• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

8RDA BIOS FLASH THE SAFE WAY!

M

MARMADUKE

Banned
YOU CANNOT FLASH BIOS IF THE SYSTEM IS OVERCLOCKED!!!!!!
YOU SHOULD NOT FLASH YOUR BIOS WITH A WEAK PSU!!!
ENTER CMOS setup by pressing the <DEL> key
immediately. Using the arrow keys select ?LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS? or
'LOAD OPTIMIZED DEFAULTS' and when prompted to confirm press ?Y? and
?ENTER?. Press ?F10? to Save & Exit the BIOS. When prompted to
confirm again press ?Y? and ?ENTER?.

WXP/PRO-You start with a blank floppy disc in the floppy drive, open my computer and right click on the floppy and select format,select create ms-dos startup disc, when done making startup disc you are ready to download the new bios files to my documents or any place you like, left click on the downloaded file and you will see a warning box pop up, click ok, now you should see the winzip extractor ready to unzip the files to your floppy A:\ drive, select unzip and leave floppy in the drive when done, now reboot your system with the floppy in the drive, when you get to the A:\ prompt type: update
Do not touch anything until the bios is DONE flashing!
When the Flash program completes REMOVE FLOPPY DISC and restart the computer, , and enter your CMOS setup by pressing the <DEL> key
immediately. Using the arrow keys select ?LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS? or
'LOAD OPTIMIZED DEFAULTS' and when prompted to confirm press ?Y? and
?ENTER?. Press ?F10? to Save & Exit the BIOS. When prompted to
confirm again press ?Y? and ?ENTER?. The system flash is now
completed.

BIOS Download Instructions

Download the xxxxxxxx.EXE file corresponding to your model from the
EPoX website to an empty directory on your hard disk or floppy. Run
the downloaded xxxxxxxx.EXE file and it will self extract into the
above listed files.

Copy these extracted files to a bootable DOS floppy disk. Note: the
DOS floppy disk should contain NO device drivers or other programs
that load during the boot other than the operating system itself.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BIOS Update Instructions

Boot using your DOS floppy disk to the ?A:\>? command prompt. At the
DOS command prompt type: UPDATE

I get out of memory errors when I flash my BIOS!

On some system configurations, even with a clean boot disk, you will
get an out of memory error (insufficient memory) when you try to
flash your BIOS. The solution is simple: Try bypassing the startup
files by pressing the following keys during startup using your
bootable floppy disk. Attempt the FLASH again.

DOS 6.2x boot disks - press F5 to bypass.
WINDOWS 95/98 boot disks - press F8 and select "Safe command prompt."
Lastly try using a MS-DOS 6.x boot disk.



Note: During the use of UPDATE a backup of your original BIOS
date/code will be saved in the same directory as the UPDATE file. It
will be called ?OLD.BIN? and can be used with the restore
instructions below in case you need to revert back to the original
BIOS date/code, At the DOS command prompt type: RESTORE
Then set defaults in setup.
 
Your title seems to imply that the Alt F2 method is unsafe... any particular reason for that? It doesn't save the old BIOS, that's true... but the old BIOS is available for download, so I don't see what the difference is there 😀 Eh?

The AWDFLASH utility is the same one in either case, AFAIK. One's decompressed from BIOS, one's on a (corruptible) floppy diskette... *shrug*
 
You used the ALT2 and your mobo is dead? maybe if you flashed with my method you would have seen bad write and could have used restore command and saved your mobo? you cant save a bad flash with the ALT2 can you? if you reboot after bad flash your mobo is dead, and from what you told me that is exactly what you did?
 
Originally posted by: MARMADUKE
You used the ALT2 and your mobo is dead? maybe if you flashed with my method you would have seen bad write and could have used restore command and saved your mobo? you cant save a bad flash with the ALT2 can you? if you reboot after bad flash your mobo is dead, and from what you told me that is exactly what you did?
Click to expand...
*Ahem* The board was not the victim of a bad flash. 🙂 It functioned flawlessly for more than a week after updating to the 3/05 BIOS. If it had failed right after I flashed, that would be another story, but it didn't.

edit: sorry if I sound unappreciative. Your effort to make a helpful post is obvious, and will definitely come in handy to people who want to take that route. 🙂

edit #2: I also think that while the flash went fine, there still may be a systemic problem with the 3/05 BIOS itself, since there were no reports of problems like mine and Mark's until 3/05 came out. Riddle me this: why does my CPU stay stone-cold as if it's getting no electricity? VRM failure, is my guess.
 
You told me that when you shut down the system for the first time after you had flashed it , it would not boot!



ImechBgon
t did write the new BIOS, and I know it succeeded because from then on, it would display the new "Dual Channel Enabled" message that was added to the 3/5 BIOS. And it ran that way fine for a week or so. Then one day I decided to reboot it to test a user's log-in script, and Windows shut down for a reboot, but the monitor stayed black.
Click to expand...

I'm very sorry but that is caused by a bad flash!
 
Originally posted by: MARMADUKE
You told me that when you shut down the system for the first time after you had flashed it , it would not boot!



ImechBgon
t did write the new BIOS, and I know it succeeded because from then on, it would display the new "Dual Channel Enabled" message that was added to the 3/5 BIOS. And it ran that way fine for a week or so. Then one day I decided to reboot it to test a user's log-in script, and Windows shut down for a reboot, but the monitor stayed black.
Click to expand...

I'm very sorry but that is caused by a bad flash!
Click to expand...
LOL! 😀 And how do you figure that? The utility reported a successful update and the system worked fine for quite a while thereafter, including some pretty heavy work (I use this rig at work and it gets pushed fairly hard at times). Either the flash succeeds, or it doesn't. EPoX tech support suggests I revert to the 1/29 BIOS but there's no way to do that.

Your logic is "if the flash utility reports a bad flash, my method lets you revert to your old BIOS then and there." That's true, but since the utility did NOT indicate any flash failure in my instance, your methodology would still leave me in the same exact situation... I would have a system that works for a week and then decides it's not going to reboot any more. (have you actually tried the Alt-F2 method yourself?)

To elaborate more on my system, after it failed to POST, I took the board out of the case and was able to get it to POST about 10% of the time by resetting the CMOS, for a while. It remained unable to run at 133MHz FSB as it should, and finally failed to POST for good. Game over. 🙁

 
I never flash with windows or mobo programs cause they never work right🙁
MSI had a program on the k7master disc in 2000 that killed all the chips that it flashed till they fixed the program🙁
 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Originally posted by: MARMADUKE
You told me that when you shut down the system for the first time after you had flashed it , it would not boot!



ImechBgon
t did write the new BIOS, and I know it succeeded because from then on, it would display the new "Dual Channel Enabled" message that was added to the 3/5 BIOS. And it ran that way fine for a week or so. Then one day I decided to reboot it to test a user's log-in script, and Windows shut down for a reboot, but the monitor stayed black.
Click to expand...

I'm very sorry but that is caused by a bad flash!
Click to expand...
LOL! 😀 And how do you figure that? The utility reported a successful update and the system worked fine for quite a while thereafter, including some pretty heavy work (I use this rig at work and it gets pushed fairly hard at times). Either the flash succeeds, or it doesn't. EPoX tech support suggests I revert to the 1/29 BIOS but there's no way to do that.

Your logic is "if the flash utility reports a bad flash, my method lets you revert to your old BIOS then and there." That's true, but since the utility did NOT indicate any flash failure in my instance, your methodology would still leave me in the same exact situation... I would have a system that works for a week and then decides it's not going to reboot any more. (have you actually tried the Alt-F2 method yourself?)

To elaborate more on my system, after it failed to POST, I took the board out of the case and was able to get it to POST about 10% of the time by resetting the CMOS, for a while. It remained unable to run at 133MHz FSB as it should, and finally failed to POST for good. Game over. 🙁
Click to expand...
Perhaps not, the Ninjalane review had this to say
Shut the power off to the board
Move the CMOS reset jumper to "Clear"
Remove the CMOS battery
Carefully remove the BIOS chip from the socket.
Let the parts sit for about 15min and reassemble
Special tools may be required but I've found that an eyeglass screwdriver works pretty well.
Word of warning: (This can damage your equipment and even yourself so please exercise caution, and as always you are responsible for your own actions.)
Click to expand...



 
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Originally posted by: MARMADUKE
You told me that when you shut down the system for the first time after you had flashed it , it would not boot!



ImechBgon
t did write the new BIOS, and I know it succeeded because from then on, it would display the new "Dual Channel Enabled" message that was added to the 3/5 BIOS. And it ran that way fine for a week or so. Then one day I decided to reboot it to test a user's log-in script, and Windows shut down for a reboot, but the monitor stayed black.
Click to expand...

I'm very sorry but that is caused by a bad flash!
Click to expand...
LOL! 😀 And how do you figure that? The utility reported a successful update and the system worked fine for quite a while thereafter, including some pretty heavy work (I use this rig at work and it gets pushed fairly hard at times). Either the flash succeeds, or it doesn't. EPoX tech support suggests I revert to the 1/29 BIOS but there's no way to do that.

Your logic is "if the flash utility reports a bad flash, my method lets you revert to your old BIOS then and there." That's true, but since the utility did NOT indicate any flash failure in my instance, your methodology would still leave me in the same exact situation... I would have a system that works for a week and then decides it's not going to reboot any more. (have you actually tried the Alt-F2 method yourself?)

To elaborate more on my system, after it failed to POST, I took the board out of the case and was able to get it to POST about 10% of the time by resetting the CMOS, for a while. It remained unable to run at 133MHz FSB as it should, and finally failed to POST for good. Game over. 🙁
Click to expand...
Perhaps not, the Ninjalane review had this to say
Shut the power off to the board
Move the CMOS reset jumper to "Clear"
Remove the CMOS battery
Carefully remove the BIOS chip from the socket.
Let the parts sit for about 15min and reassemble
Special tools may be required but I've found that an eyeglass screwdriver works pretty well.
Word of warning: (This can damage your equipment and even yourself so please exercise caution, and as always you are responsible for your own actions.)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
I'll give that a whirl, nothin' to lose by trying 🙂 and I'm also going to attack the DIMMs, VRM's and the CPU socket and see what's got power, and how much. Should be kinda fun... 🙂

 
The method suggested by Ninjalane didn't work. Still got FF right away.

mechBgon: the heck with it 😛 I'm gonna probe some voltages! Buwahaha!

*mechBgon gets a small voltmeter, sets it for the 10V range and begins probing*

mechBgon: Hmm, got 2.5V on Pin 92 of the DIMM slot... that's about right... got 1.8V on the CPU power planes, that's about right...

*mechBgon decides to check the voltages on the voltage regulation dealies, and sets for 50V range*

mechBgon: Hmm... oops, wrong polarity, other way... ahhh, 12V... 12V... 12V... 12V...

*mechBgon clumsily slips and misses the target with the voltmeter probe*

EPoX 8RDA+ motherboard: *SPARK!!!* (fans surge audibly for a moment)

mechBgon: :Q

mechBgon: heeeeeyyyy... the LED doesn't say "FF" anymore... it says "C1!" 😕

*mechBgon turns power off, then on, and finds that he has Dr.-Frankensteined his board back into working by means of a jolt of extra voltage... sort of 😕

So after some wrangling, I got the dasm thing reverted to the 1/29 BIOS. My A7V333-RAID has started to act flaky, so I may throw the 8RDA+ in there, install Windows, and see what happens. I'm afraid I won't be trusting this individual 8RDA+ in my work system anymore, but if it behaves from here on, I might pick up another one, or maybe an 8RGA+, for my work system (which is using my old K7S5A for now, and actually working great).

Moral of the story, if your 8RDA+ won't run and you can't get it RMA'ed for some reason, PM me and I'll point out exactly where to tickle your board... 😀 Still not sure if it'll work out in actual usage, but I'm going to give it a try before giving up on it again.


edit: henceforth, this 8RDA+ shall be known as "Frankenboard" 😀
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! that's funny as hell! Glad it's got a pulse again 🙂 I'm stress testing this Golden Flame@167fsb@default Vcore using default multiplier on this 2100+ synched before I move it up more. So far this Nforce2 chipset is making me smile and I'm diggin' the wild PCB color 🙂 If it'll out last the Crucial 2700DDR I'm using with it right now I'll see how it does with some 3200DDR and see if 200 synch is doable.
 
So far, so good. 😀 Now to see what kind of catch-up work I can do on S@H... the A7V333-RAID was having none of that, it would keep locking, even with the 1600+ running at 100MHz bus and relaxed memory timings.
 
WOW..
That is great news!, now dont use that alt2 method again😉 I found out the asus crew is having the same problem flashing with that method? 1 guy had the same thing happen to his asus but was able to get it back right away, lucky for him!, it is a faulty method cause lots cant even get it to work? including me! , I wanted to see how it worked but cannot get the program open?
 
Originally posted by: MARMADUKE
WOW..
That is great news!, now dont use that alt2 method again
Click to expand...
I'm rid of the 3/5 BIOS, and don't worry, I won't be installing it again using ANY method. 😉
 
I flashed the 03/05 BIOS from Windows, while overclocked (200x10 for 2GHz), and it's been working fine for the past 3 weeks (or however long it's been since it came out).

I'm even up to 211MHz FSB, and I still can't get it to fall over, no matter what I throw at it.


I'll probably still be using the Windows flashing utility, or, if not, then the Alt-F2 method (if i can find a floppy disk)


Confused
 
Frankenboard is down for the count, looks like 😛 I got up in the morning and it was Not Working. Now the onboard LED sometimes shows just one F or the other, or flashes back & forth between them, but there's nothing on the monitor, so I guess that's that. Hmm, might be time for me to pick up another A7N266-VM. Not so fancy, but I'm 21 for 21 good boards with the A7N266-VM, between my home and work fleets 😀 and they're more affordable too.
 
rolleye.gif
 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Frankenboard is down for the count, looks like 😛 I got up in the morning and it was Not Working. Now the onboard LED sometimes shows just one F or the other, or flashes back & forth between them, but there's nothing on the monitor, so I guess that's that. Hmm, might be time for me to pick up another A7N266-VM. Not so fancy, but I'm 21 for 21 good boards with the A7N266-VM, between my home and work fleets 😀 and they're more affordable too.
Click to expand...
What is this??? when the tough get going, Mech hides under the bed?!? 😛 You gotta get back in the saddle man......or by a Golden Flame like mine 'cause it's schweet! 😀
 
Sorry, DAPUNISHER, but this is my work system, and while I think the 8RDA+ is a great board, there are a couple things holding me back. Between the issue with Crucial PC2700 in 512Mb sizes, the hasty withdrawal of the 3/3/2003 BIOS that preceded the 3/5/2003, and the no-POST death of my board and those of a few others, I'm going to give up a bit of the performance and expandability of the 8RDA+ for the known bulletproofness of the A7N266-VM.

Remember, I had an A7N266-VM in this system before the 8RDA+. With a 15k SCSI drive at the helm, they don't actually feel a whole lot different, although I will be annoyed at being limited to 1.0Gb of RAM (1.5Gb was extremely sweet, I could cache the whole Office2000 Disc1 and Disc2 administrative installation points in RAM!). The loss of USB 2.0 and Firewire won't hurt me at this point, and three PCI slots are enough for my purposes.
 
One thing I love about Gigabyte boards is that they have a dual bios setup, so if you toast one bios chip, the backup kicks in. Secondly, they have a utility that flashes the bios right in windows with no hassle at all. You just click on flash bios, it uploads the file from their website, and flashes it in about 10 seconds. Why in the world don't all mobo manufacturers use this method???
 
Originally posted by: Jmman
One thing I love about Gigabyte boards is that they have a dual bios setup, so if you toast one bios chip, the backup kicks in. Secondly, they have a utility that flashes the bios right in windows with no hassle at all. You just click on flash bios, it uploads the file from their website, and flashes it in about 10 seconds. Why in the world don't all mobo manufacturers use this method???
Click to expand...
You know, the purists scoff at the windows bios flash utilities but I've done it on both my Asus P4PE and P4S333 and it was all gravy. Heck, I even changed my full screen bootup bios pictures while I was at it. I don't even have an FDD in my P4PE box anymore 'cause I don't need it, even memtest86 runs from CD.
 
It only takes one bad flash for a purist to change his mind. Many of us have gone through that little fiasco, and for me the windows utilites are sweet. Call me a wimp if you like......😉
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top