BIOS Flash failing. Help Needed

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

The chip is identified by UniFlash as Winbond W29C020(C) /5v

UniFlash does report the flash as a success and as I say on boot-up the bios does seem to be ok until it suddenly hangs.

It is interesting that the bios savior flashed successfully first time but the on-board chip fails every time.

Bilko

* The mist seems to be lifting now (thanks to replies). Just one question...where is the best place to go to get a Winbond 29C020 chip?
I live in the UK.

Thanks

Bilko

[Rainbow]

If it's flashed OK, then there are no problems with ASD chip. It looks like some bug in the BIOS making it incompatible with that chip. Tried some other BIOS?

That seems to sum it up perfectly. The ASD chip is ok but incompatible with the new bios. If only I had saved the original bios I could have flashed it back again and things would be fine. As it is I have no idea what the original bios was or how to find it. It just goes to show that even with a bios savior you can still have a costly failure if you dont make a backup of your bios. I have tried to flash using a different bios but so far without success.

Bilko

[ajzchips]

Here's the full BIOS history. Why don't you downgrade one release at a time?

ftp://210.17.18.14/BIOS/M599LMR/

That looks very promising to me. I will get on the case first thing in the morning. Thanks a lot.

Bilko

Update

I have tried to flash the bios with the old rom files but with no success.
Today, I got a new Winbond chip delivered and put it in the board. I flashed the chip using my bios savior but the same thing happened as before. The computer boots up successfully to start with. It correctly identifies the bios string and the cpu and does a memory check. Then it gives a beep, reports a cmos checksum error, and says to press F1. When I press F1, all I get is a flashing cursor in the top left of the screen.

So it seems to me that the old ASD chip was not the problem. Something else is going on here but I haven't got a clue what it is. Anyone got any new ideas before I bin the mobod?

Bilko

[Denniss]

TIP :
Clear CMOS manually by Jumper and by removing battery and shorting the contacts in the battery socket .
It helps me with a BI440ZX from Intel hanging on entering Setup .

Denniss

I have taken care to clear the cmos by removing and then replacing the cmos jumper. I have not removed or shorted the battery. If you think this might help I will certainly give it a try.
Thanx
Bilko

Update

I cleared the cmos and removed and shorted the battery but still the system hangs. So far (I think) I have established that:
1. The chip is ok. (It is a new Winbond)
2. The bios rom file is ok. (It worked fine with the bios savior).
3. The cmos settings are not interfering with things.

But still there is something going wrong. I fail to see how it can boot up fine with the bios savior but not with the onboard bios chip.

Thanks to all for your help. The crazy thing is that in the six weeks that I have been trying to sort this problem out I have never once been able to make contact with the pc chips support department. They have a web site but no one that can be contacted for advice. I'll bet they know exactly what the problem is - but instead of helping their customers they leave them to flounder in ignorance.

Bilko

[Rainbow]

Isn't the Savior bad?

It is working ok, as far as I know. Uniflash reports that it transfers the bios rom files successfully. At the moment it is the bios savior that is keeping the board alive.

Bilko