The Bios version beforehand was
RG84510A.15A.0009.P03
I did quite a bit of research before I tried flashing the Bios. At least that is what I thought at the time. Now it appears that I should have done much more. I flashed the Bios with this version. Of course it is a Gateway Bios as you can see. This is practically the only one available without trying an Intel Bios, which would surely ruin my day.
RG84510A.15A.0057.P19
I ran the update from windows, though now I see most people don't recommend it. After the flash the computer rebooted and just sat there doing nothing. Just a black screen. I tried once again from a DOS floppy and I get a beep, then another and then another. It would have been nice if I had gotten one beep, then two later together, but that is not the case.
I tried to do a recovery by taking the DOS files from the uncompressed exe file from Gateway (and putting them on a floppy) and removing the jumper on the motherboard. I followed the directions as closely as I could. I get no beeps.
My computer recognizes floppy's and does read them, though I don't always get a single beep to tell me that it has started.
Unfortunately any other info I have on the computer is all in text files that I accumulated and that is all unfortunately on the dead computer.
When trying to flash the Bios from the DOS disk, I do not have video, so I cannot see what errors I may be getting other than the beeps. I realize that there is no way to get video while trying the recovery, but with the jumper installed, I still have no video. I am plugged into my ATI video card and not the onboard built in video card which I had disabled during the install.
If you need more info, I will have to try to get it off my computer. The Bios chip is soldered in (Intel N82802AB8 A2170431).
I have been searching for solutions for two days now. If there is a utility that will still work on a floppy, I would love to try it. I wanted to find out more on the UNIFLASH utility, but the site seems to have disappeared. I am wide open to any suggestions that you might have.
Thanks for your time to look at my problem!
edit: The more I read the more depressed I become. I now have UNIFLASH which I suppose could be run to tell me what it sees in the chip, but since it is probably corrupted now, it won't do me much good. I should have done a Bios backup, but since my chip is soldered in place I don't suppose that would of helped that much. I am going to try to get more details from the text files from my hard drive if possible. Man this doesn't look good!
edit #2: Now I am really confused. I went to the Gateway site to look up my computer specs by entering my serial number and I find this function no longer works. Gateway has sold itself to MPC (formerly known as Micron Computers). This happened on October 1, 2007.
The reason I am confused is because, the manual I downloaded for the 500SE has an image of a mini tower that looks nothing like my computer at all. If I could boot to a CD, I could run some tools that might be able to give me the info I need. I managed to get this from a text file I had on my hard drive. This is info that I had previously gotten from the Gateway site using my serial number.
Chipset
82845GL (GMCH)
82801DB (ICH4)
82802AB (FWH)
Processor
Support for Intel Pentium 4 and Celeron processors
400 MHZ Data bus
478-pin (ZIF) socket
I happen to have a 1.8 GHZ Intel Pentium processor. (But that is probably info not required).
The confusion I have is leading to doubt that I am looking at the right Gateway 500SE info, since the ugly white computer they show on the site is quite different than mine. They list it as a 500 SE Special Computer and show no other 500SE that I can find anywhere. Well back to some more googling...
Edit #3:
This is an image of my computer:
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http://www.fscoop.com/images/500se.jpg
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http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/2800071/2800071nv.shtml
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http://supcontent.gateway.com/support.gateway.com/s/PC/Shared/graphics/280005012.gif
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http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/Shared/jumper_block_500se.shtml
This whole thing is looking embarassing...
Edit #4: Well the entire model number of my computer is:
MFATXPNT NMZ 500SE
At least it probably is a Nimitz! This is the only Bios there is for anything at Gateway that I can find that begins with RG84510A.15A, so it must be the Bios for my computer. I only wish I had a copy of the original RG84510A.15A.0009.P03 Bios...
One of my concerns is running something that may make things worse. I want to run some of your tools that you suggest to determine the motherboard and Bios here. Since I have already screwed things up, I don't want to make things worse. I would rather someone really experienced give me some suggestions. Note that I am still reading and learning about possible solutions.
Edit #5: It seems that I do indeed have the Intel i82845GL System Board, the specs which can be found here:
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http://support.gateway.com/s/Manuals/Desktops/8508622/08622.htm
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http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d845glva/sb/cs-008865.htm
http://www.wimsbios.com/faq/howtorecove ... ptbios.jsp
I followed the steps closely, but I fear the worst.
I powered down, pulled the jumper and booted to the floppy.
The floppy light came on for a short time and then went out.
I then powered down, replaced the jumper and rebooted to the same floppy. I get a beep, then another, then another. The beeps are about the same space apart, so I think I am getting 3 single beeps, but to be honest I am not really sure. I then pulled the floppy and tried to boot up. I just get one single beep, and nothing else.
My only hope may lie in my floppy setup or in the Bios I am using. I sure would appreciate some suggestions on what to check or try. I thought about trying "Solution 1: Boot-block BIOS", but I don't see how that would work with my Bios since it is some Gateway Bios version I wouldn't know which one to try. Is there another Boot-block method that I am missing here? Have I corrupted the boot-block and beyond any type of recovery? How can I check this?
Edit #7: I am trying to find the Bios beep codes for my board. Since Gateway seems to be somewhat worthless, I am looking at the Intel board that closely matches mine - D845GLVA. This does not seem exactly the same however, since the Bios for that board only supports 4 USB ports and I am using 6 on mine. Anyway the beep code for one beep, which I get when I try to boot up says it is "Refresh Failure". I don't know what that means nor do I know if that is the correct beep code for my board. I am trying to find out more.
Edit #8: Finally, I found out the motherboard part number 2517119. This is the key to finding all the right documents on a Gateway computer. I actually found this by going to Gateway's Memory search using my serial number. Fortunately the memory search function still works on Gateway's website and shows the part number along with the memory info!
Using the part number I verified that I am using the correct Bios update and that I have a Nimitz board, etc. Gateway is a total mess, they have so many variations of my motherboard, but not one that looks exactly like it.
The specific beep code for one beep is "Normal function", so now what am I doing wrong here?
Edit #9: I found the whole shebang for my computer, images and all: You can click on any component on the image and a larger image and detail of the component are shown. This is great!
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http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/INTEL/2517119/2517119mv.shtml
NOTE: The datasheet shows the entire pinout, and pin #1 is easy to see on the chip, so if I have to deal with a particular pin, that won't be a problem.
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http://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/66112/INTEL/N82802.html
Anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do?