gigabyte 7s748 dead

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

yes, there is still warranty for the board. we will try to rma it tomorrow. but since i'm in mexico i don't know how they will handle it. things here can be a little bit "different"...

anyway. i'm interested in giving this method a shot. what does "shortening the two highest pins" mean exactly. which ones are the two highest?

thanx,
hannes

[NickS]

"Highest" depends on the size of the BIOS chip - 1 Mbit, 2 Mbit or 4 Mbit.
For a 1 Mbit (128KB) BIOS chip the highest address lines will be A15 and A16; for a 2 Mbit chip A16 and A17; for a 4 Mbit chip A71 and A18.

Here is an example of the pin connections for a 2 Mbit DIP packaged device:
http://www.futurlec.com/Memory/29F020.shtml
but I suspect yours is a PLCC packaged device (pins on four sides)

yap, it has pins on 4 sides.

[NickS]

OK, if your BIOS image is 256 Kbytes then search the web (or AMD website) for a diagram for 29F020 PLCC. See if it ties up with the number of legs on your BIOS chip. Try shorting the address pins at your own risk.

hmpf, still no success.

don't know if i'm doing everything right and it's also a little bit tricky do make a shortcut with the pins being that near together. maybe tomorrow, when my pal is awake, we'll try it again.

or i have to try to return the board. otherwise we'll have to buy a new one and i'll take the "broken" one to germany next week, where i surely can find someone experienced to fix it.

damn. does this mean i can't apply a bios update in the future just like i've done it a million times before? even if the manufacturer recommends it?
and what's the deal with their dual bios crip-crap if it doesn't work? huge sticker on the mainboard box? should kick in the backup bios automatically but doesn't...

i'm confused. [/list]

[NickS]

Dual Bios !

My son says his Gigabyte NF2 dual-bios board has a jumper to select the BIOS. That is a step in the right direction. Otherwise, if the bootblock does not run or does not find a fault it does not invoke the backup.

well, seems as if the only dual bios existing on this model is the dual bios sticker on the box...

gigabyte webpage doesn't say a word about it on their webpage. haven't been very happy with a gigabyte mainboard years ago. never bought one again until last month and i think i will avoid them as well in the future. tech support has not been answering for 5 days now. and i don't know if i can apply the update to the other 2 machines with the same mobos that stand around here, showing cpu temperatures of about 80°C and making everyone freak out.

anyway. i'll try to return it today.

thanx for all your help guys.