Boot Block BIOS flash doesn't work

[Stdavids-IT]

Hi Guys,

This is my first post so hello to all you knowledgable techies out there.. . My problem is this, I have just bought a DFI Infinity 875P mobo with the intention of running a small win2k3 sbs server for v. small network. having installed everything, radarsync found a BIOS update for the mobo, i dnlded, flashed, rebooted and....oh my God....BOOT BLOCK BIOS version 1.0 pops up. OK don't panic!! just create a floppy with awdflash and the .bin file and all will be well.....noi such luck, the keyboard won't work so I need to find a version of Awdflash.exe with a facility to enable me to include the .bin as part of the executable so it all runs automatically and re-flashes. Havn't been able to find one until I stumbled upon this post after many hours of searching.

So, the story as it stands is that I have dnlded the files from above and will be flashing on Monday morning.....I'll keep you posted but I think I'm onto a winner here.

[Stdavids-IT]

Guys......what can I say......I'm sooooo happy......My DFI Lanparty 875pro mobo is now alive and kicking thanks to the collective brainpower of this forum and dos-freaks programming skills.


Again...many thanks...I think you could probably make a fortune marketing this little program..


I'm soooooooooo happy.

thankyouthankyou thankyou

[sulbert]

Congrats
BTW you're not the only one who has fixed his DFI board (AFAIK it was also one of these Lanparty boards; had exactly the same symptoms) with this small utility.

[Radiant]

Can someome plz give a link to a working file? I just failed a bios update and I get the same error as this person. I can't find those programs anywhere to do it myself.

[sulbert]

Doesn't the link on the first page of this topic work? Works just fine here...

[dos-freak]

I'm sorry, you must have tried to download the file while my Apache didn't work. I did a apt-get upgrade on my debian box and it failed to restart Apache properly. I came back after a hour and fixed the problem, I'm sorry for the downtime

[makio]

hi there

i m on 'insert system disk and press enter' ....
tried anything you suggest but the damned machine don't want to give me the prompt a:
i have the correct awdflash (mobo's cd)and *.bin files
(also tried awdblock -uniflash)
when i press -enter- the fdd start to read something -stop and the green led stay on....and nothing happens (at any case do the same thing)

what's going wrong and the bootblock dont read the command?

(sorry for baaad english )

[dos-freak]

As it says: "Insert system disk", you don't need my utility, as it'S already trying to execute the boot sector. My utility is just for Bootblock-versions which request to insert a disk with awdflash.exe so that you are able to boot normally.

Are you sure, you created a correct bootdisk with a sane boot sector?
if in doubt, try a new, blank disk and use some bootdisk from i.e. http://www.bootdisk.com

Normally, you can create a Bootdisk under MS-DOS by entering
sys a:
but as most people nowadays don't seem to have DOS installed on their machines any more (I still install it on every machine as an emergency system and for old DOS-games ), they are dependent on bootdisk-images like the ones from www.bootdisk.com (for german bootdisks, you can visit my site http://bootdisk.ipax.tk)

[makio]

well ,i create the boot disk from 98se >fdd3.5 >properties > format with system files
i try to create it from dos prompt ....who knows

its 98se command line ok? or want to be clear dos prompt?

[dos-freak]

Ok, as you're using a "DOS-based" OS, this should be possible too (basically you are doing a format a: /s via GUI).
Verify that afterwards there is a io.sys, a msdos.sys and a command.com file on your disk (the first 2 are hidden files).

If booting still fails using that same bootdisk, there may be a corruption in you BootBlock or there are other resons why it can't boot properly...
I assume that the floppy is connected correctly, has worked before in this machine and the Floppy disk is sane. If in doubt you could eventually try to boot with your created disk on a sane machine.

Maybe you have to do a hotflash, if the bootblock is unable to boot... :-/

[makio]

i downld the DOS6.22 from bootdisk.com and i create a fdd whithout awdflash etc just to see the prompt but ...
as usual the fdd make a noise like to try for a sec to read something and then just the led stays on
i tried with two ways >
1st i insert the bootdisk into fdd and power on the computr

2nd i boot w/o the fdd inside and wait for the prompt:insert a system ....

at 1st occasion the boot hung at the same point ' detecting flopy drive A media..

at 2nd the fdd drive start to read and hang again but at message 'insert a syst...etc '

i hear clearly the drive start to read at first time i insert a fdd
i think that in any case try to read the boot sector but fails (dont know why)
the fd drive and the cable is new (just to check and this possibility)

i try few more ways but i think that the ...journey is over

thnk u dos-freak

[ruelnov]

That's a sure sign of corrupted bootblock. Hotflash or replacement bios chip are your remaining options.

[NickS]

Makio, does your board have an ISA slot? You may get these symptoms if the BIOS is trying to read the FDD through an ISA controller, as some bootblock recovery routines do. In this case connecting your FDD to an ISA controller may work (it did for a PC-Chips M577 I fixed).

[Ritchie]

Looking at the original post, I think there is an alternative way around this problem, which I think I have done once myself.

1) Create a floppy and rename COMMAND.COM to AWDFLASH.EXE.
2) If you have a display, when you get to the command prompt, you can now do whatever you feel like.

[liteFun]

well, don't just rename command.com to awdflash.exe, it don't convert com to exe (exe's have MZ at start of file).
you should try bin2exe (found on _OLD_ ms-dos) to convert .com to .exe so they will work.
that utility was designed by microsoft long time ago, to make few programs work over 64kB limit (.com must be under 64k, .exe may be bigger).

so, bin2exe command.com awdflash.exe should work. and it will make new (real) .exe (from .com) and keep original command.com which is needed for dos to work.