eMachines 820 Trigem Alaska 3 Mobo Dead

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

Magna 600W ATX 20 pin PSU
Board Dead - no cpu fan
PSU Fans spin up ok

Keybard LEDs flash intermittently that is Caps lock, Scroll and Number lock. Mobo Front Panel switch does not switch on the mobo.

No activity on POST CARD seven segment display but
POST Card LEDs report;
Sys - Flashes
Clk - On
I/O W - Off
Osc Frame - Flashes
Reset - Flashes
BIOS Rdy - Off
Data - Off
-12V - On
+12V - On
-5V (3.3V) - Flashes
+5V - On (Flashes)

After 5-10 minutes, Keyboard LEDS stop flashing and
POST Card seven segment LEDs still nothing
The POST card LEDS report;
Sys - Flashes
Clk - Flashes
I/O W - Off
Osc Frame - Flashes
Reset - Flashes
BIOS Rdy - Off
Data - Off
-12V - On
+12V - On
-5V (3.3V) - Flashes
+5V - Flashes definetly as compared to the prior instance

I figure the 5 volt rail is problematic given the time frame probably
bad caps going s/c.

Any other suggestions?
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
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Location: Netherlands
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keyboard leds flash intermittently like a walking light? Never seen that before. Tried hotflashing the bios chip with a proper bios file?
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

Yeah - flash intermittently.

BIOS device soldered to board.

Q - I have a Willem but was of the opinion the device would have
to be removed prior to reading the BIOS image or re/hot flashing.
I have seen advice some of the low voltage flash pieces such as with 5V and 3.3V can be read/flashed in situ.

Would you agree?

I believe (old) BIOS devices requiring pp 12V or greater might harm ICs
where erased or written in situ.
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
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Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 7:11 pm
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

What is the part number of the bios device? We might try and find out what voltage it wants.
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

The part is a FWH/LPC type, an Atmel AT49LH004

http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet- ... LH004.html?

These only require 3.3V
cp
BIOS Guru
Posts: 1914
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2002 9:07 pm
Location: Germany

you can try to flash it in place with nothing else in the board. the power supply shouldn't do anything to other devices.
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

I would like to get an image from it by reading it first.
As I do not yet know the OEM for this mobo but suspect it is eMachines, to do this first is priority. This depends of course on the fact, if the board is dead becuase of a prior bad flash - reading the image would be no use.

I believe I require an adapter for the willem to facilitate this.
Can someone point me in the correct direction or would it be easier
to make one?
cp
BIOS Guru
Posts: 1914
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2002 9:07 pm
Location: Germany

if you're smart enough: build your own. get a plcc carrier and put if upside down on the bios chip. smd plcc carriers are smaller so they might not interfere with surrounding parts but ofcourse they are a lot harder to handle in terms of soldering.
if you attach a wire to the programmer's side of the adapter make sure its length doesn't exceed a few centimeters. else you will end up having parasitic capacitances and inductances.
JEWilson
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

Hi,

RE - reading and flashing in place

You state this can be done where no other peripherals are in
expansion (PCI, AGP) slots, no CPU is installed, no drives are
installed and no PSU attached to the system.

Are you sure a read/write in this manner will not damage the mobo?

Whereas I conceive damage might occur with historical pp voltages
as were/are required for old devices such as 12v and 25v etc,
I suspect with new generation flash devices at 5v or more likely 3.3v,
these will not.

But I do not want to damage the mobo if I can help it.
Any suggestions or advice?
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