Help me repair a bios flash gone bad... (awd bios, Soyo mobo)

[stonecold3169]

So I decided I was going to get one of those new-fangled throubreds, so I needed a bios upgrade for my kt333 Soyo Ultra Platinum.

However, the flash froze up about a quarter of the way through

rebooted, nothing works of course,but "awd bootblock" comes on and lets me boot from a floppy. I can boot into dos using bootdisks, and can load awdflash, but when I try and input a file name for the .bin, it tells me that it isn't the current awd bios version.

Is the mobo wasted? I liked this board too...

Any ideas? Or, I guess if I need it, anyone have any good mobos to trade for a full retail unopened WinXP pro? poor college student in drastic need of help!

 

[WarCon]

Have you tried clearing the CMOS using your jumper then trying to flash again (maybe using an older bios first).

Is this "kxbp2aa7.exe" the bios you are trying to flash?

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: WarCon
Have you tried clearing the CMOS using your jumper then trying to flash again (maybe using an older bios first).

Is this "kxbp2aa7.exe" the bios you are trying to flash?

Thats the one... this is sorta stinky, I've never had a bad bios flash before, and thought I knew how to fix this one

 

[ArcticChill]

you can get a new good mobo for 130 dallors from ABIT

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: ArcticChill
you can get a new good mobo for 130 dallors from ABIT

which is great, except I have no expendable cash right now, so Iwant to try and save this one

 

[Budman]

Ok i know your tried booting & typing the bios name,

But have you tried making a autoexec.bat filename on your floppy ?

try putting this in the bat file.

awdflash oldbios.bin /Py /Sn /cc /cd /cp


oldbios.bin is the filename of the bios you want to flash.


Good luck.

 

[stonecold3169]

alright, here is what I'm getting.

the rom is saved as bios.bin .

regardless of if I do the autoexec or not, if I put the bios name in as "bios.bin" I get and "unknown flash type" error. If I put it in as "bios" I get "system was not new AWARD BIOS version ! Please updata ROM BIOS first...."

I think I'm toast...

 

did you ask abit yet? Some times if you mail them the mobo they'll fix it for you. Then again, thats like $20 bucks on postage right there.

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: JAGedlion
did you ask abit yet? Some times if you mail them the mobo they'll fix it for you. Then again, thats like $20 bucks on postage right there.

Why ask Abit? he's got a SOYO motherboard.

 

[redbeard1]

The user "zzzzzz" used to fix bad flashes. He hasn't been on for a while but here is a link to his website. He fixed an older one for me, and I believe he could do the newer style chips, if they were removable.

Bios fix

 

[Viper96720]

Is bios.bin the name used when the flash failed? If the bios is removable call soyo and get a replacement bios.

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: Viper96720
Is bios.bin the name used when the flash failed? If the bios is removable call soyo and get a replacement bios.

The bios was originally kxbp2aa7.bin , and at this point I've tried every name I could give it.

It's weird, I had always heard that if you could get into the bootblocker that you could save the bios... not so I guess. It's weird that the awdflash loads, but won't do anything.... hmm...

Anyways, I managed to find an awesome trader sho made me a good deal on an Epox 8RDA+NForce 2 motherboard, so I guess I get a needed upgrade anyways, and maybe I'll figure this one out too... then the 'rents can get this one

any more ideas?

 

[Viper96720]

Maybe try flashing it with the bios file that was loaded before you flashed it.

 

[WarCon]

Did you clear the CMOS with the jumper?

 

[bocamojo]

I fixed a bad flash on my k7s5a once. I had to rename the bios file to something like amiboot.rom, and boot up off the floppy. Of course, that's a different type of BIOS, but I would imagine there's something similar you can do with your board.

 

[sniperruff]

i was looking at the hotdeals forum and read user DJMix's sig. i say PM him and see if a little money can save your board

 

[bocamojo]

Ok, I think I found your answer. Here's the instructions:

"RECOVERING A CORRUPT AWARD BOOTBLOCK BIOS
To recover an AWARD BIOS you
will need to create a floppy diskette with a working BIOS file in .BIN format, an AWARD flash
utility and an AUTOEXEC.BAT file. AWARD BIOS will not automatically restore the BIOS
information to the SYSTEM BLOCK for this reason you will need to add the commands necessary
to flash the BIOS to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The system will run the AUTOEXE.BAT file at
startup, which will in turn flash the BIOS. This is fairly easy. Here are the steps you need to take.
1) Create a bootable floppy disk. If you use Windows 95, 98 or DOS, this can be done by
going to the DOS prompt and typing the command. (Be sure to insert a disk first)
FORMAT A: /S
The /S switch specifies that the system files should be copied to the diskette to make it
bootable. If you are using Windows ME, Windows NT or Windows 2000 then you can not
use the /S switch with the FORMAT command. If you are unable to create a bootable
diskette because of the operating system you are using then you may download a
bootable diskette image from the BootDisk.com web site at (http://www.bootdisk.com)
2) Copy a working BIOS ROM (.BIN) file for your motherboard and an AWARD flash utility
to the floppy disk. You can usually download these files from the motherboard
manufacturer. If you need help finding these files call the motherboard manufacturer for
technical support.
3) Use a text editor or the ?edit? command at the DOS prompt to create a text file named
?AUTOEXEC.BAT? and save it on the floppy disk. Make sure that the file name is
AUTOEXEC and that the extension is .BAT (nothing else). If you create this file from
within Windows using a program such as NOTEPAD, you may need to change the file
extension from .TXT to .BAT
4) With the text editor add the following commands to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the
floppy disk and then save the changes.
@ECHO OFF
@AWDFLASH BIOSFILE.BIN /py
NOTE: The ?/py? switch will cause the flash utility to automatically reprogram the BIOS
without any user intervention. Be sure to change the ?AWDFLASH? to the name
of the flash utility that you are using and change the ?BIOSFILE.BIN? to the name
of the BIOS ROM file you are using.
If you are not sure what the command line switch to automatically flash your
BIOS is, type the name of the flash utility with the ?/?? switch after it at a DOS
prompt and a list of the available switches will be displayed.
5) Insert the diskette you created into the floppy drive A: on the system that you need to
restore the BIOS on. Turn on the system. The computer should startup, read the floppy
disk, run the commands in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and restore the BIOS.
At this point if everything went well then the BIOS should have been restored and the
computer should restart normally. If your system still did not restart normally then go to
the TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS section below."

Here's the link to the entire article, if you need more information: Recovering a corrupt BIOS

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: bocamojo
Ok, I think I found your answer. Here's the instructions:

"RECOVERING A CORRUPT AWARD BOOTBLOCK BIOS
To recover an AWARD BIOS you
will need to create a floppy diskette with a working BIOS file in .BIN format, an AWARD flash
utility and an AUTOEXEC.BAT file. AWARD BIOS will not automatically restore the BIOS
information to the SYSTEM BLOCK for this reason you will need to add the commands necessary
to flash the BIOS to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The system will run the AUTOEXE.BAT file at
startup, which will in turn flash the BIOS. This is fairly easy. Here are the steps you need to take.
1) Create a bootable floppy disk. If you use Windows 95, 98 or DOS, this can be done by
going to the DOS prompt and typing the command. (Be sure to insert a disk first)
FORMAT A: /S
The /S switch specifies that the system files should be copied to the diskette to make it
bootable. If you are using Windows ME, Windows NT or Windows 2000 then you can not
use the /S switch with the FORMAT command. If you are unable to create a bootable
diskette because of the operating system you are using then you may download a
bootable diskette image from the BootDisk.com web site at (http://www.bootdisk.com)
2) Copy a working BIOS ROM (.BIN) file for your motherboard and an AWARD flash utility
to the floppy disk. You can usually download these files from the motherboard
manufacturer. If you need help finding these files call the motherboard manufacturer for
technical support.
3) Use a text editor or the ?edit? command at the DOS prompt to create a text file named
?AUTOEXEC.BAT? and save it on the floppy disk. Make sure that the file name is
AUTOEXEC and that the extension is .BAT (nothing else). If you create this file from
within Windows using a program such as NOTEPAD, you may need to change the file
extension from .TXT to .BAT
4) With the text editor add the following commands to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the
floppy disk and then save the changes.
@ECHO OFF
@AWDFLASH BIOSFILE.BIN /py
NOTE: The ?/py? switch will cause the flash utility to automatically reprogram the BIOS
without any user intervention. Be sure to change the ?AWDFLASH? to the name
of the flash utility that you are using and change the ?BIOSFILE.BIN? to the name
of the BIOS ROM file you are using.
If you are not sure what the command line switch to automatically flash your
BIOS is, type the name of the flash utility with the ?/?? switch after it at a DOS
prompt and a list of the available switches will be displayed.
5) Insert the diskette you created into the floppy drive A: on the system that you need to
restore the BIOS on. Turn on the system. The computer should startup, read the floppy
disk, run the commands in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and restore the BIOS.
At this point if everything went well then the BIOS should have been restored and the
computer should restart normally. If your system still did not restart normally then go to
the TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS section below."

Here's the link to the entire article, if you need more information: Recovering a corrupt BIOS

I appreciate the help, but I've already tried all of that to the T... the problem now seems to be that it detects the bios, kxbp2aa7.bin or any otehr bios for that manner as an "unknown flash type"