Dead Computer :(

[Soggysocks]

Lost the use of one computer due to an incomplete flash. May be due to not disabling my Anti-Virus & Security software. Enough said.

I know this isn't the Tech Support forum........But.....since a lot of Tech-Heads hang here and this is my favorite forum........I'll start here.

I know the chip can be re-flashed. Can I get a card or device to plug into one of my other 'Puters so I can reflash the chip? Or...is there something that I can hook to the motherboard and reflash the chip in place?

Any assist would be helpful. And as for Octoberfest.... hic!! :beer:

 

[BobDaMenkey]

You might well be able to order a new BIOS chip from the mobo manufactuerer. Most of them are in a little socket and can be replaced.

 

[Soggysocks]

Thanks. I do know about that as well some of the aftermaket guys that sell replacements. Trying not to have to do that.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Have you tried resetting the BIOS? I have heard that it works, although I can not confirm. But it would certainly be worth a try.

 

[Soggysocks]

Thanks Chocobo......Yeh...I did. But ...unfortunatly...I think I blanked out the chip altogether. I have some network cards with bios sockets that my chip will set into. Anyone know If I can flash it that way?

 

[winr]

Maybe this will help.


http://www.biosman.com/biosrecovery.html


....and...

I have done what "Thorpiedo" wrote on several mobo's before.


I copied this from "forums.whirlpool.net"

Credit to "Thorpiedo"

***********************************************************************
Thorpiedo writes...
There are basically three steps involved in fixing the BIOS:
1. Get a floppy, make it bootable
2. Download the correct BIOS and flash utility.
3. Write an autoexec.bat file that automatically flashes the BIOS without user intervention (there are many examples of this on the net - I could find one for you).
************************************************************************


Good luck :sun:

 

[sswingle]

Im always scared to death when updating a bios in case the power goes out halfway through or something.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

If you have the same mobo again, with the same flash chip, there's hope. I know of PCI cards you put the dead chip in that will reproduce the flash you're doing on your regular mobo chip also on the PCI card. So you flash both the mobo chip and the borken chip on the PCI card at the same time. Only problem: If the flash fails, you have two dead chips

 

[Wiz]

Trouble with the floppy methed is...
If the bios is gone you can't boot to floppy.

If you have another same mobo I have heard of a "hot flash" method.
Sounds kind of dangerous, involves pulling the bios chip out of the running (powered up) mobo and putting the blank chip in and then flashing it.
At least this way you should still have one good chip.
Of course, if you blow up a mobo then that doesn't help much.

It's always safest to flash from a floppy boot disk - no nasty AV or other processes getting in the way.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

I agree with Wiz here, Windows Flash always scared me ...

 

[RaySun2Be]

Originally posted by: BlackMountainCow
I agree with Wiz here, Windows Flash always scared me ...

Same here. We all know how stable Windows is....

 

[Bateluer]

A lot of newer motherboards have built in failsafes in case of a bad BIOS flash. My old Asus P4P800, for example. You burned several files to a CD or floppy, including a correct BIOS binary. Even though the BIOS was shot, the fail safe still allowed the system to read the disk and reflash the BIOS from the information on it. On my current MSI K9N SLI Platinum board, its a similar process, cept I have to hold down a few keys during boot up to force it to update the BIOS from the disk. I was able to recover the motherboad after a bad flash to the MSI 1.3 revision, reflashed to 1.2.

 

[panhead49]

If you have another same mobo I have heard of a "hot flash" method.
Sounds kind of dangerous, involves pulling the bios chip out of the running (powered up) mobo and putting the blank chip in and then flashing it.
At least this way you should still have one good chip.
Of course, if you blow up a mobo then that doesn't help much.

the board will be no good anyway....so i would go for it!!....
(that is if you have anything that resembels the old bios chip around)

 

[Soggysocks]

Thanks Guys. :beer:

And as Wiz said...can't boot from floppy because its not recognized. And as for another mobo......Thats why I went to Gigabyte boards with dual bios. I love Asus boards...but this is why I 've always been aprehensive.

I can buy an upgrade chip....and send my current chip to be reflashed. That means there is a way to do it. Just need to know what I need to Get'r done. Special card...an add on module or does it involve some expensive specialized equipment.

Maybe time to move to Highly Technical or Tech support forum.

Thanks for all your help Guys. As always ...you guys came through with some good suggestions.

I'll let you know how I make out. You might end up in the same situation.

 

[Wiz]

I would pull the cmos battery, wait ten minutes and then using somthing preferably non metallic pull out the bios chip. You kind of have to pry it out, carful not to break it.
You locate your bios chip using your manual or an online manual.
I did this with one of my Asus boards, the chip vendor I used sent it to me flashed with the bios that I requested. I think it was Dr Bios or something like that.