Windows98 slow response after upgrading BIOS with IBM Couflash
Two weeks ago I downloaded Couflash from IBM official site for Aptiva PC to upgrade my 2176-X01 Aptiva, made the bootable diskette and proceeded flashing the BIOS as instructed. Regrettably I was interested to alter the Model and Serial Number, and filled in 2176X01 and 90A23TM. My 2176 has a small tag stuck at the front cover, and it reads 2176-X01 for model and 90-A23TM for serial number. Everything looked OK, up to booting and running Windows98, and Windows as expected detected and installed new hardwares, then asked to Restart my computer. After restarting, the disaster appear : Windows runs very slowly, so I could not use my mouse. I used keyboard like tab, arrows and Enter, and Windows need about one to two minutes for each keystroke ! I tried to move the mouse, it seemed to freeze but after one minute it moved a very little bit. By the way, my system works OK if I let Windows 98 run in Safe Mode. I have replaced the hard disk with 850MB Quantum and its Windows still runs very slow. I have also tried to delete several device in the Device Manager, and deleting sub-device Plug and Play BIOS in System Device will make Windows runs normally, but a large number of devices like Ports, Disk Drives etc in Device Manager disappear as well. Later I accessed Don's unofficial Aptiva Help Site, and found that it is not recommended to alter Model and Serial Number when flashing. The problem is that I forget the original model and serial number are. Don's unofficial Aptiva support says that 2176 is machine number and X01 is model number. So I tried my luck and reflashed my BIOS. I think I should enter X01 for model because Couflash should have known that my machine is 2176. Similarly, I tried to key in A23TM for serial number when flashing with Couflash. But my Windows response is still very slow. I have also tried to make them blank, fill with 12345678 etc., but nothing changes. With the Setup utility you can display model and serial number. Setup reflects last entries of Model and Serial numbers done with Couflash or other flashing utility. If you enter three digit like X01, Couflash will add leading zeroes to complete to 7 digits, so in Setup it will be displayed 0000X01. Can some one be kind enough to open his/her 2176 PC Setup and inform me what his/her numbers were, are they 3 digit with leading 4 zeroes or full 7 digit ? This will limit my trial and error while waiting and searching for another help. I tried to search BIOS update for 2176 in the Internet other or older than COUFLASH, but there was nothing. I wonder how I could flash my original BIOS back.Don's unofficial Aptiva Help Site has also list of IBM Aptiva 2176 BIOS files before COUFLASH but they are regrettably inaccessible to dwonload. Please someone solve my problem or give me suggestion.
Jusman Sulaiman
IBM Aptiva 2176-X01, Windows98, 48MB RAM, 3GB Hard Drive
Two weeks ago I downloaded Couflash from IBM official site for Aptiva PC to upgrade my 2176-X01 Aptiva, made the bootable diskette and proceeded flashing the BIOS as instructed. Regrettably I was interested to alter the Model and Serial Number, and filled in 2176X01 and 90A23TM. My 2176 has a small tag stuck at the front cover, and it reads 2176-X01 for model and 90-A23TM for serial number. Everything looked OK, up to booting and running Windows98, and Windows as expected detected and installed new hardwares, then asked to Restart my computer. After restarting, the disaster appear : Windows runs very slowly, so I could not use my mouse. I used keyboard like tab, arrows and Enter, and Windows need about one to two minutes for each keystroke ! I tried to move the mouse, it seemed to freeze but after one minute it moved a very little bit. By the way, my system works OK if I let Windows 98 run in Safe Mode. I have replaced the hard disk with 850MB Quantum and its Windows still runs very slow. I have also tried to delete several device in the Device Manager, and deleting sub-device Plug and Play BIOS in System Device will make Windows runs normally, but a large number of devices like Ports, Disk Drives etc in Device Manager disappear as well. Later I accessed Don's unofficial Aptiva Help Site, and found that it is not recommended to alter Model and Serial Number when flashing. The problem is that I forget the original model and serial number are. Don's unofficial Aptiva support says that 2176 is machine number and X01 is model number. So I tried my luck and reflashed my BIOS. I think I should enter X01 for model because Couflash should have known that my machine is 2176. Similarly, I tried to key in A23TM for serial number when flashing with Couflash. But my Windows response is still very slow. I have also tried to make them blank, fill with 12345678 etc., but nothing changes. With the Setup utility you can display model and serial number. Setup reflects last entries of Model and Serial numbers done with Couflash or other flashing utility. If you enter three digit like X01, Couflash will add leading zeroes to complete to 7 digits, so in Setup it will be displayed 0000X01. Can some one be kind enough to open his/her 2176 PC Setup and inform me what his/her numbers were, are they 3 digit with leading 4 zeroes or full 7 digit ? This will limit my trial and error while waiting and searching for another help. I tried to search BIOS update for 2176 in the Internet other or older than COUFLASH, but there was nothing. I wonder how I could flash my original BIOS back.Don's unofficial Aptiva Help Site has also list of IBM Aptiva 2176 BIOS files before COUFLASH but they are regrettably inaccessible to dwonload. Please someone solve my problem or give me suggestion.
Jusman Sulaiman
IBM Aptiva 2176-X01, Windows98, 48MB RAM, 3GB Hard Drive
in front of the machine. The service charge is about US$ 17 including tax for Carry In-Take Out service (no delivery). Thank you very much for your attention.