Asrock 775V88+ Mobo

Hot-swapping and Boot-Block flash & Boot block flash and floppy support
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JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

This board does not want to load the BIOS it appears

The BIOS device is a Winbond W49F002UP12B
As I programmed this with a Willem, it appeared to flash ok

I am testing the board and am using;
Checked and resweated capacitors,
Upgraded (flashed) BIOS to v1.5 with Willem,
Used SL7Z9 3.0 GHz 2MB/800 FSB,
Used Intel stock ALU HSF to 3.2GHz,
Used 512MB PC3200 DDR400 Elixir SDRAM,
Used XpertVision NVidia GeForce FX5700LE AGP 8x 256MB,
Magna 600W ATX PSU.

As the board is out of a case, I jumper the pwr button and my
POST card reports;
+12V - good
-12V - good
-5V/3.3V - good
+5V - good

Sys Led - on
Clk Led - on
IOW Led - off
Osc Frame - on
Rst - flashes once as expected
Bios Rdy - off
Data - off

The POST card does not report anything.
However, when I hard reset the board, again by
shorting momentarily the correct reset pins on the front panel header,
the POST card reports;
+12V - good
-12V - good
-5V/3.3V - good
+5V - good

Sys Led - on
Clk Led - on
IOW Led - off
Osc Frame - on
Rst - flashes once as expected
Bios Rdy - on and stays on
Data - on and stays on

As the POST Code reports 00, I suspect;
There might a problem with the BIOS ROM possibly so far as it
appears to be not getting read correctly and I believe the
processor has done the reset step correctly.

Any other insight and problem areas I should look at?

Perhaps I could change the PSU as the pwr button front panel does
not switch off the board at all and I have to use the on/off
switch for the PSU.
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
Posts: 6286
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 7:11 pm
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

If you have another PSU I'd try that as this one appears to have trouble with another board as well.
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

Y - will get back to you on this
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

Hi

I have changed the PSU to;
XPower ATX-500TD PSU, rail ouput follows;
+3.3V : 36A, +5V : 36A, +12V : 20A, -12V : 1.0A, -5V : 1.0A, +5VSB : 2.0A
see http://www.xcase.co.uk/p/289103/x-power ... sata-.html

POST Card Reports
+12V - good
-12V - good
-5V/3.3V - good
+5V - good

Sys Led - on
Clk Led - on
IOW Led - off
Osc Frame - on
Rst - flashes once as expected
Bios Rdy - off
Data - off

I get the same result as before, POST Card sits at 00
Per chance did Asrock manufacture any OEM boards?
If it is an OEM BIOS, it might explain why the BIOS will not load as
I have flashed (wth a Willem), the most recent BIOS version
available from Asrock.

I did consider the CPU might not be supported but the CPU used has
been supported with this board since introduced (checked the
Asrock website).

Hmmm...

Could anyone confirm whether (not) Asrock made OEM boards
for vendors, such as the usual suspects (Acer, Advent etc.)?
More particularly, does anyone know if this particular Asrock board has
been used by OEMs?
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

I have established, what appears to be a French company called
Comeback sells or sold Asrock 775V88+ as a CM-775V88+
see see http://www.comeback-pro.com/index.php?

No sign of a OEM BIOS however.

Also, if it is going to be any help, the BIOS chip has a
label - P1.30.9B. I assume the board originally had a 1.30
BIOS.
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

I may have resolved this issue.
Will report back once established fix has worked.

First, the bios image (v1.3) as came with the board had
a number of uCode patches. One of these i.e.
CPUID 0F43h, Revision 0x04 11/01/2004 does not appear to exist.
In fact, the correct patch should be;
CPUID 0F43h, Revision 0x05 21/04/2005

This is why (I believe) the PIV 650 Prescott was not working.
No uCode existed to support the CPU.
The system would always reset and do nothing.

Of course, Asrock supplied later BIOSes with a number of
uCode patches but they insist these are to be applied with the
supplied flash utils.

Now, I did try flashing with later BIOSes but of course was not
aware of the uCode issue with the v1.3 BIOS and using a
Willem, only flashed the image not the supplied uCode patches.

I have used MMTool 3.19 for Windows to patch the correct uCode for the v1.3 BIOS and removed the incorrect entry.
This has been applied ok and remains to be tested with a CPU
and memory.

MMTool 3.19 for Windows reported prior to patch update;
CPUID 0F43h, Revision 0x04 11/01/2004 - incorrect
CPUID 0F33h, Revision 0x0b 05/12/2004 - correct
CPUID 0F34h, Revision 0x13 30/07/2004 - correct
CPUID 0F41h, Revision 0x09 02/08/2004 - correct

AMIBCP v3.13 for Windows reported;
CPUID 0F43h, Revision 0x04 11/01/2004 - incorrect
CPUID 0F33h, Revision 0x0b 05/12/2004 - correct
The last two as with MMTool were not reported

Also v3.13 for Windows reported as;
ID String 1 - 62-130-0000010-00101111-042505-VIA

But this does not make sense. I know of no manufacturer
as above (I checked the AMI BIOS list)

Any insight?
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

No-go with this amended BIOS
I suspect the BIOS chip may be damaged as it was exhibiting odd
behaviour when I was coding the device.
Eventually, I did get the Willem to write the image to the device.

The system will still sit at a reset.

I have an EON EN29F002AN 2MBit 256k x 8 device
The key differences between the above and the original appears to be;

WinBond W49F002UP12B (original part)
1. One 16K byte Boot Block with Lockout protection
2, Two 8K byte Parameter Blocks
3. Two Main Memory Blocks (96K, 128K) Bytes

EON EN29F002AN (possible replacement)
1. One 16K Byte Boot Sector
2. Two 8K Byte Parameter sectors
3. Four main sectors (one 32K Byte and three 64K Byte)

If it all possible, if I can swap these parts with no problem,
I can determine;
1. Is the problem a faulty BIOS device or
2. Is the device being selected or is it a clock problem with the mobo?

The system mobo appears otherwise ok

Any advice and insight appreciated
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
Posts: 6286
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 7:11 pm
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?M ... 8%2b&s=775

If you are using the 1.80 update all the microcode fixes from earleir versions are included, so test the 1.80 bios version
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

E, thx for responding

In fact, if you DL the 1.8 bios package, the ucode updates
are in a separate file called ucode.dat
I assume then, the asrock flash util (ASRUBIOS.EXE) applies these separately
from the main bios image. I don't know

As the mobo is not working, I cannot use the asrock supplied
utils to apply a patch, I did try to use the 1.8 bios flashed
to the device with my willem and, I added cpu ucode updates
with MMTool to the bios image. MMTool, I assume, can read and write
correctly to this asrock bios.

Any other suggestions?
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
Posts: 6286
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 7:11 pm
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

did you try the 1.80 on that EON chip yet?
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

No, I have not.

Would I be correct in asumming the internal segment
arrangement for the main memory blocks would have
no difference on how the device is addressed by the mobo?

I suspect not. Perhaps you can advise on this matter?

Thx
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
Posts: 6286
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 7:11 pm
Location: Netherlands
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Nope, they just see 256kbyte of eprom. both chips are pin-compatible.
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

Got round trying the EON plcc
Wrote the v1.8 BIOS image to the plcc with no problems.

Installed in mobo, problem persists, mobo will sit at
CPU reset and do nothing more.

Any suggestions?
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
Posts: 6286
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 7:11 pm
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

nope. it appears to me the board simply cannot handle the new CPU.
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

Hi

Would it be the case, Asrock BIOSes have a protection mechanism
which precludes use of a Willem programmer and dictates only
the Asrock supplied flash util should be used?

If so, how can I get around this with a Willem?
Can I get around this with a Willem?

Thx
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