Missing RAM???

[alicedee]

Hi.

I have a MS-6117 ATX LX6 mainboard with the 440LX chipset. 96 Mb SDRAM. WINBOND Flash bios W29EE011-15 chip with AMIBIOS ver. 1.9.
I had AMIBIOS 1.16 and flashed it with ver. 1.9 (I used AMI´s Flash utility ver. 6.45). That was successfull but when I rebooted the computer beeped 3 times indicating "64K base memory failure" and reported "Wrong CMOS Settings", "Keyboard error", F1 to enter setup and F2 to load default values (tried that, didn´t solve the problem). I enter setup and STANDARD CMOS SETUP reports 96 Mb RAM (That is what I have) and everything checks out OK. But when I exit and save settings DOS and WIN98 reports only 64 Mb RAM??? I have checked ADVANCED BIOS SETUP, option "Boot to OS/2 >64Mb" and it is set to NO (I have only YES or NO), set to YES it only reports 16 Mb RAM. I have moved the RAM´s from slot to slot and tried using only the 64 Mb and only the 32 Mb RAM and both RAM´s are OK.
The POST reports: BANK0 SD32, BANK01 SD32, BANK02 SD16, BANK03 SD16, BANK04 000 and BANK05 000. That tells me that all RAM´s are OK but still DOS and WIN98 reports only 64 Mb RAM. Everything was OK before I flashed the BIOS, I had all 96 Mb RAM etc.

What could be the problem? What can I do? Can I flash my on-board AMIBIOS with AWARD BIOS? (According to MSI I can but other sources tell me it can go wrong) Would changing to AWARD take care of the problem? Do I need a new programmed BIOS Chip?
I feel very helpless and would really appreciate any help I can get!

Mathew S.

[Bleeding Edge]

You have the option reflashing the Bios back to 1.16 or an intermediate revision such as 1.18.

If your system is working fine and you don't need the specific fix or additional support the update Bios provides, There is really no reason to flash the Bios.

You can try reflashing the Bios with 1.9, however, this time leave out the additional Ram until after you flash. Then install it.

The other point would be to check if you need to use a particular AMI flash utility revision with that board and Bios. Note too that some motherboard/Bios combinations require to reset the CMOS after flashing.

[This message has been edited by Bleeding Edge (edited 04-05-99).]

[alicedee]

I don´t have the original BIOS file so I can´t flash it back but I have tried to flash another earlier version, ver. 1.2 to be exact but with the same result.

I have just removed one RAM chip and flashed BIOS again with ver. 1.9 and then installed the RAM again, but still only 64 Mb. I did notice one small change though...when I removed the 32 MB RAM DOS reported 65,076 Mb and when I installed the 32 Mb it reports 66,176 Mb RAM. An increasement with 1,1 Mb??

How come BIOS reports all 96 Mb RAM but not WIN98???

The computer always beeps three times the first boot after flashing, (3 beeps=Base 64K memory failure) but not again at the second boot???

[Bleeding Edge]

This is a MicroStar board correct?
The 1.16 Bios is still available at their web site along with other revisions.
http://www.msi.com.tw/bios/mainboard/6117.htm

Since your system was working fine before with 1.16, I highly recommend reflashing the Bios back to that. Using only the original amount of ram and then re-istalling the rest.

If you go to Start/Run and type: sysedit
and open the system.ini file, check and see if there is a line: MaxPhysPage under the [386Enh] heading. If there is, get rid of it. It limits the amount of physical ram Windows can use.

Since Windows was previously detecting the ram, I didn't bother to mention this. You would have had the problem before flashing.

All this started with the bios upgrade, so my humble advice is to get it back to 1.16

And if it happens again, you may not be using the right AMIflash utility version.

I thought I saw a manual for this board at the link above. In case one is not available to you.

[alicedee]

I checked System.ini for MaxPhys....and as u said there were none. That had been too easy.
And I looked for the 1.16 ver. on Micro-Stars
homepage but I can´t find it. I only see ver. 1.0 - 1.9 and the initial release isnt there (HTTP 404 OBJECT NOT FOUND)...I have tried all of the versions on that page and none of them seems to correct the problem. Maybe I have to contact MS and ask them to send me a new bios chip instead, if they will that is...

PS.
I´m not 100% sure it was ver.1.16 from the beginnig, but that was the version AMIBIOS HIFLEX SETUP reported at the top of the setup page. I noticed later that the BIOS version is presented in the left corner right before the POST. My computer (PII 333MHz) is like 5 months old so maybe I should try to get ahold of the initial release of AMIBIOS.

[alicedee]

Another question, according to the flash.doc that comes along with the BIOS updates and according to MS themselves it´s possible to flash your on-board AMIBIOS with AWARD BIOS safely, but I have been told by other sources that there is a big risk in doing that, and that I should have a backup chip before i try if I wanna be sure. What is your opinion? Is it safe? Or what really matters, would it solve my problem?

[Bleeding Edge]

My first impression is you would run into problems. Only because this is the first time I heard of doing this. This may be the reasoning from the others sources. On the other hand, I can't see how the manufacturer would make a statement like this in flash.doc if it couldn't be done. Along with the cross reference from MS and the actual Award Bios being offer for download next to the AMI files, I would assume it can be safely done. You would have to use the Award flash utility of course.

Come to think of it, if there is a flash chip on your board, lets say made by Intel, manufactures could choose to put either AMI or Award bios' it or offer them both for indivdual hardware compatability.

[alicedee]

Wow, I solved the problem =) I got ahold of an old Dos 6.20 bootdisk to boot on and check the RAM. And it worked so I figured it had to be WIN98 that did´nt work as it should. Now I´m happy...=)
Thanx for the help!!!