Dead mobo / hotswap troubles

Hot-swapping and Boot-Block flash & Boot block flash and floppy support
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Juddium
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So here's the deal...
my DFI Lanparty NFII Ultra (rev A) died a while back, and I had a friend of mine help me determine that my bios is corrupt. So I did the hotswap thing, got a couple different chips from a couple different motherboards as well as my own, and I have not been able to flash anything anywhere.
One system I tried (don't remember the board off the top of my head but I believe it has a VIA chipset in it) wouldn't flash the new bios file, with some error that it was an unknown flash. The other system I tried it in said it wasn't an award bios (which every system I've used is).

I've been using awdflash. uniflash won't give me the option of flashing to the chip - says it's an unknown chip type or something to that effect. anyone got some ideas? I've got a couple spare mobos that don't support my processor but do have bios chips I can use
ajzchips
El cheapo dude
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Says unknown? I have a feeling you burnt the chip in the hotswaps...
Juddium
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You'd think so...that's what I though. but 2 other chips said the same thing, and I know for a fact one of them isn't toasted because my friend has been booting off it all night
gave me hope again that I could still possibly do it with my chip. I noticed that the chips it did recognize were 5V chips, and the chips it didn't recognize were more current chips
zonxar
Master Flasher
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Location: Airdrie, Alberta, Canada

The board uses a 4Mbit flash memory chip - what is printed on the chip surface? Do the other chips you tried compare - ie. are they the same manufacturer and part number?
:(
Juddium
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other chips aren't really the same - some of them have the same SST printed across the top, but this is the only one that looks like it does as far as numbers go. and that doesn't surprise me that it's 4Mbit - tried to flash my bios onto one of the chips and it said it wasn't big enough for it. closest I've come so far to getting a working chip was right there
I'm in the process of trying to see if anyone in my area has an nForce 2 mobo. I'm hoping that my problem thus far has been that all I've had to work with are VIA chipsets.

chip surface looks like this:
SST
49LF040
33-4C-NH
0332021-BA
zonxar
Master Flasher
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Location: Airdrie, Alberta, Canada

The motherboard chipset isn't a factor, the same type of BIOS chip is.
Hot Flashing Guide Rev. 2.0!
What If You Don't Have A Similar Motherboard?
While it is advisable to use a similar motherboard to hot flash your dead BIOS chip, you can use a completely different motherboard model to do the hot flash. There are some things that you need to consider before you do so though.
First of all, you should naturally find a working motherboard that supports the same BIOS chip as that of your dead motherboard. If your BIOS chip is of the square PLCC type, look for a working motherboard that uses a PLCC BIOS chip too. You can't hot flash a PLCC BIOS chip using a motherboard that uses a DIP BIOS chip!
And even if you find a motherboard that supports the same type of BIOS chip, you must make sure that it supports the same voltage. Older BIOS chips run at 5V while new ones only need 3.3V to run. Naturally, inserting a 3.3V BIOS chip into a 5V socket will burn up that 3.3V chip in no time at all.
So, check and make sure both the dead BIOS chip and the BIOS chip of the hot flash motherboard run at the same voltage. Since current motherboards all use 3.3V BIOS chips, this should only be a problem if you are attempting to use a very old motherboard to hot flash.
The full article is here:

http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?lo ... =62&var2=0

:)
KachiWachi
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Juddium
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zonxar wrote:The motherboard chipset isn't a factor, the same type of BIOS chip is.
right, I figured. but all thoe mobos I've used so far haven't come close - and I'm hoping that an nForce mobo will have a similar plcc as opposed to the rest of the ones I've tried.
looks like I'll probably be ordering a bios chip then
zonxar
Master Flasher
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I had good luck ordering from:

www.badflash.com

:)
atang1
BIOS Newbie
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Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2005 7:18 pm
Location: Framingham, Ma.

Since I program flash and eeproms etc., and I fix motherboards to do research on semiconductor failures; I can tell you that 99% of board failures or card failures are not rom problems.

The problem is mostly chips got too hot, due to moisture absorbtion in the plastic package, or the stress due to dicing saw damage was not etched off. You can do annealing process, by turning on the computer but not do any intensive computation. Five hours or later, you have a cool computer, and the stress has been relieved.

So, eventually, I had to throw away many motherboards and cards, but roms are always salvaged.

Good luck with your flash, but throw away your nvidia video card.
Juddium
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be happy to throw away my nvidia video card, but I don't use one. aiw radeon 9800 pro for me, with a fat zalman cooler on it.
so you're saying that my motherboard may in fact be completely dead?
atang1
BIOS Newbie
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Location: Framingham, Ma.

Motherboards die for many reasons, mostly thermal stress on warped ATX motherboards. If you leave the motherboards on, never turn off; it lasts longer, but your hDD dies due to bearing failure(8000 hours mean time between failure or 4 years).

I am for Linux livecd with USB drives, where nothing will wear out. Flash devices love to be used(warmed up).
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