Neither BootBlock nor Hot-Swap works...

madmax · Fri Jun 10, 2005 5:29 pm

Hello to all,

You are my only hope to the following problem…

I made a successful Tualatin 1,1A Celeron mod to my Abit BE6-II.
However, the BIOS startup screen, detect the processor as Pentium II 333Mhz (although in Windows XP all was OK). I supposed that running BIOS Patcher will add the extra microcodes in my BIOS. So, I patched the latest BIOS (version 70). While flashing with awdflash 7.97D I get some ‘write fail’. However, I reset my system and I came up with BootBlock v.1.0 .

I had video(AGP) and floppy so I tried to flash to the original BIOS v.70 with awdflash 7.97D. I had flash the BIOS many times before with this version(After changing my epa logo or after changing the onboard UDMA66 version) without any problems. This time awdflash 7.97D couldn’t detect my chip: unknown flash type. The same with awdflash 8.23F and 8.59E (Sometimes I got the message:’ …update ROM BIOS first’, when I used other BIOS versions). Uniflash 1.40 couldn’t detect my chip, too. Then I used awdflash 7.52C (the one that came with my motherboard’s cd). This version worked only with BIOS first release, v.NP. It flashed with a lot of “write fail” , about 80%. After restart ,no video! I changed AGP to ISA adapter. Video again!

Now Uniflash detects my chip! I flashed the previous BIOS(v.NP) with only one red square but 4 green x’s at verification. BootBlock again. I reprogrammed with awdflash 7.52C the same BIOS version and I get very less errors than first time! 7%! I tried other BIOS versions with Uniflash, all without success.

I hot-swap with a motherboard with VIA Pro chipset (mine is 440BX) the same again: Uniflash flashes and fails. Various versions of awdflash and BIOSes, sometimes fails other times error messages: (“unknown flash type”,”…update Rom BIOS first”)

I am an electronic specialist. I can’t explain this problem. I think that it’s very difficult to have damage my chip only by flashing with BIOS patcher. I think the chip is good and something is going wrong with the flash…

Is my BootBlock corrupted so it can’t read 100% right from the floppy?
Do I have to hot-swap with another board? (same chipset)
Do I have to use the right combination? (awdflash and BIOS)
Do I make something wrong?
Is the chip itself damaged? (how and why?)

I ‘m not a lamer…I have help many people either on forums or in my life…You are my only hope… I want to explain the situation… It’s unbelievable…

Thank you,

BrianSw · Fri Jun 10, 2005 5:52 pm

I've had lots of problems flashing with errors because of either defective floppy drives or floppy disks. I double check the disks using chkdsk a:
at the dos command prompt in a dos window on another computer before flashing. Get a new floppy drive or replace with a known good one. These are just things I've found that were causing me to get errors.

Brian

madmax · Fri Jun 10, 2005 9:00 pm

First, Thank you for the reply...
No... It's not a floppy drive or a disk problem... I am using 2 disks, both full formatted with no bad sectors...They are OK...
My drive is OK too...i used it many years without any problem...
However, when i hot-swapped my BIOS i used the floppy drive from the other computer which was OK too...
I have also downloaded the BIOSes many times from the internet...
I don't know what to say...I have tried everything without success...
what else?

Sharedoc · Sat Jun 11, 2005 1:14 am

Typically if something goes wrong, you have to backtract mods you have done since the last stabile system.

Did you try to recover the original bios without the Tualatin mod (with the previous processor)?

madmax · Sat Jun 11, 2005 2:18 pm

Yes I did...I put back the previous Pentium III proccessor before flashing...
So you think that my BIOS chip isn't dead...but why I 'm not able to perform a successful flash both from BootBlock and Hot-Swap?

Sharedoc · Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:28 pm

Well, get another flash-EEPROM chip and try hotflash it.

Typical flash-EEPROM costs 5 euro, so it does not make sense to spend too much time wondering about what is wrong.

madmax · Sun Jun 12, 2005 4:04 am

I appreciate your suggestions my friend...
I tried 11 different BIOSes for my board from ABIT's website...All of them gave my a bad flash with Uniflash...I flash through BootBlock...Sometimes I got one red square,othertimes 3 to 4...
It's very strange to have damage my chip only by a bad flash and this is something Iwould like to certify from someone expert on flashing...
I will get a new chip if I manage to find the same type(MX29F002(N)T) in the market...
However,I am waiting to "hear" possible causes of the problem from you...
Thank you...

BiosMan · Sun Jun 12, 2005 12:37 pm

Since you work in the industry, can you take your chip to work and try to program/test it in an EEPROM burner?

madmax · Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:14 pm

I didn't say that I work in the industry...I said that I am an electronic specialist...It isn't easy for me to find a flash programmer...I have to make it myself... But this is the last available solution since it will take time and I need my PC as soon as posible...Do you think what C't flasher will work?Or I will have the same errors just like hot-swap and BootBlock?

Sharedoc · Mon Jun 13, 2005 11:13 pm

Well I have DIY Ct flasher and it works well, but I have never flashed MX29F002 with it. It is among the supported types, so it should work.

Ct flasher is easy to build. I did a wire-wrap low-tech implementation on an old ISA soundcard in ~6 hours.

BiosMan · Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:54 pm

OK on the "electronic specialist".

madmax · Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:43 pm

OK...Now I 'm gone melt my head on a wall...

I take an ELITE P6LX-A+ (Intel 440LX) and I try to hot-swap my BIOS on that motherboard.The same errors again

...Then I took the ELITE's BIOS chip(It's a WINBOND W29C020(C))and I reprogrammed it with the BIOS of my motherboard.Uniflash gave me much more errors while flashing(ELITE's BIOS chip with ABIT's BIOS file).Then without reflashing again I put the BIOS back to the ELITE.ALL STARTED NORMALLY! Just like I had never flashed this chip!

Sharedoc · Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:48 pm

This why I like to do the flashing with a separate flasher and an extra bios chip. If something goes wrong (as it often does), I can still use the motherboard

KenH · Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:12 pm

madmax wrote:I appreciate your suggestions my friend...
I tried 11 different BIOSes for my board from ABIT's website...All of them gave my a bad flash with Uniflash...I flash through BootBlock...Sometimes I got one red square,othertimes 3 to 4...
It's very strange to have damage my chip only by a bad flash and this is something Iwould like to certify from someone expert on flashing...
I will get a new chip if I manage to find the same type(MX29F002(N)T) in the market...
However,I am waiting to "hear" possible causes of the problem from you...
Thank you...

The only time I had a bootblock flash fail using uniflash was when the
chip was boot block locked/protected.
I have to ask , did you try to ulock the boot block 1st using the
" uniflash -unlock " command before attempting to flash it boot block &
all.
Uniflash is the only program I use if i'm too lazy to dig out the willem
programmer, i't s never failed me since they added the option to unlock
the boot block previous to flashing.

madmax · Tue Jun 21, 2005 1:25 am

Yes...I tried many times before to 'unlock' the chip with uniflash. Last Hot-Swap attempt was on a Shuttle Hot-679 motherboard(440BX). I tried the -unlock command with the first BIOS release (NP).Again uniflash gave me the same errors(1 red square and for green x at verification).
Thanks anyway for your help my friend...