Recovering bad flash -- from a dreaded ECS board

[John]

Well I finally did it. Flashed a board and it went dead.
Ive flashed so many of my GOOD boards using WIN flashers . Yup right
in win ---- and have had no problems. It was bound to happen.

With this one --- I had a feeling it would be bad. ECS - UGH ! First
of all this is an Emachines. I should have built one for my neighbors
like I usually do instead of telling them to go buy one at COMPUSA
into getting one. You cant find any info on parts they dont even have
any downloads at their site for this system.

I had to track down the motherboard type - ECS and then go to the ECS
site. Of course its the most freaking confusing messed up site there
is for this board. Its hard to figure out what exactly you need theres
such a patch work of files and types.

The bios -- they have 5 of them below the motherboard type. I picked
the latest one and nope not right. I had a feeling it wasnt the right
one since they have all these revisions of the board. Should have
called Emachines first but the stupid machine kept rebooting and going
nuts with various USB devices.



So ------- can you do the DOS disk boot thing ?

Ive seen at some websites -- they say part of the bios is protected
since a few years back. So it keeps minimal function. You can put an
autoexec.bat file - the dos flasher and bios and reflash. Anyone try
this? I still see the CD drive light go on and HD light so Im going
to try it tomorrow when the stores open so I can buy a floppy disk.

 

[kony]

Well I finally did it. Flashed a board and it went dead.
Ive flashed so many of my GOOD boards using WIN flashers . Yup right
in win ---- and have had no problems. It was bound to happen.

With this one --- I had a feeling it would be bad. ECS - UGH ! First
of all this is an Emachines. I should have built one for my neighbors
like I usually do instead of telling them to go buy one at COMPUSA
into getting one. You cant find any info on parts they dont even have
any downloads at their site for this system.

Main question is, why the flash in the first place? You
mention USB and rebooting below, but it sounds more like a
software or hardware problem, not a firmware problem. Point
being, board maybe dying and it just "seems" like firmware
will fix it when it won't... or maybe it will!

I had to track down the motherboard type - ECS and then go to the ECS
site. Of course its the most freaking confusing messed up site there
is for this board. Its hard to figure out what exactly you need theres
such a patch work of files and types.

Yep, bad 'site.

The bios -- they have 5 of them below the motherboard type. I picked
the latest one and nope not right. I had a feeling it wasnt the right
one since they have all these revisions of the board. Should have
called Emachines first but the stupid machine kept rebooting and going
nuts with various USB devices.

I usually use the newest revision too, sometimes when they
ever refer to the PCB revision and the board is the older
revision, and those that I recall, worked fine... but I
support first step is determining which bios really is
needed, and whether the EEPROM is socketed or soldered on.

So ------- can you do the DOS disk boot thing ?

Ive seen at some websites -- they say part of the bios is protected
since a few years back. So it keeps minimal function. You can put an
autoexec.bat file - the dos flasher and bios and reflash. Anyone try
this? I still see the CD drive light go on and HD light so Im going
to try it tomorrow when the stores open so I can buy a floppy disk.

Emergency floppy recovery can work, or not. It's worth a
shot but I'm amazed you don't have a spare floppy lying
around. It depends on the type of bios, how to configure
the floppy, Google will find that. If you can remove the
EEPROM then hot-swapping into another board to flash may
work, or putting it into a PCI card and flashing with
"Uniflash" on another motherboard, but be sure to flash the
right EEPROM. Uniflash is also handy when hot-swapping, if
no other flasher can be found that will work.

 

[John]

Emergency floppy recovery can work, or not. It's worth a
shot but I'm amazed you don't have a spare floppy lying
around. It depends on the type of bios, how to configure
the floppy, Google will find that. If you can remove the
EEPROM then hot-swapping into another board to flash may
work, or putting it into a PCI card and flashing with
"Uniflash" on another motherboard, but be sure to flash the
right EEPROM. Uniflash is also handy when hot-swapping, if
no other flasher can be found that will work.

I thought about it but was scared off when I read the warnings about
destroying the board though really how would you? Sure if you pry the
chip out with screw driver on a live board , its probably not going to
help it.

I was really surprised they put a 250 watt PS in here. I was looking
at some of the specs. Yup its cheapo alright.

Yeah theres probably a hardware problem ---- sometimes the keyboard
wouldnt work, lots of other things. I reformatted it and tried lots of
other things. The last straw was the wireless adaptor. Works perfectly
on two PCs and my router but it was totally erratic with this system.
I figured what the heck. Its never been updated why not? See if
anything improves.

It it was me - Id replace the MB with an ASUS microATX with 400mx
built in like the other MBs I ordered. However , its the neighbors
that just bought their son the $1700 AMD 64 system so they dont feel
like parting with any $$. Still - this thing is about 2-2.5 years old.
And since I do eveything for them for FREE being a good neighbor ---
tons of favors, I should just tell them to get a new MB. The greedy
kid is working some angles. His mother is pissed his father spent so
much on his system - so he doesnt want me to say "Hey spend more!"
At the sametime he has his older system which we could swap parts out
of - case MB and tons of other stuff but he wants to sell it and buy
an Ipod.

Did you catch that Tiger Direct Deal on the 17" LCD? Hilarious . I was
reading all the Tiger bashing - wow. I really am tempted but then you
see all those comments about shipping used /defective goods and really
sleazy deceptive rebate deals. Id sure hate to end up getting a
scuffed LCD with 30 bad pixels and no warranty after expecting a brand
new one and then being told theres a hefty restocking fee for
returning it. And on top of that never getting the rebate. But would
they risk thousands of people or at least hundreds getting royally
pissed off at one time? Then you wonder ........theres got to be some
people wholl get the deal.

 

[John]

Emergency floppy recovery can work, or not. It's worth a
shot but I'm amazed you don't have a spare floppy lying
around. It depends on the type of bios, how to configure
the floppy, Google will find that. If you can remove the
EEPROM then hot-swapping into another board to flash may
work, or putting it into a PCI card and flashing with
"Uniflash" on another motherboard, but be sure to flash the
right EEPROM. Uniflash is also handy when hot-swapping, if
no other flasher can be found that will work.

Oh yeah thats the other thing I was worried about. Do they take
standard MBs? I assume yes since the ECS L7VMM2 is listed as a
replacement for it. But then I read a blurb about how there might be
custom made jobs for big firms. Still wouldnt the call it something
else? However I do see someone on EBAY selling OEM versions of it
specifically for Emachines. And one guy posted that they might have
tailored bioses for branded machines. Could it be that different?


Thats why I like to buy well known boards etc. This really sucks.
Emachines doesnt even have ANY bios upgrades and drivers at their site
that I can find so I cant tell how similar they are. But Im still
assuming it is the same.

 

[kony]

Did you catch that Tiger Direct Deal on the 17" LCD? Hilarious . I was
reading all the Tiger bashing - wow. I really am tempted but then you
see all those comments about shipping used /defective goods and really
sleazy deceptive rebate deals. Id sure hate to end up getting a
scuffed LCD with 30 bad pixels and no warranty after expecting a brand
new one and then being told theres a hefty restocking fee for
returning it. And on top of that never getting the rebate. But would
they risk thousands of people or at least hundreds getting royally
pissed off at one time? Then you wonder ........theres got to be some
people wholl get the deal.

I pretty much ignore TD deals, would like to see them out of
business.

 

[kony]

Oh yeah thats the other thing I was worried about. Do they take
standard MBs? I assume yes since the ECS L7VMM2 is listed as a
replacement for it.

Yes it should be standard, but note the width if the
eMachine case can't accept a full-width board. ECS L7VMM2
looks just shy of full width. Today I'd choose an nForce2
board though, not KM266, unless the original was one of
those throwback KM266 boards that used PC133 memory, so
that's the type memory needing reused.

But then I read a blurb about how there might be
custom made jobs for big firms. Still wouldnt the call it something
else? However I do see someone on EBAY selling OEM versions of it
specifically for Emachines. And one guy posted that they might have
tailored bioses for branded machines. Could it be that different?

Sometimes an OEM may have features like a sound amp
integral, or very minor changes, mostly along the lines of
hidden bios features or jumpers/headers removed, OR it could
be identical board with just differing bios.

I'd not get same/similar board though unless it's necessary
for OEM OS license, or software/OS restoration CD... which
it could be, if it checks the bios vendor ID string like
Compaq did (does still?). Some OEM OS EULAs mention that
it's not licensed for different motherboard (swap in same
box), but there's some grey area there, for example what if
board is an OEM replacement but not identical? Since making
such as assumption costs the owner extra $$, the EULA might
be searched for any mention of "board".


The bios is the far mostly likely change, not that it's
working code is all that different, rather feature limited
and splash for eMachine logo, ID numbers, etc. It's hit or
miss though, I"ve flashed a few OEM boards to the retail
manufactuer's bios over the years, but have also heard of
it "killing" the board for anyone who can't recover from it.

Thats why I like to buy well known boards etc. This really sucks.
Emachines doesnt even have ANY bios upgrades and drivers at their site
that I can find so I cant tell how similar they are. But Im still
assuming it is the same.

You might be able to find the eMachine bios posted at a
driver/etc oriented 'site, though i've no idea where
(google).

Pulling the socketed chip out when board is powered is no
big deal, but generally I loosen up the chip first, pull it
out with board off and sort-of hold it down against the
contacts, such that it's just sitting loose on top of the
socket till after board completes the post and starts
booting to floppy, at which point it can be removed on
"most" boards (ironically, last board that needed EEPROM ALL
the time to read the floppy was an ECS, BIOS setup's bios
catching setting was ineffective).

Anyway, main thing with hot flashing is to have the right
tool or make one that can get under the chip edge good
without bending the leads on the corners much if at all.
Then again, this is why I suggested a PCI card, like a video
card, to do the flashing with Uniflash, as it's a bit easier
once you know the fundamentals of uniflash (and remember to
write down the EEPROM part number for forcing the flash
routine via command line argument when starting uniflash.

If there's an emachine forum somewhere you might find
someone willing to make a backup of their bios.

 

[John]

Anyway, main thing with hot flashing is to have the right
tool or make one that can get under the chip edge good
without bending the leads on the corners much if at all.
Then again, this is why I suggested a PCI card, like a video
card, to do the flashing with Uniflash, as it's a bit easier
once you know the fundamentals of uniflash (and remember to
write down the EEPROM part number for forcing the flash
routine via command line argument when starting uniflash.

If there's an emachine forum somewhere you might find
someone willing to make a backup of their bios.

Thats another thing - it has one of those square bios chips - ALL the
decent MBs Ive had and around here use the big oblong chip. So all in
all - I would have been screwed.

However the guy really wasnt all that crazy about his Emachines and
actually WANTs to upgrade to the older system that I put together for
his son which he isnt using anymore. His son quickly gave up the idea
of selling the system - Antec case with Crucial mem and Abit MB. Whew.
So all this is a non-problem. He wants me to cannabalize the emachine
and put the best parts together in the old case.

One huge problem over.

Im dying to find out how those Tiger Direct buyers turn out ha ha.
Of course iIll be pissed if they get a decent LCD. The whole thing is
odd. Someone noted - they looked up the consumer reviews at Newegg
like I did. Its an Adivieiue or something like that. Never heard of
it. Anyway I noticed raves at Newegg. All their LCDs - 5 stars though
its one of the cheapest ones $279 at Newegg. And one guy raves - no
ghosting , no bad pixels - he can play DOOM ! That made me all hyped
about it. But this one poster noticed - very few if any products get
so many rave reviews , 5 stars. How come this one cheapo company is
getting them? Hmmmmmmm. Ringers? And then suddenly TD is selling them
for 199 . Well the whole thing is suspicious but who knows , Maybe its
the killer deal of this fall and Ill end up kicking myself.

I went for the Power Leap deal too a month or so ago- 256 meg ATI 9800
Pro for $138 !!!!!! Bunch of people ordered it. Then we got the
emails - Tough LUCK buddy ! We made a web pricing error and no one is
getting it for that price ! But you can buy it for $260 or so.

Missed out on the AMD 192 deal- Now I dont care as much since I want
the 939 now.

Its actually kind of tough now for super dirt cheap systems. Im glad I
built several systems for neighbors the last few months - many which
were on a tight budget. . Newegg blew out all the refurbs so its very
hard to get the NVDIA with built in 400mx for 20-30 bucks now . Even
Comp geeks was selling a new one for $39 a few months ago.
Now it seems theyve dried up getting ready for the PCI express stuff
and so only the retail stuff is left at $60-100 and unless you get mem
on sale its still relatively high. The best time was a few months ago
for dirt cheap components in the sub 100 range. However the new stuff
is falling so for more power users its good.

For one single mother I scraped together rebates which I had to hassle
and deep discount deals and freebies I threw in - put together a
system for $220 for her ! That included a 19 CRT flat screen and dvd
burner. I gave her the free optical mice, keyboard, old case and
other junk I had or was stockpiling on free after rebate deals.

Also got my sister an ATI 9000 for $20 new clearance sale Office
Depot.