BIOS ROM checksum error (story inside)

[harm]

Hi,

I don't quite know where to start. There are several posts like this one with the same subject, but I can't quite get an option on what to do in my current situation.

Recently I put together a new computer - everything worked fine. Winxp had some trouble detecting the raid array, and from previous experiences, "peculiar" problems has several times for me been solved by a flash to the most recent bios. To eliminate any problems related to an old or outdated bios, I thought that was a good place to start.

Some info about my system:

Shuttle SN25P (http://eu.shuttle.com/en/desktopdefault ... ead-10611/)
AMD64 4000+
1GB DDR
Pci-e graphics card
etc.

It's all working, or at least it were. There should be no problems with the hardware components.

I downloaded the newest bios image file, fn25s01d.bin, from this location: (http://global.shuttle.com/Download/Down ... Item=SN25P)
I'm 100% sure I used the correct bios. I cannot however be sure whether the image was a working one (allthough I assume it was, coming from an official webpage).

My first attempt in flashing resulted in this error message:
"System was not new AWARD BIOS version. Please update ROM BIOS first" (at least that was what I think showed up the first time..)

After reading forums, I had the impression my awdflash.exe was out of date, and yes indeed a newer version (i think i tried something 8.54b?, or something) went further on. The first version I tried was downloaded from shuttle's ftp (ftp.shuttle.com).

This time the bios started flashing. At least I thought it were. It went on for a while and then again I recieved an error message. From all my latest frustration I think I somehow forgot what message showed up this time, but I'm pretty sure it was the same as the last time ("System was not new AWARD BIOS version.. blabla"). I thought, well what now. Do I need yet another version of awdflash? (I'm starting to dislike that utility by the way).

I tried to reboot, and what happens then is somewhat directly related to the subject of this thread.

Computer is now booting to the AWARD BOOTBLOCK BIOS 1.0, and I get the BIOS ROM checksum error message. It tells me to boot from a floppy, and yes indeed, it works - meaning - keyboard is working and I do have access to the floppy drive and the basic dos prompt commands.

After reading similar threads, there seems to be a way to to "re-flash" the "main" bios from this point. When I try to do so, I get the same error message. Does this mean, by any chance, I'm using a bad version of awdflash.exe? Anyway, after experimenting with various switches and parameters, I got abit further (sorry, I'm at work now and cannot quite recall what I tried out of desperation). I now recieve the message: "Flash rom is write protected. Please make sure lockout jumpers..." (it ends in something with jumpers are set in unlock position.

The motherboard is jumper-free, and has no such option. I believe this message might be the result of something else. Are there any spesific version of awdflash I should try, or any special switches I do not know about? Perhaps any other flash utility that might override the write protection?

This is as far as I have come, for now. I'm just wondering what my options are? I know for sure that the bios chip is not soldered, so a new one could do the trick, but - by reading the forum it seems that people have been in worse situations than me, and still being able to recover. I was hoping to avoid replacing it.

One thing for sure, the motherboard is completely new so the cmos battery is not dead.

I paid alot of money for this one and.. I'm really frustrated I thought it could perhaps be smart to ask on a forum before I go berserk with tools and utilities and make the situation even worse as it is. I'd be grateful for any help.

Again, sorry for making it this long but I thought it was better to include as much info as possible compared to the contrary. Feel free to ask if anything remains unclear and I'll do my best to answer. I'm at work now so will be checking in later in the evening.

Thanks
-harm

[KURIAKI]

Enter the BIOS, Advanced BIOS Features, BIOS Write Protect and check it is disabled.

[harm]

I have a problem with that. I cannot enter the bios - the POST won't go any further than the bootblock portion. The system is like running without any settings, or every setting to default. E.g all the casefans are running at full speed all the time, compared to how the situation was before the "misflash".

Please - I'd be grateful for any help.

[KURIAKI]

http://members.home.nl/jsruisch/BIOS_Fl ... yguide.htm

[harm]

Thanks for the reply

Whether or not this was a coinsidence - that was the page I used when I tried to re-flash the bios. Unfortunately it didn't turn out very well - resulting in the message: "Flash rom is write protected - please make sure lockout jumpers are set to the correct position" (not literally correct). I will however try it once more when I get back from work to make sure this option is not working for me.

Are there any special version of awdflash.exe I should use - or explicitly not use? I found it kinda disturbing, that I had to search the web for a working awdflash.exe to flash the bios. The one coming from ftp.shuttle.com told me it was not the new AWARD BIOS version.

[KURIAKI]

From Shuttle FTP:
ftp://ftp.shuttle.com/Utilities/Awd757.zip

[harm]

Again, thank you for replying.

That's the version I first attempted to use while flashing. This particular version resulted in the message "System was not new AWARD BIOS version. Please update ROM BIOS first".

I am however unsure on what parameters i gave the awdflash.exe when flashing for the first time. I'm almost done here at work so I will try this version again with the parameters from the link you posted above. If that doesen't work I will try the same again - probably with some newer version.

Some place on the web I read that the message "System was not new..." appears because of an outdated awdflash.exe. It did indeed proceed further with the other version i used - unfortunately without success (resulting in the message: "Flash ROM is write protected. Please make sure lockout jumpers are set to the correct location.") I cannot access the bios to confirm whether or not this is true and there is no jumper for this function. Perhaps the utility is trying to overwrite some area it's not supposed to, or this error message is shown for some other reason - I don't know.

It is still late evening here where I live but I refuse to go to bed until I at least have some progress on the matter. I'll keep you posted and thank you for replying

[Rainbow]

Try UniFlash but I don't expect it to work as it's nVidia chipset (and also a new one...)

[harm]

That is what I thought too, so I'll save that part until there is no other way :[

Ain't there a chance the bootblock bios will stop functioning as well, with uniflash?

[harm]

The situation is getting more peculiar for every minute.

I tried the following (as stated in the flash recovery guide):

awdflash bios.bin /py /sn /Sb /cc

Ofcourse, swapping out bios.bin with the real image.
Now, I get the error message: "Unknown Flash Type !"

Any clues..?

EDIT: Nevermind.. the /f parameter let me force the flash but then again resulting in"System was not new AWARD BIOS version..."

I'll keep trying :[

[harm]

Okay.. progress at last. This time I tried awdflash790.exe, downloaded from here: http://www.soyo.com.tw/kb/kbdesc.php?id=37

The utility is flashing, skipping the bootblock as intended, but about 80% of the following sectors is coming out write failed (red blocks). Only just afew of the blocks placed in the two lower "progress-bars" come out as written ok (white blocks). There are no changes to what happens after rebooting the system.

I used the following syntax:
awdflash bios.bin /py /sn /Sb /cc

Any idea on what might cause this, and if there is a workaround?

[ruelnov]

No matter what version of Awardflash you use, you won't be able to flash it successfully because of flash ROM protection.

Can you please post the part number of your BIOS chip?

Just peel off any sticker from the chip to expose the part number.

[harm]

ruelnov,

I peeled off the stickers (two of them actually) - the code is as follows:

SST 49LF004B

There are some more numbers as well but I can't remember them at the time being. I suppose these were those you refered to?

With that being said, I've attempted to use Uniflash as well. It cannot seem to detect the chip, as it only shows up as "Unknown Flash Rom" or something like that. According to the '-chiplist- command, my chip should use the '-force BF60' parameter. When I tried using it, I at least had the possibility to flash, but after pressing 'y' to flash, it resulted in an error message shortly after detecting the floppy. Unfortunately I'm at work now and can't quite remember, but something with 'Disk read error'.

I tried using 4 different floppies, re-formatted them all different times, re-downloaded the image several times - no difference. Maybe the error still comes from the bios being write protected - I don't know. The floppy drive is brand new as well.