Enable SMART on 741GX

  • Thread starter Thread starter DWalker
  • Start date Start date
D

DWalker

I just bought an SiS 741GX-MN motherboard locally. It's marketed as
"generic", no brand! Shouldn't have done this. I think CelSky makes it.

The boot-up says "S.M.A.R.T capable but disabled". I would like to turn
SMART on, but there is NO ENTRY in the BIOS setup for SMART.

I seem to recall that once you are in the bios, which I have no trouble
getting into, there is some magic keystroke that will turn on additional
BIOS setup options (like SMART). I can't remember what this keystroke is,
and the manual doesn't say.

The only choices on the Advanced screen are whether the onboard IDE is set
to Both, Primary, Secondary, or Disabled.

It's an AMI bios. The BIOS string is 82-V240-110136-11010000-050328-SIS-
PT-SiS241/741GX.

The manual also mentions Winsonic in passing (it says Winsonic doesn't
supply any jumpers!).

The BIOS on the accompanying CD is as new as the BIOS in the system
(3/10/2006). There is no Web site I can find a newer BIOS at, since I
don't really know the brand.

If anyone knows the magic keystroke to turn on the secret hidden BIOS
settings, please let me know.

Thanks for any help.

David Walker
 
I just bought an SiS 741GX-MN motherboard locally. It's marketed as
"generic", no brand! Shouldn't have done this. I think CelSky makes it.

The boot-up says "S.M.A.R.T capable but disabled". I would like to turn
SMART on, but there is NO ENTRY in the BIOS setup for SMART.

I seem to recall that once you are in the bios, which I have no trouble
getting into, there is some magic keystroke that will turn on additional
BIOS setup options (like SMART). I can't remember what this keystroke is,
and the manual doesn't say.

The only choices on the Advanced screen are whether the onboard IDE is set
to Both, Primary, Secondary, or Disabled.

It's an AMI bios. The BIOS string is 82-V240-110136-11010000-050328-SIS-
PT-SiS241/741GX.

The manual also mentions Winsonic in passing (it says Winsonic doesn't
supply any jumpers!).

The BIOS on the accompanying CD is as new as the BIOS in the system
(3/10/2006). There is no Web site I can find a newer BIOS at, since I
don't really know the brand.

If anyone knows the magic keystroke to turn on the secret hidden BIOS
settings, please let me know.

Thanks for any help.

David Walker
Click to expand...

Could your motherboard be a PCChips or ECS clone?

M863AG (V1.5A), SiS® 741/963L, MicroATX
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSit...goryID=1&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=50&LanID=0

M863G (V5.1A), SiS® 741GX/964L, MicroATX, DDR X 2
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSit...goryID=1&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=50&LanID=0

741GX-M
http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/741gx-m.html
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Pr...ilID=422&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=52&LanID=0

If it helps, this is the chipset architecture:
http://www.sis.com/UD_Data/products/desktop_pc/athlonxp/741gx/sis741gx_diagram.jpg
http://www.sis.com/products/sis741gx.htm

- Franc Zabkar
 
I just bought an SiS 741GX-MN motherboard locally. It's marketed as
"generic", no brand! Shouldn't have done this. I think CelSky makes it.

The boot-up says "S.M.A.R.T capable but disabled". I would like to turn
SMART on, but there is NO ENTRY in the BIOS setup for SMART.
Click to expand...

The following article suggests that S.M.A.R.T is always enabled as far
as the drive is concerned. The BIOS setting merely controls whether
the BIOS will test the SMART health status of a disc at bootup.

http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=====================================================================
My computer's BIOS has a SMART enable/disable setting. What does it
do, and how should I set it?

Some type of BIOS can check the SMART health status of a disk at
bootup: the equivalent of 'smartctl -H /dev/hd?'. This one-time check
on bootup is done if the BIOS SMART setting is set to 'ENABLE', and is
not done if the setting is set to 'DISABLE'.

If this one-time check is done, and the disk's health status is found
to be 'FAIL', then typically the BIOS will display an error message
and refuse to boot the machine.

For the proper functioning of smartmontools, either BIOS setting may
be used.
=====================================================================

- Franc Zabkar
 
Back
Top