Boot Block BIOS flash doesn't work

Hot-swapping and Boot-Block flash & Boot block flash and floppy support
dos-freak
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..even tough it won't work anyway, because command.com relies on the DOS-Kernel, it's just a command interpreter. I already explained it here: http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/viewtopi ... 4&start=15
smackethdn
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I also have a similar problem, basically it asks me to insert a disk with AWDFLASH.exe. I tried several different utilities including the one's from chaintechs site for my board. It would load the utility but not be able to find the bin file.

I tried this utility that dos-freak came up with, made a boot disk with XP and put this fake AWDFLASH file in as well and UNIFLASH and my bin file. However it's giving me the error that it cant find the AWDFLASH file. Basically any suggestions would help, thanks.
KenH
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smackethdn wrote:I also have a similar problem, basically it asks me to insert a disk with AWDFLASH.exe. I tried several different utilities including the one's from chaintechs site for my board. It would load the utility but not be able to find the bin file.

I tried this utility that dos-freak came up with, made a boot disk with XP and put this fake AWDFLASH file in as well and UNIFLASH and my bin file. However it's giving me the error that it cant find the AWDFLASH file. Basically any suggestions would help, thanks.
Iv'e had that problem in the past where the flash program could'nt find
the bin file even though it was there,, I worked out that the bin file was
write protected causing the problem,, I right clicked the file, chose
properties & took the tick out of read only & placed a tick in Archive..
The flash loader detected it straight away when the read-only attribute
was removed..
BrianSw
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I have the exact same problem with the error message " the bios lock string does not match your system". Nothing has helped so far. But this little replacement for awdflash looks like it will do exactly what I need.
I've been looking all over the internet for something like this. I haven't tried it yet because I'm not home. But when I get there I will. I have to commend the author of this little utility on what a great thing it is he did writing this. It will help many people out. I already ordered a replacement BIOs that hasn't arrived yet. But I'm gonna try this first instead and just keep the new Bios as a spare if it works.
Once again, very very good work providing such a helpful little utility.


Thanks,
Brian
BrianSw
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dos-freak,

Just to let you know your little DOS boot flash utility worked perfectly. My Asus a7n8x deluxe rev. 2.0 MB is back online. Very greatful for your work in providing this. I ordered a new BIOS but will have it as a spare backup.

Thanks again,
Brian

:D
Japraiser
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same here. Many Thanks for this piece of software:)... it really helped me out. The only problem i had to deal with now was that uniflash did not recognise my a7n8x-e deluxe flash chip. But when i inserted a floppy with awdflash (the real awdflash) in dos it worked perfectly well.
erickvch
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Great utility!

Does this utility works on AMI bios?
If it does work it will help me a lot!
Thanks for a quick reply!
dos-freak
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Glad to hear, that this small piece of Software helped so many ppl :-)

erickvch: Sorry that I reply late, but somehow the topic notification e-mail on this forum didn't work.

As you can see in the sourcecode, the only thing the utility does is executing the boot sector, so if you are in the situation that AMI-BIOS wants to execute a executable file instead of loading the boot sector from floppy, it should work with AMI-BIOS too.. It doesn't do anything BIOS-specific.

Greetings,
dos-freak
Herleson
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Hi,

I have a DFI AD77 motherboard and my problem is similar to the other in this post, but I have a great problem: no BootBlock and no Floppy Boot.
I don't know why, but I've flashed the BIOS (Award) of my motherboard and after no response. Nor a beep or a floppy read. It simple turns on and do nothing more.
If someone knows a solution (except Hot-swap), please help me.

Thanks in advance.
lattedrinker
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dos-freak,

Dude, you rule! I joined this user group just so I could say that.

I got an "as is" asus a7n8x deluxe mb on ebay. It booted up with the bootblock message. I had never heard of bootblock. But I had exactly the problem with it that you described. I googled around and tried this and that until I found this thread.

I was able to use the "real" awdflash utility after booting. I just had to rename it and (if anyone is interested) used the switches /py /sn /cc /cp /cd /sb /r.

Thanks again!
lattedrinker
Sukovsky
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I seem still to have a problem.


!!!

When I use your program I can actually start uniflash but the flash options are greyed out and I can't pick them.
Also when I try to use awdflash, renamed as uniflash and use the force code even then. I can type my bios.bin in the box but then it says please wait for an age. Then it doesn't do anything.


Help mplease
Kosti
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Hi from Australia people,

My first post and it was to say thanks to DOSFREAK, but now I also have this issue and followed the instructions almost to the letter.

OK, so I get the msg

BIOS ROM Checksum error
Detecting floppy drive A media...
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

Upon using the neat prgram by Mr DOS-FREAK, it seems to fix the issue, I got back my BIOS and could enter the system fine, good right, well no, after I changed some setting in the bios, nothing dramatic, just date, time, fan control, etc, after a reboot it went back to

BIOS ROM Checksum error
Detecting floppy drive A media...
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

Tried the disc again that I made up and it will not give the same result. Strangle if I use this disc I made it will not update the last 15 blocks, but states it's not required. But if I used a earlier AWDFLASH it completed the whole let but still the error msg appears.

So have I got a BIOS chip issue or is this battery related?

Why did it work the first time?

Help

Thanks in advance
PEACE
Kosti
Kosti
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OK, further to the information I provided above, the issue seems to be the crud version of awdflash.

As the process did state to use uniflash, of which I was unsing awdflah. So I re edited my boot disk to use uniflash, and flashed my BIOS once again, and presto!

Shuttle is now up and running.

Well done guys!

PEACE
Kosti :lol:
tomw
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Hello all,
I have an Elitegroup L7VMM3 that didn't like the 160G Seagate ATA I installed. So, dummy that I am, I tried to update the BIOS, thinking that something may have been changed to recognize larger disks.
Poking around in a DOS window, I ran aminf342.exe /H and was able to figure out that I could save the current BIOS to a file. I did so, under Windows.
At the ECS..com.tw site where I down loaded the BIOS file, it said to use the specific AMI flash utility available there, which I did. It had NO warning about doing flashes under Windows. I clicked on 'how to use the flash program", but, as I have popups disallowed, got no response.
I tried the flash, and it produced a series of '.' across the screen then froze up. I tried using the AMI bootblock recovery on a floppy, and get to the point where I get 7 beeps... "flash device not found" (per the AMIBIOS-codes.PDF file from AMI site)
Has ECS disabled bootblock recovery? Can I use something similar to the AWARDflash program in place of AMIBOOT.ROM? I tried, but it didn't like the size of the image. I tried renaming AMINF342.exe to AMIBOOT.ROM, and it loaded the program and just sat.
Is there any hope? Does the top-hat trick work on this EEprom? Help.
tom
free-pete
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I used your awdflash.exe to save my computer last night

i did not get uniflash to work but since i could finaly get to a: i got awdflash.exe (renamed to flash.exe) to work with a /nbl to flash my bios
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