BIOS ballsup

[wylie]

Scored an athlon XP.....
to run this on an A7V133 I needed to upgrade BIOS to V 1007....
in my rush to get it running I used (for the first time) the asus auto update rather than the usual flash utility.....
this told me it had upgraded bios to latest release (which was V1007 - XP support) and I should reboot....
I reboot........................nothing...........

I cleared cmos......removed battery & cleared cmos......

nothing........

any of you guys able to help???

I've got that sinking feeling again........:(

[zhotfire]

Oh crappie, wylie... i remember reading in a newsgroup about some boards being able to recover from a bad flash with a boot floppy containing bios/flash utility/autoexec.bat with proper commands and switches. The boards mentioned would boot after a couple of minutes with a crippled bios, just enough to flash with. Try a search on google.com... sorry i can't be any more help! :(

[Martyn]

Ooops - sounds like ya killed it Wyles - sorry bud, hotflash maybe?

[dnar]

One word:

SMEG :sad: :sad: :sad:

[siggy]

Originally posted by wylie
Scored an athlon XP.....
...snip...
any of you guys able to help???

I've got that sinking feeling again........:(

I know that you only asked for help from the guys. But I think I can offer something.


<<HUGS>>
:hugz: :hugz: :hugz::hugz: :hugz: :hugz:

[phil]

Hotflash!!

This requires you to have a second mobo (preferably the same model) which you can beg/borrow/steal.

Remove the Flash ROM chip from the working motherboard. Put it back again, but don't push the chip, just place it gently in the socket so the pins make contact. Power it on and boot into pure DOS (or Win9x Safe Mode Command Prompt Only). Now carefully remove the Flash ROM chip (motherboard is still powered on at DOS prompt). Motherboard should work normally (try typing something at the DOS prompt to make sure it's alive and not frozen). Now place the bad chip in the socket and launch your BIOS flashing util and flash to the required BIOS. Now power down the board and replace the ROMS.....easy ;) - now take back the second motherboard that you purchased from the local store and say your wife had already bought you one while she was out and you no longer need this one :eek: :D

[Martyn]

Originally posted by siggy


I know that you only asked for help from the guys....


I think that includes you Siggs ;)

[MikeTimbers]

Booting a good BIOS image from a floppy would be a good first step. All you need is a DOs formatted floppy with a good BIOS image on it. You don't need DOS system files, autoeecs or anything else.

Does your dead machine look at the floppy drive at all? If so, try the above.

If not you need to try Phil's hotflash.

[siggy]

Originally posted by tril0Byte


I think that includes you Siggs ;)

Well I think Wylie was pretty stressed. He knows that I cant help with the tech stuff. So I know what he meant.

Sometimes HUGS help too. ;)

[wylie]

Well.....its up and running again....
fortunately I didnt have to try the hotflash trick (but VERY useful to know fot the future....).

I have no idea why, but what zhotfire said happened......after leaving it for a while it did post, and is now flashed with latest bios and running an xp1600. the only thing that may have had any effect was inadvertantly clearing cmos when the power was plugged in (man I need to be more careful....but if it did the trick then great....).

dont think I'll be using the autoupdate feature again.....

Thank you all very much....this team really is a damned great place to be!

[zhotfire]

WOOT! Glad to hear it worked! .... mind like a steel trap.... now if i could only remember to pack a lunch.... :rolleyes: :D

[phil]

Originally posted by wylie
the only thing that may have had any effect was inadvertantly clearing cmos when the power was plugged in (man I need to be more careful....but if it did the trick then great....).



Yeah, that is a BIG no no :eek: