BIOS chip for TX97-e?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Fader
  • Start date Start date
J

John Fader

Greetings,

Does anyone have a defunct TX97-e which still has a good BIOS chip? I
blew the BIOS on mine while trying to flash the patched BIOS by Jan S.
After the new BIOS was installed, it booted once and worked perfectly
for nearly 24 hours. I shut it down routinely and it never breathed
again. When I tried to boot it, the screen was entirely dead. I tried a
different monitor and graphics card with the same result. I can only
surmise that something about the flash did not go right. I had used the
patched BIOS about 8 months ago with no problem but had reverted to 1008
due to problems that I'd mistakenly thought were due to the patch.

Anyway, after that long-winded explanation; I, a retired and rather
impecunious fellow, want to build a computer on this TX97-e mobo for my
even more impecunious son, a student who needs email and word processing
capabilities. My junkbox contains everything I need execpt for a mobo,
and this TX97-e had been a very reliable one until the GIOS went
bye-bye. If someone has a dead TX97-e and would be interested in giving
the BIOS a good home, I'd very much like to talk with him.

Thanks/Don Carron
toobwiz(atsign)bellsouth.net
substitute "@" for the SPAMBlock (atsign)
 
You are correct in asking for a BIOS for your MB but there may be
another way....

You can use the BIOS from another motherboard as long as the chip is
the same size and has the correct code.

So what you would do first is look at your dud chip and see what it is
(peel off the label) eg. SST28F020 then all you need is another chip
of the same size and a working ASUS board with similar architecture.

You can boot working board to DOS with floppy (with AFLASH and a TX97
bios image on it). Remove the original chip from the working MB and
then replace it with the chip you found above. Use aflash to flash a
new bios image onto it.
Put this chip in you TX97 and the original chip back in its home MB
and you should be ok. You could even try this with your original chip
which may not be physically dead - only have the wrong code in it. Be
carefull you get the right image - not any TX97 BIOS img file will
work - if its an XE or a V etc.. you need to match the model numbers
exactly.

You can remove BIOS while your PC is on as long as you do it
carefully. Sometimes its easier to do it once when the PC is off and
unplugged as you can use metal screwdrivers etc... more safely when
there is no power and then replace the ship lightly so it makes
contact but is easy to remove Just be careful with the orientation of
the chip. (one end has a notch in the housing)

This is std procedure for recovering a dead BIOS so there should be
better instructions with pics on the internet somewhere. Just google
it.

Regards

Jason
 
Thanhks, Jason, for the reply. I have the old and the new BIOS file for
my board on a bootable floppy. The problem here is that my board os so
dead that it won't even POST. However, I really believe that the problem
is the BIOS programming rather than the chip or the board, due to the
failure mode.

I am glad to know that the BIOS chip can be removed while the board's
running. If I can find a local TX97-e, I could just pop my chip in there
and flash it. I am also wondering whether, if I can find someone with an
EPROM burner, I can use my bios.bin file to program it off the mobo?

I hate to lose this reliable board when I have such a good use for it.

:-)

Cheers/The Fader
 
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