Unicore bios upgrades - "esupport.com"

[travantech]

I will preface this with "I should have known better" but recently inquired with unicore for an updated bios on an old Dell xps t500. Purpose was to enable large hard drive support without adding an ultra ata card. They noted they had one and I purchased it. Upon receiving it, did a crc and md5 check on the file to compare it to the "latest" bios freely available off dell support for this model "xpst_a11". Low and behold.. my checks showed that both the crc and md5 were identical.

1)Does this infact mean that I just payed for something I had free access to?

2)Will crc and md5 show a difference for an identical bios flash with addtional functionality enabled?

I do not want to end up paying for something that is "free". All thoughts appreciated....

Thanks

Travantech

 

[peartree]

No, the BIOS size and signatures have to be the same as the srock one or it won't work. It has to fit in the same space. Of course the ultimate question is: Did it work to enable Large drive support?

<font color=green>****</font color=green> Never Assume <font color=red>ANYTHING</font color=red> <font color=green>****</font color=green>

 

[travantech]

Assuming something was not right, I contacted Unicore support and questioned them on it. After a brief "let me check that" tech pause, they came back and told me that it was indeed the same bios as on the Dell site. They told me to send it back for a full refund. I've sent it back under the RMA they gave and will let you know how "full" the full refund is. Thing is, they did not offer any other options (flash or otherwise) to resolve my large drive issue. Guess I will have to try an ULTRA ATA card anyway.

 

[peartree]

Of course you COULD do this the easy way and upgrade your motherboard. If it's a socket A board, it could easily be as cheap as buying an outboard controller, which are getting less easy to find.

<font color=green>****</font color=green> Never Assume <font color=red>ANYTHING</font color=red> <font color=green>****</font color=green>

 

[travantech]

Updating... Unicore stood by their "30 day money back" and issued a full credit to my account

I've got the new 160 Gig hard drive in after settling on the Adaptec ASH-1233 Ultra ATA Controller. CompUSA had it for 50% off with instant rebate. Price came out to be half of what the BIOS flash was going to cost. Things appear to be running fine now. Thanks for your interest and replies

 

[Patchworkblue]

Thanks for warning.

Women--can't live with them, can't have heterosexual same-species intercourse without them.