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ReeferMac
Guru
Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 389
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 Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, thanks for all the help folks.. been a few days since I checked back.
I snagged a floppy drive out of an aged Intergraph machine at work (that installed SuSe just ducky), but I'm getting all kinds of POST errors w/ the mobo. Manuf. claims the BIOS upgrade will take care of all my problems, but..... I can't get the damned thing to boot half the time (just on long tone at POST), and the half I can get it to, it doesn't see my floppy. 
I've got a 700-dollar desk ornament, and it's driving me NUTS!
- Mac |
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NeddySeagoon
Administrator
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 54232
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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ReeferMac,
If you get POST errors like that it unlikely to complete a BIOS update without it corrupting the load.
Is the BIOS in a socket and do you have any friends who have access to the kit for programming the bare BIOS chip?
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NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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ReeferMac
Guru
Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 389
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| Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Neddy,
Between troubles slapping it all together (my 1st DIY computer), gentoo install woe's, and everything else, this rig's been nothing but 700-dollars of desktop decorations for the last 2 months!
It's an Aopen mobo, and their tech guy just keeps telling me to upgrade the BIOS... so when it does b0rk on me, he'll be happy to RMA it for me I'm sure...  And I'm the geekiest of all my friends, so no help there, either. I'll see if I can re-seat the BIOS chip or something... maybe just pull it all apart and put it back together again just for good measure.
- Mac |
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dayul
Apprentice
Joined: 02 Jun 2004
Posts: 180
Location: Blackpool, England
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| Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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Hi guys,
I seem to remember the system rescue CD (http://www.sysresccd.org/) having a boot option to load freedos if that helps, then you shouldnt need to install freedos on your hard drive. |
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ellingsw
n00b
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 40
Location: Kansas, USA
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| Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 12:19 am Post subject: |
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| LosD wrote: | If you have another around same age (a few years) computer, it's not THAT big a deal to reflash a BIOS... Boot up the other computer in DOS(make sure that the BIOS is shadowed in normal RAM), pop out that computers BIOS chip ...
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There is a better way to recover from f'ed BIOS flashes. You have to plan ahead though.
I can't remember the specifics but you do not have to hot-swap CHIPS to recover. Both AWARD and American Megatrends BIOSes had a undocumented feature that allows you to recover from a bad flash at one point and probably still do.
With one of the vendors you simply remove all cards from the system, put a properly setup DOS boot disk---the boot disk should run the flash util and flash the BIOS automatically---in the floppy drive and then turn the system on. You will not have video. The BIOS will boot from the floppy and flash the BIOS image back to the BIOS.
The other BIOS vendors does it a similar way but I cannot remember how.
I've actually recovered from two f'ed BIOS flashes before. One if I remember was on an ASUS TX-97. The other was a newer board... ECS Athlon board... I think.
Update: Here is a PDF document describing the procedures for AWARD and AMI (American Megatrends) BIOSes.
http://www.amptron.com/documents/Recover.pdf
I guess it is documented now. You can probably find more by searching Google for BIOS and BOOTBLOCK or 'BOOT BLOCK'. |
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Dirk.R.Gently
Guru
Joined: 29 Jan 2007
Posts: 546
Location: Titan
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| Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 6:50 am Post subject: |
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Sometimes the node has to made:
| Code: | | mknod /dev/loop0 b 7 0 |
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ghost16825
n00b
Joined: 25 Apr 2007
Posts: 4
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Kernel & Hardware
