Hotflash of MSI bios in ABIT MB unsuccessful so far..help!

Hot-swapping and Boot-Block flash & Boot block flash and floppy support
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moon
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I tried to hotflash a MSI 645 Ultra bios chip in an ABIT IT7 Max 1.0 motherboard. I believe I read enough to do it right but Uniflash did not like to identify the MSI chip. Further I found it curious that all file sizes on the floppy were only showing half of what they should e.g. the biosfile of my AMI bios was 131 kbytes instead of 262 kbytes.

Some options of the Uniflash program were not accessible, they were kind of grey while other options were clear white and worked.

What am I doing wrong here?
Rainbow
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Looks like an unsupported board...
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
moon
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here is an update:

The first bios chip from the MSI 645 ultra board (Winbond W49F002UP12B)was not taking anything, forced or not.

I found another chip in another ABIT board (BH6 I believe), a MX28F2000T series bios chip.

After all the tries it wouldn't confirm writing the bios file.
Here is the log file:

23:07:13.59: UniFlash v1.29 started: A:\UNIFLASH.EXE -log -force c23c -ami -e a6547sms.190
23:07:14.58: Chipset detected: i82845 + (8086,24C0,01)
23:07:15.19: Flat Real Mode initialized
23:07:15.90: CMOS size detected: 256b
23:07:16.61: Intel 8xx method: reg $4C = 0
23:07:17.22: Intel 8xx method: reg $4C changed to 65536
23:07:17.77: Intel 8xx method: reg $E0 = -1073741824
23:07:18.37: Intel 8xx method: reg $E0 changed to -1073741824
23:07:18.98: System ROM selected
23:07:19.58: Flash ROM chip forced: Macronix MX28F2000T/12V
23:07:21.01: Flash ROM ID: 0000,0000
23:07:21.61: Entering emergency mode
23:07:22.66: Flashing BIOS including BootBlock
23:07:34.03: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:07:38.58: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:07:42.32: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:07:44.85: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:07:48.31: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:07:49.84: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:07:51.33: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:07:53.58: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:07:54.79: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:07:56.33: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:07:58.19: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:08:00.72: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:08:02.15: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:08:03.96: Flashing failed
23:08:04.51: Exiting UniFlash...
23:08:05.11: Intel 8xx method: restoring reg $4C from 65536
23:08:05.72: Intel 8xx method: restoring reg $E0 from -1073741824
23:08:06.32: Turning off logging, shutting down to real mode
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23:19:42.39: UniFlash v1.29 started: A:\UNIFLASH.EXE -log -force c23c -e a6547sms.190
23:19:42.94: Chipset detected: i82845 + (8086,24C0,01)
23:19:43.55: Flat Real Mode initialized
23:19:44.26: CMOS size detected: 256b
23:19:44.92: Intel 8xx method: reg $4C = 0
23:19:45.52: Intel 8xx method: reg $4C changed to 65536
23:19:46.13: Intel 8xx method: reg $E0 = -1073741824
23:19:47.78: Intel 8xx method: reg $E0 changed to -1073741824
23:19:48.10: System ROM selected
23:19:48.71: Flash ROM chip forced: Macronix MX28F2000T/12V
23:19:49.31: Flash ROM ID: 0000,0000
23:19:50.14: Entering emergency mode
23:19:51.35: Flashing BIOS including BootBlock
23:20:02.60: Flashing 262144b long BIOS image to 0
23:20:06.61: Flashing failed
23:20:07.22: Exiting UniFlash...
23:20:07.82: Intel 8xx method: restoring reg $4C from 65536
23:20:08.43: Intel 8xx method: restoring reg $E0 from -1073741824
23:20:10.02: Turning off logging, shutting down to real mode
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The -ami parameter didn't do much good either...

I'm afraid I'm stuck here now.
Rainbow
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Interesting, south bridge not detected... Will fix it when I came home and send you beta version - maybe it will help, maybe not.
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
Denniss
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The MX28 Series are 12V Flashroms - might not supported in newer board as they need 12V to erase/program
Maybe newer Amiflash/Aminfxxx Flashprogs will help but you have to enable/disable some options :
Flash function call from biosfile enable
Clear CMOS disable
Reboot after flashing disable
Using Aminf program use Aminfxxx /X to enter menu and enable/disable options but you have to use /-R to disable rebooting as this option reverts back to "reboot" every time you set reboot to off
moon
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Thank You, Rainbow.

I'm getting dizzy from crawling on the floor to change the bios chips. The first time I pulled my chip (with string) it flew so far it took me an hour to find it again. I still like the newer PLCC sockets better than the old ones.

I tried the last amiflash utility but it didn't want to work on an "unrecognized" chip.

I had the impression that uniflasher wrote 80% or so of the flash but then failed on the checking...
moon
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Denniss, you're a bit over my head...could to post again in a way that I understand? There is an AMI info-program?
Rainbow
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What chip was in the Abit IT7 MAX board? It should be chip with FWH interface. The W49F002U is standard Flash ROM. The pinout for FWH is totally different from standard Flash ROM pinout - so it will not work.

The LPC bridge of the chipset was not detected because it's Intel 82801DB which was released recently, next UniFlash version will support it but it works now too - UniFlash uses routines that are common for all 82801xx chips.
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
Denniss
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moon wrote:Denniss, you're a bit over my head...could to post again in a way that I understand? There is an AMI info-program?
Aminf3xx series is an AMIflash version without menus
It offers a wide range of supported chipsets/Flashroms but usually only recent ones
It's a bit tricky to configure for Hotflash/hot-Swap but it works
I use Aminf3xx if Uniflash has problems with newer chipsets
moon
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Rainbow, I left the original bios chip from the ABIT IT7 MAX alone since that board is working FINE. I don't want to make my life even more difficult. This chip is a :
SST 49LF004A

The MB I try to fix is MSI 645 Ultra (6547) with chip W49F002UP12B (Winbond) . An alternative chip from an ABIT BH6 is MX 28F2000TQC-12C4. All sockets are LPCC size, 32 pins.

The MSI MB uses SIS chips while the IT7 uses Intel chips.
moon
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OK, I found the AMInf363 program...now my question is what chipset to select in it. Should I select what is in the IT7 (actual MB flashing in) or the chipset of the MSI MB were the chip goes back into?
moon
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Rainbow, you're right, as almost always...

The ABIT IT7 MAX has a bios chip with Firmware hub (FWH) in its PLCC 32 socket and my alternative chips don't...so it's sadly impossible to do the flashing.

Thanks to everybody to try to help. I learned a lot about flashing with uniflasher and Aminfxxx in a few days!

Aloha from Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
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