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Thread: flash bios problem

  1. #1
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    flash bios problem

    The BIOS on my motherboard is corrupted. My board would hang on boot.

    When I took the CMOS battery out, the board will boot on floppy to A: prompt.

    When I tried to flash the BIOS with the latest version, I got an error message "Clear Flash Failed" and then awdflash.exe exit to A: prompt.

    Any suggestions?

  2. #2
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    Instead of awdflash ver. 5.0, I used a more recent version awdflash ver 7.36 and got a different error message "Unknown Flash Type". The awdflash again exit to A: prompt after the error message. Any suggestions?

  3. #3
    Member hirschY's Avatar
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    are you 100% sure its an award bios?
    I ran into this, and I needed the ami bios, not award.

    I had to create a boot disk, that mounts tha CD, then create a bootable CD in order for my PC to boot (it didnt recognoze the floppy with the wrong bios, but the CD would boot??)
    I created a boot CD that would mount the D: drive, which I burned the bios onto.

    Double check the MOBO web site, and verify the bios type.

    And Good Luck
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  4. #4
    Ultimate Member elroy's Avatar
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    I think you should verify the bios manufacturer, the flash utility, and the bios file you are trying to install. Something is wrong and you are going to wind up with a board that won't boot at all if you keep going. Also make sure you have the board you think you have.

  5. #5
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    I used the BIOS Agent software to check the existing BIOS on my motherboard, I got the following information:

    Bios Date: 04/15/97
    Bios Type: Award Modular Bios v4.51PG
    Bios ID: 04/15/97-i430TX-NS336-2A59IQ19C-00
    Bios Eval: P5I430TX Titanium I Bios v2.1 04/15/97
    Chipset: Intel Triton 430TX rev 1
    Superio: NSC 336 rev 0 found at port 398h

    I am pretty sure it is an Award BIOS and is v2.1. The new BIOS that I want to upgrade to is v2.4.

    I tried different version of Award Flash software and still got the error message "Unknown Flash Type". I am confused why the flash software failed to recognize the flash chip on the motherboard and disallowed the upgrade.

  6. #6
    Member hirschY's Avatar
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    either look at the manual, or get it from the web.
    take a look at the picture of the board, and make sure it is correct.
    thats how I messed up mine before.
    I grabbed the wrong manual, and just ASSUMED it ws the machine
    Like elroy said, dont do anything else until you know for sure which board it is.
    Good luck again
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  7. #7
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    I checked the BIOS ID string to identify the motherboard. It is a QDI Titanium I.

    I downloaded the manual, latest BIOS and flash utility from QDI.
    I check the motherboard diagram in the manual and the layout is the same as my motherboard.

    I tried to flash the BIOS with the utility from QDI. I got the same warning message "Unknown Flash Type".


  8. #8
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    This is an easy one......why ?ecause it happened to me on a microstar board with the award bios.....The directions are clear but they leave out one thing:
    1. Unzip the file you downloaded. winzip,gozilla,whatever.
    2. Then as award says- make a boot disk with autoexe and config.sys out.
    3. When you unzip the file it will have a readme file and their own autoexe that you need to transfer to the boot disk.
    4. Insert disk-reboot system and don't touch anything until the sytem reboots - Once it reboots go into the bios and save it with a f10 I guess and then look for the date of your revision on the boot screen...lower left corner of the screen.

    It Happen

  9. #9
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    are you sure your putting the correct filename in the box when it asks you? i didn`t last time i flashed my bios and i got the same message.

  10. #10
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    I found out that the reason the PC hung is because the L2 cache on the motherboard had gone bad.

    I powered up the PC, hit DEL to enter SETUP, disabled the EXTERNAL CACHE and re-booted the PC. Now the PC can boot and run Windows 98 without problems.

    I still don't understand why the AWDFLASH and BIOS files downloaded from the QDI website did not work on my board. Since the PC works, I stopped trying to flash the BIOS. I don't want to ruin anything.

    Thanks for all your suggestions.


  11. #11
    Member hirschY's Avatar
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    Another mistery solved!

    Congrats Willy
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  12. #12
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    Are you sure you downloaded the update for the Titanium I and not the Titanium Ib or Ib+?

    I traded my QDI Titanium Ib+ I had for 3 years for my current Chaintech mobo so I'm very familiar with this series.
    But, it goes to 11

  13. #13
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    The motherboard has Titanium I printed on it. Also, I used BIOS Agent to check and the software reported Titanium I.

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