Failure flashing bios on my A7V. need help!

yo2tup

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
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i tried updating the bios on my a7v. i was stupid and used that windows program that came with the a7v to flash it. when it was verifying the bios, it failed at 8%. so i tried again and i got the same thing. then when i restarted the computer it posts, counts the ram, then says something about plug and play, then it says something pnp and it freezes there :frown:
what do i do to fix it? this sucks :frown:
so i get a new bios chip from asus or something? will that work? or is there another way?
 

Rent

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2000
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If your on another computer download a prevoius bios and flash it with that.

Best of luck

Radeon
 

Rent

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2000
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If you can boot it with a Win98 startup disk then your set. If you cant, well you'll have to RMA the board to Asus and hopefully they'll be helpful.
 

obenton

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 1999
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Sometimes the BIOS can be reflashed if you run it from a simple DOS boot floppy that contains the flash files and runs the flash from a one-line autoexec.bat file.
Boot with the floppy, wait about five minute (because the screen remains black during the process) and then reboot to see if it worked. Can work if the beginning sectors of the corrupted BIOS are still intact.
 

yo2tup

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
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obenton - how do i make a DOS boot floppy that will do that. what do i do to make one, where do i get the stuff...because i have no idea :eek:
 

obenton

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 1999
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In win98, format a floppy with system added. The floppy should then contain IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, command.com, and no more. Copy the flash .exe program and the unzipped binary BIOS file to the floppy. Using win98's notepad, create a text file called autoexec.bat, and within autoexec.bat type one line consisting of the command that runs the flash - and be sure to use all the command-line parameters recommended by the motherboard manufacturer. Copy this autoexec.bat file to the floppy. Then boot with this floppy, watch the black screen for about five minutes while muttering a few of your favorite prayers, then reboot with your fingers crossed. If it works, you're back in business. If not, a replacement BIOS chip is pretty cheap and could likely be gotten at http://unicore.com/ - good luck!
 

AngelOfDeath

Golden Member
Apr 25, 2000
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From what I can see are you f*cked. If you can't even go past post then you won't be able to boot from a floppy. I think that you have to contact Asus or the store where you bought it. I don't know everything so hopefully somebody can give you an easier way...but still I don't think so.

AoD ;)
 

Dulanic

Diamond Member
Oct 27, 2000
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Thats why you should always save your current BIOS, so incase it fails with the new one you can reflash the old one.
 

phalsedoom

Member
Oct 19, 1999
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Try to pull all of your cards from the mobo except an isa video card. Do not even connect hardrive or anything else except floppy. Then boot and follow procedure for retoring bios. For me I used the procedure found on the Epox web site. try it. But I do believe that you can recover this.
 

yo2tup

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
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obenton - thanks, i tried it..but no go :frown: won't boot off the floppy :(

i tried phalsedoom, but i don't have an isa video card just an agp....no go either :(

what should i do now? order a new bios chip? how do i get the old chip off? it tried pulling it out but it's in there pretty good. and when i get a new bios chip, do i just put it in and everything will work again?

thanks guys

 

Renob

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2000
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Dude you live in San Jose drive it over to Asus in sunnyvalle and have them flash your chip for you
 

borealiss

Senior member
Jun 23, 2000
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you can repair your bios, but it's very tricky. i've misflashed my bios to the point where i didn't get a command prompt. what you have to do is find someone with the same size bios as you, ie 1 mbit, 2 mbit. and make sure they have the same bios manufacturer as you as well. otherwise it won't work. the bios is only read at startup, and after bootup, it's copied to ram. so here's what you do. download onto a friend's computer a GOOD version of the bios you know works, your old bios should be online on ftp.asus.com. have your friend boot up their computer with a bootable floppy that has the flash software and the bin file for you bios. when you are at a command prompt, remove his bios chip. this will work, i've done it a couple of times. since the his bios is loaded into ram, there is no need for it. now, put your messed bios chip onto his motherboard. you have to be very careful to try to make all the contacts short at the same time, or at least make it close. then run the flash utility program from the floppy disk like you would normally. when the bios flashing program warns you saying "product id mismatch," ignore it and continue. now, MAKE SURE YOUR BIOS IS THE ONE ABOUT TO BE FLASHED. run the program. after it completes, shutdown, restore the bios chips back to their original motherboard. i'll have to warn you, don't do this unless you are damn confident that you can, cuz you can really mess up another bios this way. when you are taking off the bios chip from your friend's computer, you might want to loosen it first before boot up so that the contacts are loose enough where they are making contact but also easy to take out really quickly. hope this helps you out, best of luck to you.
 

yo2tup

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
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i think the computer i'm using now, my older one, has the same bios chip...but "don't do this unless you are damn confident that you can" :Q

i don't think i can :eek:
 

yo2tup

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
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btw, how do you get the bios chips off? it's in there pretty snug. do i just yank or is there a certain way to get it off?
 

borealiss

Senior member
Jun 23, 2000
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just take the bios chip out all the way and be careful not to bend the pins. i use a jeweler's screwdriver as a crowbar sorta. the bios chip contacts get thinner at the end. just push the bios chip back in so only the thin part of the contacts are seated. if you do plan on doing this, i would try to take the bios chip out with the power off as a practice run. it's not that bad of a process if you're careful. good luck.
 

yo2tup

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
814
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grrr :| i got the bios chip out, i made the boot disk, and i was ready to flash it with this computer. but when i tried removing the bios chip out this computer....it was soldered on! :| :(

damn it, i thought i had it too :frown:
 

Regalk

Golden Member
Feb 7, 2000
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I had to do the same thing to the CUVX - its called a hot flash. I have a P3V4X so I was able to swap chips quite easily. No problemo.
 

DaddyG

Banned
Mar 24, 2000
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Contactt BADFLASH.COM. They will get you a new flashed BIOS very quickly and their prices are good.