BIOS Recovery Possible?

Hot-swapping and Boot-Block flash & Boot block flash and floppy support
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eysikal
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I accidentally flashed my BIOS to the latest compilation, but for the wrong revision of the motherboard.

I have an ABIT NF7-S Rev. 2.0 and I accidentally flashed it with the file for the 1.X revision.

Am I screwed? I already ordered a tool so that I can hotflash my BIOS in the future. I was just wondering if I would be able to use the BootBlock recovery option using a bootable floppy to fix this problem.

I am wondering if it won't work because the BootBlock portion of the BIOS might be different for the 1.x BIOS and thus it would be incompatable with my board.

When I turn on the computer with a disk in the floppy drive, I hear it spin for about a second, but the light doesn't come on.

Do you think I have a chance to recover?[/b]
Last edited by eysikal on Wed Mar 03, 2004 11:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
NickS
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Bootblock recovery may work if you can get it to start. When you flash the wrong BIOS correctly, the bootblock does not detect an error so does not enter bootblock recovery mode. It may be possible to force bootblock recovery to start by shorting two high order address pins together to force a BIOS checksum error.
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eysikal
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Well, that is what happened. I flashed the incorrect BIOS, (I used a file for the 1.x revison of my board instead of the 2.0) but it was flashed successfully.

So I am guessing I have a chance from what you've said.

Now how would I go about making that short?

Thanks for your help by the way....you seem really knowlegable.
NickS
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First we need to establish that your BIOS chip is suitable. It looks from the review pictures on various sites as though it is in a socket. If the board is out of warranty, can you lift the label on the BIOS ROM and read the markings ?
e.g 29C040
If the chip is in a socket, do you know an electronics place that could program it for you ?
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eysikal
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The chip is a PLCC. I already removed it using a special tool.

Here is the information printed under the sticker on the chip:

Windbond
W39V040AP
233483201
345LGAA

There may be someone around here who could reprogram the chip for me ... but I think it would be cool if I could do it myself.

Is it a dangerous or really difficult process to short the chip?

I have a hot swap kit on the way, so I would only be shorting this chip in the interest of time, and also as a learning experience.
sulbert
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eysikal wrote:Is it a dangerous or really difficult process to short the chip?
No, its not. But AFAIK shorting address pins does not work with LPC flash chips (Winbond W39V040 is a LPC flash chip).
NickS
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sulbert wrote:No, its not. But AFAIK shorting address pins does not work with LPC flash chips (Winbond W39V040 is a LPC flash chip).
Sorry, hot swap/reprogram looks like the solution.
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eysikal
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Hey, thanks for the help.

The Hot Swap Kit will be here on Wednesday or Thursday, so I don't have a ton of waiting left to do.

You guys sure know a lot about BiOSes though....
eysikal
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Just wondering if my Windbond BiOS chip is a good quality one even though I can't fix the problem by shorting it?
sulbert
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IMHO Winbond flash chips are OK. Only see one that's acting weird thus far.
eysikal
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I received my BIOS hot-flash kit today and now I am up and running!

Thanks for all the input.
sulbert
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eysikal wrote:I received my BIOS hot-flash kit today
Just curious... What does this kit contain?
eysikal
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It's just a new BIOS chip with instructions of how to hot swap.
NickS
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Did they provide a bent paperclip ? :wink:
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