Help.... I screwed up my BIOS!

[AlwaysWong]

Basically, what happened was I my flashing an updated version of my BIOS and for some reason, it froze in the middle. Now, I can't boot at all... just a black screen. So, how do I flash a BIOS that isn't there anymore? Do I need to replace the chip?

The mobo is a Gigabyte GA-686LX (Intel 440LX) running a 300 PII. The BIOS was Award and I downloaded the latest version from the Gigabyte site. I want to fix this pc b/c it's good as an internet appliance, and I can still run Max Payne on it.

Thanks for any help,
Eugene

 

[Schlocemus]

I'm not really certain on this one, but usually if something happens while you are flashing your BIOS you are SOL. You should try calling Gigabyte and asking if you can send it back...

Edit: Welcome to the AnandTech! Try not to post the same topic in multiple forums

Edit again: Nevermind, I see you joined in November, 2000, but still only have 7 posts!

 

[sabresfan]

Just had this happen to me. Can you still boot blind off a floppy? If you can you can try running the flash again blind. It usually works better to put it in an autoexec on a bootable floppy. You also need to know if there are any prompts to answer. If this program uses the awdflash program do a google search to find the command line parameters to overide the prompts.

As a last resort try www.badflash.com to get a the eprom flashed and rewritten.

Good luck

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

You can't boot at all?

Can you get into the systems bios? Do the hard drive, fans, and/or cd rom drives spin up? More description is needed as to what you can do and what you can't do.

 

[Scorp]

i had this problem before too... i pressed power, and the cpu fans, drives everything spins up, but there's no starting BEEP and nothing comes up on the monitor...in the end i just send my mobo back and got another one (told them it just stopped working lol)... anyway if it gets to that stage, is there anything that can be done? just in case next time it happens again...~

 

[blahblah99]

what about hot flashing the bios? would that work?

 

[tsnyder]

It might be too late for this, but clear the CMOS... I had a bios flash that seemed to not work... had an error during flash. The computer would not reboot, just power up. Well with the computer off I reset the jumper at the battery on the mobo... waited 5-10 seconds, reset it back to normal and walah!! it rebooted and everything was fine. I did a reflash and that worked the second time.

 

[Mitzi]

<< It might be too late for this, but clear the CMOS... I had a bios flash that seemed to not work... had an error during flash. The computer would not reboot, just power up. Well with the computer off I reset the jumper at the battery on the mobo... waited 5-10 seconds, reset it back to normal and walah!! it rebooted and everything was fine. I did a reflash and that worked the second time. >>



*wipes beads of sweat off forehead*

Thats lucky - clearing the BIOS on most boards wouldn't fix a bad BIOS flash - is your board one of those dual BIOS versions? I've never seen one of those put to the test.

 

[AlwaysWong]

Thanks Sabresfan,

I think I might have to use badflash.com... that site seems to suit my needs perfectly. I'll try to reflash it blind, but that'll be quite difficult as I'm fairly certain it does not boot at all. Just a useless black screen. I wonder what kind of equipment badflash.com uses to fix the chip?

Sabres... coincidentally, I used to live in Buffalo.


Thanks again,
Eugene