bios write fail

[thymios 0]

Damn i never thought it was so thick for crying out loud.

 

The story goes like this.I'm trying to upgrade a friends BIOS to the latest (the motherboard is SOYO's 6VBA-133). Trying to upgrade with award flash BIOS upgrade program that SOYO has for download (award flash 816), failed a lot of times with different binary files(BIOS revisions). It was giving a message "Unknown flash type" and it was quitting.

 

So what i tried to do is get another version of awdflash from another site(specific QDI's site, they have 723 version if i remember well). The result of my stupidity?The BIOS update reported several write fail errors during the upgrade.I restart the system and there i am with Award Bootlock 1.0.

Stupidity number two:I tried to flash the old bios that i backed up for these kind of situations.I first tried to "downgrade" it using awdflash 816 which was giving me the old same problem and it was quitting before up[censored].I used again awdflash 723 to flash the old bios and after a good amount of write fails, the computer is D E A D as dead now.I mean i start it up and nothing comes up on the screen, no sounds no picture nothing.

I know the answer to the next question is going to be "NO you screwed big time" but i give it a try.Is there anything i can do except clearing CMOS from the jumper(Which i already did and of course nothing changed).

 

Damnit i am so angry with myself, i can't believe it.And the whole story was the poor machine performance and i was just trying to raise it(now i killed it for good didn't i stupid me).Brian Frank if you read this, be my angel again and give me some good news please!

 

Take care all of you and i hope you learn from the stupidity of others like me.

[Brian Frank 0]

Oh, I'd love to be the bearer of some good news, but unfortunately, things don't look really good for you.

 

You should've stopped before stupidity #2.

It's been awhile since I saw something like this, but you may be able to save your neck yet. The bad news is, I don't remember the thread exactly and it's been at least 6 months since it happened. I do seem to recall clutch having some input on it however.

 

Failing that, you're looking at a new BIOS chip, if Soyo will/can send you one, or at the worst case scenario, a new mobo:(

[Brian Frank 0]

Okay, check out the BIOS Central and see what they have to say, especially the forums.

[thymios 0]

Good news(well better at least)!

I gave it a try after reseting the CMOS once again and the computer started.Still not recovered obviously but at least i can do something now.It starts on bootlock and asks to boot from a disk.So we are back in time, before the stupidity #2.

I tried to upgrade the BIOS with the awdflash that came from SOYO's site and it gave me the same error(Unknown flash).What on earth is that mean?Why can't i upgrade the BIOS?what's the problem of the mobo anyway?(hope nothing personal!).

 

Is there anything else i can try now?Things are a bit better but still bad.

Thanks for replying.

[Cynan 0]

If you have an EPROM programmer handy, or know someone with one, I'd use that.

 

I don't know why its failing on your machine though. Are you sure its the right BIOS ?

[thymios 0]

Yes i am definatelly using the right BIOS.What i am trying to find out is what the hell does this message means(Unknown Flash Type). I'll try later on to contact SOYO and ask them.

I mean it's so strange, i am using the awdflash that soyo gives out and i have tried lots of other BIOS versions(the current that my friend has is quite old and about 6-7 new ones are out).

Example the BIOS name that his machine is using is VBA-2ba3.

There are 2ba5, 2ba6, 2ba7, 2ba8, 2ba9, 2baa, 2bab out from soyo.NONE IS WORKING I DON'T BELIEVE IT!

[Brian Frank 0]

Typically, if you don't really need it, it's just as well to leave the BIOS the way it is. Well, "good luck...you're gonna need it."

[Cynan 0]

Unknown Flash Type... maybe its not the BIOS bin file, or the software, but perhaps the BIOS chip in the machine is non-standard... just a thought.

[Dirty Harry 0]

Just a couple of checks of the obvious:

Now I don't know your mobo but you should have the bios file as a plain binary file, uncompressed etc and you propably do have to type in the whole name in the flash utility, watching out for zeros and the letter o. It could (?) be that the file must be named xxxxx.bin for example to be recognized. You should boot from a clean dos disk, no drivers loaded etc. A W2K dos window is no good, also flash utilities that supposedly work from within windows are notorious for causing trouble. The error you get means that some little transistor thinks that you are trying to feed it the wrong bios. With this error meassage I'd bet that this is the case, and really, really carefully read all the instructions on SOYOs site etc. I'd also suggest you only try to flash it with the original (your backup) bios from now on and make double sure you only use the correct specific flashing utility SOYO recommeds.

 

Some flash utilities come with a batch file that does the whole thing from boot automatically, and use various switches to perform magic. If there is something like this for your mobo, try it.

 

If you can't get a flash working on the chip your options are AFAIK:

 

-Replace the chip

A. Contact a shop or the manufacturer/importer etc and see if they sell you a bios chip, many do carry & sell them or have them replace it. Been there, done that, took a few days but is ironclad.

B. Search the net, I believe there are several companies specializing in selling preprogrammed bios chips for various mobos. Cost perhaps 15 to 50 $, FedEx and all.

 

-Reprogram the chip

As already suggested; take the bios chip and the correct binary to someone with an EEPROM flasher, most PC repair shops have one. Almost as good as the previous one.

 

-Fix the chip yourself

Ask yourself "do I feel lucky" ? Find another identical mobo, boot it, and hot swap the bios chips with the power on, and try to program the old chip again. Risky, yes, but it can be done, plenty of sites decribe how to do it, but before you know that you have the correct award flash program and the correct binary file it wont get you any further. And if your original chip is defect you'll get nowhere, but might ruin the functioning mobo as you play around.

H.

[SneakX 0]

take a look to this website,

www.badflash.com

this is the kind of guy you need to talk to

[SneakX 0]

Oh and I forgot this one

www.flashbios.org

this guy is living in netherland but I personnally had to recover my bios and I sent it to him. 2 weeks after (and I am living in canada) I got it fully working with the latest bios version.

Go for this one, I really recommend him

[thymios 0]

Hey SneakX that's a really interesting site.And i was giving up on the idea of fixing the damn mobo(my friend got a new one already, he seems happy that the other got ****ed cause his computer is kicking now!), but i think it's a matter of me being stuborn and i won't let it like this.I'll give it a shot it think.

Thanks again.

[lsavidge 0]

I'd give this page a try. It's helped me out a few times with bad flash upgrades.

 

http://www.wimsbios.com/

 

 

/Lee

[thymios 0]

Thanks guys for the help and the links.I already send the chip for reprogramming to a Dutch guy(the link provided by SneakX). I contact him via e-mail and he said that it will be easy to do it.It's only 8 Euros(5 pounds or 7 dollars), and he sends it back to you.I'm curious to see the outcome.Will let you know when i'll get it back and test it.

Once again a big thank you to all of you who replied and provided help and links for my problem.

[thymios 0]

Today i got back the chip from the dutchman. He did a great work, the chip is working again(he also flashed the latest BIOS version) and the motherboard is resurected! This is a very good and cheap service from the guy, and i bet he can save a lot of a$ses.

Once again thanks to SneakX for providing the link (www.flashbios.org).