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Why can't I flash my BIOS?

C

coolred

Diamond Member
I have an Athlon XP 2100+ on the way and need to flash the BIOS on my ECS K7S5A in order to use the new proc. I went to the ECS site and downloaded the BIOS and flash utility. I then read the how to flash your BIOS page on the ECS site. So i create the boot disk, restyart my computer and enter the BIOS, in order to change my first boot device to the A: drive. I restart again with the boot disk in the drive and it boots up like normal then starts reading the A: drive and says it found the OS on the drive by saying OK. Then it seems to hang there. What would cause this? I am running win XP, on the ECS, anything else you need to know?
 
Hi,

It sounds like you don't get as far as actually trying to flash the bios. Could you try making another boot disk in case the one you have is corrupted (I've seen this many times due to bad sectors on a floppy) and then trying again.

Good luck,

Andy
 
Okay I made a new disk and I can get to the command prompt. But I can only access the A: drive. Is that right? If so then i need to put the flash utility and rom on the floppy don't I? I thought you shouldn't put it on the floppy cause it can corrupt it or something. Can someone explain this to me.
 
Okay i read some more and realize that the files do need to be on the disk. I got to the command prompt and typed in the needed command, and it started to do something, then gave an error and a general protection fault. BIOS still works, but it did nto flash to the new one.
 
Hi,

Could you give a couple of details please:

Is there a "flash protect" type jumper for your motherboard? (check manual) and if so is it disabled?
What OS did you create the boot disk with (Win98SE, ME, XP etc)?
Is the error you got easy to read? (i.e. "disk fault" and not "Error at 1x946709860798......"), if so could you post this also.

Cheers,

Andy
 
I don'tt see any mention of the BIOS jumper int he manual. I will try it again and see if I can tell you what it says. I am just not sure what is the error and what is normal, so give me a minute
 
Sorry the startup disk was just created in XP, but when it boots it says windows millenium edition.

I tried to copy the info it says, there is some stuff I left out, but I don't think it is part of the error.

DOS/4G error(2001):exception 0Dh 9general protection fault) at 1A0:0016FAA1
The it listas a bunch of numbers and letters in columns then it says

Crash address (unrelocated)=1:0000CAA1

That last number could possiblly be 00000AA1, but I don't think so. sorry was writing fast and can't read it well.
 
Hi,

It seems that the flash program (have you got a name for it? i.e. award.exe) is crashing before you are able to flash the file (is that correct?) - that is to say almost immediately after you execute it.

Could you also say whether you have an AMI or AWARD/Pheonix bios? (at BIOS POST you will see a reference to one of these companies).

Cheers,

Andy
 
The BIOS is AMI.

The flash utility is aminf335.exe

Yes I get that error approximately 3 seconds after starting the program.
 
Hi,

I don't take any responsibility for this! - but you can download a MUCH newer version (8.27.41) of amiflash from www.ami.com, which may work for you. If you give it a go let me if it works out for you.

Cheers,

Andy
 
I downloaded the new one and unzipped it, the files it contains are

ami703e.com
F82741.exe

Is the .exe file the flash utility

Oh yeah it also contains a couple text documents about how to flash, but those are not important. Although this program does flash differantly then the one I had. It says to type the name of the flash program
Then save exsisting rom, then you have to enter the rom name. And a couple other things.
 
Hi,

I imagine that the .exe is the flash application, which uses commands defined in ami703e.com. Copy them both to disk - as well as the .rom image obviously - and then boot into DOS and run the .exe. Before flashing it should give you the option to back up your existing bios - as well as show you that it recognises your current chipset, flash ROM, BIOS revision etc. Only if it recognises all of your hardware correctly should you proceed.

Good luck,

Andy
 
I copied both files to the disk. When i try using the .exe it gives me an error 3- missing file
When i use the .com file it starts up what appears tobe a DOS flash utility program, but tells me something like System BIOS does not have flash support
 
Hi,

Any idea how old your motherboard is? I would suggest hassling ECS directly now as this seems like a very obscure issue.

Cheers,

Andy
 
First off, don't use a flash utility other than what your motherboard manufacturer provides.

Second, try resetting your bios (either by shorting the bios jumper, or removing your battery for 10 seconds with the power unplugged)
 

You could reset the BIOS to default by shorting it out for a few second, or just log into the BIOS screen and chose Default Setting & save.

Download a DOS Boot Disk + extract your flash utility & new BIOS.bin on to a floppy or CD. Then set your BIOS to the apropriate device to fash your BIOS.

good luck
 

Reseting the BIOS will clear any odd setting that you may have set, and the default maybe set to a setting that have unlock write to BIOS flash memory.
 
There are 3 revisions of the K7S5A motherboard, the 3.X, the 5.X and the 7.X I wouldn't expect the 3.X to go any higher than 2200+
 
Well guys I think I hosed my system. I downloaded the latest BIOS and flash utility from the ECS site, and created a Dr DOS bootdisk, and tried the flash, it gave me an error 2- file does not exsist. So I restarted to get back on the net and it gave me a windows was not shut down properly message, and several options to choose, safe mode, normal start, last known good config, etc.
Safe mode will lode drivers up to Mup.sys and then hang last known good config and normal start hang immediately. I screwed around with it and my hard drives all have a critical 1527(i think) error listed under partition magic. It says critical errors are not fixable. So I fi gured it was about time to reformat and reinstall, I needed it anyway. I am having trouble accesing the hard drives, booting off the LS120 I use as a floppy, and booting off the CDROM. It took some work, but I fdisk'd a drive an put XP in the cdrom and restarted and set first boot device as CDROM. It booted and told me to hit F6 to load SCSI raid drivers, I don't need those. Then it said hit F2 for automated system recovery, thats not help, then it freezes, how in the heck do I fix this? I am currentlly using my mothe rin laws computer, so i really need to get this fixed. Thanks for you help, i will check back tomorrow.

By the way i got my 2100+ today.
 


try using the version 021029 from ECS site it supports both rev 1.x or 3.x revisions of the board.

and instead of using the latest version of AMIflash try using the AMINF332.exe ( this version gives me a lot a success when trying to FLASH earlier rev of the K7S5A )

1.create a boot disk ( anything that could boot to dos prompt )
2.u could put the flasher and the rom file on the same disk or on another disk.
3.if u use another disk just swap the disk and type "AMINF332 021029.rom" press enter ( assuming your using the version i suggested )

good luck.

PM me if it does not work. i'll be glad to help another K7S5A user 🙂
 
I would be glad to give that a try, but I need to get my system bottable again. I can not seem to get XP installed, it hangs after asking me if i want to do an automated system recovery.

Or sometiumes in the same spot it hangs i get this error
"An unexpected error(0) occured at line 1768 in d:\xpclient\base\boot\setup\arcdisp.c."
 
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