EZ-Flash Hangs After Update/ Intel CPU Ucode Error

  • Thread starter Thread starter Murphy
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M

Murphy

I downloaded the latest Bios for my board and now I get the Intel CPU
Ucode Error upon boot. My CPU is a 2.8 GHZ Intel Pentium D Processor
820+ for the P5PE-VM.

I didnt have the above error earlier with the previos bios version.
When I attempted to run EZ -Flash again, it hanged. It still hangs. I
have to press the reset button to get out of it.

To add insult to injury, I try running AFUDOS then I get an error:
unable to open ROM file. I tried repeating all after clearing the CMOS
as indicated in the manual and nothing...CMOS was cleared but I could
not flash the bios.

This board supposedly advertises 133 ATA but I am only getting 100. I
have had some corrupt data in installing windows too....dunno if this
board is a POS or what!!??
 
Murphy said:
I downloaded the latest Bios for my board and now I get the Intel CPU
Ucode Error upon boot. My CPU is a 2.8 GHZ Intel Pentium D Processor
820+ for the P5PE-VM.

I didnt have the above error earlier with the previos bios version.
When I attempted to run EZ -Flash again, it hanged. It still hangs. I
have to press the reset button to get out of it.

To add insult to injury, I try running AFUDOS then I get an error:
unable to open ROM file. I tried repeating all after clearing the CMOS
as indicated in the manual and nothing...CMOS was cleared but I could
not flash the bios.

This board supposedly advertises 133 ATA but I am only getting 100. I
have had some corrupt data in installing windows too....dunno if this
board is a POS or what!!??
Click to expand...
Do one thing at a time. Corruption installing the OS is usually a sign of
dodgy ram but it could also be a dicky CD reader.
 
Murphy said:
I downloaded the latest Bios for my board and now I get the Intel CPU
Ucode Error upon boot. My CPU is a 2.8 GHZ Intel Pentium D Processor
820+ for the P5PE-VM.

I didnt have the above error earlier with the previos bios version.
When I attempted to run EZ -Flash again, it hanged. It still hangs. I
have to press the reset button to get out of it.

To add insult to injury, I try running AFUDOS then I get an error:
unable to open ROM file. I tried repeating all after clearing the CMOS
as indicated in the manual and nothing...CMOS was cleared but I could
not flash the bios.

This board supposedly advertises 133 ATA but I am only getting 100. I
have had some corrupt data in installing windows too....dunno if this
board is a POS or what!!??
Click to expand...

If you cannot figure out a way to back out of a bad BIOS upgrade,
there is always badflash.com . They charge about $25 for a new
flash chip, programmed with the version of BIOS you want. That
method requires pulling the old chip out of the PLCC socket,
and pushing the new chip into place with your thumb. Extraction
and insertion of chips should be done with the chip parallel
to the socket, to help avoid bent pins.

In the AFUDOS case, did the file have the right name ? Sometimes
the downloaded file, has the wrong extension, or the name has to
match the motherboard name exactly. You may want to play around
with the file name, as instructed by your manual.

For example, the syntax shown in the downloadable manual is:

afudos /iP5PEVM.ROM

Rename the BIOS file to P5PEVM.ROM and try again. The file
should be exactly 512KB (524288 bytes).

Sometimes, with big ROMs, you need a second floppy diskette, so
that there is room for both the backup file (the old ROM image),
and the new file to burn. Having both new and old available,
is handy if the upgrade goes wrong, and needs an immediate
reflash before pressing the reset button. The second floppy
would have AFUDOS.exe, P5PEVM.ROM (the new one), and BACKUP.ROM.
You do this command, before doing the other one, so you have
the BACKUP.ROM available to you. The backup will also be 524288
bytes.

afudos /oBACKUP.ROM

They cannot advertise ATA133 for the Southbridge, because Intel
designed the hardware to do only ATA100. (The Specification Summary
in your manual says "Ultra DMA 100/66".) The performance is
limited by the design of the strobe signal on the Southbridge.
In fact, write performance on an Intel IDE interface, is 88.9MB/sec
and not 100MB/sec. Read is still 100MB/sec. The shame of it...
Since the sustained media rate on the fastest disk might be
limited to 70MB/sec, this is not a big deal. Just put one hard
drive per cable, if you plan on a lot of IDE disk to IDE disk
transfers (and hope your OS overlaps the disk I/O and is
non-blocking).

Paul
 
Thanks Paul,

The MB is less than a week old and I followed the instructions
precisely in the manual. Maybe this latest bios is buggy?

The bios hangs shortly after selecting <ALT> <F2>. It pauses or hangs
when it attempts to load the initial BIOS prompts (even before
inserting the floppy). It doesnt even get that far to ask or look for
the bios file.

I tried renaming and I got nowhere. I tried the online bios update with
the actual bios name, renamed version, and both the new and old bios
revisions and it hanged so I believe it is something gone bad in the
bios.

Initially, I had one stick of ram in the board that the system didnt
like. After removing it and running a burn-in prgram to test the ram,
it passed. However, everything went bad after I installed the new
bios.

I have read others get the Intel CPU Ucode Error too. In addition, my
LCD monitor upon boot now gets an error message saying that it doesnt
support this resolution even though I have it at the recommended
resolution and even below that.

I think I should take the board back to the point of purchase and have
them either fix or replace the motherboard? If they won't do so, I may
have to argue with Asus to get it repaired.
 
Murphy said:
Thanks Paul,

The MB is less than a week old and I followed the instructions
precisely in the manual. Maybe this latest bios is buggy?

The bios hangs shortly after selecting <ALT> <F2>. It pauses or hangs
when it attempts to load the initial BIOS prompts (even before
inserting the floppy). It doesnt even get that far to ask or look for
the bios file.

I tried renaming and I got nowhere. I tried the online bios update with
the actual bios name, renamed version, and both the new and old bios
revisions and it hanged so I believe it is something gone bad in the
bios.

Initially, I had one stick of ram in the board that the system didnt
like. After removing it and running a burn-in prgram to test the ram,
it passed. However, everything went bad after I installed the new
bios.

I have read others get the Intel CPU Ucode Error too. In addition, my
LCD monitor upon boot now gets an error message saying that it doesnt
support this resolution even though I have it at the recommended
resolution and even below that.

I think I should take the board back to the point of purchase and have
them either fix or replace the motherboard? If they won't do so, I may
have to argue with Asus to get it repaired.
Click to expand...

OK. If you go to the Asus Support web page (support.asus.com) and
enter "tools" as the name of your motherboard, the latest utilities
are listed. The latest AFUDOS is Sept.12/2006

ftp://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/AFUDOS226.zip

You could try that one, and see if it gets any further.

Another option, would be to try to add microcode "on-the-fly".
The CTMC program was a program that could be used to add microcode
to an Award BIOS. The method is "non-destructive", in the sense
that it did not require flashing the entire BIOS file.

But your BIOS is an AMI, and even though Intel specified a microcode
loader interface for the BIOS, it seems whatever AMI did, is different
than what Award did. I haven't seen a recipe for AMI, that will allow
adding microcode (short of modifying the entire BIOS file). So this
would be a "research topic" in the case of AMI :-(

On the old Award BIOS, there was the concept of a "Microcode Cache".
By using the CTMC program, that program could make the magic BIOS
call, that would pass a 2KB image to the BIOS. It would be stored
in the Microcode Cache, and would override whatever had been there
previously. In that case, if you changed out the processor, the
cache would be flushed. But as long as the same processor stayed
in the motherboard, the microcode segment would stay put. It would
seem that the Award BIOS supported this Intel feature. I don't
know if AMI doesn't know about this, or maybe they chose not to
implement it.

(See page 311 section 8.10.4 for info on INT 15h 0xD042 call.)
http://www.intel.com/design/pentiumii/manuals/24319202.pdf

Things have changed since that time. At one time, microcode patches
were a fixed size, and 2KB segments were used in the CPUCODE.exe
module in the BIOS. More recent Intel processors, now use larger
(variable) sized microcode patches. And that would probably spell
trouble for the Award fixed size microcode cache (unless it got
bumped up in size).

In terms of BIOS flashing methods, there is more to the process,
than meets the eye. I believe in some cases, the flashing program
uses a "hook". The *existing* BIOS code, actually contains executable
code suitable for reflashing the chip. The flashing program, may not
actually be using its own code to do the flash operation. The
AFUDOS program may actually be calling that BIOS routine, to flash the
entire chip. For that to be feasable, the BIOS code must be shadowed
or something (shadowed in RAM). What it also means, is if there is
a problem with the execution of the BIOS code itself, then a program
like AFUDOS, even if updated to the latest version, may not be able
to correct the problem.

You can try returning the board to your retailer. In some
countries, consumer protection laws help "persuade" retailers
to do the right thing. As a rule, flashing a BIOS on a motherboard,
is not considered a warranty supportable issue, as it implies any
possible "user error" would be coverable by the warranty. But just
as damaging the CPU socket is not covered by the warranty, so to
you may not find any sympathy at Asus, for BIOS flashing problems.
So your retailer may be the best recourse, and this is one reason
I recommend to people that they complete their motherboard, CPU,
and RAM testing, within whatever grace period is provided by their
retailer.

Normally, a missing microcode patch is not the end of the world.
There are a ton of motherboards out there, where the BIOS does
not contain the correct microcode segment, and yet the motherboard
is both bootable and flashable. I don't know if you could conclude
that the cause of your problems is the missing microcode or not.
You'd need to dig up an errata sheet for the particular processor
you are using, and see if any of the 100 or so errata listed, could
possibly be triggered by BIOS/flashing code.

In WinXP at least, there is a microcode loader in the OS. If the
OS is able to boot, then that microcode loader, can load a more
recent microcode patch, than is in the BIOS. But there is no
guarantee, in fact, that it is enough. An error in the processor
design, may in fact require the microcode patch to be loaded at
BIOS POST time, to allow booting an OS, so it is possible for a
system to get "stuck". The last time there was an epidemic of
microcode problems, was when SP2 was introduced. People who upgraded
to SP2, were greeted by a microcode problem, and the fix in that case,
was to flash upgrade the BIOS. It took Asus a while to get the
correct microcode into their BIOS files. So, as they say,
"shit does happen" :-(

Which raises another possibility. Maybe you could try Asus Update
from Windows ? If you are able to get into WinXP (and the WinXP
microcode loader does its thing), then you'd have fresh microcode
loaded. (But don't ask me how Microsoft makes sure that their
microcode loader is using an up-to-date patch.) You could try
flashing using Asus Update. I would make sure the file you use,
has been downloaded from Asus first, and is stored on a local
hard drive. Then, exit out of all other running programs,
and just run Asus Update. Asus Update may complain about
"flashing backwards" to an older release, but I believe
there is some option to cause Asus Update to listen to user
instructions.

Descriptions of the Microsoft Microcode Loader for WinXP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307152/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/288302/EN-US/

Before using Asus Update, you should *always* check the
support.asus.com download page for your motherboard. if
there are known issues with any of the three flashing
methods for a motherboard, those issues will be shown
on the download page. If the download page makes no
mention of tool problems with a particular BIOS release,
then you are ready to attempt to flash to the BIOS image
in question.

Good luck,
Paul
 
Paul wrote:
::
:
: OK. If you go to the Asus Support web page (support.asus.com) and
: enter "tools" as the name of your motherboard, the latest utilities
: are listed. The latest AFUDOS is Sept.12/2006
:
: ftp://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/AFUDOS226.zip
:
: You could try that one, and see if it gets any further.

That's the one I used initially. Just to recap
:
: Another option, would be to try to add microcode "on-the-fly".
: The CTMC program was a program that could be used to add microcode
: to an Award BIOS. The method is "non-destructive", in the sense
: that it did not require flashing the entire BIOS file.

Sounds complicated.

: In terms of BIOS flashing methods, there is more to the process,
: than meets the eye. I believe in some cases, the flashing program
: uses a "hook". The *existing* BIOS code, actually contains
executable
: code suitable for reflashing the chip. The flashing program, may not
: actually be using its own code to do the flash operation. The
: AFUDOS program may actually be calling that BIOS routine, to flash
the
: entire chip. For that to be feasable, the BIOS code must be shadowed
: or something (shadowed in RAM). What it also means, is if there is
: a problem with the execution of the BIOS code itself, then a program
: like AFUDOS, even if updated to the latest version, may not be able
: to correct the problem.

That probably is the problem. Right now, the exact message when using
EZ Flash is: "EZ-Flash is starting bios update....."
:
: You can try returning the board to your retailer. In some
: countries, consumer protection laws help "persuade" retailers
: to do the right thing. As a rule, flashing a BIOS on a motherboard,
: is not considered a warranty supportable issue, as it implies any
: possible "user error" would be coverable by the warranty. But just
: as damaging the CPU socket is not covered by the warranty, so to
: you may not find any sympathy at Asus, for BIOS flashing problems.
: So your retailer may be the best recourse, and this is one reason
: I recommend to people that they complete their motherboard, CPU,
: and RAM testing, within whatever grace period is provided by their
: retailer.
:
Yeah, that makes me worried....the system does boot up but to me if
you cant run a bios update there is a problem. I both ASUS and I
could argue that they are not at fault.

But, what does Intel CPU Ucode Error mean?

Giving that there may be a problem with the execution of the bios,
would a new bios chip fix the problem? And are there any videos or
pics on how to remove the bios chip? I think as a last resort, if
all else fails, I'll get a new bios chip.

: Normally, a missing microcode patch is not the end of the world.
: There are a ton of motherboards out there, where the BIOS does
: not contain the correct microcode segment, and yet the motherboard
: is both bootable and flashable. I don't know if you could conclude
: that the cause of your problems is the missing microcode or not.
: You'd need to dig up an errata sheet for the particular processor
: you are using, and see if any of the 100 or so errata listed, could
: possibly be triggered by BIOS/flashing code.

Well..... the Intel CPU Ucode Error is a big concern. And what if a
future update is available to address the CPU Ucode error?

: Which raises another possibility. Maybe you could try Asus Update
: from Windows ? If you are able to get into WinXP (and the WinXP
: microcode loader does its thing), then you'd have fresh microcode
: loaded. (But don't ask me how Microsoft makes sure that their
: microcode loader is using an up-to-date patch.) You could try
: flashing using Asus Update. I would make sure the file you use,
: has been downloaded from Asus first, and is stored on a local
: hard drive. Then, exit out of all other running programs,
: and just run Asus Update. Asus Update may complain about
: "flashing backwards" to an older release, but I believe
: there is some option to cause Asus Update to listen to user
: instructions.

Tried that, it hung right at the end. I had to cancel the task.

: Good luck,

No good luck for me in this lifetime :(
 
Murphy said:
Paul wrote:
::
:
: OK. If you go to the Asus Support web page (support.asus.com) and
: enter "tools" as the name of your motherboard, the latest utilities
: are listed. The latest AFUDOS is Sept.12/2006
:
: ftp://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/AFUDOS226.zip
:
: You could try that one, and see if it gets any further.

That's the one I used initially. Just to recap
:
: Another option, would be to try to add microcode "on-the-fly".
: The CTMC program was a program that could be used to add microcode
: to an Award BIOS. The method is "non-destructive", in the sense
: that it did not require flashing the entire BIOS file.

Sounds complicated.

: In terms of BIOS flashing methods, there is more to the process,
: than meets the eye. I believe in some cases, the flashing program
: uses a "hook". The *existing* BIOS code, actually contains
executable
: code suitable for reflashing the chip. The flashing program, may not
: actually be using its own code to do the flash operation. The
: AFUDOS program may actually be calling that BIOS routine, to flash
the
: entire chip. For that to be feasable, the BIOS code must be shadowed
: or something (shadowed in RAM). What it also means, is if there is
: a problem with the execution of the BIOS code itself, then a program
: like AFUDOS, even if updated to the latest version, may not be able
: to correct the problem.

That probably is the problem. Right now, the exact message when using
EZ Flash is: "EZ-Flash is starting bios update....."
:
: You can try returning the board to your retailer. In some
: countries, consumer protection laws help "persuade" retailers
: to do the right thing. As a rule, flashing a BIOS on a motherboard,
: is not considered a warranty supportable issue, as it implies any
: possible "user error" would be coverable by the warranty. But just
: as damaging the CPU socket is not covered by the warranty, so to
: you may not find any sympathy at Asus, for BIOS flashing problems.
: So your retailer may be the best recourse, and this is one reason
: I recommend to people that they complete their motherboard, CPU,
: and RAM testing, within whatever grace period is provided by their
: retailer.
:
Yeah, that makes me worried....the system does boot up but to me if
you cant run a bios update there is a problem. I both ASUS and I
could argue that they are not at fault.

But, what does Intel CPU Ucode Error mean?

Giving that there may be a problem with the execution of the bios,
would a new bios chip fix the problem? And are there any videos or
pics on how to remove the bios chip? I think as a last resort, if
all else fails, I'll get a new bios chip.

: Normally, a missing microcode patch is not the end of the world.
: There are a ton of motherboards out there, where the BIOS does
: not contain the correct microcode segment, and yet the motherboard
: is both bootable and flashable. I don't know if you could conclude
: that the cause of your problems is the missing microcode or not.
: You'd need to dig up an errata sheet for the particular processor
: you are using, and see if any of the 100 or so errata listed, could
: possibly be triggered by BIOS/flashing code.

Well..... the Intel CPU Ucode Error is a big concern. And what if a
future update is available to address the CPU Ucode error?

: Which raises another possibility. Maybe you could try Asus Update
: from Windows ? If you are able to get into WinXP (and the WinXP
: microcode loader does its thing), then you'd have fresh microcode
: loaded. (But don't ask me how Microsoft makes sure that their
: microcode loader is using an up-to-date patch.) You could try
: flashing using Asus Update. I would make sure the file you use,
: has been downloaded from Asus first, and is stored on a local
: hard drive. Then, exit out of all other running programs,
: and just run Asus Update. Asus Update may complain about
: "flashing backwards" to an older release, but I believe
: there is some option to cause Asus Update to listen to user
: instructions.

Tried that, it hung right at the end. I had to cancel the task.

: Good luck,

No good luck for me in this lifetime :(
Click to expand...

"But, what does Intel CPU Ucode Error mean?"

I don't know the exact wording of that message normally is, but
it should be telling you that the microcode was not loaded. The
BIOS is supposed to contain a microcode patch, for every processor
that is valid for the socket. But the error message implies that
no matching microcode was found.

I downloaded the 1201 and 1105 BIOS files, extracted the "P6"
microcode module with mmtool.exe , and parsed the extracted module
by hand. The 1105 BIOS contains microcode for 0F44 and 0F47 processors,
while the 1201 BIOS only has microcode for 0F44 (820D stepping A0).

You can see 0F44 and 0F47 processors, listed here. Corresponding
to the 820 processor, stepping A0 and B0. This file lists "cpuid"
codes, which is what the microcode patches are sorted by.

http://www.ukcpu.net/Programming/OS/cpuid.txt

; 0F44 Pentium D A0 FSB200*4, DualCore, SSE3, EMT64 +P
; 12+16/2048 L1/L2 +
; +
; 0F47 Pentium D B0 FSB200*4, DualCore, SSE3, EMT64 +P
; 12+16/2048 L1/L2 +

This is an example of info from Intel - in this case for an 820D B0.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL8CP

So it does look like when they made the 1201 BIOS, the 820D stepping
B0 microcode went missing. And you likely own a B0.

In terms of removing a PLCC chip from a socket, this is an example
of an extraction tool. There are "L" shaped hooks on the ends of
the legs, and they slide underneath the bottom of the chip, as it
sits in the socket. The extractor pulls straight up on the chip.
Insertion of new chips, does not use the tool, and you use your
thumb to put back the new one. Make sure to make note of the orientation
marks on the chip and socket. The socket may have a triangle on the side
where pin 1 is located. The chip may have a matching mark of some sort
(a white dot?) for its pin 1. The chip goes in face up, with the part
number showing.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062619

The "tools to avoid" section here, shows a version of extractor
which is "less preferred".

http://www.dansdata.com/sbs10.htm

Make sure you inform Asus Tech Support, that they bumbled the
BIOS and its microcode module. Maybe, after a couple tries,
they might manage to produce an update that is correct. But
if no one tells them, it won't get fixed.

Paul
 
Take a look at the AFUDOS batch file text and rename the latest ROM
file to suit.

John Lewis
 
Murphy said:
I downloaded the latest Bios for my board and now I get the Intel CPU
Ucode Error upon boot. My CPU is a 2.8 GHZ Intel Pentium D Processor
820+ for the P5PE-VM.

I didnt have the above error earlier with the previos bios version.
When I attempted to run EZ -Flash again, it hanged. It still hangs. I
have to press the reset button to get out of it.


To add insult to injury, I try running AFUDOS then I get an error:
unable to open ROM file. I tried repeating all after clearing the CMOS
as indicated in the manual and nothing...CMOS was cleared but I could
not flash the bios.
Click to expand...

I'm having problems with a P5P800-SE motherboard, and this is one thing that
I found which might interest you (it did not help with my problems, by the
way).

Using Afudos V2.21, and also V2.26, I tried flashing the Bios with 3
different roms. All of them failed to load. As a matter of interest, all
those items were downloaded from the Asus website. I also tried EZ Flash
without success (it wouldn't even start; possibly because I was using a USB
Floppy drive assigned a B:\ ; Afudos expects an A:\ . ).
As a last resort, I copied Afudos and the resident Rom from the _motherboard
CD_ to a Floppy disc, and _successfully_ flashed the Rom. Do you have your
motherboard CD? Then try it.

Sylvain.
 
Paul wrote:

:: But, what does Intel CPU Ucode Error mean?

: I don't know the exact wording of that message normally is, but
: it should be telling you that the microcode was not loaded. The
: BIOS is supposed to contain a microcode patch, for every processor
: that is valid for the socket. But the error message implies that
: no matching microcode was found.
:
: So it does look like when they made the 1201 BIOS, the 820D stepping
: B0 microcode went missing. And you likely own a B0.
:
: Make sure you inform Asus Tech Support, that they bumbled the
: BIOS and its microcode module. Maybe, after a couple tries,
: they might manage to produce an update that is correct. But
: if no one tells them, it won't get fixed.
:

The tech or customer rep that emailed me doesnt give a **** of my
findings. The recommendation was get a new bios.

I managed to reflash the bios using the original bios, I believe I
renamed it to get it to work. I dont know why the EZ-Flash worked
this time as I know for a fact the file was renamed correctly and
then the flashing worked. I dont have a problem with the cpu error.
I am not impressed with Asus support. OTOH, years ago, I dealt with
Abit on with a BX board and I was fully satisfied with their service.
Thumbs down to Asus!

Thanks to everyone for their help here.

Happy Holidays!!
 
Paul.
I opened up or created a new ticket (Asus sure makes it complicated and wont
allow you to reply back) and told them of your findings. I got a response
back that will "look into it".

In any case, thank you for looking into this and yopur suggestions!

Happy Holidays and error free computing!!
 
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