Flash Award bios from cd rom ...floppy drive dead?

[Bertie]

Hi

While I was off on vacation the office pc gave my associate the

Award Bootblock Bios v1.0
Bios rom checksum error
keyboard error or no keyboard present (its usb)

After attempting to restart it and failing the first half dozen
attempts she finally got it to boot up and it has been on ever since,
about 2 months now, till I tried again last night. It took another 6
attempts or so before it started successfully. Nothing happened the
other 5 attempts it was like the monitor was disconnected. From other
posts I've read it would appear that I need to flash the bios again to
repair pc. However my floppy drive appears dead not seeing any disks
entered.

I have found a copy of the BIOS on the driver cd rom that came with the
system located at

E:\Utility\Awdflash\awd826f (it would appear this is an .exe file but I
forgot to check its ext.)

However it says to run this from real DOS which I presume means I cant
just shell out using Start>run>cmd.

so I now presume I'm going to have to try and restart pc catch it on
the f8 key and get the command prompt from there.

Now is the above file all I need to flash the bios?
and can someone please give me the DOS commands required...Its been 10
years since I last had to type any dos

Many thanks

Bertie

 

[Ken Maltby]

Hi

While I was off on vacation the office pc gave my associate the

Award Bootblock Bios v1.0
Bios rom checksum error
keyboard error or no keyboard present (its usb)

After attempting to restart it and failing the first half dozen
attempts she finally got it to boot up and it has been on ever since,
about 2 months now, till I tried again last night. It took another 6
attempts or so before it started successfully. Nothing happened the
other 5 attempts it was like the monitor was disconnected. From other
posts I've read it would appear that I need to flash the bios again to
repair pc. However my floppy drive appears dead not seeing any disks
entered.

I have found a copy of the BIOS on the driver cd rom that came with the
system located at

E:\Utility\Awdflash\awd826f (it would appear this is an .exe file but I
forgot to check its ext.)

However it says to run this from real DOS which I presume means I cant
just shell out using Start>run>cmd.

so I now presume I'm going to have to try and restart pc catch it on
the f8 key and get the command prompt from there.

Now is the above file all I need to flash the bios?
and can someone please give me the DOS commands required...Its been 10
years since I last had to type any dos

Many thanks

Bertie

Most modern "bootblocks" are in two parts, one part is
not normally writeable during a BIOS firmware update.
This part will include what is needed to access a floppy
drive, and should include what's needed to access whatever
you can set as a boot drive in your BIOS.

If you are familiar and comfortable with flashing your BIOS,
just clear your CMOS and flash the BIOS. If you haven't
ever done it, read everything that explains the process, for
your motherboard or computer model, at the maker's web
site. You will need the version of AwardFlash that is made
to work with the EPROMs used on your motherboard.
Then you will need the binary file of the new BIOS for the
exact model of your motherboard. ( Most problems start
from someone mistakenly flashing the wrong binary file.)

Luck;
Ken

 

[kony]

Hi

While I was off on vacation the office pc gave my associate the

Award Bootblock Bios v1.0
Bios rom checksum error
keyboard error or no keyboard present (its usb)

You did not describe the system, this "could" be very
important.

On an unrelated note, it could just be that it needs a new
battery, or that the PSU is failing, or the motherboard is
failing.

After attempting to restart it and failing the first half dozen
attempts she finally got it to boot up and it has been on ever since,
about 2 months now, till I tried again last night. It took another 6
attempts or so before it started successfully.

After starting, does it retain the correct clock (time)
settings?

Do you have a lot of USB stuff plugged in? If so, see if
it's jumpered to 5V or 5VSB, and if 5VSB, change to 5V.
Also try unplugging some of that USB stuff, and if that
isn't enough (nothing else helps) try unplugging all other
things nonessential towards getting it to POST, then add
back the HDD and see if it'll boot (Windows?).

Nothing happened the
other 5 attempts it was like the monitor was disconnected. From other
posts I've read it would appear that I need to flash the bios again to
repair pc.

Very unlikely, but "some" boards, if you enter the bios and
try to change and save settings while the system is
instable, might corrupt the bios, then you'd try clearing
CMOS.

Actually, clearing CMOS is the first thing you should try
now regardless of what you try next... do so while AC power
is disconnected.

However my floppy drive appears dead not seeing any disks
entered.

How would you know what it sees if it's not even posting?
Putting in a floppy to emergency flash the bios is one
procedure to try, but we're not necessarily to the point
where it is clear this is a bios problem that would be
recoverable from booting such a bios floppy... and from your
attempt, it appears that isn't the case, and/or wouldn't
work even if it were.

"sometimes" when the bios is bad you can pull out the video
card (unless integrated, then "hope" the bios defeault is
for PCI video initialization first) and put in a PCI video
card and get output on the monitor... but again I dont'
think your problem is the bios and that doing so wouldn't
apply now.

I have found a copy of the BIOS on the driver cd rom that came with the
system located at

E:\Utility\Awdflash\awd826f (it would appear this is an .exe file but I
forgot to check its ext.)

Ok, but it's quite possible the system shipped with a newer
bios than was on the CD- the CDs get made in a run to ship
with later board revisions, but generally they may flash the
newest bios available at the time (of doing it). Your board
EEPROM "might" have a sticker on it suggesting which bios
version it shipped with, and you might try that version, but
frankly I'd be just as likely to get the newest (non-beta)
bios from the board manufacturer, particularly if the
current bios was prone to corruption... but again, I don't
think that is your problem, I doubt it's a bios problem at
all.

However it says to run this from real DOS which I presume means I cant
just shell out using Start>run>cmd.

Correct. Boot something else to DOS, like CDROM or floppy
or USB (whatever it'll boot from, some will boot FAT16
formatted thumbdrives for example).

so I now presume I'm going to have to try and restart pc catch it on
the f8 key and get the command prompt from there.

.... if it has DOS? IMO, easier to just burn a CDR that
boots dos on another system, IF you cant' get a USB drive to
work.

Now is the above file all I need to flash the bios?

You need a DOS bootdisk (of whatever sort you choose),
the awardflash v826 flasher (or if it isnt' the right
version, which does happen from time to time, then a
different version of the award flasher), and the bios file
itself- these files unzipped already if they were zipped or
in another similar compressed format which is obvious by the
extension, but don't try to unzip if it has the bios file
extension already (like *.rom or *.bin) as it will unzip but
that's only because a bios is in compressed format natively,
stored in EEPROM that way... but it wasn't supposed to be
unzipped beyond that point. Normally this isn't an issue,
as a normal zip/unzip program won't default to doing it but
there are ways to accidentally do it.

and can someone please give me the DOS commands required...Its been 10
years since I last had to type any dos

If you type the flasher file's name at the prompt and /?,
it'll show commands. For example,

C:\>awd826f.exe /?

Generally you just type the filename as above then the bios
filename,

c:>awd826 bios.bin

BUT, I still don't think the bios is the problem,
particularly if the system has remained static, was working
fine and you didn't change anything then one day it stopped
booting properly. Examine the motherboard for failed
capacitors, if there aren't any then the "odds" are it's the
PSU, but sometimes the odds aren't in your favor so it might
not hurt to have a full description of all major parts of
the system, including board make/model, PSU make/model,
video, CPU and memory... at least as much of this detail as
possible.

 

[Bertie]

Hi and thanks for your detailed reply. Sorry I couldn't reply sooner
but had automobile problems today

You did not describe the system, this "could" be very
important.

I will not be at the office again till tomorrow, thursday, so wont have
this info till tomorrow night. All I can tell you at the moment is the
processor is Athlon perhaps 2100? pc is about 3 years old there is no
manual unless its on driver cd rom (I'll check tomorrow)

On an unrelated note, it could just be that it needs a new
battery, or that the PSU is failing, or the motherboard is
failing.

Thought I would get bios beep code if battery failing?

Do you have a lot of USB stuff plugged in? If so, see if
it's jumpered to 5V or 5VSB, and if 5VSB, change to 5V.
Also try unplugging some of that USB stuff, and if that
isn't enough (nothing else helps) try unplugging all other
things nonessential towards getting it to POST, then add
back the HDD and see if it'll boot (Windows?).

It was after unplugging all the usb stuff that it started last time but
I thought that just a coincidence?

Very unlikely, but "some" boards, if you enter the bios and
try to change and save settings while the system is
instable, might corrupt the bios, then you'd try clearing
CMOS.

Actually, clearing CMOS is the first thing you should try
now regardless of what you try next... do so while AC power
is disconnected.

Unfortunately there is a mountain of spreadsheet work to complete this
week but I will try this as soon I can find out how and spare the pc
down time (we are currently leaving it running 24/7)

How would you know what it sees if it's not even posting?

The pc posted and started windows at the 6th attempt. Then I attempted
to try the floppy drive as it had not appeared in 'My Computer' since
pc first started after receiving initial Bios rom checksum error. Even
though the floppy was now appearing among the other drives it would not
recognise any diskette.

Ok, but it's quite possible the system shipped with a newer
bios than was on the CD- the CDs get made in a run to ship
with later board revisions, but generally they may flash the
newest bios available at the time (of doing it). Your board
EEPROM "might" have a sticker on it suggesting which bios
version it shipped with, and you might try that version, but
frankly I'd be just as likely to get the newest (non-beta)
bios from the board manufacturer, particularly if the
current bios was prone to corruption... but again, I don't
think that is your problem, I doubt it's a bios problem at
all.

Okay so you reckon its my CPU or MoBo at fault I'll get the info
tomorrow if I can find it

Correct. Boot something else to DOS, like CDROM or floppy
or USB (whatever it'll boot from, some will boot FAT16
formatted thumbdrives for example).

... if it has DOS? IMO, easier to just burn a CDR that
boots dos on another system, IF you cant' get a USB drive to
work.

Well I was under the impression that usb wouldn't work from a dos
enviroment only from within Windows? Can you tell me how to do this
from dos.

Is it del key on post to enter cmos setup and change boot options?
Problem is my pc only posts occasionally when attempt restart is there
anyway to get into these options while windows running?

BUT, I still don't think the bios is the problem,
particularly if the system has remained static, was working
fine and you didn't change anything then one day it stopped
booting properly. Examine the motherboard for failed
capacitors, if there aren't any then the "odds" are it's the
PSU, but sometimes the odds aren't in your favor so it might
not hurt to have a full description of all major parts of
the system, including board make/model, PSU make/model,
video, CPU and memory... at least as much of this detail as
possible.

Thanks again for your time and patience. I will get as much of this
info as possible tomorrow

Regards

Bert

 

[kony]

Thought I would get bios beep code if battery failing?

Not necessarily.

It was after unplugging all the usb stuff that it started last time but
I thought that just a coincidence?

Maybe, or maybe not... which is why I mentioned it.

The pc posted and started windows at the 6th attempt. Then I attempted
to try the floppy drive as it had not appeared in 'My Computer' since
pc first started after receiving initial Bios rom checksum error. Even
though the floppy was now appearing among the other drives it would not
recognise any diskette.

The floppy drive should be considered an unknown variable
and removed from the system (unplugged from PSU and data
cable). You might try the drive on another system, or
another drive on that system, but for the time being you
might as well make further attempts on the system without a
floppy drive connected, unless you want to pursue flashing
the bios, but be cautious about doing that because if the
system is instable while it's being flashed, you could then
end up with bios corruption even if you didn't have any in
the first place.

Okay so you reckon its my CPU or MoBo at fault I'll get the info
tomorrow if I can find it

No, I never suggested it was the CPU at fault. If your fan
had failed, or the 'sink clogged with dust and system had
been repeatedly tried until CPU was overheating, THEN the
CPU might cause such a problem but so long as the heatsink
didn't fall off you should not have a problem with the CPU
from a cold start- if the CPU were failing you wouldn't be
able to run the system on the attempts that did succeed.

Well I was under the impression that usb wouldn't work from a dos
enviroment only from within Windows? Can you tell me how to do this
from dos.

The board bios may support USB booting. If it does, you try
it... and if it doesn't, don't. If you don't know, you
might as well try it, after checking the bios for settings
to boot USB *devices* and perhaps enabling USB legacy
support (might be worded a bit differently).

Some systems have a buggy boot-from-USB implementation in
the bios such that you might have best chance if unplug the
system from AC power, plug in the USB drive, then restore AC
power, THEN power on the system... not just plugging in the
USB drive while AC power is still connected.

You'd have to have the USB drive set up to be bootable of
course, and overall it might be easier to just use a
bootable CDR if you aren't familiar with booting USB. If
you boot the USB drive, there is no DOS support for USB
needed, because the bios handles it.

Is it del key on post to enter cmos setup and change boot options?

How can we know when we don't know what board it is?
yes <DEL> is often the key to press, but if that doesn't

Problem is my pc only posts occasionally when attempt restart is there
anyway to get into these options while windows running?

Frankly, I wouldn't be running windows at all, because the
system is in an unknown state at this point and it may start
corrupting files, at which point you may have two loosely
related problems but with the original problem resolved the
2nd would still persist- making it more difficult to
distinguish whether the system was operating properly from a
hardware standpoint, or if it had instead just degraded
further.

 

[Bertie]

No, I never suggested it was the CPU at fault.

sorry my mistake you said PSU. I never got the change to check the
type/make of that this evening. But I do have the rest of info.

I got my pc's confused last night because this one is an 18month old
Amd sempron 2400 with Pc Chips 848/852 mobo, 256mb of DDR 400, 128mb
GeForce Fx 5200 video.

I know you said that using windows could corrupt the file system but
with my current work load unfortunately I have no other option
(although backing up work to external hd hourly) Again I have not been
able to spare the down time yet to attempt disconnecting everything to
see if it would post first time but hopefully I'll get the chance next
week.

Thanks again for your help

Bertie

 

[Bertie]

Hi Again

Pc still keeps correct time by the way.

Tried to clear cmos this evening. Unsure which of the 3 jumpers was
correct one (2 black 1 red) chose red one closest to battery then
removed battery for 10min to make sure. At same time removed power and
ide cables from floppy.

at start, pc posted got message something like 'load default cmos'
'choose f1 to continue or del for options'

unfortunately I chose 'del' got into the cmos and unsure if the load
option in there would be the same I changed my mind quit, restarted and
chose f1.
At restart got normal post but then 'unknown flash' message although
windows started succesfully. So that was 2 attempts and 2 starts.
Thought that may have been it sorted so attempted restart but it
didn't. I had to switch it off and on again before it started so we are
at 3 starts from 4 attempts not bad considering previous to tonight was
always 6 attempts b4 starting.

PSU is Mercury 400W model KO ATX 4400

Thanks again

Bertie