I wish I had known of this thread previously as I would have been able to offer assistance to everyone having trouble with this BIOS update.
Anyone who has previously downloaded the new BIOS and is having problems with trying to update their system should Download a NEW copy of the BIOS from Gateway and run the Flash utility again.
There should be no problems as Gateway FIXED the problem without telling anyone and without making any notes of it on the support page.
When the New BIOS was first uploaded, a Mistake was made is the flash batch file for flashing the system.
The original file reads as follows: AFUWIN.EXE 842P161G.ROM /p /b /c /L2 /REBOOT
/P - Program main BIOS image
/B - Program Boot Block
/C - Destroy CMOS checksum (Clear nVRAM)
L2: Load optimal from ROM file
A New BIOS with a FIXED Flash.bat file was later uploaded with the Same Time Stamp.
The New file reads as: AFUWIN.EXE 842P161G.ROM /p /b /x /L2 /REBOOT
/P - Program main BIOS image
/B - Program Boot Block
/X - Don't Check ROM ID
L2: Load optimal from ROM file
What happened here was that Acer changed the BIOS Naming convention of the BIOS from the Factory Default
842PxxxG to AMI R01-A04
The ROM ID Error everyone has been getting is because of the name convention change in the BIOS.
If you would like to save the Old BIOS, you can do this using the Flash utility which can be run without the flash.bat file. Instead, it'll open a program window allowing you to select which options (switches) you need to run.
As for the Motherboard, so far, it seems that Acer has No intention of releasing any information on it as they are trying to keep it to themselves.
They have not released any Manuals for the Motherboard. Tech support is just about clueless and what with the company merger, it seems nobody really knows what is what.
Here are the actual flash codes for using the Afuwin.exe utility.
[cpp] +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| AMI Firmware Update Utility v4.36 |
| Copyright (C)2008 American Megatrends Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Usage: AFUWIN <ROM File Name> [Option 1] [Option 2]... |
| or |
| AFUWIN <Input or Output File Name> <Command> |
| or |
| AFUWIN <Command> |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Commands: |
| /O - Save current BIOS into file |
| /C - Refer to Options: /C |
| /U - Display ROM file's ROMID |
| /S - Refer to Options: /S |
| /Ln - Refer to Options: /Ln |
| /M - Refer to Options: /M |
| /MAI - Disaply System ROM and ROM file's MA information |
| /HOLE: - Update specific ROM Hole according to given name. |
| NewRomHole1.BIN /HOLE:RomH1 |
| /HOLEOUT: - Save specific ROM Hole according to given name. |
| NewRomHole1.BIN /HOLEOUT:RomH1 |
| /NCB: - Update specific Non-Critical Block according to given name. |
| NewNcb1.BIN /NCB:Ncb1 |
| /NCBOUT: - Save specific Non-Critical Block according to given name. |
| NewNcb1.BIN /NCBOUT:Ncb1 |
| /D - Verification test of given ROM File without flashing BIOS. |
| /CLNEVNLOG - Refer to Options: /CLNEVNLOG |
| Options: |
| /P - Program main BIOS image |
| /B - Program Boot Block |
| /N - Program NVRAM |
| /C - Destroy CMOS checksum |
| /E - Program Embedded Controller Block |
| /K - Program all non-critical blocks |
| /Kn - Program n'th non-critical block only(n=0-7) |
| /Q - Silent execution |
| /REBOOT - Reboot after programming |
| /X - Don't Check ROM ID |
| /S - Display current system's ROMID |
| /Ln - Load CMOS defaults
n=0-3) |
| L0: Load current optimal |
| L1: Load current failsafe |
| L2: Load optimal from ROM file |
| L3: Load failsafe from ROM file |
| /M - Update bootblock MAC address if it exists |
| Example: /M1234ABCD will update MAC to 1234ABCD |
| /R - Preserve ALL SMBIOS structure during NVRAM programming |
| /ECUF - Update EC BIOS when newer version is detected. |
| /SHUTDOWN - Shutdown after programming. |
| /EC - Program Embedded Controller Block. (Flash Type) |
| /CLNEVNLOG - Clear Event Log. |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+[/cpp]