P4PE-X flash failure

  • Thread starter Thread starter Xignals
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Xignals

I tried to flash my new P4PE-X board and now when I power on I get
nothing but a black screen. Have a call in to tech support but while
I was waiting thought I would ask a question here.

I have a P4PE board at work. Could I take the BIOS chip out of that
board and put it in the dead board? If it didn't work would I hurt
the good chip by putting it into another model board?
 
If it does give a high and low beep, try to insert a pci graphic card. Then
you wil get a screen and you can flash your bios agian.
 
I had a problem flashing my P4PE-X. I was able to fix it by using the
aflash that came on the P4PE-X CDROM. I was able to reflash the bios on
the board,.
good luck..
 
Just wanted to give an update on my problem. Using my P4PE BIOS I
could boot the machine but it would go straight to BIOS settings and
would not let me boot to floppy for nothing. So I used the work
machine and booted it and inserted the bad chip and was able to flash.
My first hot swap flash and I hope my last.

Thanks for the suggestions. Oh and I did get through to ASUS support
and they were helpful.
 
I tried to flash my new P4PE-X board and now when I power on I get
nothing but a black screen. Have a call in to tech support but while
I was waiting thought I would ask a question here.

I have a P4PE board at work. Could I take the BIOS chip out of that
board and put it in the dead board? If it didn't work would I hurt
the good chip by putting it into another model board?
Click to expand...

The P4PE-X has "Crashfree" and if you have a DOS bootable floppy
plus aflash.exe plus a replacement ROM file, you can try programming
it again. (Some other Asus boards have "Crashfree 2", and for those
the only file needed on the floppy, is the ROM file.) According to
the BIOS release notes, it doesn't look like the boot block has ever
been upgraded, so chances are better that your boot block is still
intact and you will be able to recover. (YMMV - no guarantees).

As far as doing a "brain transplant", by swapping BIOS chips, moving
the P4PE ROM to the P4PE-X and expecting it to boot is pretty risky.
All it takes is some small difference in the board memory map or
chip types, to mess up the BIOS.

Another option is called "hot flashing", and that involves taking
the ROM from the defective board, booting the good machine, then
pulling out the good ROM while the power is still on, then
plugging in the bad ROM and using aflash to reprogram it. This
is risky, even when it is done with dual in line (DIP) ROMs.
The picture in the P4PE-X manual shows a PLCC socket, and it
is way too hard to extract and insert chips with the power on,
to even think about doing it. (I have plenty of experience with
those sockets and they are a b****). If you had a BIOS Savior,
then recovering the BIOS could be done safely with two similar
motherboards, as the BIOS Savior can be installed with the power
turned off, and there is no risk to the chips.

So, right now, the "Crashfree" option is your best hope.

HTH,
Paul
 
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