if I keep this board and decide to get a 4 core AMD, I want to be able to run it a bit. Plus, I want 3.9 like everyone else LOL. I'll run this set up as hard as I can before upgrading to a stronger OCing board, this is letting me get my feet wet.


I've never had a need for a CD either. Didn't realize this even need one as the kid said nothing about one. But I'd still like one nonetheless, and posting an ISO is pretty simple.

I'll pay 5 bucks for a working ISO that's meant for this board. Anyone with this board who posts it's ISO and it's a correct CD for it, I'll send you 5 dollars. No BS.

 

[BobCharlie]

Nobody has this board? If you have the A780L3 or the A780L3G model and you have a CD, and are willing to send me an ISO it might work as the boards are somewhat similar. Otherwise anyone with the A780L3L like mine is willing to help, I'd appreciate it greatly.

 

[jaquith]

The chances of you getting an ISO are near 0/NIL here or anywhere. If it's a big deal to you then contact BIOSTAR and buy one.

 

[BobCharlie]

LOL...thx for the optimism. I did get a Winternals ISO here that helped me recently.


Biostar Tech replied and said they hid the volt setting after the manual and board were initially released citing an engineer stated it wasn't a good OC board (guess people were frying them). I opened the initial release BIOS file with AMI BIOS editing program and it was indeed there, but the check next to it was gone. He said they have to update the manual and the website LOL. I opened the 2nd BIOS file (the recent update) and interestingly enough, the volt tab was still hidden, but they completely removed 1 of the 3 hidden setting... like what's the point? I thought I had the middle board, but it was the 1st release, followed by the A780L3G, then finally the A780L3 which has a TON of features to OC with and none were hidden which I find ODD as it's basically the same board. The tech said people should only OC the "T" series, but if the L3 has all the OC settings I have no idea why he'd ignore that as a candidate. Anyways, if a CD turns up somewhere, I'll grab it. Otherwise I'm going to just Clone the Drive with Acronis as Acronis has a bootable CD I can make.

Anyways, for those with same board as me or one of the other 2 that are based off this one, I'm going to make a mini tut showing what my stable OC settings were with the most recent BIOS update (78LCP128.BSS) as it's limited to 1.4000v for the CPU and the best I could muster was a fully stable 3.72Ghz with the Athlon II x2 250. If you have the other 2 boards, you'll have an easier time as long as you don't update your BIOS as you'll loose a couple overvolt features due to Biostar hiding them and eventually removing them altogether. I'm working on unlocking the volt setting in the intial BIOS release called 78LCP607.BSS as it gives a slight +0.10, +0.20, and +0.30 over volt which originally came with my board. I'm also trying to figure out how they're limiting the ranges. If you have never updated your board's BIOS and it isn't giving you trouble, DO NOT update. I'll post the stable OC with that as well to show what the differences might be and hopefully help someone at some point as I had trouble finding posts with my set up. I had to sift through forum after forum just to get tid bits and they were using more advanced volt features 78LCP128.BSS doesn't have.