I always have to do things the hard way. And NOW I have really screwed
things. up.
I dloaded the files necessary to flash update my system bios. Formtted a
floppy just like I was supposed to. Then copied the flasher utility and the
upated bios files onto the floppy. I missed the autoexec.bat file that runs
the update automatically so I went back to my desktop to copy that file as
well. Unfortunately, I must have double clicked on it by mistake because
the autoexec.bat started up the flasher utility in windows...I didn't catch
on what I had just did until I rebooted my system to start the bios update.
beeeeep beep beep.... beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep etc til the power
cord was yanked.
I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I can't even get a
floppy to boot to fix it...ANY ONE know of a company that fixes fried
bios'????
dave (the stoooopid one) henrie
Dave Henrie's failed BIOS flash
Dave Henrie bricked his motherboard by flashing the BIOS from a floppy that lacked the right autoexec file. Suggestions included reset jumpers, ordering a new BIOS chip, hot-swapping a chip from an identical board, or reprogramming the PLCC chip with an IC programmer. A replacement chip did not fix it, and he eventually obtained an RMA for the board.
tech supportoff-topic
Automated summary.
That's a bummer. You should be able to order a new bios chip from your mb
mfg, I don't think they are very expensive. I doubt anyone could repair it,
though some report success with hot swapping - basically using someone
else's chip to get yours booted and your current chip flashed properly, I
don't know exactly how they accomplish that but would think it could be
risky.
--
Don Burnette
D Burnette in N4
Some people do nothing wrong.
The problem is, they do nothing.
And THAT is wrong.
"Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:InGN6.31906$[email hidden]...
> I always have to do things the hard way. And NOW I have really screwed
> things. up.
> I dloaded the files necessary to flash update my system bios. Formtted
a
> floppy just like I was supposed to. Then copied the flasher utility and
the
> upated bios files onto the floppy. I missed the autoexec.bat file that
runs
> the update automatically so I went back to my desktop to copy that file as
> well. Unfortunately, I must have double clicked on it by mistake because
> the autoexec.bat started up the flasher utility in windows...I didn't
catch
> on what I had just did until I rebooted my system to start the bios
update.
> beeeeep beep beep.... beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep etc til the power
> cord was yanked.
> I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I can't even get
a
> floppy to boot to fix it...ANY ONE know of a company that fixes fried
> bios'????
> dave (the stoooopid one) henrie
>
>
>I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I can't even get a
>floppy to boot to fix it...ANY ONE know of a company that fixes fried
>bios'????
Don't know much about flashing the bios. But if the CMOS gets
messed up you can just press the "Delete" key when booting, and
then type in the hardware info. But you probably knew that.
A few weeks ago, the CIH virus kicked my ass and I had to
switch a motherboard jumper to discharge the CMOS, resetting
it to the default. I believe that is what a technician would have done.
Check out your motherboard manual, maybe there is such a
hardware switch for your problem. If you don't have a motherboard
manual, go to the motherboard manufacturer's website and check
out the online manual. Or, you might check out the bios
providers website. Good Luck.
Tom
Need to order a new chip.
Dave, My local Guru` puter builder flashed my bios on my old Abit 6
and ended up putting in a brand new mobo for me. "Free!"
Now, I don't know if he just didn't want to bother trying to reflash or
fix it but I got the newer AbitSA6R that runs up to 1.5ghz CPUs but
for now I'll stay under 1.33ghz as I still really enjoy GPL..
Sorry about your bad flash incident & wish I had some info!!
Thom_j.
"Dave Henrie" wrote:
| I always have to do things the hard way. And NOW I have really screwed
| things. up.
| I dloaded the files necessary to flash update my system bios. Formtteda
| floppy just like I was supposed to. Then copied the flasher utility andthe
| upated bios files onto the floppy. I missed the autoexec.bat file thatruns
| the update automatically so I went back to my desktop to copy that file as
| well. Unfortunately, I must have double clicked on it by mistake because
| the autoexec.bat started up the flasher utility in windows...I didn'tcatch
| on what I had just did until I rebooted my system to start the biosupdate.
| beeeeep beep beep.... beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep etc til the power
| cord was yanked.
| I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I can't even geta
| floppy to boot to fix it...ANY ONE know of a company that fixes fried
| bios'????
| dave (the stoooopid one) henrie
|
|
All may not be lost.
The beepbeepbeep thing sounds like it could be a memory problem. If
possible swap the memory with a stick that is known good.
Last time I had a BIOS problem I had to disconnect EVERYTHING except the
floppy. I couldn't boot with a card in the AGP slot but could with a PCI
vid card.
With the PCI card I could see I had a BIOS checksum error.
By booting from the floppy I was able to flash the bios again and all was
well.
I investigated purchasing a new BIOS chip but the price quoted was almost
the replacement price of the MB so I passed.
"Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:InGN6.31906$[email hidden]...
> I always have to do things the hard way. And NOW I have really screwed
> things. up.
> I dloaded the files necessary to flash update my system bios. Formtteda
> floppy just like I was supposed to. Then copied the flasher utility andthe
> upated bios files onto the floppy. I missed the autoexec.bat file thatruns
> the update automatically so I went back to my desktop to copy that file as
> well. Unfortunately, I must have double clicked on it by mistake because
> the autoexec.bat started up the flasher utility in windows...I didn'tcatch
> on what I had just did until I rebooted my system to start the biosupdate.
> beeeeep beep beep.... beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep etc til the power
> cord was yanked.
> I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I can't even geta
> floppy to boot to fix it...ANY ONE know of a company that fixes fried
> bios'????
> dave (the stoooopid one) henrie
>
>
>
On Sun, 20 May 2001 02:56:40 GMT, "Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]>
wrote:
Don't you have a jumper on the mb that will wipe out that bios and
allow you to reflash it? Most do these days.
--
eFalcon keyboard chart in PDF format
http://storm.prohosting.com/~nos146/ef4_keys.zip
Quoted text (16 lines)
> I always have to do things the hard way. And NOW I have really screwed >things. up. > I dloaded the files necessary to flash update my system bios. Formtted a >floppy just like I was supposed to. Then copied the flasher utility and the >upated bios files onto the floppy. I missed the autoexec.bat file that runs >the update automatically so I went back to my desktop to copy that file as >well. Unfortunately, I must have double clicked on it by mistake because >the autoexec.bat started up the flasher utility in windows...I didn't catch >on what I had just did until I rebooted my system to start the bios update. >beeeeep beep beep.... beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep etc til the power >cord was yanked. > I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I can't even get a >floppy to boot to fix it...ANY ONE know of a company that fixes fried >bios'???? >dave (the stoooopid one) henrie >Dave,
Do you know someone who owns an IC programmer? A bios chip is just an EEPROM
with a program in it, which in your case has gotten seriously garbled. The
chip can easily be reprogrammed seperately with the image you downloaded to
do the upgrade in the first place. 2 minute job.
Over here many computer stores are offering this service, but, since they
assume the customer is pretty desperate, it's not cheap.
Jan.
=----
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
Dave Henrie wrote...
> <snip>
> I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I
> can't even get a floppy to boot to fix it...ANY ONE know
> of a company that fixes fried bios'????
>
> dave (the stoooopid one) henrie
Dave Henrie <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:InGN6.31906$[email hidden]...
> I always have to do things the hard way. And NOW I have really screwed
> things. up.
> I dloaded the files necessary to flash update my system bios. Formtteda
> floppy just like I was supposed to. Then copied the flasher utility andthe
> upated bios files onto the floppy. I missed the autoexec.bat file thatruns
> the update automatically so I went back to my desktop to copy that file as
> well. Unfortunately, I must have double clicked on it by mistake because
> the autoexec.bat started up the flasher utility in windows...I didn'tcatch
> on what I had just did until I rebooted my system to start the biosupdate.
> beeeeep beep beep.... beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep etc til the power
> cord was yanked.
> I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I can't even geta
> floppy to boot to fix it...ANY ONE know of a company that fixes fried
> bios'????
> dave (the stoooopid one) henrie
>
>
I had this happen to me.. I used another computer to set up the
autoexec.bat on the floppy so that the BIOS flasher would automatically
start. I kept my fingers crossed and sat through some unnerving beeping but
I was able to recover from what I thought would be a disaster. Good luck!
PJL
"Jagg" > Don't you have a jumper on the mb that will wipe out that bios and
> allow you to reflash it? Most do these days. yep...no apparent effect.
dave henrie
> I had this happen to me.. I used another computer to set up the
> autoexec.bat on the floppy so that the BIOS flasher would automatically
> start. I kept my fingers crossed and sat through some unnerving beepingbut
> I was able to recover from what I thought would be a disaster. Good luck!
>
> PJL My MB has a 4 l.e.d. error checking BEFORE it goes to the bios and the
memory post. So with this error,,,it halts the boot process before the
floppy can boot.(this too is probably my fault. I had recently re-installed
windows from the cd and had changed my bios settings to bypass the floppy &
boot from the cd. I was getting ready to change it back when the
problem/disaster started.)
i do see a little cdrom activity...I'm gonna try and create a bootable cd
and see if that gets it back...uhhhh does anyone know how to create a
bootable cdrom???
dave henrie
Dave - what kind of motherboard do you have?
"Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:WfGO6.45427$[email hidden]...
>
> > I had this happen to me.. I used another computer to set up the
> > autoexec.bat on the floppy so that the BIOS flasher would automatically
> > start. I kept my fingers crossed and sat through some unnerving beeping
> but
> > I was able to recover from what I thought would be a disaster. Goodluck!
> >
> > PJL
> My MB has a 4 l.e.d. error checking BEFORE it goes to the bios and the
> memory post. So with this error,,,it halts the boot process before the
> floppy can boot.(this too is probably my fault. I had recentlyre-installed
> windows from the cd and had changed my bios settings to bypass the floppy&
> boot from the cd. I was getting ready to change it back when the
> problem/disaster started.)
> i do see a little cdrom activity...I'm gonna try and create a bootablecd
> and see if that gets it back...uhhhh does anyone know how to create a
> bootable cdrom???
> dave henrie
>
>
Almost brand new Microstar K7T Turbo. using an award bios but the chip is
very odd looking. It's not the standard domino rectangular shape nor the
mounted right on the surface of the motherboard flat square. It's smaller
than most of those, it sits in a socket and it looks removeable. (it's
square btw) with a nice hologram on the top surface of the chip.
dave henrie
"Rick Fisk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:9efcrp$[email hidden]...
automatically
> > > start. I kept my fingers crossed and sat through some unnervingbeeping
> > but
> > > I was able to recover from what I thought would be a disaster. Good
> luck!
> > >
> > > PJL
> > My MB has a 4 l.e.d. error checking BEFORE it goes to the bios andthe
> > memory post. So with this error,,,it halts the boot process before the
> > floppy can boot.(this too is probably my fault. I had recently
> re-installed
> > windows from the cd and had changed my bios settings to bypass thefloppy
Quoted text (7 lines)
> Dave - what kind of motherboard do you have? > > "Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:WfGO6.45427$[email hidden]... > > > > > I had this happen to me.. I used another computer to set up the > > > autoexec.bat on the floppy so that the BIOS flasher wouldQuoted text (12 lines)
> & > > boot from the cd. I was getting ready to change it back when the > > problem/disaster started.) > > i do see a little cdrom activity...I'm gonna try and create a bootable > cd > > and see if that gets it back...uhhhh does anyone know how to create a > > bootable cdrom??? > > dave henrie > > > > > >Dave,
If you know of somewhere you can get a bios chip out of an identical model
MSI board your best bet is the hot swap... basically you use the borrowed
chip to boot your system and then swap the bios chip without shutting down
by pulling the good one and replacing it with your bad one... then reflash.
There is an excellent faq for Abit owners that has a section with step by
step instructions for using the "hot swap" method at:
http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/kt7faq.htm
I know it is an Abit faq but the methodology would be identical for your MSI
board. Let's put it this way... you can't hurt your bios chip anymore and
you won't kill the good bios chip unless your do it physical harm ie: snap
off a pin or something... but you wouldn't do that... you'll be real
careful!!!
Good Luck,
Robin
"Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:5%HO6.45819$[email hidden]...
> Almost brand new Microstar K7T Turbo. using an award bios but the chipis
> very odd looking. It's not the standard domino rectangular shape nor the
> mounted right on the surface of the motherboard flat square. It's smaller
> than most of those, it sits in a socket and it looks removeable. (it's
> square btw) with a nice hologram on the top surface of the chip.
> dave henrie
Dave Henrie wrote...
> <snip> uhhhh does anyone know how to create a
> bootable cdrom???
CDRWin has an option to write a bootable CD-Rom, never tried it though.
Jan.
=----
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
Dave Henrie wrote...
Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier or PLCC type. That means you now need to know
someone with an IC programmer _AND_ a socket converter (that rules me out,
but sending the chip to me would have been impractical to begin with). Need
special tooling (PLCC-Extractor) to take it out of it's support too.
Wouldn't recommend trying to hotswap one of those.
Jan.
=----
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
Quoted text (7 lines)
> Almost brand new Microstar K7T Turbo. using an award bios > but the chip is very odd looking. It's not the standard > domino rectangular shape nor the mounted right on the surface > of the motherboard flat square. It's smaller than most of > those, it sits in a socket and it looks removeable. (it's > square btw) with a nice hologram on the top surface of the > chip.I know this won't help you now, but in future you should look to
getting a mb with Bios Guardian. This stops you from flashing the bios
until you go into the bios and unlock it. Which would have prevented
the mistake you made.
--
eFalcon keyboard chart in PDF format
http://storm.prohosting.com/~nos146/ef4_keys.zip
>Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier or PLCC type. That means you now need to know
>someone with an IC programmer _AND_ a socket converter (that rules me out,
>but sending the chip to me would have been impractical to begin with). Need
>special tooling (PLCC-Extractor) to take it out of it's support too.
>Wouldn't recommend trying to hotswap one of those.
>
I don't think I'll be flashing MY bios.
Well, sometimes one has to, but I don't trust those "on-board" flashing
utilities either. I'd recommend attempting to get a blank IC identical to
the one the bios resides in, program it using the downloaded bios image and
an IC programmer and substitute it for the bios on the mobo (with everything
turned off, of course). This way, if it doesn't work, you can simply turn
the PC off and return to your previous settings by using the original chip
again.
Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
TToommLL wrote...
> ><snip>
> I don't think I'll be flashing MY bios.
>
>
On Wed, 23 May 2001 20:44:10 +0200, "Jan Verschueren"
<[email hidden]> wrote:
Some motherboards now have two IC chips so that if you screw up one
then there is a backup on board already. Personally, I have flashed
the bios with a floppy many times and have never had a problem yet.
Fingers crossed.
--
eFalcon keyboard chart in PDF format
http://storm.prohosting.com/~nos146/ef4_keys.zip
Quoted text (9 lines)
>Well, sometimes one has to, but I don't trust those "on-board" flashing >utilities either. I'd recommend attempting to get a blank IC identical to >the one the bios resides in, program it using the downloaded bios image and >an IC programmer and substitute it for the bios on the mobo (with everything >turned off, of course). This way, if it doesn't work, you can simply turn >the PC off and return to your previous settings by using the original chip >again. > >Jan.On Sun, 20 May 2001 02:56:40 GMT, Dave Henrie <[email hidden]> wrote:
> I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I can't even get a
> floppy to boot to fix it...ANY ONE know of a company that fixes fried
> bios'????
> dave (the stoooopid one) henrie
>
>
Hi Dave,
see if you can find a spare motherboard of the same make and use its
bios chip.. otherwise short of buying an eeprom burner you're SOL, I guess.
All the best,
uwe
--
Uwe Schuerkamp http://www.schuerkamp.de/
uwe.schuerkamp at telemedia.de for direct mail (from: is spambox)
PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61
www.badflash.com
"Uwe Schuerkamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> On Sun, 20 May 2001 02:56:40 GMT, Dave Henrie <[email hidden]> wrote:
>
> > I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I can't evenget a
guess.
Quoted text (10 lines)
> > floppy to boot to fix it...ANY ONE know of a company that fixes fried > > bios'???? > > dave (the stoooopid one) henrie > > > > > > Hi Dave, > > see if you can find a spare motherboard of the same make and use its > bios chip.. otherwise short of buying an eeprom burner you're SOL, IQuoted text (12 lines)
> > All the best, > > uwe > > > > -- > Uwe Schuerkamp http://www.schuerkamp.de/ > uwe.schuerkamp at telemedia.de for direct mail (from: is spambox) > PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61 > did all that...tried a replacement bios chip, that stopped the error beeps
but still no boot up. Just got an RMA from the retailer even tho the
standard 30 day return period had expired.(I smell a recall) Sounds like 6
to 8 weeks before I will see the repaired or replaced board...
dave henrie
"nascarob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
try to short jumper that bios on the motherboard by shorting across the
unused jumper , turn it on in the shorted condition, turn it back off then
replace the jumper where it was located.
IT should work then
jeep wrote:
www.badflash.com
"Uwe Schuerkamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> On Sun, 20 May 2001 02:56:40 GMT, Dave Henrie <[email hidden]> wrote:
>
> > I have totally corrupted my system bios so badly that I can't evenget a
guess.
