BIOS Flash failing. Help Needed

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

I am tring to flash the BIOS on my PCChips L599LMR Board. I have the flsh program and .rom file, but when I run the flash utility program I get an error message as below:

i Chipset Type - SiS 530/5595
ii Flash Part - Winbond 29c020_v2

Error 2 - File Does not exist

Can anyone help. Im using AMIFLASH

[Rainbow]

Make sure that both files have only the Archive attribute set (no ReadOnly...). You must type the .rom file name as a parameter for the flash utility. (e.g. amiflash bios.rom)

ok Thanks. That seemed to work ok.

However now when I restart my machine, it goes through the usual memory check then says press f1 to enter setup to set processor speed. When I do this I just get a blank screen with a cursor in the top left corner. Does this mean that the Flash was incomplete/unsuccessful.

What is my next move?

[ajzchips]

Argh! This was typical of the M598 family of boards.... exact same symptom. I bet your BIOS chip is actually an ASD.

ARRRGGGHH! You are right.... it is ASD. Is that bad? What can I do now?

[ajzchips]

I'd get a Winbond 29c020 and have it hotflashed on another board or have it programmed for you at an electronics shop.

[edwin]

ekeddie: start practising on how far you can throw away an ASD chip...

Just out of interest, can someone explain what the problem is with the ASD chip.

Why did the flash not work. Do ASD chips not like being flashed or something?

[ajzchips]

Some believe it's a "sticky bit" issue.

[Rainbow]

Try to hotflash the chip in another board.

Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago with same mobod and bios(Matsonic MS6383E, PC Chips M599LR) I was about to post a message for help but the first post I read was my problem exactly. I first flashed the updated bios to my bios savior successfully but then when I flashed to the chip on-board I hit trouble. The flash appeared to be a success but, as with the original poster, when the machine boots up I get a message saying "wait" and then the system just hangs forever. I take on board the comments that have been made here and will try to flash the bios using another board. Pardon my ignorance but would it be possible to flash the bios using my Abit kt7a raid mobod (and the bios savior) bearing in mind that the PC-Chips bios is Ami and the abit is (I think) an Award bios).

Regards

Bilko

[Rainbow]

With the savior, you can try to flash the chip in your current board. Try using UniFlash. How is the ASD chip identified? As a Winbond?

Rainbow. I have tried several times to flash the bios using the good bios on the savior but it has failed every time. I have also used uniflash (that I got from the Rainbow site). Did you write that program? I have recommended it more than once on the abit ng. It is an extremely useful prog.

I have just examined the chip and there is no mention of Unibond. The identifying marks are : ASD AE29F2008-12 9942

The flash does actually appear to be a partial success. When the machine boots up the processor is correctly identified and there is a memory check. But then the system just hangs. It is not possible to actually enter the bios so there is nothing to be done there.

If the ASD chip is a dud then surely it will not help to flash it on another machine, will it? I have tried hard to find somewhere I can get hold of a spare bios chip but the flashbios site charge 20 pounds for them and that is not cheap. I am still hoping something can be done with the ASD chip that I already have. Incidentally, despite several attempts there is no way I have been able to discover the email address of the pc chips support site. What is the point of having a reprogrammable chip if it can't be reprogrammed. Thanks for your help.

Bilko

The ASD gets identfied as Winbond 29EE010/11 or 29C020 (1/2 MBit) and could be replaced with such a chip without any problems.

Don't know about the relationships of both companies...

Some users report healing the chip, by executing a hot flash.
I'd throw it away.

Bye
Thomas

[Rainbow]

I did not write UniFlash but am currently the only developer (everything after v1.17b). How is the ASD chip identified by UniFlash? If you get success after flashing with UniFlash, it means that the chip contains exactly the same data as the file so it must be OK.