It appears the fix will be a BIOS update. In that
case this fix should be OS independent (unless your
motherboard uses windows to do its tasks [for example
some built in RAID devices]).
You may need to use a windows-based flash utility, but
if you dual boot, this shouldn't be a problem. Just
flash the BIOS and then you should be fine. Your
computer looks at the BIOS before it loads the
operating system. Therefore, it should not matter
which operating system it loads.
However, please, for the love of all things geeky and
computers, follow the directions! If you don't follow
the directions for flashing your BIOS precisely, you
could house your motherboard and your computer will
not boot. You will either need to exchange the
motherboard somehow or get FIC to fix it for you (some
of the better flash utilities have a backup/recovery
feature, but I don't know if FIC does or not).
Take care.
--- "Maureen L. Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi all,
> I recently installed a new motherboard from FIC.
> It has the VIA 686B
> southbridge chip and according to the Register it
> has a bug in it. I have
> found fixes for windows on the FIC and VIA websites
> but cannot find a way
> to fix the bug for Linux. My Mandrake is acting
> strange and I haven't
> changed anything except the motherboard and cpu (AMD
> 850Mhz) . Any help
> would be greatly appreciated. I really want to get
> rid of windows but
> can't until I can fix the bug. Thanks
> Below is the article I read. Sorry this is so
> long. VIA, as of today,
> has not posted anything regarding a fix. Either
> that or I was looking in
> the wrong place on there web site.
> Data-corruption bug hits VIA
> chipsets
> By: Tony Smith
> Posted: 12/04/2001 at 11:52 GMT
>
> VIA has confirmed a
> data-damaging glitch in its 686B
> Southbridge
> chip - a major part of the
> Taiwanese company's KT-133A
> chipset -
> and is working with mobo makers
> to prepare BIOS
> updates to fix the
> problem.
>
> The southbridge part is used in
> the vast majority of AMD
> Athlon-oriented mobos,
> primarily the KT-133, but it
> can be used with
> northbridge parts from the
> Apollo Pro 133, KX-133A and
> AMD-76x
> chipsets too. VIA said it is
> investigating the problem
> to see how
> many chipsets are affected.
>
> The bug was uncovered by German
> hardware site Au-Ja!
> It's not
> exactly a common problem: the
> date corruption affects
> large, 100MB
> and up file transfers between
> two hard drives
> connected to separate
> IDE channels exchanging the
> data by DMA. Having a
> Creative Labs
> Soundblaster Live card in place
> seems to exacerbate
> the problem.
>
> VIA's BIOS fix works by
> adjusting a number of PCI
> settings, which,
> according to Tecchannel,
> suggests the problem is a
> result of
> competitive PCI access.
>
> VIA told The Register that it
> is a BIOS issue, and it
> will be posting a
> fix on its Web site sometime
> next week. ®
>
> Related Links
> Au-Ja's initial report (in
> German)
> Tecchannel's summary (in
> German)
>
>
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