Bios Flash gone bad

[Leurgy]

Decided to flash my Bios - bad move.

PC Chips L741LMRT MB, Celeron 366, 128MB Ram, 98SE, AMI Bios
Downloaded the Flash Utility AMINF336.EXE and the BIOS 010914S.ROM from PC Chips website.

I used a win98 boot disk to boot the machine and put in a floppy with the flash utility and the Bios and, following the instructions from PC Chips did the following:

A:\>AMINF336 010914S (Enter)

Got the following response:

DOS/4G Protectected Mode Run-time Version 2.01a
Copyright (c) Tenberry Software, Inc. 1996
<> Chipset Type - SIS 530/620
<> Flash Part - Winbond 29C020_V2
> Error 2 - File does not exist.

At this point entire Dos screen changed to red lettering (dontcha hate it when that happens?)

I don't want to try to reboot at this point, had to resurrect my old 486 to post this.

Went to Tenberry and got this.

Went to Winbond and found this but nothing about error codes.

Now I know why my Mother said to stop playing with my Bios.

Hope someone can help me out here, as I really don't want to get another Motherboard, its just not in the budget.

[Leurgy]

Wheeeeeeeeewww!!

That was close.

The original Dos command I used was:

A:\>AMINF336 010914S (Enter)

Should have been:

A:\>AMINF336 010914S.ROM (Enter).

It occured to me that I needed the file extension (ROM) as it was not an executable. Based on that FAQ on the Tenberry site I guess I'm not the only one who has made that mistake. I sure hope I never see a red Dos screen again!!!

Flash seems to have worked. When I got back into Windows it found and installed a number of new devices (?) most of which were already there. Don't know what that was all about. My display seems to be a lot brighter now too.

All systems go. Back to the fray!

[Ridgerunr]

Hi Leurgy,,Yep,been there,done that. Can really scare the pants off of ya' Since 'my' experience along those lines,it's been more than a double check on the proper file name. More like a triple and quadruple check. Even then,I'm sure to have it on paper right in front of me when it comes time to type it in. After the flash,did you reset the cmos,then go straight to bios and make any changes necessary? Also,resetting the hardware list config(ESCD)can help Windoze understand better what the bios is telling it...

Glad to hear it came out ok.

[Leurgy]

Hi Ridgerunr,

Yes, it was quite the harrowing experience. Been a long time since I broke out in a cold sweat. When the Dos screen went red I knew I was in trouble.

Following the flash, the computer rebooted on its own and I went into the Bios and selected "Load Optimal Settings" as instructed by PC Chips Flash BIOS Procedure. As I mentioned, as I rebooted into Windows it found "new Hardware" and loaded the drivers. I just let it do what it wanted. After I rebooted a couple of times I went back into the Bios and set it up the way I like it. This Bios lets me overclock a little more and supports way more CPU's.

I'm not sure what you mean about "resetting the hardware list config(ESCD)". Is that something I should have done?

[Ridgerunr]

Not that familiar with 'your' bios,but the Award versions usually have an entry on the boot menu entitled 'reset configuration data'(ESCD). When you enable it(set it to 'yes'),it will send a new hardware recognition list to the OS. Not totally necessary I suppose,but may save some headaches if the OS doesn't properly recognize your hardware because of changes. As long as you got the 'found new hardware' box and the OS made the proper changes,your probably good to go...

[Leurgy]

Thanks for the reply Mr Runr (or may I call you Ridge?).

I have an AMI Bios. The reason for doing the flash was to fix a bug that wouldn't let me use any USB ports in this MB. Windows gave me two USB entries in device manager. It also re-recognized a PCI Bridge or two. So far everything seems to be working fine. Will know better when I dig out my 56K External USB modem and hook it up. I'm using hi-speed cable, but thought I would try the modem (will dial my friends house and see what happens).

Thanks for commiserating with me. I guess you have to have been there to know what its like.