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HELP! Tried updating BIOS to use K6-3+ <- VA-503+ mobo. Please help! :-)

R

RSI

Diamond Member
Hi all...

I have VA-503+ mobo, I flashed to JE439 recently, it was fine (K6-2/350 cpu though). I then flashed to JE4330 and put in the K6-III+ CPU. I had it at 600MHz (100x2, remapped to 6 I guess), it reported as 552 or so MHz on the start up thing.

Well, now I can't get it to boot with that at all. The K6-2/350 will boot, but every time I reboot I have to take off the EP1/EP2 jumpers or unplug the power cable for 10s or so, then put it back, and it boots.. Otherwise when I turn it on I just hear the hd spin up and that's it, nothing comes on to the monitor and nothing happens afterwards (Even if I wait).

I downloaded a couple different BIOS updates from FIC's site right now, one of them looks like the one I'd need, but the &quot;flash703&quot; utility that it's supposed to come with, isn't in the zip file. The other one I downloaded, which MAY work but I'm not sure, has the utility required with it... WTF gives?

Anyway, I don't understand how it just stopped working like that. I checked everything... The voltage was set correctly, it wasn't set to Linear Burst (For Cyrix CPUs), I had all my sdram/clk or whatever jumpers set correctly (checked them over and over). I had it booting at 600MHz (BIOS reported 552 or so, but I ran Sandra, and it was PR602, and I was just under the Athlon 600 in score), but now I can't get it to boot no matter what, even if I take off the EP1/EP2 jumpers or anything, it just stays there and does nothing. With my k6-2 I can boot, but this thing is being a pain in the ass.

I guess somehow the bios is messed up because of the flash (I think it was a beta that I got).

So should I try flashing with one of the things I downloaded? Or does anybody here with a VA-503+ know of an update that works for sure?

PLEASE help... PLEASE!! 🙁
 
Well, I think you have to reflash. Since you have access to another computer, make a boot disk and make the autoexec.bat execute the flash automatically...alternatively...you could swap the bios into a working mobo after booting and then flashing....not for the feint of heart though... I would try the boot disk option first before anything else.

As for the bios...did you back it up before you flashed? If so, just do the boot disk thing and reflash with the old bios.
 
1. The only bios I know of that will work with the K6-3+ cpu on a VA503+ board is FIC beta bios JE4330. So if you want to use your chip, you are stuck with that.

2. Is your board version 1.2 with the sticker that certifies it for the k6-3, etc. If not, you may have an excessive amperage problem related to the voltage regulator of the board, that for some reason didn't show up at first (you may be right on the borderline). There is a fix for that that works sometimes, but it involves soldering a jumper across two resistors.

3. At what voltage were you running? Try upping it to 2.2 or 2.3 for just long enough to see if it will boot that way. Don't fry your chip.

4. Go back to setting the CPU @ 100X4.5, NO MATTER WHAT YOU WERE ABLE TO DO BEFORE. After you get your system running at that speed, rock solid for a period of time, only then is it time to try overclocking again.
 
Thanks for replying...

I've been reading around, and by the sounds of it, the chip should have never worked in the first place. But it did, so that's what really screws me up.

I know about the JE4330 BIOS, and I've tried it. That was the one I was using when I got it to work. I was using JE439 when it said 66MHz (regardless of what it was set to).

But at this point, it won't work, no matter which I try. And it's not working properly even with the K6-2 chip! I don't know what to do now... I guess I have to try to flash back to an older bios that I&quot;m SUPPOSED to be using.. I want to atl east get it working perfectly how it was before..

-RSI
 
When I boot up I see it's 1.0A, so I never bothered to check... But I just read an FAQ at FIC's site and it showed me where to look on the board. I looked there, and it was clearly written 1.2A. I guess I actually have 1.2A, and the K6-III+ should work, if I wasn't so incompetent.

For some reason it says 1.0A when I boot... Maybe I've somehow messed it up or something?

-RSI
 
I still can't get it working... This is starting to piss me off! By the looks of it I have the 1.2A board that doesn't support the K6-3, but that doesn't explain how I got the K6-III+ I have here actually working! :| :| :|

There must be SOMETHING I've overlooked or SOMETHING that's going wrong for SOME reason... ahhh 🙁

-RSI
 
Not sure if this will help! I have the same board and was having similar problems. Had it running for a while at 550 then it just started locking up on boot. It would work at 450 but would not load when overclocking. Thru trial and error found out AGP was the problem. I grabbed a PCI video card I had laying around and it's running stable at 600mz. From reading around I found the 503+ can have problems with it's AGP port.
 
I don't see where you said anything about voltage. The chip goes from 2.0 to 2.2 maximum, any higher and you may create a problem, perhaps you fried your K6-3+ a little bit..

Maybe you need to toss on a good GlobalWin or Alpha HSF ontop the CPU with some thermal paste. What heatsink and fan are you currently using? I am running a 1.1a version of the VA-503+ board with the JE4330 beta BIOS, with a GlobalWin FOP38 heatsink/fan slapped ontop with some Arctic Silver thermal paste inbetween. Rock solid. The voltage is at 2.1 also BTW.. I'm gonna guess you didn't change your voltage with the removal of the K6-3 350MHz CPU. :\ Am I right or wrong?

-Zor Prime
 
i used to have that board, didnt the 1.0 boards and 1.2 boards have slightly different bioses? you usually could use a 1.2 bios on a 1.0 board, but 1.0 specific bios didnt work on 1.2 or something like that
 
It's not the CPU. Pressing power = Everything powers up - no image on screen, no fd seek, it doesn't get anywhere. Boot disk doesn't do anything, I tried the idea suggested by you's in here, no go.

I know it's not the CPU because I've reverted to my K6-2/350 @ 350 @ default voltage... I also tried the Cyrix. I know I did not fry these chips, I doubt I fried the K6-3+.

My VA-503+ is 1.2A marked on the board, but the little sticker number is not equal to that of the K6-3 certified one, if I remember correctly.

Still, I had it identified properly (it said 550-something instead of 600 though) and it booted up and benchmarked without a single flinch.

Anyway, I prolly killed the board with amperage problem or something, or I killed the board cuz 600 is way too high for it to handle it, or something like that.

I can't reflash. I can't switch/swap bioses with any other board, because noone I know has that board, and the only other motherboard even remotely close to this one that I have (TX Pro) is also dead.

SOL. 🙁

-RSI
 
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