how long does boot-block bios recovery take?

[tmunzar]

Here it goes.
I had set my bios to update by using winflash.
but i forgot about it. and when i restarted my pc, i turned it off.
yes very stupid of me.

and now whenever i turn on my pc, i get no display, no beep, nothing.

then i tried recovering my bios through the boot block(removing every
other peripheral except for the floppy drive). and it has been reading
the floppy disk for almost 30 minutes now. does it take this long?
or the bootblock thing even works in my situation?


my specs.

Sapphire ATI xpress 3200 pure advantage mobo PC-A8RD580Adv
ati x1800gto on a pci-e slot.
1 gig dual channel pny verto ram
amd athlon 3700+ 64bit.

 

[DaveW]

It sounds like your BIOS is corrupt. Time for a new motherboard . I'm
afraid.

 

[You Know Who ~]

I have seen motherboards keep their charge for more than 12 hours, so you
might not want to give up all too easily.
\Have you tried a motherboard re-set switch?

 

[Paul]

Here it goes.
I had set my bios to update by using winflash.
but i forgot about it. and when i restarted my pc, i turned it off.
yes very stupid of me.

and now whenever i turn on my pc, i get no display, no beep, nothing.

then i tried recovering my bios through the boot block(removing every
other peripheral except for the floppy drive). and it has been reading
the floppy disk for almost 30 minutes now. does it take this long?
or the bootblock thing even works in my situation?


my specs.

Sapphire ATI xpress 3200 pure advantage mobo PC-A8RD580Adv
ati x1800gto on a pci-e slot.
1 gig dual channel pny verto ram
amd athlon 3700+ 64bit.

You can go to badflash.com and order a new BIOS flash chip
(EEPROM). Most motherboards have the BIOS chip in a socket,
and you can remove the old chip and put in a pre-programmed
replacement. The cost of a new chip is around $25 or so.
You provide badflash.com with a pointer to the file you want
used to program the EEPROM, and that is what they use to
program the chip before it is sent to you.

Occasionally, motherboard makers solder the BIOS chip right
to the board. In cases like that, it is a lot harder to
recover from a bad flash operation, that has taken out the
boot block. If the chip is soldered, then badflash.com cannot
help you, without some assistance from someone who is good
with a soldering iron.

Most modern motherboards will use a 32 pin PLCC chip.
This is an example of a tool that can be used to pull the
old chip out of the socket. (To plug the new chip into the
socket, you use your thumb and push the chip into place. So
no tool is used for the final insertion of the new chip.)
This tool is useful, because it pulls on the diagonally
opposite corners of the chip at the same time, so the chip
comes out square to the socket. That helps prevent damage
to the contacts on the socket.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062619&cp
http://www.cbsits.com/qonline/media/EX5.jpg (picture of one)

This picture shows what a socket for a BIOS chip looks like.
The BIOS chip is a black square, that fits into the center
of this kind of socket. If the black square is soldered right
to the motherboard instead, you're screwed.

http://img-asia.electrocomponents.com/images/C279849-08.jpg

So if the boot block recovery is not going well for you,
there is an alternative solution. As long as your motherboard
has a socketed BIOS flash chip.

When the replacement chip finally arrives, from whoever you decide
to buy it from, only then should you remove the original chip.
Make careful note of any triangular marks on either the chip
or the socket, as they mark pin 1 on the chip. You want to put
the replacement chip into the socket, with exactly the same
orientation. Leaving the original in the socket until the
last minute, gives you a reference for what it is supposed to
look like, when you install the new one.

Paul

 

[saturnlee]

Here it goes.
I had set my bios to update by using winflash.
but i forgot about it. and when i restarted my pc, i turned it off.
yes very stupid of me.

and now whenever i turn on my pc, i get no display, no beep, nothing.

then i tried recovering my bios through the boot block(removing every
other peripheral except for the floppy drive). and it has been reading
the floppy disk for almost 30 minutes now. does it take this long?
or the bootblock thing even works in my situation?

my specs.

Sapphire ATI xpress 3200 pure advantage mobo PC-A8RD580Adv
ati x1800gto on a pci-e slot.
1 gig dual channel pny verto ram
amd athlon 3700+ 64bit.

If boot block recovery does not work, i will do hot-swapping if the
chip is removable
First, i will determine the size of the BIOS chip(256k,512k etc)
2)Then, remove the sticker, and Google the part# ,
3)Check the voltage whether it is 3V or 5V. If i remember correclty,
intel PLCC chip is 5V and the rest of PLCC is 3.3V.
4)Borrow a motherboard from a friend
5)run UNIFLASH from DOS using your friend's motherboard
6)Check the voltage and size on the uniflash title. It should be the
same as the corrupt one. Turn off the PC
7)Remove the chip from your friend's mobo (do it slowly and carefully,
it is very easy to break the socket)(remember the direction of the
BIOS)
8)Insert the chip back to the socket and do not press the chip all the
way to socket since it will be harder to remove it when you do
hotswapping
9)start the PC
10)Run uniflash from dos
11)remove the chip, insert the corrupt one into the socket.(remember
the direction of the BIOS)
12)redetect the chip(5th or 6 option in uniflash)
After you insert the chip into the socket, touch the chip with your
finger.
If the chip is hot, (that means the voltage is not correct) shut down
the PC right away.

13) Flash the chip using your mobo BIOS file( it should be same
size )

Some of the BIOS chips have boot -block protection, so you have to
disable it first.
Type uniflash /h or uiflash /? for the parameters