Help please flashing IBM / Gigabyte board

Discusses BIOS flashers and utilities from Award, AMI and Uniflash
rjenkins
BIOS Newbie
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Location: Worksop, UK.

Hi,
I'm trying to get a new BIOS into a Gigabyte GA-6WMMC7-1 board that's out of an IBM Netvista 6345 (as far as I can figure out). It's an Intel 810 chipset.

The board appears to be the standard Gigabyte version with a paper label (IBM 19K3582) over the Gigabyte model number and an IBM Bios.
The Gigabyte number on the board does not have the -1 on the end, but the manual for the -1 has the exact jumper layout, the none -1 version is slightly different.

The initial problem is that the CPU I have in it is not properly recognised & it goes in to setup on every boot with Error 167 (processor bios update not found). Other than that, it runs perfectly. It's a 'junk box' project & this is the only spare board/CPU combination I have at the moment.


I have tried every means I can think of to do a BIOS update.
I have tried both the IBM 'from the OS' and Dos boot disk updaters, the Gigabyte update with it's supplied Amiflash, the latest amiflash and Uniflash.

The IBM Windows updater recognises the current BIOS & tries to update it, but hangs very solidly when the progress bar gets to about half way.

None of the others work 'as is', the error is typically along the lines of unrecognised flash chip.

I have tried Uniflash -force 89ad (the BIOS chip is an Intel N82802AB).
This tries to work, I get some green segments in the progress bar but it appears they are just where the file matches the existing BIOS or is blank; nothing is changed on reboot.

I have tried the built-in BIOS recovery facility. This will appear to read a BIOS file of the correct name '$IMAGEPT.USF' as per the IBM Dos update disk, but again no changes on restart.

The BIOS chip is a PLCC package, soldered directly to the board (which is annoying as I have a universal programmer..)

There are two jumpers associated with BIOS protection near the BIOS chip, according to the manual JP24 is Write Protection when closed & JP16 is Top Block Lock (presumably Boot Block?) & jumper closed is 'unlocked'

As well as the default JP16 Closed & JP24 Open, I've tried every combination of these both with the recovery mode & Uniflash, just in case there is a typo in the manual. No change.
(Uniflash takes around 35 mins to run through - is this normal?)

The other BIOS jumper is JP13. This is shown as: 1-2 Normal, 2-3 Safe Mode & Open = Recovery mode. Normal & Recovery are pretty obvious but I'm not sure what 'safe mode' does.

I have tried setting the CPU clock down to 66 MHz rather than 133 in case there are timing issues - no change.
The CMOS Setup has been reset to default after just about every boot.

I can't see any BIOS write protect in the CMOS setup, but the setup layout very different to the usual AMI etc. style & it's possible I missed something being half asleep in the early hours - but I don't see how any settings could lock out the recovery mode??

Any help greatly appreciated!
Robert Jenkins
rjenkins
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:53 pm
Location: Worksop, UK.

Hi,

noone got any ideas at all? This board is scrap if I can't update it, so I will consider anything...

I've tried cutting the PCB trace to the write protect pin on the N82802. This came from somewhere else than the write protect jumper, so other protection logic somewhere in the chipset seemed likely.

With this pin linked to the Boot Block protect pin (which has just a jumper & resistor connected) so hardware wise there is no protection at all, it still does not program.
Robert Jenkins
KURIAKI
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rjenkins wrote:I have tried every means I can think of to do a BIOS update.
I have tried both the IBM 'from the OS' and Dos boot disk updaters, the Gigabyte update with it's supplied Amiflash, the latest amiflash and Uniflash.
The Gigabyte BIOS update (beta F9g) is an Award BIOS, not Ami. So Gigabyte had supplied the wrong flasher, I guess.
Download the F8 BIOS version and you can get the correct one, Awdflash AF797C:
http://asia.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/F ... mc7_f8.exe
More than 100,000 BIOS strings in my database just now!
http:/ /www.kuriaki.has.it/
http:/ /www.supportbios.info
------------------------------------------
Saludos desde Cancun, Mexico
KURIAKI
wwwpop
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I have the same board with the same problem.So far I have run across info that stated the cmos has a built in admin pasword .I suspect this is true because after pulling the battery for a few hours, upon rebooting there was an admi pasword set in the bios which did not have it set originally.If u have any luck please let me know and i will do like wise.I also ran across info that stated that some IBM stuff have a flas util on the hard drive but I'm not sure how it works or how to set it up other than it stated copying it from the utility cd that came with the computer.Still researching here.Also having some folks check to see if they use a generic admin password. :)
splynncryth
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I think I can explain the 'safe mode' assuming that it is an AMI BIOS, stored as part of the package, there are 2 sets of settings, CMOS defaults, and another, backup set. I belive that the jumper causes the BIOS to load the second set which are usally very, very conservative.
As fir the flash chip and write protection, here's a link to the intel datasheet: http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/da ... 065804.pdf

Again, if it's an AMI bios, then the recovery mode should just fetch the ROM image off the disk, and not load DOS. Typically, AMI's recovery mode needs a file named amiboot.rom, but it's something that would be easy enough for IBM to change if they wanted to. Hitting ctrl+home as the system boots should make it go into recovery mode as well.

If the replacement BIOS is a phoenix, that's fine too. IBM may have bought the board, but had a different BIOS written for it to do what they want, and may have already had a licence for the code. The only problem you might have with the phoenix BIOS is that it may be intended for a different flash part, though that particular firmware hub is pretty much what Intel recommends.

As for the person with the password proble, IIRC, the PW is in NVRAM. There is a key combination to reflash the BIOS, and wipe out the NVRAM if it is an AMI BIOS, and IBM didn't change things too much, but I don't remember what it is.
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rjenkins
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:53 pm
Location: Worksop, UK.

Hi all,
thanks for the info!

Kuriaki - I've just double checked the flash util supplied with the f9g in case I'd got mixed up, but it is the AMI one..

I've grabbed the F8 version with the correct flasher(!) and will try this over the weekend. The board is chucked on the side at the moment, out of the case.

Splynncryth,
thanks for the link & info, I got that datasheet to track down the hardware write protects.

wwwpop,
the IBM support site has both a Dos boot disk creator and an 'install from windows' updater available for download. Have you tried both of these?
If you create the dos update disk, setting the BIOS mode jumper to Recovery position makes it attempt to flash directly from the image file on the floppy, though in my case while it's obviously reading the BIOS file from the floppy, it does not actually change the BIOS..

There is no password on mine, attempting the recovery above clears the CMOS and forces the defaults to be loaded on the next boot.
Robert Jenkins
wwwpop
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thank for the IBM info.tried it and found all the tools there and their latest update.I got it to work and presently have the latest from them installed but I still get the 167 post error code.I used the pt1z21usa file to accomplish the upgrade. I don't know if the latest upgrade that you were told about can work with the IBM flash utility.It ran from within windows xp and uses machine info taken from the existing bios setup.I used bios agent to determine that in fact it did upgrade.Any other suggestion are welcomed
rjenkins
BIOS Newbie
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Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:53 pm
Location: Worksop, UK.

That sounds promising!

As your BIOS can be written at least, you may be able to overwrite is with the Gigabyte version?

I don't know which flash tool you need, possibly Uniflash on a Dos floppy or possibly rename the gigabyte file to the same as the IBM one & copy it to disk over the IBM file.

On the other side, as yours can be updated with the IBM utility, it may mean that my board has a hardware fault or damaged BIOS chip...
Robert Jenkins
wwwpop
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:D :D :D I fixed it.heres how I did it.I used bios agent to get the motherboard machine type out of the bios string,in my case it was 6269 h2u. I went to IBM site and searched for that number and ended up with netvista computers,try starting there.I found a long list of bios upgrades there.Check the sticker on your bios chip it has a IBM no. on it just to be sure your in the right place ,your old number should be in the list.I downloaded PT1Z21USA which is the latest one.I ran all this on another computer and it creates another file called PTj21A.This is a selfextractor which creates a bootdisk flasher with the image file.I tried booting off this and it told me I had the same version on it from my previous attempt.It asked if I wanted to do it and I said yes,It flashed the bois in about 1min or less and after shut down no more errors boots right into xp as it should.
wwwpop
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:cry: i forgot to tell you that i did not change any jumper setting while doing the above flash routine. it took a few sec before it booted. sorry
rjenkins
BIOS Newbie
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Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:53 pm
Location: Worksop, UK.

Thanks for the extra info.

Those are the exact files I downloaded & tried originally.

This board appears to have been used in several IBM models, originally I traced back from the part number label on the board which led me to a Netvista 6345, but since I've checked via the model number stored in the BIOS & it comes out as an Aptiva 2194. It's the same BIOS file download either way.

I've tried downloading it again, it gives the same error that the BIOS chip type is invalid.

I've also tried the Gigabyte F8 files, with that the flash prog locks up after reading the BIOS file, needing power off to get out of it.
Robert Jenkins
sunbirds
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IBM NetVista A20 6345 use ibm bios itself, many other models use phoenix bios.least model use ami bios.
wwwpop
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I originally got my bios to flash using the IBM flash under OS utility that was on the same site.I ran the flash os file and this put a new folder in the computer called flash this was all done in windows xp .Checking it I only found one file it.some sort of data file.Iforget which other file I ran as I no longer have the info but it made another folder IBM tools which had all the stuff in it.With winows xp running I ran the flash from that folder and answered the questions the flasher wants answers too.Keep the same number copy it from bios agent.after completion.I still had the errors.Then I ran from the floppy and it worked.
Hawk88
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Okay fellas, I did some searching for this error and have found this post in this forum. I am having the same error. I hope you guys still have reply notifications on so I may possibly get some help. I have a Gigabyte GA-6WMMC7 board for an IBM Netvista 6269-U6U system. The original board was a rev 5, the ones we ordered from IBM to replace (out of warranty) is rev 2.4. The processor is a 933 P3. wwwpop, what is the bios agent and how can I copy it to the floppy. I tried running from the floppy and it gives me an error and will not let me flash. I run the flasher and if I unched the "update processor microcode" it flashes to the latest IBM bios. But with it checked it gives me "no update for your processor". I have sucessfully flashed the bios with that unchecked but it still gives me the 167 error. Any help would be greatly apprecieated.
Hawk88
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Anyone able to help?
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