Help with BIOS Flashing please

OK, Thanks for all the advice...I'll report back rtef success/failu-)
J
-----------------
"dawg" don't wrote in message
...
I agree,you don't need all those switches.Mike is correct.Every BIOS I've
ever done was the way Mike T. wrote out.
"John Brown"

wrote in message
...

"Mike T." wrote in message
reenews.net...

"John Brown" wrote in message
...
Yes, first time flasher..keen not to make error ...been studying Users
Manual, Abit web pages etc...

thought I'd done all necessary but flashing not carried out. Not sure
why
not.

Would be glad of any advice...here's the story:-

Its an ABIT NF7-S v2.0 Motherboard and am trying to flash the BIOS.

Managed to make a bootable floppy onto which included the two files as
required -

the BIOS Flash Utility AWDFLASH.EXE and the BIOS binary file
NF7D_27.BIN

Started from the A drive and inserted as recommended as per:-

A:\AWDFLASH NF7D_27.BIN /cc /cd /cp /py /sn /cks /r_

OK, that should read:

A:\AWDFLASH NF7D_27.BIN

The error message is because it doesn't like some of the qualifiers you
have listed after, such as /cc /cd

If you are just trying to upgrade to the latest BIOS version, you don't
need any of the crap after the filename ending in .BIN.

-Dave
--------------
Not wishing to dispute your knowledge Dave..but are you sure?...
in the original Abit NF7/NF7-M/NF7-S motherboard users manual (page
F-2)
it says:-
We strongly recommend you use the above parameters following "awdflash"
to
flash your BIOS.
DO NOT just type "awdflash se6_sw.bin" without the parameters following
the
".bin" file.

"dawg" don't wrote in message
...
I agree,you don't need all those switches.Mike is correct.Every BIOS I've
ever done was the way Mike T. wrote out.
"John Brown"

wrote in message
...

"Mike T." wrote in message
reenews.net...

"John Brown" wrote in message
...
Yes, first time flasher..keen not to make error ...been studying Users
Manual, Abit web pages etc...

thought I'd done all necessary but flashing not carried out. Not sure
why
not.

Would be glad of any advice...here's the story:-

Its an ABIT NF7-S v2.0 Motherboard and am trying to flash the BIOS.

Managed to make a bootable floppy onto which included the two files as
required -

the BIOS Flash Utility AWDFLASH.EXE and the BIOS binary file
NF7D_27.BIN

Started from the A drive and inserted as recommended as per:-

A:\AWDFLASH NF7D_27.BIN /cc /cd /cp /py /sn /cks /r_

OK, that should read:

A:\AWDFLASH NF7D_27.BIN

The error message is because it doesn't like some of the qualifiers you
have listed after, such as /cc /cd

If you are just trying to upgrade to the latest BIOS version, you don't
need any of the crap after the filename ending in .BIN.

-Dave
--------------
Not wishing to dispute your knowledge Dave..but are you sure?...
in the original Abit NF7/NF7-M/NF7-S motherboard users manual (page
F-2)
it says:-
We strongly recommend you use the above parameters following "awdflash"
to
flash your BIOS.
DO NOT just type "awdflash se6_sw.bin" without the parameters following
the
".bin" file.
--------------------
Decided to go ahead without any parameters using only the flash utility and
the BIOS binary:-

A:\awdflash nfc_27.bin

....so using the bootable floppy with the flash utility file and the BIOS
binary files added.....seemed to be going ok...

got to first page where it shows File Name to Program : nf7d_27.bin

and then asks for name of Save Current BIOS:

.... so I typed in a name: nf7d_27A ...all well so far...

...bit later got message Disc Full or File Error...damn!!...abandonded the
attempt...

....and sure enough the floppy disc is full as it tried to save current BIOS
details.

Looking at the details of what's on the Floppy:-

Awdflash.exe 40kb

nf7d_27.bin 512kb

nfd_27a 316kb...but presumably incomplete as disc full

Autoexec.bat 0kb

Command .com 91

Config.sys 0

Display.sys 17

Ega2.cpi 58

Ega3.cpi 58

Ega.cpi 58

Io.sys 114

Keyb.com 22

Keyboard.sys 34

Keybrd2.sys 32

Keybrd3.sys 31

Keybrd4.sys 13

Mode.com 29

Msdos.sys 1

Would be glad for any further advise.

Cheers,

J

In article ,
says...

snippage

--------------------
Decided to go ahead without any parameters using only the flash utility and
the BIOS binary:-

A:\awdflash nfc_27.bin

...so using the bootable floppy with the flash utility file and the BIOS
binary files added.....seemed to be going ok...

got to first page where it shows File Name to Program : nf7d_27.bin

and then asks for name of Save Current BIOS:

... so I typed in a name: nf7d_27A ...all well so far...

I would type c:\nf7d_27A

which should save to root of C on your HD

..bit later got message Disc Full or File Error...damn!!...abandonded the
attempt...

...and sure enough the floppy disc is full as it tried to save current BIOS
details.

Looking at the details of what's on the Floppy:-

Awdflash.exe 40kb

nf7d_27.bin 512kb

nfd_27a 316kb...but presumably incomplete as disc full


--
Pete Ives
Remove All_stRESS before sending me an email

and then asks for name of Save Current BIOS:

... so I typed in a name: nf7d_27A ...all well so far...

..bit later got message Disc Full or File Error...damn!!...abandonded the
attempt...

...and sure enough the floppy disc is full as it tried to save current
BIOS details.

Looking at the details of what's on the Floppy:-

Awdflash.exe 40kb

nf7d_27.bin 512kb


OK, you need a cleaner floppy to run off of. The way you do that is to
format b: /sys from any DOS bootable floppy disk with format.com on it.

A:\format b: /sys (my DOS is rusty, it might be format b: /s)

If you don't have a DOS bootable floppy disk with format.com on it, you can
download a program to create one from www.bootdisk.org

Actually, I just checked the main page there, and they have driver free
disks specifically for BIOS flashing, so try one of those first. -Dave

-Dave
--------------
Not wishing to dispute your knowledge Dave..but are you sure?...
in the original Abit NF7/NF7-M/NF7-S motherboard users manual (page
F-2) it says:-
We strongly recommend you use the above parameters following "awdflash"
to flash your BIOS.
DO NOT just type "awdflash se6_sw.bin" without the parameters following
the ".bin" file.

Well, I'm going by the error message. The error message directly
contradicts what you have said is written in the manual. If you have to
follow the procedure from the manual verbatim, you already know that it
won't work. It's possible that the procedure written in the manual
contains some parameters that are no longer recognized/supported by the
flashing program. (thus the error message)

Now, the qualifiers are probably telling the flashing program to flash in
some kind of "safer" method. So I wouldn't blame Abit for posting the
warning in the manual. They are trying to cover their ass. But the
bottom line is, there is no 100% safe way to flash a BIOS. If you could
get the flash to work with all the parameters listed in the Abit manual,
you'd STILL run a risk of damaging or destroying your mainboard, simply by
flashing the BIOS.

So before you try to flash the BIOS, REGARDLESS of how you flash the BIOS,
you've got to be willing to accept the risk of mainboard damage resulting
from the procedure.

From what I've read in this thread, a BIOS flash is needed. As long as
you are SURE that the .BIN file you downloaded is the correct one for your
mainboard (don't forget version!, as there can be more than one version of
a specific model mainboard), then I'd advise you to do the flash without
all of the parameters, as that appears to be the only way that it is going
to get done. -Dave
-----------------
Job done..blimey bios flashing should be added to the list of marriage,
moving
house and death for high stressfulness level :-)
And wouldn't have been possible to accomplished without the help of
knowledgeable
newsgroup members for which very grateful.
Did the flashing just with A:\awdflash nfc_27.bin and deleted all from
floppy except
Io.sys, Command.com and Msdos.sys
Mind you things a bit wobbly afterwards..but then remembered the need to
reset CMOS :-)
Thanks again. J
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