AX4SPE-Max - BIOS Flashing Diaster - help?

Hi All,

Well, in an attempt to get my SATA / IDE problem solved (earlier post), I
attempted to upgrade my BIOS to the latest version. It didn't seem to go so
well...

First, my original BIOS was 1.02. I grabbed the latest for the AX4SPE-MAX
board from the AOPEN site - which is 1.10.

Upon running for the first time, the program instructed me to turn off
HyperThreading - which I did.

Upon running for the second time, the "Programming" progress bar moved along
normally up to about 65% completion, where it appeared to hang for a while -
then a message was posted that the flash process was complete and
successful.

After a reboot, the system would no longer even POST! So, I frantically
read through my docs and found the JP24 jumper - which accesses an onboard
Rescue BIOS. After switching the jumper, I can now reboot my system, but
I'm not sure what to do now.

First, I can't find much info on the DieHard BIOS feature of the board.
Mainly, how to I "repair" the obviously corrupted "main" BIOS?

I found a thread stating to boot from the DieHard BIOS, swap the JP24 jumper
back to its original setting with the system running (!!!) and then reflash
the original BIOS. I went through those steps with the downloaded BIOS
upgrade only to have it apparently hang at 65% again, and ultimately act
exactly the same way. So, 2 questions:

1. What is the proper procedure to restore the original BIOS (with *any*
version at this point) when running from the Rescue BIOS?
2. Any ideas what's up with the 1.10 flash upgrade. I can't really find
anyone reporting similar troubles - though the "search" facilities on the
AOPEN eForum appear to be broken at the moment.

Thanks for any assistance.

Jeff Godfrey

 

: Hi All,
:
: Well, in an attempt to get my SATA / IDE problem solved (earlier post), I
: attempted to upgrade my BIOS to the latest version. It didn't seem to go
so
: well...

Update...

I was able to find some "hints" on the AOpen eForums that there might be
some problems with the latest BIOS (1.10) and certain ATI cards (which I
have). So, even though I found nothing really specific, that's the only
possible explanation for I found for my BIOS upgrade problems. If anyone
knows otherwise, please let me know.

Even though my system was shipped with BIOS 1.02, curiously the AOpen
download site only has 1.01 and 1.10. Well, I've had enough of 1.10, so I
reflashed to 1.01 using the EZWinFlash program - but was still greeted with
all kinds of POST errors. Finally, I reflashed using the DOS version of
1.01 and all seems to be OK now - other than I have gone to much effort to
effectively downgrade my BIOS from 1.02 to 1.01!

Now, back to the original IDE/SATA problem - still no joy there. It seems
that I can only get the SATA HD and the IDE DVD Burner and IDE DVD-ROM to
play nicely if the two IDE devices are set as Master / Slave on IDE2. So,
I'm thinking that maybe BIOS 1.10 might fix that, but I can't seem to get
there from here. Honestly, at this point I'm just happy to have my system
running again - even with a downgraded BIOS.

Here's a question. The "recover" BIOS is 1.02. Is there a way to transfer
it to the "normal" BIOS - either directly or indirectly?

Any advice, hints, or words of encouragement appreciated...

Thanks,

Jeff

 

Now, back to the original IDE/SATA problem - still no joy there. It

I wish I could point you to something however I didn't have any issues
flashing a clients machine just this morning with v1.10 on the same
motherboard that also had v1.02

Of course I never use the Winflash apps, I always use a bootable floppy and
run the DOS flasher instead...

dpos

 

: I wish I could point you to something however I didn't have any issues
: flashing a clients machine just this morning with v1.10 on the same
: motherboard that also had v1.02
:
: Of course I never use the Winflash apps, I always use a bootable floppy
and
: run the DOS flasher instead...
:
: dpos

Hmmmm... I'd be willing to try again using the 1.10 DOS flasher.... but I
can't seem to find it. On the AOpen Download Center, all I see is the
EZWinFlash version. Any idea where I can get the 1.10 DOS files?

Thanks,

Jeff