Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (
More info?)
wow...thanx Paul....that's alot of detaisl. Yes I know I shouldn't have
flashed it even though I've done the same thing many other times and had no
problems.
I used ASUSUpdae (in Windows) and there might have been a check mark that
says to also flash the BOOT BLOCK
but I didn't pay too much attention. Why have something that could kill
your MB be the default setting?
Atleast ASUS should have it unchecked and let the user decide.
I'm hooped and I know it.....have to spend some $$ to take out the BIOS chip
and get it flashed or buy a new MB.
"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
news:nospam-1907040609230001@192.168.1.177...
> In article <zGKKc.55717$Mr4.17026@pd7tw1no>, "Hello" <hello@hello.com>
wrote:
>
> > I used the ASUSUpdate windows tool to update my A7V8X-X's BIOS and it
failed
> > during Checksum verification after it flashed my BIOS. Now the computer
is
> > totally DEAD. I can't even boot to floppy to re-flash my BIOS.
> >
> > What can I do other than buy a new motherboard? Any help would be
> > appreciated. Also, why doesn't the CrashFree BIOS kicking in? It's
suppose
> > to allow me to recover from BAD bios flashes.
> >
> > Thanx in advance.
>
> First of all, the flash isn't monolithic and made with just one piece
> of code in it. It stores a number of pieces of information, but I'll
> concentrate on the code portion.
>
> There are two chunks of code. One chunk is called the Boot Block, the
> other chunk is the Main BIOS Code. The Boot Block is the home of the
> Crashfree routine, plus enough code to boot from a floppy, but perhaps
> without the ability to drive an AGP video card.
>
> There are several flashing methods for flashing a BIOS chip, and all
> of them probably have some option to flash the Boot Block or the
> Main BIOS code. However, if you say "Yes" to updating the Boot Block,
> then if the Boot Block gets corrupted, then Crashfree won't work any
> more. So, Crashfree is only available if you are flashing the Main
> BIOS code (yes, this is stupid - Gigabyte fixes this with their Dual
> BIOS chip solution).
>
> In some of their updates, Asus gives special instructions for flashing
> the BIOS, and what the special instructions or special tool (wrapper
> script) are doing, is causing the Boot Block to get flashed. Any time
> Asus does this, they are removing your "Crashfree" safety net, for
> that one flash update.
>
> I presume in your case, that you attempted to update both, and the
> update failed.
>
> The safest way to flash, is by booting a DOS floppy, and using the
> version of DOS flasher provided on the Asus download site. When
> booted in DOS, there isn't going to be a lot of pesky multitasking
> going on, to upset the flash process, as there could be with a
> Windows flasher.
>
> A second consideration, is overclocking. If you are overclocking,
> you would be well advised to return to stock settings. The reason
> for this is, an overclocked board may be overclocking the LPC clock
> to the flash chip, and violating the timing on the flash chip could
> cause the flash process to fail.
>
> Before using any flash method, always visit the Asus download page
> for your motherboard. Frequently, there are various warnings, about
> certain versions of the BIOS, not being flashable with certain of
> the methods. You should always read the BIOS history link, or the
> "More" links next to the various BIOS releases, for these warnings.
> While I don't see any warnings for your board, you should
> check there for yourself.
>
> Finally, you don't have to RMA the board to get it running again.
> There are a number of providers of BIOS flash chips. You pull out
> the old one and install a new chip. The BIOS is usually socketed
> and removable (the exception being the odd OEM board that has
> the chip soldered to the motherboard, to save the small cost of
> the socket). You can visit www.badflash.com for example, and see
> what they charge. You can even contact Asus Tech Support (toll call)
> and ask them for a phone number of an Asus person in your country
> or area, who sells replacement chips. I think Asus sends the chip
> by mail, so the transit time could be quite long. One of the
> other services might use a courier to ship, reducing the wait and
> increasing the price.
>
> There are some other methods for flashing, such as "hot flashing",
> but this requires finding a board that uses a similar flash interface,
> removing that boards BIOS chip while the computer is running, then
> inserting the dead flash chip and reflashing it. There is some danger
> to this procedure (like if the LPC flash chip gets rotated in the
> socket and shorts to the wrong pins), and I don't recommend this for
> the average user. (Hell, I wouldn't do that myself!)
>
> Buying a replacement BIOS chip is more likely to yield a working
> motherboard and a reasonably cheap lesson about what flash tools
> are good and what ones are bad. If you feel particularly accident
> prone, buying a BIOS Savior (ioss.com.tw) is one way to guarantee
> this doesn't happen again. To use the BIOS Savior, you need at least
> one good BIOS image, and unless you live near a vendor like Eksit,
> who are willing to program the BIOS Savior before sending it to
> you, you will need the services of badflash.com and the purchase
> of the BIOS Savior as well.
>
> Before removing the current flash chip. make a diagram of the
> orientation of the chip. The chip will have a "dot" on it, and
> that may be lined up with a triangle marking on the socket. Make
> sure the dot on the replacement chip is aligned the same way.
> If the replacement flash chip doesn't come with a chip puller,
> a nimble person can pull the flash chip, using a pointed tool,
> like an awl. Be careful to lift the chip equally on all sides as
> it is extracted. Similarly, press equally on all sides when inserting
> the new chip. If the chip is inserted/extracted crooked, pins can
> get bent. You can also get a very nice tool from Radio Shack,
> for pulling PLCC chips, that should work as well. It costs $10.
>
> HTH,
> Paul
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram