Let's revive a 486 Soyo SY-025R mainboard with a sneaky secret

In this video I would like to show an interesting case and why I really don't like to repair something, where someone else previously was trying own luck. The Soyo SY-025R is a nice board, but this exemplar had a very sneaky secret.
Ultimate Retro entry:
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Atheatos Channel:
/ atheatos
Patreon:
/ necroware

[@seedmoreuser]

Great catch on the BIOS chip. Most people wouldn't have caught it. Cheeky stunt.

[@daghtus]

It's a trap

[@Reziac]

Learned more about BIOS today than in the previous 30 years. (In my defense, I've never run into a totally wrong BIOS. But I have seen 'em crippled; now I know how to fix.)

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

22:34 But we like watching you repair board traces and battery damage. Please don't do things off camera, it's valuable content and entertaining to watch. :)

[@MerolaC]

Completely agree!

[@a.lisnenko]

Yes

[@tylerr676]

i agree

[@Astravall]

There can never be enough battery damage repair footage ;) ... at least i wouldn't mind ... i would watch it :).

[@necro_ware]

Next time I'll keep it in mind ;)

[@JorgeCarvalho_web_dev]

@@necro_ware Hi my friend!! Yes, the like button is adding up... Your fans demand it! Dont let your fans down... I have learned something new today. That bios tool is great. Fantastic video as always

[@necro_ware]

Thank you Jorge! ;)

[@esc2dos]

Dude, you are a wizard. This is life changing info. Thank you immensely.

[@jeremiefaucher-goulet3365]

Wow... I had no idea there were tools as capable/advanced as modbin. This is an eye opener to me. Makes me wonder why so many features were disabled on the bios from retro hardware. I mean, external cache should always have been available.

[@stamasd8500]

I may have an idea... it may have been a custom BIOS mod by some computer shop to enable them to sell later the customer an "upgrade" which makes their computer instantly faster.

[@jeremiefaucher-goulet3365]

​@@stamasd8500 That sounds shady and conspirationist af. I sure hope it wasn't common practice back in those days. Surely the tools we have today to customize BIOS didn't exist during the early 1990s?

[@RetroPeKar]

Most likely, this ROM image is from one of those scammy boards with fake cache chips. It can't hurt you if you don't know it's there, right?

[@asanjuas]

@@jeremiefaucher-goulet3365 Or at least enabled by default.

[@Inject0r]

A lot of OEM manufacturers did such modifications to non OEM motherboards. They are still doing that to this day. One very obvious motherboard I came across was an Asus A7N8X-LA, which was a very capable board, but had all of the features for overclocking removed. CPU detection was supposed to be automatically, so everything was as standard, so there couldn’t be more editable settings in the BIOS that would cripple the computer when edited by a user without any knowledge of what he/she/it’s doing.

[@gigaherz_]

I always assumed those BIOS were compiled from source(assembly), and would contain only the code for the features that are included. It's interesting to know the bios rom is actually "full featured" and just configured to not have certain options visible.

[@Merescat]

And now that I know this, I am annoyed to no end!

[@nickwallette6201]

@@Merescat Why? That opens up a world of options that wouldn’t have been there if each image were assembled specifically for the target board.

[@Merescat]

@@nickwallette6201 I guess the context of my reply is missing.

[@CptJistuce]

@@Merescat I'd bet money that the Award BIOS royalties varied with what options were en/disabled. At least it was an easier fix than modern processor feature-gating.

[@Merescat]

@@CptJistuce I agree. 🙂

[@Szederp]

Doing God's work here. I used to be an avid collector 286 and beyond cpus and boards but then I quit. Your channel brings back the magic.

[@eltrash]

Outstanding repair and very well explained. The BIOS Mod information are new to me. Thank you very much.

[@justajeffy]

That's a super-cool utility.

[@TomStorey96]

Your channel is the gift that keeps on giving. That BIOS tool .. man I never knew things were so customisable. That a revelation, my head is flooding with ideas for my own projects.

[@Zebpro]

That BIOS utility is ACE!!!! Thanks for sharing this and thanks for this really nice video!!! :-]

[@denyda1754]

Про такую модификацию BIOS не знал. Очень полезная программа. Как всегда лайк с меня :)

[@ferrari2k]

Wow, that program is wicked... will have to make sure to get it, that is every retro hardware persons dream :D Would have killed for a tool like that back then :D

[@necro_ware]

This is an official tool by Award from back then ;)

[@wishusknight3009]

That was a hard program to get a hold of back in the day. I hear there is an equivalent to AMIBios too.

[@nickwallette6201]

@@wishusknight3009 I would love to hear about it, if anyone knows what it’s called!

[@OllyK121]

Who would’ve thought to check the BIOS chip! Great catch

[@--fishiiki-]

New Necroware Repair video? My day just got a lot better

[@MerolaC]

Your repair videos repair my soul.

[@harlandmct]

I loved Soyo boards back in the day. They were solid and quite expandable. I got years out of the two I had.

[@MrVipeg]

Great video. Repairing motherboards, you inspired me to repair my battery damaged 486 MoBo. I successfully completed it. Then you taught, how to mod the BIOS - that inspires me again. Thank you very much for such a great content!

[@AbdAlgani1999]

Its better to write in name of video how to modify a valid bios Because its really important information for a lot of people

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

Ohhhh YEAAA! More repair!

[@RetroShare2]

Your work is great man. I ordered your ultimate rtc module in 3 different colors and will install 3 of them in my mainboards. I ordered 90 pcbs and the parts for it.

[@necro_ware]

Are you going to open a shop? :)

[@RetroShare2]

@@necro_ware maybe someday. For now, I don’t have enough stuff to sell. If someone needs them, he/she can contact me.

[@sdavifcom]

I have learned so much from your videos, it's a bit scary. I never knew you could modify the BIOS so easily. Thank you very much Professor...

[@necro_ware]

Knowledge exchange at it's best. Learning from each other is the best way to evolve....

[@logipilot]

Let me tell you a story: I watched this and used modbin on a slot 1 abit va6 via bios file and found hidden features to switch on the soundblaster dos mode for the onboard via sound! I flashed the modded bios with awardflash tool and boom: the board was dead. That was 1 week ago. On ebay I found the old "ctflasher" an isa card to flash bios chips with a turbo pascal program!? And it worked! My beloved abit board (which can handle from katmai to deschute, coppermine, tualatin...) works again! Love your channel!

[@UncleAwesomeRetro]

Nice work :) It was interesting to see the modifications to the bios.

[@bernardofortes6539]

Very cool. The entire lets fix the bios via Bios Mod tool for DOS was really interesting

[@ronniebrown8775]

Your videos are always a learning session for me! I enjoy them immensely! Thank you for sharing your insight and knowledge

[@fredflintstone4558]

Great video, thanks! Just wanted to mention that quite a few old motherboards with Award BIOS have an undocumented trick to unhide some extra "advanced" options by pressing a key combination In the main BIOS screen (Shift-F5 if I remember correctly on an old Soyo and an old Gigabyte board I used to own). Cheers

[@artursmihelsons415]

Great tool for BIOS modifications! That wrong BIOS chip was real trap from previous update/repair attempt.. Nice, that You figured it out.. 👍😉

[@sebastian19745]

I had a similar looking mainboard fro my 486. It was an real beast, I used it with CPUs from 486 DX2@66 up to AMD 586@133. It had FSBs of 33, 40 and 50, cache (WB or WT), voltage regulator, 3 VLB slots marked as 2 master and 1 slave. The BIOS was the graphical Winbios. My setup was with a VLB Trident TGui and an dual IDE VLB controller capable of UDMA and LBA, ISA soundcard SB PRO compatible. I ran Windows 95 on it with 4x1M 30pin + 2x8M 72pin SIMM. When I used 2x32M 72pin, the motherboard unleashed all its power: Windows, games, and all the software ran quick, smooth and I felt that it was on pair with my P1@90. I miss that motherboard, but I have no Idea what was its name, model or maker. I am almost sure that the chipset was UMC.

[@Eyetrauma]

Was setting up a “retro Hackintosh” (Core 2, so I had to use some older tools) and faced a similar issue: the system exposed HPET but no matter what you couldn’t configure it. Come to find out they deliberately hid the option to set the HPET type despite the BIOS fully supporting it. So annoying. Great repair dude, another one saved from the trash.

[@markae0]

I love the no CPU and stick wires in the socket!

[@stamasd8500]

I've been using this method myself quite frequently when testing motherboards, after I learned it here on this channel.

[@seanlynchbp]

thats a pretty cool program. I always wondered if there was extra setting in the BIOS and questioned how to enable them. Thanks for doing this video.

[@hardware994]

Just a word: "wow"! Never heard about that awesome tool. Thank you!

[@Subdest]

Nice video. Never see restoring bios by manual.

[@joaoc_PT]

Awesome video, another mainboard back to service!! Tks for the bios tricks, surely there are many bios not showing needed options.

[@thisoldtech2]

Hehe, I see my uploaded pics of my Soyo board in the video. Hats off to you, sir. I love archiving retro hardware :D

[@envoycdx]

Enjoyed re-watching this one :) Cheers, and looking forward to more videos.

[@Byte5]

Oh boy! Great vídeo and what a sneaky detail, I would have totally missed that and maybe laid this board to rest , lol. In time: Your VGA capture looks GREAT. Can you share your capture setup? Thank you so much!

[@vswitchzero]

Awesome video! Will definitely check some of my 486 BIOS ROMs for hidden options now 😀

[@MrJonathanj1981]

You never seem to stop finding new knowledge for me that I didnt know I was missing. Wrong bios in a motherboard? "here is the tool and a guide how to handle it!" "Looking for the right busspeed? Single wire into the cpusocket and read it on an osciloscope!" "Check cpu voltage, again single wire into the socket!" Every video you post, simply makes my head bubble with ideas how to handle the crusty old hardware I have stored over the years. Thank you, for your amazing work =) and if I can make a single wish for a video? Perhaps a "tutorial in finding the jumpers, or correct pins in cpusocket to measure, if you lack the proper documentation".

[@catriona_drummond]

I absolutely love his systematic approach to do some checks before even trying out the motherboard with a CPU or other parts attached. no putting it together and hoping it doesn't explode.

[@jinxterx]

Great job. Brings back lots of memories of modding the BIOS :D

[@MrRadioAct]

Thank you for the introduction to and usage details on modbin. I have been reviving hardware from my childhood and this is a wonderful tool to have in the toolbox.

[@Nobe_Oddy]

that was REALLY COOL!!!! I had NO IDEA there could be sections of the bios that were hidden for one reason or another. I most likely wont be playing with any retro machines anytime soon, but it's really fun to learn about stuff I never learned growing up. I still love the intricacies of it all :D

[@NVMDSTEvil]

I remember you used to be able to access some of those hidden bios menus by pressing a certain combination of keys. Some 440LX board was ctrl+alt+f9...

[@DavoShed]

I have never seen changes made to the bios settings like that before Very interesting (and entertaining). 🤠

[@ichemnutcracker]

I absolutely love your videos! Such a nice mix of nostalgia for this old hardware and new information that I never even thought was possible.

[@0mnis14sh]

I have a ss7 board I'd like to add some features to without needing to run utilities, hopefully this approach will work for that too. Thanks for the bios mod tutorial!

[@bad.sector]

Another lesson learned... I also want to tweak the BIOS of two boards I have... and the Award tool is right what I needed! My guess is that the BIOS you got was already altered for some reason and you actually brought it back to normal ;)

[@subbookkeeper]

I remember building computers with such boards around 30 years ago. Never thought you could mod the bios that way.

[@thereallantesh]

This was really fascinating. I'd love to see more BIOS modification videos like this.

[@necro_ware]

Here you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGLMeKVvgqacbMU kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKi9hWdmqLeAsK8

[@thereallantesh]

@@necro_ware great, thank you.

[@mad_circuits]

Thank you. Great job! Didn‘t know about the modbin-tool. Nice!

[@JVHShack]

I'm really liking the work and videos that you put out. You sir, are truly a top rank asset to the vintage/retro PC community. This video might make my pull out my own dead 486 boards and try to "necroware" them. =D

[@TC_here]

indeed very sneaky. Would never have assumed that external cache is disabled by default and the menu item was hidden.. A nice puzzle to solve..

[@wishusknight3009]

This is an excellent video. And a great resource for unlocking the potential in some motherboards. As I believe that utility can work on OEM machines as well.

[@angelgrig72]

Another great video!We are learning a lot from you!

[@Androx74]

Nice Repair and Nice explanation on how to mod a bios , thanks

[@AnotherMaker]

Thanks so much for this video and for all the stuff you've done on BIOS. This is seriously become one of my favorite KZbin channels. I also really appreciate that you keep things moving and your videos always feel like they are the right length. So much retro content is fantastic but it is very long. Please don't change.

[@EricOnYouTube]

Well done! :) This brings back memories of my first computer... 486DX2 :)

[@RetroPeKar]

Перепутанные чипы на старых платах не такая уж редкость... А образ видимо был от доски с фейковым кешем ) Отличная утилита, кстати, но надеюсь в моих экспериментах не пригодится )) Зато теперь знаю, как оно работает! Традиционный воскресный лайк ) Ну, пойду добавлю ещё пару плат на Ultimateretro, может кому поможет )

[@ms-dosman7722]

Never knew about this BIOS tool! Very useful :) I wonder how many L2 cache modules were thrown away because people thought they were broken or fake, but all it took was a BIOS tweak.

[@Hemiyoda]

I had this mobo back in the day. 30years later I learn why it was so frustratingly slow 😆

[@Edman_79]

Wow man, you never cease to amaze me :D All new stuff to learn here, great work! Thanks!

[@arthurmann578]

Great video! I would definitely like to learn more about flashing BIOS chips and the equipment that you use. I know that flashing BIOS chips in modern systems can be a very tricky and time consuming affair from other peoples' videos. Flashing the old BIOS chips appears more interesting to me...and MORE FUN! Be well! 👍👍❤❤

[@necro_ware]

Thank you. Yeah, that's a child's play, just buy a TL866II+ and you are good to go. It is very easy to use.

[@arthurmann578]

@@necro_ware Thanks for the info! Will do! 👍👍

[@Thomsonicus]

I modded a BIOS in my Slot1 MSI motherboard back in the 2000s :-) it was all in Polish afterwards, and had the EPA logo changed to the Atari symbol. Ah, the good ol days.

[@Arti9m]

This video was much more useful to me than I anticipated. Thank you =)

[@necro_ware]

You are welcome! Thanks for watching.

[@healthy5659]

Always looking forward for a new video!!! Thanks

[@shaunclarke94]

That's amazing. I had no idea you could mod a BIOS like that.

[@ChevyToughRebel]

This is so fascinating to watch and learn about!

[@AJComputerServicesUK]

Very interesting Video especially editing the Award BIOS info at: 11:05, I have a 486 Motherboard which is similar to the one you have in this Video although it’s suffered from damage due to a leaky battery & I don’t think my soldering skills are upto restoring it although I’m not going to bin it as I plan on getting some more tools and will attempt to fix it in the future if I feel competent enough & will upload a Video to my channel if I can sort it out! Great Video as always! Anthony - 🇬🇧

[@BrassicGamer]

Wow what an awesome program - I'm really looking forward to finding a reason to use that BIOS tool now!

[@TRONMAGNUM2099]

Excellent video as usual

[@Petr_Anykeev]

Я как будто посмотрел третий сезон True Detective, весьма захватывающе, like )

[@aublak7492]

Ultimate Retro Project is a godsend.

[@tony359]

just amazing! Wish I could go back in time and mod my 486 motherboard's bios now!! Question: how come the BIOS uploaded on the database was missing those options? It must have been saved from one of those boards... but didn't have those options? Thanks for the great video!!

[@necro_ware]

Thank you! That's a good question, but unfortunately I don't know the answer. My assumption is, that it came from some OEM machine, which was heavily cost reduced and customized for some reason. I can only guess...

[@tony359]

@@necro_ware that would make sense!

[@konsul2006]

Nice someone have uploaded a REV B1 - is that an "official" version? I ususally prefer non tampered versions of the bios.

[@OzzFan1000]

That's very cool on modding BIOSes. Makes me wonder what I can mod on my own systems, but I need an EPROM or EEPROM burner first. Oh, and nice HGTTG reference. :-)

[@necro_ware]

You are the first one, who noticed thar ;)

[@whoevertf]

This is so cool... I hope I will be able to use this information later.

[@pavelfara9333]

Very nice. I like the SOYO sticker 😀 I am just in the process of saving the same board that is heavily coroded from the battery leakage. If it will run, thinking about adding the voltage regulator. Mine has non, but the preparation is there. One question: If some traces are OK, but darker (with the solder mask still on but hit by the battery already) it is better to leve it as it is or do something about? I am affraid of doing more harm than good and creating a total mess! I recreated what was eaten and cleaned and reepaired the badly damgad traces with a lot of corrosion and eaten solder mask. Hold thumbs I hope it will post!

[@nR-kv7xo]

my brain is blown. excellent channel. leraned so much today

[@SaccoBelmonte]

Soyo....wow, long time without hearing that brand.

[@CraigAB69]

Thanks mate, great video. Always great learning about something I never knew about before. Have you done a video on RAM timings? Might be a good topic.

[@GalileoAV]

I had no idea it was so easy to modify the BIOS like that, I've always been limited to what versions of it I could find

[@benjaminwirth5192]

Great Video. This heped me identify a 486 board wich i purchased recently. Its a soyo too wit severe Battery damage and a blown component which i cant identify.

[@smtkr]

Thank you for all of the videos.

[@Metalliferous]

Another great video! Really nice tip with the bios tool. I've got this Pentium 3 mainboard where I actually want to disable the cache to slow it down, but the BIOS does not let me, and software tools don't seem to work. Will definitely give this a try! Also what multimeter/oscilloscope do you use?

[@necro_ware]

See the pinned comment in that video, I wrote a little bit about it there: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaCvZIdrhKaff80

[@RN1441]

Wow that was a sneaky trap that someone laid for you.

[@wfp9378]

I remember when VLB was THE thing to have. Changed my MB for it so the disc and video controllers would run faster. Very quickly after that it would be superseded at breakneck speed.

[@wayneholzer4694]

Thanks for another great video. I recently bought a socket 3 motherboard off ebay "used working condition" but sadly it was beyond repair due to not only leaking battery but the chipset flatpak was burnt I put aside and may tackle one day I raised a ebay dispute but I am more disheartened I couldn't use my intel overdrive chip sadly some people are not honest but I now have to find the same motherboard to get the chipset flatpak and I may have some luck but your biios modding tool was cool I wish i had tgat back in the day i would of had a lot of fun

[@tefatronix]

Very informative video, especially regarding the BIOS modding. Anyway, aren't you running the Xgpro programmer software under Wine? Looks like it :) works ok for me too, very nice programmer for the price and even Linux compatible with a little bit of work.

[@pwissink1]

Learned a lot from your video!👍💪

[@MsTEMP111111]

I admire you. Your work is very interesting.

[@kruno7150]

Would it be possible for you to make a "special" episode with all tools you use (especially with test hardware & modern stuff such as pata->CF/SD, FDD->USB and ofc software)? And overall about retro community? I have tons of old (XT to s370) hardware and after watching your channel i'm seriously got hyped about idea of refurbish/repair/reuse (there is a catch but ... thats a bridge to be crossed)

[@necro_ware]

Hi, I have it on my todo list, just didn't get there yet.

[@Hessi]

Ah! I had this piece of crap back then. It was the biggest mistake in my PC history (and that's saying something!). Try to get a VLB IDE controller from Promise into the slots. Professional tip: You have to use a special tool: a hammer. And then began an IRQ orgy like no other. After a few months I gave up and changed to a MoBo with PCI. Nevertheless, thanks for the video, even if I'm just annoyed again. After... when was that in 1994? Wait... I had written a class reunion paper on the board: "09/02/1995! i486 DX/2 80, 256 KB cache, 8 MB RAM, Hercules Dynamite Pro 1 MB, 17" monitor, Vertos IDE CD-ROM DS, Iomega 250 MB streamer, 14.4 modem, 256 grayscale hand scanner, Epson Stylus 800!", The buddy who was writing along had a DX50 and switched to a P90 while we was writing. We wrote the thing with MS Publisher 2.0 first on Win 3.11, then on 95 Beta. From a buddy we borrowed a good scanner: Iphoto Plus. *FLASHBACK*

[@necro_ware]

VLB came in the time, where PCI was not yet a thing. You are right, there were couple of issues with it, certainly mechanical, but especially the stability issues were annoying, since that bus was bound directly to the CPU working with the full FSB clock. You often got into problems when running above 33MHz and had to tweak the settings and select your hardware properly, but once you got it running, the speed was very impressive and left the PCI far behind. If I'd build a monster 486 machine, I'd definitely use VLB, despite of the issues, which I'd have to handle. The end result would be worth it ;)

[@sebastianwalker1081]

Really interesting and enjoyable! Thanks!

[@emir4707]

Finaly new video thx :D

[@NJRoadfan]

I have the version without the 3.3v VRM. Also has the older pre-LBA BIOS, but WITH all the cache and timing options.

[@samt4202]

If I remember correctly you can press Ctrl + F1 or F4 (can't remember which also can try Alt and the function key as well) and unlock the hidden menu's in the BIOS of some Award systems. I wonder if there is a tool or key combo for Phoenix bios's as well.

[@draggonhedd]

Whoa cool, I've never seen a bios tool like this before. I need to get an eeprom burner now and mess with my 486 system.

[@SobieRobie]

Back in the days I bought faulty TNT-2 graphic adapter. The only problem it had was BIOS from other model of the card (SDRAM vs SGRAM). Quick fix if you know what to check.