Could this be the result of a bad flash?

Hot-swapping and Boot-Block flash & Boot block flash and floppy support
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ckalbach
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Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2002 12:03 am

I am a newb to BIOS flashing so bear with me.

I have an ASUS A7M266 on which I attempted to update the BIOS recently using the ASUS LiveUpdate utility. I have subsequently come to realize that that was probably not wise (like right after I rebooted and things went poorly).
The strange part is that the board still works ... sort of. It will boot both from the CD, and hard drive, but not the floppy (yes I've set it to seek only the floppy during startup).

I'm attempting to reinstall Win98SE. When I run the Win98 setup, it will run through to the point at which it is trying to set up PnP devices then give me a file could not be read (CAB file read) error. I have eliminated the CD as the source of the problem (I have 2 disks, both will install fine on other computers). I have eliminated the CD drive (I have 2 drives- both of which work on other machines yet produce the same results (CAB read error) on this machine). After a number of tries, I have now found that the mouse (PS2) is not being supported properly (will move up and down, but not side to side). The mouse error is a new development and very puzzling. I am going to try to flash the BIOS this evening from DOS and will report on my success or failure for your entertainment.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?
badflash
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Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2002 1:21 am

If you haven't cleared your CMOS using the jumper, do so. Then enter SETUP and try to fix anything that default settings aren't good for.

We see loads of boards corrupted by LIVE BIOS, LIVE UPDATE and the like. Replace LIVE with DEAD and you'll have a more accurate picture of what happens.

If that doesn't work you can do several things. First, verify that you used the right file. Check your board to see what is printed on it. Trust no documentation, just what is written on the board. Having access to the hard drive and CD but not the floppy is often and indication oof having the bios for a different rev board.

Once the right file is identified, figure out a way to get it on the hard drive. Boot to dos and reflash your chip. Do not reboot. Power down and clear the cmos, then power up & setup the cmos settings properly.

If all else fails, we have chips and program to suite.
ckalbach
New visitors - please read the rules.
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2002 12:03 am

I should have mentioned in my first post that I did try clearing the CMOS, but no luck.

I did get it fixed by flashing the older (AM261003.AWD) BIOS back on. I don't really know if it was the new BIOS or a bad flash that caused the problem. Unfortunately, I haven't the time nor enthusiasm to find out as I'm very happy with the 003 revision. (I just flashed the new one on for fun, and got more fun than I wanted.)

Thanks for your help. This has been a good learning experience if nothing else.
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