P2B BIOS swap. Plz Hlp!

  • Thread starter Thread starter ASUS
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ASUS

Hello, I just recieved a P2B mother board from a buddy and He fried the
BIOS. I have another AWARD bios chip I would like to swap to this
motherboard. I relaized that in doing so I cannot boot to floppy to re-
flash because this BIOS does not have info pertaingin to this motherboard.
What can I do to fix this problem? Your help would be much appreciated.

Thank you ahead of time,
ASUS user _\|/_
 
ASUS said:
Hello, I just recieved a P2B mother board from a buddy and He fried the
BIOS. I have another AWARD bios chip I would like to swap to this
motherboard. I relaized that in doing so I cannot boot to floppy to re-
flash because this BIOS does not have info pertaingin to this motherboard.
What can I do to fix this problem? Your help would be much appreciated.

Thank you ahead of time,
ASUS user _\|/_
Click to expand...

You need to find one working BIOS flash chip. There is
a procedure called "hot-flashing", where you boot to DOS
while using the good BIOS chip. Then, pull the BIOS chip
while the power is on (use plastic tools), then insert the
BIOS chip you wish to program. That way, you can make
multiple good BIOS chips, using a motherboard as the
programmer. Obviously, this won't work with just any
old flash chip - it really helps if the chip part numbers
are the same :-)

The other option is to find an EEPROM programmer. There
are some cheap hobby programmers you could buy for yourself,
but the commercial ones, that program hundreds of different
chips, are very expensive. I doubt you will find many
repair shops equipped with something like that.

You could contact badflash.com or one of the many other
small time replacement chip suppliers, and they can
send you a chip with whatever version of BIOS you want on it.
Select the latest beta BIOS and have that burned into the
chip. That would cost about $25.

Unless you can find someone with a motherboard that supports
the flash chip you have in your hand, and they are willing
to do a hot flash operation, chances are the solution will
cost you $25.

Paul
 
Hello, I just recieved a P2B mother board from a buddy and He fried the
BIOS. I have another AWARD bios chip I would like to swap to this
motherboard. I relaized that in doing so I cannot boot to floppy to re-
flash because this BIOS does not have info pertaingin to this motherboard.
What can I do to fix this problem? Your help would be much appreciated.

Thank you ahead of time,
ASUS user _\|/_
Click to expand...

If your chip already contains a BIOS version for the new motherboard,
plug it in, clear the CMOS, and fire it up.
If it has a BIOS for a different board, I think you're going to have
to mail (post) both of them (the "fried" one may be reprogrammable, so
you'd have a backup if you get it done, too) to badflash.com.

Ron
 
If your chip already contains a BIOS version for the new motherboard,
plug it in, clear the CMOS, and fire it up.
If it has a BIOS for a different board, I think you're going to have
to mail (post) both of them (the "fried" one may be reprogrammable, so
you'd have a backup if you get it done, too) to badflash.com.

Ron
Click to expand...

Just for clarification in case you've never heard of the process
before, the hot-flash method Paul mentions works in your computer only
if you have a good chip to start with. Of course, if you have a good
chip to start with, you don't need to do the procedure. Hot-flashing
works if you have an extremely compassionate friend with a board that
will accept your corrupted chip. You then pull his and insert yours
in his machine AFTER it's already booted to DOS. Then you can run
awdflash on his machine to program your chip. You then have to
reverse the process, pulling your chip from his computer and
reinserting your now-hopefully-good chip back in your own computer.

I cannot imagine why EZFlash didn't work for you. Did you try the
process more than once? I've done it only once, but it worked exactly
as described in the manual.

(Very parenthetically, If you had a friend with a BIOS Savior, it's a
snap to do this because it's not necessary to muck about inside a
running, powered-up computer to complete the process. You can place
your BIOS in the upper berth while powered down, boot the computer
with the BIOS Savior, and then simply flip the switch to connect the
bad chip before running awdflash.exe.)


Ron
 
Just for clarification in case you've never heard of the process
before, the hot-flash method Paul mentions works in your computer only
if you have a good chip to start with. Of course, if you have a good
chip to start with, you don't need to do the procedure. Hot-flashing
works if you have an extremely compassionate friend with a board that
will accept your corrupted chip. You then pull his and insert yours
in his machine AFTER it's already booted to DOS. Then you can run
awdflash on his machine to program your chip. You then have to
reverse the process, pulling your chip from his computer and
reinserting your now-hopefully-good chip back in your own computer.

I cannot imagine why EZFlash didn't work for you. Did you try the
process more than once? I've done it only once, but it worked exactly
as described in the manual.

(Very parenthetically, If you had a friend with a BIOS Savior, it's a
snap to do this because it's not necessary to muck about inside a
running, powered-up computer to complete the process. You can place
your BIOS in the upper berth while powered down, boot the computer
with the BIOS Savior, and then simply flip the switch to connect the
bad chip before running awdflash.exe.)


Ron
Click to expand...

I don't think there is EZFlash on that board. EZFlash was introduced
after the 440BX series. In fact the EZFlash code, is the exact same
code as the DOS flasher, so technically, it isn't a big deal. (I've
actually extracted an EZFlash module from a BIOS, and it has exactly
the same checksum as the DOS flashing tool for the same board. It
just means both codes live in the same executable, and only the
shell around the code differs between the two situations.)

Checking the downloadable manual, you'd only find reference to the
DOS flasher, because both EZFlash and Asus Update were invented
after this board. EZFlash would not be retrofitted, because Asus
tends to keep a static feature set, and also BIOS development has
stopped for P2B boards some time ago.

Asus Update, on the other hand, might stand a better shot of
supporting the board, but flashing from Windows is just a bad
idea, no matter how well executed the code from Asus might be.
All my PCs have floppy drives, so booting to DOS is not an issue.

No matter what method you use, there has to be at least one
good BIOS chip involved, in order to get the board to POST.
A BIOS Savior would be a wonderful investment, if the companies
selling them, offered a programming service for the chip on
the Savior. Unfortunately, I've only seen one company listed
as carrying the BIOS Savior, that also offers to program the
chip, and they are just too expensive. If you cannot arrange
a "hot-flash", or find an EEPROM program, it is going to cost
you $25. (I think even Asus offers to do it for $25, in
selected countries.)

Paul
 
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