EPoX 8RDA+, BIOS ROM checksum error, Award BootBlock BIOS v1.0

[FeX]

Hello,

I have an EPoX 8RDA+ motherboard installed on my computer,
and the wrong BIOS (of 8RDA+ Pro) has been accidentally flashed to it.
Now, when booting, I get the BootBlock BIOS screen:

Award BootBlock BIOS v1.0

BIOS ROM checksum error


And the floppy disk is asked to be inserted,
and awdflash.exe is being tried to load.


So I took an empty floppy disk, downloaded the latest
official bios 8rda4729.zip from EPoX site, and put the files
from the zip (awdflash.exe and 8rda4729.bin) to the
floppy. Then tried to start the system with that floppy
disk inserted.


Now the machine starts awdflash.exe
from the floppy, and awdflash then asks
for the "File Name to Program :".
So I type in the name of the flash file 8rda4729.bin,
the computer starts reading the floppy again,
but then stops very quickly (seems like it only seeks once,
and thats all). The flash file isn't loaded,
bios isn't reprogrammed.


I've tried several floppy disks, some different awdflash.exe
versions (8.33A, 8.52, 8.54B), but nothing helped.

So maybe anyone knows if there is still any way to
reflash the system BIOS block using the bootblock BIOS?


Because EPoX support's answer wasn't very helpful,
just the things everyone knows :

Dear Sir / Madam
Where are your location?
May be the board 's bios data was lose and fail to support board to
work.
Please try to contact and send your board to local dealer for bios
record again or order the new one bios rom for board can work.


Waiting for any suggestions,
thanks in advance,
FexZ

[Redroar]

Can you clear the CMOS? Then maybe you could flash to a new version or just run off the stock BIOS.

[Aedan]

I wasn't aware the Bootblock even bothered to look at the CMOS. The Bootblock code only appears when it detects that the BIOS code itself is corrupt.

I had thought, but might not be correct, that the boot disk required a basic version of DOS (and no config.sys), and a version of autoexec.bat that had something like the following in it:

AWDFLASH.EXE xxxxxxxx.BIN /SN /PY /CC /CD /CP /F /R

Replace the xxxxxxxx.BIN with whatever the filename is of the replacement BIOS.

[FeX]

Thanks for your reply, Áedán!
About the CMOS, me too, AFAIK, the Bootblock isn't
aware of the CMOS.

As of the boot disk, I've already tried what you suggested,
win98 boot floppy with autoexec. But it seems
that the machine doesn't bother whether the floppy
has autoexec, or not. Somehow it starts the awdflash.exe
directly, with no parameters, like normally.
Because if I do not put the awdflash.exe onto the floppy,
then I get this error messages:

Award BootBlock BIOS v1.0
Copyright (c) 2000, Award Software, Inc.
BIOS ROM checksum error
Detecting floppy drive A media...
Drive media is : 1.44Mb
Automatic Load AWDFLASH.EXE .....
!! ERROR -- Floppy Disk Not Found !!
Replace the DISK AND PRESS ENTER



And one more interesting thing. After
the awdlash.exe is loaded from my floppy
and is running, and I type the non-existant
name of the file in the textbox "File Name to Program :",
it shows the message at the bottom of it's screen:
"Message: Source File Not Found !" and then hangs.
So it looks like awdflash.exe executes itself correctly,
but maybe there is something else that I am missing.
Meanwhile, when I type the correct flash rom file name
(i.e. 8rda4729.bin, which I put on the floppy), then
happens the things I already told in my previous
post - the machine seeks the folppy one more time,
then idles and hangs up.

[Wolf2000me]

Maybe there is something wrong with the downloaded bios binary file. Try http://www.epox.nl/products/?product...duct_type_id=4

Delete both the bios file and awdflash from your bootdisk. After the boot in DOS replace the bootdisk with a floppy containing awdflash and your bios file. Then run with the parameters suggested. When I flash with parameters I always include a .bat file containing the command.

[Repo Man]

Here is a nice write up on recovering from the bootblock, http://www.sysopt.com/tutorials/article.php/3532681

If all that is wrong is an incorrect BIOS, you ought to be able to follow that guide and get it back in shape.

[FeX]

Thanks, guys!
Tonight I'll try the techniques you suggested
and will post the results later then.

[Fenotipo]

Hello,
my problem is similar, but not the same.

Working on my EPOX EP-8KTA3 board, upon bootup i get this error message:

Award bootblock bios v1.0
Copyright (c) 2000, Award Software, Inc.

BIOS ROM checksum error

Detecting floppy drive A media...

And after i inserted several boot diskettes with DOS, DRDOS, etc. systems, awdflash.exe, and with the latest bios file, i don't get the system working.
I get one time after another the message:
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

what is the problem? what is the floppy disk i must use in order to recover the BIOS ROM?

As a impressive note, the BIOS file downloaded from epox Europe and EPOX main site is called 8kt32729.bin. But the strange thing is that it is a 256KB -lh5- compressed file, and when i uncompress it, its size is just 128KB, and its name is 6a6lmpae.BIN