Flashing P5A mobo bios help!?!?!

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Toolman
Newbie K6'er
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Flashing P5A mobo bios help!?!?!

Post by Toolman »

Hi,

First time posting here, but a looong time k63+ owner. It's been a great system running rock solid @ 600 for several years now (even had it @ 660 for several months). I recently had some problems and had to do a clean install. I want to update the mobo bios from 1010 - .001 to the lastest 1011 - .005, which I have downloaded but am unsure how to flash it, as there are no clear cut easy to follow instructions that I could find.

Anybody help me please? It's been 3+ years since I last flashed a bios and I can't remember a thing about it.

How large of a harddrive can be run with this mobo & bios?

Thanks!
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Wiggy
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Location: Surrey, England

Post by Wiggy »

OK. You'll need the flash utility as well as the BIOS file. I'll E-mail it to ya if you want.

1. Put the Flash utility and the new BIOS file on a floppy. (I always put a copy of the current BIOS on there as well - just in case)

2. Put floppy in and re-boot.

3. At the command prompt start the Flash utility. It should prompt you for the name of the new BIOS file. Type it in and press enter.

4. It should say sucessful flash (hopefully) :wink: . Reboot. Should it fail (never happened to me), you've got the old BIOS on the floppy to reflash with. Don't reboot inbetween tho'.

Thats the jist of it.
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thetempleoflove
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Location: Bicester, Oxford, U.K.

All you need to know about k6 & bios

Post by thetempleoflove »

Hi Toolman,
All you need to know about k6 & bios is probably here;

http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/J.Steunebrink/k6plus.htm

Cheers,
Ges.
Toolman
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Post by Toolman »

Thanks guys! The new bios that I downloaded needs to be unzipped on the floppy, right, along with the flash utility? How do I know which flash utility to use, nothing was listed specifically for this bios & mobo at the Asus website and the link that Templeoflove recommended doesn't work for me?

Thanks again for the help!
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thetempleoflove
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Location: Bicester, Oxford, U.K.

Okay...

Post by thetempleoflove »

Hi Toolman,
Any progress? I have cut'n'paste a bit from Asus website which sounds like you can use their own generic flash program. An alternative approach is to go to the website of the BIOS manufacturer. (AMI?)
Sorry my link did not work for you. Jan Seunebrink's site is REAL IMPORTANT; persevere with getting it to load. What he does say, though, is that the bios isn't very good if you are using a plus chip "Due to a hardware problem, P5A-B Rev 1.05 will work extremely slow with a K6plus CPU. The 1011bn BIOS is for boards without sound."

Write back with how you're getting on,
Ges.

Here from the Asus site;
Download both the FLASH.EXE and PFLASH.EXE utilities. Run FLASH.EXE to see what flash type it lists. If the flash type listed is `UNKNOWN', run PFLASH.EXE. Between the two flash utilities, you should be able to determine which BIOS chip type you have. **IMPORTANT - Do not flash your BIOS at this time! We are only seeing which BIOS chip you have!** To flash a BIOS that does not support Plug and Play, you will need to use the FLASH.EXE BIOS utility. The following chips should use this utility:

CSI CAT28F0101P (12v)
Intel P28F010 (12v)
MX28F1000PL (12v)

To flash a BIOS that does support Plug and Play, you will need to use the PFLASH.EXE BIOS utility. The following chips should use this utility:

Intel P28F001 (12v)
MX28F1000PC (5v)
SST PH29EE010 (5v)
Winbond W29EE011 (5v)

Where can I get the BIOS image and flashing utilities?


You should get the following files from either our BBS (408-474-0555) or web page (/index.html or http://asustek.asus.com.tw). The name of the BIOS utility to download is either PFLASH.EXE or FLASH.EXE. You'll also need to download the actual BIOS Image itself (usually has a ZIP or AWD or EXE extension). If it is ZIPped, then you'll need to unZIP the file. If it has an EXE extension, just run it; it is self-extracting.

How do I flash the BIOS using FLASH?


Step 1: Make a DOS boot disk with NO autoexec.bat or config.sys files. Copy the PFLASH and unzipped BIOS Image(ex: TX5I0202.AWD) files to this disk.

Step 2: Turn the system off. Then make sure to enable programming of the flash BIOS. This usually means that you will need to change a jumper or two on your motherboard. Check your manual to make sure you've set the correct jumpers to do this.

Step 3: Boot the system using the boot disk you just created. Then run the FLASH utility by typing "FLASH" and pressing [ENTER]. Select option 2 to load new BIOS and program flash EPROM. It will then ask for the name of the BIOS Image that you wish to flash onto the BIOS chip. Enter it now.

Step 4: Assuming that you have successfully flashed the bios, escape back to a DOS prompt. Then reboot the system. After the system reboots, hit [DEL] to enter the CMOS setup. At this point, go to "LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS". Then save and exit setup.

How do I flash the BIOS using PFLASH?


Step 1: Make a DOS boot disk with NO autoexec.bat or config.sys files. Copy the PFLASH and unzipped BIOS Image(ex: TX5I0202.AWD) files to this disk.

Step 2: Turn the system off. Then make sure to enable programming of the flash BIOS. This usually means that you will need to change a jumper or two on your motherboard. Check your manual to make sure you've set the correct jumpers to do this.

Step 3: Boot the system using the boot disk you just created. Then run the PFLASH utility by typing "PFLASH" and pressing [ENTER]. Select option 3, `Advanced Features'. Then select option 2, `Update BIOS Including Boot Block and ESCD'. It will then ask for the name of the BIOS Image that you wish to flash onto the BIOS chip. Enter it now. Afterwards, it will ask you to confirm the process. Type "Y" to confirm.

Step 4: It will now update the flash BIOS. If everything runs smoothly, it will ask if you wish to "Try again?". Type "N". If it says that it didn't update the BIOS successfully, then keep retrying. If you reboot at this point, you might not be able to boot anymore. Step 5: Assuming that you have successfully flashed the BIOS, escape back to a DOS prompt. Then reboot the system. After the system reboots, hit [DEL] to enter the CMOS setup. At this point, go to "LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS". Then save and exit setup.
Toolman
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Post by Toolman »

I haven't had time to do anything yet, too busy with work & family.

My Asus P5A mobo is not revision 5 or 6, so that is not a problem. I have been using beta bios 1010.001 and was interested in possibly udating to the latest 1011.005, if it was worthwhile, like allowing me to use a larger harddrive or something really tangible like that. Otherwise, I'm very content with the performance & reliability of this system and the present bios. Can you, or anybody else tell me what, if any benefits are gained w/ 1011.005?

Thanks for the info Temple!
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punkrawker82
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Post by punkrawker82 »

The "1010 Final" already gives you support for drives bigger than 32Gb. It sounds as if you have the "1010 Beta 001" version. You could update to "1010 Beta 002" or "1010 Final" if it'll make you feel any better. The asus site says Beta 002 and the Final release are equal to each other. I'm not quite sure what "1011 Beta 005" does other than apparently screw up chip speed compatibility(See my other post).

Happy Flashing
jwhickman
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Fix/update list for that BIOS...

Post by jwhickman »

I highly recommend it; I got an email from asus last year about that bios...the fixes/updates follow, but I also found that its correctly ID's the + cpus and also correctly enables Write Allocation; I don't use any utilities/etc anymore.
As an aside...note that to get shutdown to work right on my Asus P5A-B, I had to change an APM setting in XP (in power mgmt somewhere). Also to setup XP w/ ACPI, you need to manually select it during setup(see theeldergeek.com on how to do it; like hit F6 or something during setup of the SCSI drivers or similar) because the bios is too old for XP to allow it by default. However, I had issues w/ my onboard USB when using ACPI, so I don't use it now.

----- P5A-B ----

1011bn005.zip P5A-B M/B WO/Audio (ALi 1541/1543C), BIOS ver. 1011beta 05/13/2002

1. Fixed PME not enabled for some cards.
2. Remove Set off APM Mode 1.0 checking, fix Win 2000 APM mode can't shut down.
3. Fixed P5A/P5A-B when shutdown in Windows XP cannot turn off power.

ab5i1010.zip P5A-B M/B (ALi 1541/1543C), BIOS ver. 1010 05/31/2000
ab5n1010.zip P5A-B M/B WO/Audio (ALi 1541/1543C), BIOS ver. 1010 05/31/2000

1. Support IDE HDD larger than 32GB.

ab5i1008.zip P5A-B M/B (ALi 1541/1543C), BIOS ver. 1008 10/25/1999
ab5n1008.zip P5A-B M/B WO/Audio (ALi 1541/1543C), BIOS ver. 1008 10/25/1999

1. AGP Turbo mode default disabled.
2. Added patch code for nVidia Riva TNT2.
3. DMI revised for max CPU speed, max DRAM size & L2 cache size entries.
georgep1
Veteran K6'er
Posts: 325
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2001 6:09 pm

Wow! You squeezed blood out of a turnip.

Post by georgep1 »

How the heck did you get ASUS to give you info on the fixes/changes in the beta BIOS? This is almost unheard of.

What process did you go through, how many times did you have to e-mail them, what questions did you ask and how did you ask them? I know people who would give their right arm (well maybe not) to find out what is in some of these beta releases.
jwhickman
Junior K6'er
Posts: 46
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Sometimes I miss my right arm...

Post by jwhickman »

Ya, its kinda like winning the lottery.

I think it actually only took one email (that time), but I did wait a week or two to get the reply. Must've just found that one in a million person in customer service that actually wants to be helpful.

Good luck.
:)
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