40GB: 04/12/1999-i440BX-W977-2A69KL1AC

lsk464 · Wed Jan 21, 2004 5:14 am

Got a new Western Digital 40G HD Model (WD400BB-00DGA0) IDE drive.

My current BIOS info is as follows:
==========================================
Program: eSupport.com BIOS Agent Version 3.23
BIOS Date: 04/12/99
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
BIOS ID: 04/12/1999-i440BX-W977-2A69KL1AC
OEM Sign-On: #9KA6-01
Chipset: Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3
Superio: Winbond 977TF rev 0 found at port 3F0h
OS: WinXP
CPU: Pentium® III (0.25 µm) 501 MHz
BIOS ROM In Socket: Unknown
BIOS ROM Size: Unknown
Memory Installed: 511 MB
Memory Maximum: Unknown

eSupport.com, Inc.
1-800-800-BIOS (2467)
www.esupport.com
=======================================

Can some please send necessary files to upgrade BIOS to recognize new drive. Thanks much!!!

--Lee

Wed Jan 21, 2004 12:59 pm

I believe the LuckyStar 6ABX2V 128KB BIOS update from:
http://wims.rainbow-software.org/index.php?count=-1
..is what you need.

04/20/1999-i440BX-W977-2A69KL1AC-00

lsk464 · Wed Jan 21, 2004 3:10 pm

[b]Which flash tool is best to use?[/b]

[quote="ajzchips"]I believe the LuckyStar 6ABX2V 128KB BIOS update from:
http://wims.rainbow-software.org/index.php?count=-1
..is what you need.

04/20/1999-i440BX-W977-2A69KL1AC-00[/quote]

Wed Jan 21, 2004 4:41 pm

Any 6.xx or 7.xx AWARD flasher will do fine.
You can try version 6.00a from:
http://www.8ung.at/th2chips/award/index.html

Wed Jan 21, 2004 5:05 pm

Uniflash will work fine,too

www.uniflash.org

lsk464 · Thu Jan 22, 2004 6:29 am

I have downloaded the recommended BIOS .zip file
(LuckyStar 6ABX2V 128KB.zip)
and extracted it and placed the .bin file on a bootable floppy
along with Uniflash.

I booted with the floppy and was able to create backups of my
current BIOS (backup.bin, backup.cmo, backup.boo)

However, when I run "uniflash -e 9KA6-3.bin -reboot" it says it
errors #153 (I think) and says it can't read the file.

What am I doing wrong.
System is still functional but BIOS not updated.

Thanks for any additional tips.

I noted on boot-up that my current BIOS is
"9KA6-01" also Uniflash says that my PCI Chipset is
"Intel AGP Set 440BX/ZX" and my
Flash ROM Chip is "Winbond W29 0x010/011/012/5v series"
Hope this additional info is of use.
I'm I on the right track?
Thanks again
--Lee

Thu Jan 22, 2004 6:46 pm

Is the floppy OK - can you read/copy the files from it?

Fri Jan 23, 2004 1:28 am

Please go to www.bootdisk.com and get the DRDOS7.x "Basic-Biosflash" Bootdisk creator - run it to format and Verify a new bootdisk .
The copy flashprog an Biosfile onto it
-> Make sure the Biosfile is not hidden or write protected

lsk464 · Sat Jan 24, 2004 7:36 am

OK, so it turned out I did have a bad floppy. Created a new one and put all the same files on it and "uniflash" worked just fine. The 9KA6-3.bin file was the right one. After reboot, it recognized my 40G Western Digital drive with no problem. The cool thing was that the drive came with some software to partition/format/copy all of the data from my old drive to the new one and make it my new boot disk. Which is what I wanted. Life is good! Thanks for your help. This site is great!

Sat Jan 24, 2004 1:04 pm

You're lucky that you used UniFlash. Awdflash usually hangs in the middle of flashing when the floppy is bad, leaving the BIOS corrupted...

Sun Jan 25, 2004 3:53 am

Just a question :
Does Uniflash load the complete image before starting to flash or does it perform a checksum check ?
I know awdflash does not in most cases

Sun Jan 25, 2004 2:03 pm

UniFlash loads complete image into memory before flashing. If it cannot read the file, the flashing will not begin. There is no checksum checking.