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EPoX EP-4PLA3I problem

Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 6:59 pm
by Rage3D
Hi.I have this motherboard and the BIOS I have makes the PC freeze and reboot,and I have to downgrade to a older version.
So far I have found 2 BIOS files for it but I can't get them to flash.One of them has the same date as the BIOS on the chip(11/18/2004),and another one is a older one,which has the date 10/06/2004,but both of them are 3MB in size,while my BIOS chip is 1MB bigger.(4MB)
How can I flash it?Uniflash gives me a "file size does not match rom chip size" and AWDFLASH 8.33(since this board uses a D686 Phoneix Bios)
freezes when I try to flash both BIOS files.However,using my backup of the BIOS,which is 4MB in size,I can easily flash the chip with the current BIOS it has.(a modified 11/18/2004 BIOS that came with the board by default)

Re: EPoX EP-4PLA3I problem

Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 5:55 pm
by edwin
Please post the links to the older bioses you found to see if there's something that needs to be done to those files before they can be flashed.

Re: EPoX EP-4PLA3I problem

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 5:09 pm
by Rage3D
Here's a link to the original version of the BIOS it has,3MB file size.
http://driver.ru/?H=EP-4PLA3I&By=EPoX&SS=BIOS
I can't find the older BIOS,but I'll try searching it.

Re: EPoX EP-4PLA3I problem

Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:20 am
by edwin
I can open this bios file with modbin so it is a valid one:
11/18/2004-Breeds-6A79APAOC-00
11/18/2004 For Intel Breeds Hill Chipset
Use:

AWDFlash 4pl34b18.bin /py/sn/cd/cp/f

the /f option is for "use flash routines in orginal BIOS for flash programming". I'm not sure what EPoX did to their bioses but this seems to do the trick usually.

Re: EPoX EP-4PLA3I problem

Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 9:02 pm
by Rage3D
The problem is my flash chip is 4MB,and the file is 3MB.

Re: EPoX EP-4PLA3I problem

Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 6:48 pm
by edwin
If using the /f option that seems to overcome the problem, the internal flash routine in your current bios will take care of that. As far as I can find from several dozens of other EPoX board owners that is.

Re: EPoX EP-4PLA3I problem

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 8:16 pm
by Rage3D
Using /f switch freezes AWDFLASH on that board.

Re: EPoX EP-4PLA3I problem

Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:22 pm
by edwin
please zip up your backup bios file so we can analyze if a "regular" bios file can be massaged to something your board will accept.

Re: EPoX EP-4PLA3I problem

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 10:31 am
by Rage3D
I don't have that bios anymore...yet I think after 3MB the BIOS may have been full of null data.
I still have the board's BIOS chip though,I'll dump it when I can get my Chaintech board up and running or when I get another board.