What recourse do I have to fix a bad bios flash?

[formulav8]

I have a ECS nForce2 mobo that I flashed with the wrong bios it seems and it will not boot now. I tried PCI video card and such. The stupid bios chip is soldered so I cannot simply order a new bios socket chip since the chip itself is soldered onto the board. Please let me know of anything I can do. Thanks



Jason

 

[Killrose]

Try reseting CMOS and see if it will boot. And maybe have the correct bios ready to go if it does give you a chance on boot up.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Maybe beg/borrow/steal one of those new "Top-Hat Flash" modules that ECS sells with some of their new boards, and re-flash that BIOS chip to the BIOS that you need, and then stick it onto the defective chip on your board, and use it to flash that one as well?

 

[Tweakin]

You can also pick up a new bios from ECS for around $30 I would imagine. I had to purchase a bios for an older ECS board some time ago, and I talked to customer service and I had it in a week.

 

[thunderroller]

short the batt terminals and reset the bios

 

[formulav8]

Hi, I tried clearing/resetting the cmos and such with no help. The ECS bios chip is soldered to the board so I cannot change the bios chip out. There has to be someway to get this fixed? This mobo works great except I screwed up the bios flash. Any more ideas?? Thanks for any help and the help that was already provided.


Jason

 

[ChicagoPCGuy]

Originally posted by: formulav8
Hi, I tried clearing/resetting the cmos and such with no help. The ECS bios chip is soldered to the board so I cannot change the bios chip out. There has to be someway to get this fixed? This mobo works great except I screwed up the bios flash. Any more ideas?? Thanks for any help and the help that was already provided.


Jason

Some motherboards will allow you to put in a floppy with a BIOS image on it and when you power on the system you press a key and it will look to the floppy drive for the image and attempt a reflash. This is only for certain motherboards, and the ECS may not have it. Check their site. Try pulling the battery out of the motherboard, then put battery back in and shorting CMOS as thunderroller suggested as well. If this still does not work, then you *might* be able to get ECS to take it and fix it since you cannot do an RMA with the original seller at this point. If all else fails, try this too:

1. Take board out of the case.
2. Walk board and yourself outside.
3. Chamber 12 gauge shotgun shell into your 12 gauge shotgun.
4. Point shotgun at board
5. Pull trigger

Be sure of your backstop!

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

Yes, contact ECS. Even if the board is out of warranty they have the tools to fix it, and may perform the service for you.

 

[sauria]

This worked for me on an Epox Board:
http://forums.windrivers.com/showthread.php?t=64279

Good luck!

 

[FastEddie]

Most modern bios have a boot block that can't be overwritten by a bad flash. You can do a "blind flash" to reflash your board with the proper bios. Instructions here---> Recovering From a Bad Bios Flash