Where to find BIOS Update for IBM MT 2199

[$horizon$]

I found a very old desktop in my library. It was dead and not used for long time. The model says something IBM MT 2199. Looks really big with vertical layout. The desktop seems to function well. I had cleaned up stuff and turned it on. It was bit tough during the starting hours but anyhow I was lucky to get the display on a old 14" CRT monitor. I think by a fresh bios update this system might work well and can be used. It has rightnow a 40GB drive and I can use this by some older Linux version or Windows NT. I do not think it can withstand higher than that. I am also trying to find what is the actual specification. The system is big enough, with green board and cpu that looks alien. It has Intel logo on it. Does anyone has any information on this system. Also it will be nice if someone can help me to find the bios update for this system. Or else the system is a crap.

[Naq]

This is a very old IBM branded desktop system also called as IBM Aptiva 2199. It has SiS 530 Chipset which is now outdated and I am sure IBM has discontinued support for this. It might be having 128 or 256 mb of ram not more than that. Other than this if you are lucky you can use a 80GB IDE hard drive on it.But in my views this is not worth to upgrade. The system was good in older time but today when you are in age of overclocking you need a better system. You can find a cheaper system if you go for Intel Atom processors. I had tried searching on the official page of IBM to find driver or bios support for this model, but there is nothing mentioned. You can be lucky if you find any bios version uploaded on file sharing sites by users. Use the same till it is working and the sell the same in scrap. You can imagine what you can get from 256MB of ram. This system does not has usb support. It is a very old model and the best you can do is run Windows NT.

[Roey]

I found a small utility after messing around the web. The utility allows you to create a Bios update for your desktop. This is for Aptiva system and I am really not sure that this will work or not. As the desktop already has a floppy drive you will need to arrange a floppy to create bootable dos disc to run the update. I had also not tested this and I warn you that if this does not work your system might never boot. There is also no way to restore bios. The best thing you can do is contact IBM about your product. I hope they might not charge you much but will provide you what to do with the desktop. And if you are ready to take the risk you can simply download the utility from the attachment and run it. Insert a floppy disc and done. Boot the system from floppy disc and then check back. The update might take some time to finish up but if this is not done properly the system will be dead and no hardware will be detected. I am not sure about this utility because this thing is not yet tested at all. Only after updating the bios you will be able to increase the storage. There are many limitation in the old bios version and IBM has discontinued any further update on the same.

[Pinlunk]

Bios update is not possible on this version of desktop. This is a very old system and I am shocked to find that you are still using it. In my views use it as it is and do not go for any update. Because if that failed you will lost whatever is working now. I had seen some images on this desktop which shows that it even does not support Windows XP. So what you are going to do on Windows NT. It can be good to show kids about history of computing. A nice piece for museum. Just for fun part keep this with you for learning purpose. There is no usb, low ram and old connection with 4 fans. No new hardware will work on the old SiS chipset.