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BIOS Savior for A8N-SLI



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 8th 05, 01:25 AM
milleron
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Default BIOS Savior for A8N-SLI


Asus' Crash-Free BIOS notwithstanding, the most elegant protection
against BIOS-flashing disasters is the BIOS Savior by IOSS in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to have updated their Web site and
compatibility list for about four years. Nevertheless, the BIOS
Savior is still for sale. Mwave has a 4MB version,
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=BA09803
but there's no compatibility table there, either.
Is it possible that this version would work with the 4MB BIOS on the
A8N-SLI?


Ron
  #2  
Old June 8th 05, 04:34 AM
Paul
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Default

In article ,
wrote:

Asus' Crash-Free BIOS notwithstanding, the most elegant protection
against BIOS-flashing disasters is the BIOS Savior by IOSS in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to have updated their Web site and
compatibility list for about four years. Nevertheless, the BIOS
Savior is still for sale. Mwave has a 4MB version,
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=BA09803
but there's no compatibility table there, either.
Is it possible that this version would work with the 4MB BIOS on the
A8N-SLI?


Ron


Updates stopped here with the A7N8X.

http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/R...List/ASUS.html

This chart is based on the user identifying the part number on
the BIOS chip itself:

http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/R...tionSheet.html

See if your chip part number matches something in the chart.

Paul
  #3  
Old June 8th 05, 10:38 AM
J&SB
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Default

Indeed, I have the same question. This kit sounds like good insurance for
about $25. Please post if you find out more.

"milleron" wrote in message
...

Asus' Crash-Free BIOS notwithstanding, the most elegant protection
against BIOS-flashing disasters is the BIOS Savior by IOSS in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to have updated their Web site and
compatibility list for about four years. Nevertheless, the BIOS
Savior is still for sale. Mwave has a 4MB version,
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=BA09803
but there's no compatibility table there, either.
Is it possible that this version would work with the 4MB BIOS on the
A8N-SLI?


Ron



  #4  
Old June 8th 05, 10:43 AM
J&SB
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

There are complete kits he
http://www.frozencpu.com/scan/se=Ele...nu_search.html
for about $25 but again, it's difficult to know which, if any, is compatible
with the A8N-SLI or A8N-SLI Deluxe.


"milleron" wrote in message
...

Asus' Crash-Free BIOS notwithstanding, the most elegant protection
against BIOS-flashing disasters is the BIOS Savior by IOSS in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to have updated their Web site and
compatibility list for about four years. Nevertheless, the BIOS
Savior is still for sale. Mwave has a 4MB version,
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=BA09803
but there's no compatibility table there, either.
Is it possible that this version would work with the 4MB BIOS on the
A8N-SLI?


Ron



  #5  
Old June 10th 05, 01:11 AM
milleron
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Posts: n/a
Default

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 23:34:50 -0400, (Paul) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

Asus' Crash-Free BIOS notwithstanding, the most elegant protection
against BIOS-flashing disasters is the BIOS Savior by IOSS in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to have updated their Web site and
compatibility list for about four years. Nevertheless, the BIOS
Savior is still for sale. Mwave has a 4MB version,
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=BA09803
but there's no compatibility table there, either.
Is it possible that this version would work with the 4MB BIOS on the
A8N-SLI?


Ron


Updates stopped here with the A7N8X.

http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/R...List/ASUS.html

This chart is based on the user identifying the part number on
the BIOS chip itself:

http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/R...tionSheet.html

See if your chip part number matches something in the chart.


Hey, thanks. The second table is one I had not yet seen at IOSS.
Unfortunately, I can't tell anything about the BIOS because I haven't
purchased the board yet. I'd like to install a BIOS Savior as I'm
building, so I wanted to purchase it at the same time I bought the
motherboard. Perhaps someone who already has an A8N-SLI could tell us
if the Award BIOS matches any part number on the list.
I'm hoping.

BTW, I can't remember ever reading a post about a bad flash where the
CrashFree BIOS did anyone any good. Why doesn't it seem to work as
advertised?

Ron
  #6  
Old June 10th 05, 01:33 AM
milleron
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Posts: n/a
Default

On Wed, 8 Jun 2005 05:38:46 -0400, "J&SB" wrote:

Indeed, I have the same question. This kit sounds like good insurance for
about $25. Please post if you find out more.


Do you already have an Asus NForce 4 board? If so, can you report on
the part number?
Like you say, for $25, it's a good solution, so good that if I can't
ascertain compatibility for certain, I'm probably going to buy a
RD1-PCM4 and try it. I don't think it could damage the original BIOS
because I believe that there's no electrical connection between the
two. it appears that the most one would have to lose is $25.


"milleron" wrote in message
.. .

Asus' Crash-Free BIOS notwithstanding, the most elegant protection
against BIOS-flashing disasters is the BIOS Savior by IOSS in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to have updated their Web site and
compatibility list for about four years. Nevertheless, the BIOS
Savior is still for sale. Mwave has a 4MB version,
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=BA09803
but there's no compatibility table there, either.
Is it possible that this version would work with the 4MB BIOS on the
A8N-SLI?


Ron



Ron
  #7  
Old June 10th 05, 09:05 AM
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article ,
wrote:

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 23:34:50 -0400,
(Paul) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

Asus' Crash-Free BIOS notwithstanding, the most elegant protection
against BIOS-flashing disasters is the BIOS Savior by IOSS in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to have updated their Web site and
compatibility list for about four years. Nevertheless, the BIOS
Savior is still for sale. Mwave has a 4MB version,
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=BA09803
but there's no compatibility table there, either.
Is it possible that this version would work with the 4MB BIOS on the
A8N-SLI?


Ron


Updates stopped here with the A7N8X.

http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/R...List/ASUS.html

This chart is based on the user identifying the part number on
the BIOS chip itself:

http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/R...tionSheet.html

See if your chip part number matches something in the chart.


Hey, thanks. The second table is one I had not yet seen at IOSS.
Unfortunately, I can't tell anything about the BIOS because I haven't
purchased the board yet. I'd like to install a BIOS Savior as I'm
building, so I wanted to purchase it at the same time I bought the
motherboard. Perhaps someone who already has an A8N-SLI could tell us
if the Award BIOS matches any part number on the list.
I'm hoping.

BTW, I can't remember ever reading a post about a bad flash where the
CrashFree BIOS did anyone any good. Why doesn't it seem to work as
advertised?

Ron


The Crashfree concept is to take a single physical flash chip and
partition it into two separate virtual flash chips. For this to
work properly, the "boot block" should never be erased. I suspect
the people who report here, that their upgrade failed, and
Crashfree didn't help them, probably are using the flash tool
to erase the boot block as well as the main code block. That could
account for the failure rate. The tools and instructions don't
make it clear what options to use, to make Crashfree a useful
feature.

If Asus wants to use Crashfree as a beneficial concept, they
should ship the first BIOS with a well tested boot block.
Then, erasing and reprogramming the boot block would not be
necessary. And Crashfree would stand a better chance of working,
as it lives inside the boot block.

Paul


Paul
  #8  
Old June 11th 05, 06:43 PM
milleron
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 04:05:20 -0400, (Paul) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 23:34:50 -0400,
(Paul) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

Asus' Crash-Free BIOS notwithstanding, the most elegant protection
against BIOS-flashing disasters is the BIOS Savior by IOSS in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to have updated their Web site and
compatibility list for about four years. Nevertheless, the BIOS
Savior is still for sale. Mwave has a 4MB version,
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=BA09803
but there's no compatibility table there, either.
Is it possible that this version would work with the 4MB BIOS on the
A8N-SLI?


Ron

Updates stopped here with the A7N8X.

http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/R...List/ASUS.html

This chart is based on the user identifying the part number on
the BIOS chip itself:

http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/R...tionSheet.html

See if your chip part number matches something in the chart.


Hey, thanks. The second table is one I had not yet seen at IOSS.
Unfortunately, I can't tell anything about the BIOS because I haven't
purchased the board yet. I'd like to install a BIOS Savior as I'm
building, so I wanted to purchase it at the same time I bought the
motherboard. Perhaps someone who already has an A8N-SLI could tell us
if the Award BIOS matches any part number on the list.
I'm hoping.

BTW, I can't remember ever reading a post about a bad flash where the
CrashFree BIOS did anyone any good. Why doesn't it seem to work as
advertised?

Ron


The Crashfree concept is to take a single physical flash chip and
partition it into two separate virtual flash chips. For this to
work properly, the "boot block" should never be erased. I suspect
the people who report here, that their upgrade failed, and
Crashfree didn't help them, probably are using the flash tool
to erase the boot block as well as the main code block. That could
account for the failure rate. The tools and instructions don't
make it clear what options to use, to make Crashfree a useful
feature.

If Asus wants to use Crashfree as a beneficial concept, they
should ship the first BIOS with a well tested boot block.
Then, erasing and reprogramming the boot block would not be
necessary. And Crashfree would stand a better chance of working,
as it lives inside the boot block.

Paul


The DOS flashing utilities don't give the option of leaving the boot
block intact. How does one flash a BIOS without including the boot
block?


Ron
  #9  
Old June 13th 05, 05:49 AM
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article ,
wrote:

On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 04:05:20 -0400,
(Paul) wrote:

If Asus wants to use Crashfree as a beneficial concept, they
should ship the first BIOS with a well tested boot block.
Then, erasing and reprogramming the boot block would not be
necessary. And Crashfree would stand a better chance of working,
as it lives inside the boot block.

Paul


The DOS flashing utilities don't give the option of leaving the boot
block intact. How does one flash a BIOS without including the boot
block?


Ron


Hmmm.

There used to be command line switches for that stuff. /sb used to
stand for "skip bootblock".

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...502ac080bedea1

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...f32644968bdb0d

Now, when I test the program, the command line options are not offered.
There is still evidence of them inside the program, but I guess they've
been turned off somehow. It looks to me, like awdflash got rewritten
at some point, and judging by the English used, by people for whom
English was a second language. To quote a text string inside the program:
"Please to confirm input correct file"

I guess this is progress. This is an older version of the flash program.
I don't think there is any reason for you to want to download or look at
this, because it will undoubtedly reject any new BIOS file you feed it.
This is a sample of what the program used to look like. It is about
4KB smaller than the new version, so perhaps the new version has
just tacked a shell onto the front of the program.

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/so...e/awdflash.zip

In any case, it looks like the user has no control any more with this
program. Either this means Asus is not updating the boot block, or
they are paying lip service to the concept of CrashFree (i.e. it is
updated every time).

Paul
  #10  
Old June 13th 05, 07:59 PM
milleron
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 00:49:01 -0400, (Paul) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 04:05:20 -0400,
(Paul) wrote:

If Asus wants to use Crashfree as a beneficial concept, they
should ship the first BIOS with a well tested boot block.
Then, erasing and reprogramming the boot block would not be
necessary. And Crashfree would stand a better chance of working,
as it lives inside the boot block.

Paul


The DOS flashing utilities don't give the option of leaving the boot
block intact. How does one flash a BIOS without including the boot
block?


Ron


Hmmm.

There used to be command line switches for that stuff. /sb used to
stand for "skip bootblock".

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...502ac080bedea1

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...f32644968bdb0d

Now, when I test the program, the command line options are not offered.
There is still evidence of them inside the program, but I guess they've
been turned off somehow. It looks to me, like awdflash got rewritten
at some point, and judging by the English used, by people for whom
English was a second language. To quote a text string inside the program:
"Please to confirm input correct file"

I guess this is progress. This is an older version of the flash program.
I don't think there is any reason for you to want to download or look at
this, because it will undoubtedly reject any new BIOS file you feed it.
This is a sample of what the program used to look like. It is about
4KB smaller than the new version, so perhaps the new version has
just tacked a shell onto the front of the program.

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/so...e/awdflash.zip

In any case, it looks like the user has no control any more with this
program. Either this means Asus is not updating the boot block, or
they are paying lip service to the concept of CrashFree (i.e. it is
updated every time).

Paul


Do you think they're actually overwriting the boot block with every
flash? If so, I presume that this means that the boot block has the
potential to become corrupted with each flash, and, as soon as it
does, then bye-bye CrashFree.

I'm still going to buy the only BIOS Savior that IOSS makes and see if
it works. If it doesn't, then it should be a fairly simple matter to
remove it and plug the original BIOS back into its original slot.
I've never done this before, though, so I'm wondering how great a
likelihood there is of damaging the mobo or BIOS chip using the
chip-extracting device supplied with the BIOS Savior. Anybody know?


Ron
 




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