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BIOS Reprogrammer

Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2002 7:05 pm
by tenacious
I Have found schematics for a BIOS reprogrammer, but Really would prefer a serial version, anyone know where I can find details of a serial programmer?

Thx, ']['enacious

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 2:10 am
by Hardware Junkie
Versions 1 to 3 here might be what your looking for.
http://www.zws.com/products/epromr1/

Excellent!

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 1:24 pm
by tenacious
Thank-you for this link I shall look into this.

Obviously my problem is that I have a BIOS damaged by a virus :((((( (So Much for BIOS Protection), The virus also ditched my other 2 PC's on my home network! So I have had to borrow my mothers PC (Cyrix MII300, Dont laugh) to get onto the net! I am going to buy a new MB in the next few days anyway but would like to rescue my existing boards.

The errors I am getting are:

MY PC: (Thunderbird 1200, Chaintech MB, with Award BIOS) The PC just Halted whilst Using it, tried restarting it but then all I got was the chipset fan come on (signalling power to the board) but no beeps, no visuals, nothing.

MY GIRLFRIENDS PC: (Duron 800, Jetway 663AS, Award BIOS) The PC was shutdown whilst in Standby mode (Stupid Girls) and never turned on again. BUT I am at least getting the following error,

"AWARD BOOTBLOCK BIOS V1.0,
BIOS ROM CHECKSUM ERROR,
DETECTING FLOPPY DRIVE A: MEDIA"

I have Made a bootable floppy with AWDFLASH util and the latest BIOS BIN File for that board, well it at least boots and I can run the Flash software but it comes up with:

"System was not new award BIOS version! Please update ROMBIOS First"

From what I have read on the net the ROMBIOS CANNOT be rewritten, BUT how then can a virus corrupt the ROMBIOS in the first place?

Here is an intersting part though, When I take the Duron processor and put into my machine, My machine displays the same message as my girlfriends??!

Any inspiration will be greatfully achieved about my probs :)

Also About these EPROM burners, which one is mostly suggested? as I have been looking into the SERIAL ones because I WAS going to build this ISA slot one, BUT I cant see an easy way of getting an ISA Card to build on.

Sorry for being long winded about this one :)

Cheers. ']['enacious.

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 1:40 pm
by NickS
which version of AWDFlash ?

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 1:45 pm
by NickS
If you can actually boot a floppy to the DOS prompt, look at using Uniflash from Rainbow's site to flash the BIOS. That won't worry about the update.

Flash Version

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 1:49 pm
by tenacious
The AWDFLASH Version is the one supplied on the makers website www.jetway.com.tw

Version 8.08

Uniflash, is this advisable?

Re: Flash Version

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 1:57 pm
by NickS
tenacious wrote:Uniflash, is this advisable?
Well, if you have two motherboards with similar BIOS Roms and Uniflash, you've got all you need without building an EEPROM programmer. Subject to the usual caveats about flashing, but since the BIOS is fairly stuffed anyway... there are one or two things that Uniflash can't cope with yet, but for most things AMD, it should be OK.
http://www.aha.ru/~hawk/default.htm?id/ ... rdware.htm reckons the message can be an error in the flash utility.

7.08

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 2:06 pm
by tenacious
Ok, I am gonna try his version of AWDFLASH.

EEEEK! Just read an article on rainbow for hot swapping! Dont like the sound of that, but anyways, The BIOS's in both machines are different :(

right brb in a mo!!! :)

Re: 7.08

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 2:12 pm
by NickS
tenacious wrote:EEEEK! Just read an article on rainbow for hot swapping! Dont like the sound of that, but anyways, The BIOS's in both machines are different :(
The BIOS doesn't have to be the same, the motherboard has to be capable of addressing the chip correctly and providing the correct programming voltage for flashing. I've hot-swapped several times, but you do have to have a light touch to avoid bending legs.

Hmmz

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 2:25 pm
by tenacious
Well to your last reply the BIOS's are physically different ones with the legs and the others the pcpp type or something.

anyway results for latest flashing.

7.08 of AWDFLASH from that last link still didnt work, but different error it is now giving me a checksum code: B254H Something to work on i suppose.

Uniflash is an interesting utility I like all the extras, but the flash BIOS from file option was greyed out with check BIOS writeenabled? I cant remember there being a jumper for this on these boards but will doublecheck on the site.. But surely if there was a writeenabled jumper here wouldnt this sstop the virus in the first place?

cheers.

Re: Hmmz

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 2:39 pm
by NickS
tenacious wrote:Well to your last reply the BIOS's are physically different ones with the legs and the others the pcpp type or something.
Ah. PLCC. That's a bit of a stopper. They're very tricky to extract if socketed (impossible if soldered) :(
tenacious wrote:surely if there was a write enabled jumper here wouldnt this stop the virus in the first place?
You would think so, wouldn't you. Unfortunately Rainbow is on holiday at the moment, so we can't ask his advice on what other situations would produce that message.

What command line switches are you using with Awdflash?

Just to confirm (grasping at straws), your boot diskette has just command.com, awdflash and the BIOS file ?

switches

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 2:49 pm
by tenacious
Switches I have used are the default ones that Jetway recommend but are really no use /sn /py /cc /r /nbl.

But I am going to give the NBL another try.

brb...

Other Flashing utils

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:28 pm
by tenacious
Anyother flashing utils recommended?

protection

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:45 pm
by tenacious
where is the BIOS protection is it in the BIOS, on the motherboard? is it programmed into the BIOS and can only be changed once in the BIOS

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:49 pm
by NickS
Flash protection can sometimes be in the CMOS. What does the manual say ? BTW, I assume this is the Jetway board. Have you tried doing the Chaintech with the Duron in it ?

/nbl - doesn't appear as a parameter in awdflash 7.8 and I can't run up 8.08 under W2000. Is it something to do with not overwriting the bootblock ?