flashed bios now no HDD boot

[lostplanet]

Elite K7VZA Rev 3.0

this system is running 98SE and is going to be upgraded to XP.
in the mean time a ran a check on the existing 20GB HDD and some not so good results came back so i intend to get a 40 GB WD to replace it and start from fresh but...

i tried to use a new maxtor 80GB drive with XP already installled but it wouldnt boot XP.
so i went to the ECS site and DLd winflash and bin file to upgrade the bios
i upgraded fine but now the system wont start with the existing 98SE HDD or the test 80Gb.

also the floppy drive light is on continuously but when i swap it for a new one it seems to work ok.

Now i want to flash back to the original bios so i can the thing working in 98 but i cannot seem to find a DOS based award flash utillity so i can do it thru the floppy drive.

I did make a backup of the original bios bin so i am hoping it can be backflashed to original setup.

i have a XP system and dont seem to ba able to make a decent 98 boot/startup disk for the flashing.

so how do i get this system back to how it was with the original bios and 20GB HDD running 98SE?

i do get an error message saying "bootblock V1.0 bios ROM checksum error detecting floppy drive A please insert System disk"

the system goes thru POST but at the point of booting from the HDD it just freezes.
Also sometimes when i am in setup/cmos the options will just freeze and i have to restart.

the ECS site seems to be down at the moment so......

the 20GB HDD is a segate ST320413A and says it is UDMA now i have two IDE cables the 40 way and the 80 way....shud this drive be ok to run on either cables? as now iv'e updated the bios when i try to run it with the 40 it comes back saying "80 conductor cable not recognised".

it did run ok pre bios flash with the 80 conductor cable.

[glc]

XP can create a usable bootdisk, it's an option in the Format dialog when you right click on the A drive.

http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/bios/awd822a.exe

[lostplanet]

when i try to use this XP created bootdisk i get I/O error please replace disk

i am adding the flash.exe to the disk and the bin file...is there anything else i need to add to it?to get it to flash?

also i know that XP's boot record can be repaired ...is there an option in 98 to do the same so i can get the HDD to boot?maybe with out the flash back to original bios?

[lostplanet]

continually getting

award bios block V 1.0

bios rom checksum error
detecting floppy drive A media
Drive media is : 1.44 MB

disk I/O error
relace the disk, and press any key


this is with a fully formatted

[glc]

Your bios is toast.

www.badflash.com

[lostplanet]

Thanks Glc i found this and have tried but cant seem to get the system to boot form floppy or get the A:\ prompt....is it worth pursuing or is my bios chip completely dead?


RECOVERING A CORRUPT AWARD BOOTBLOCK BIOS
With AWARD BIOS the process is similar but still a bit different. 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
RECOVERING A CORRUPT AWARD BOOTBLOCK BIOS (Cont.)
4) within Windows using a program such as NOTEPAD, you may need to change the file
extension from .TXT to .BAT
5) 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.
6) 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.

[GaryRouth]

Hi lostplanet -

You mentioned that you could still enter the Bios Setup screens? And that sometimes the floppy light was always on? And you've switched cables on your hard drives several times?

OK, it's most likely that your bios will need to be reprogrammed/replaced. And if so, you'll have to weigh the cost of the fix as opposed to the value of an aging ECS board (new 'value' boards of that nature start at $40 USD & and some mid-level manufacturers have decent values from the $65+ USD range). I've seen mention of "Bios Savior" - but don't know much about it = anyone who has personal experience about that tool is welcome to add some info. I did come across a review of the product, it looks like it costs about $24 USD http://www.bit-tech.net/review/54/ . . . I imagine glc might know the average cost of reprogramming a system bios might be [I haven't had a bios die on me yet, so I don't know].

Just for the sake of experiment, if you can still enter your Bios Setup screens, do so. And choose the option "Set Defaults" - but do this without exiting the Setup program. Then go through and disable any onboard devices that you're not using. Then exit setup. Then, with the power off, check the cables for both floppy and hard drive, as mentioned below = then power on & see if you still get the same error.

Just in case you had your cables mixed up (which can cause the floppy light to remain on), check them again. For the floppy, make sure that the end with the "twist" in it (if present) is on the end connecting directly to the floppy drive (rather than the end connecting to the motherboard). For the hard drive, if the system worked fine with the 80-wire cable in previously, try it with that in there again. The bios message about "no 80wire cable present" is just informational - it let's you know when you've put in a 40-wire cable (that message can usually be silenced by an option in the Bios Setup if you'd rather not be bothered - and of course won't happen if you use an 80-wire cable).

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[glc]

A new bios chip is 25 US bucks shipped anywhere in the world from badflash.com.

[lostplanet]

thanks gents...
sorted it now with new bios chip, alltho i got the guy to add the bios file i tried to flash to....turns out it wouldnt start up still, so luckliy i kept the old image and flashed it back to original settings as i could get it too start to the A: prompt.

running fine now But, the floppy issue did re-occurr and it turned out to be 3 faulty floppy drives!!! How.....well where i had been swapping cables around it had pushed a pin back where the blank is on the floppy cable so the floppy's wouldn't work properly......did try to pull the pin back out but seems they maybe dry jointed so they are all dead...oh well mite get me soldering iron out if i get time...

Thanks Glc and Gary for your help on this...much appreciated

What does glc stand for ? jus wondering