Supermicro curse strikes again

[Topcat]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

I always update because I feel that if an update was made, there was a damn good reason for it. I'm also smart about when I update (I.E. not during a thunderstorm when I may lose power).

Update, yes, mod, no.... Trying to get something for nothing (bootleg win7), and it bit ya!!!

Win7 performs pretty decent on these old netbust wonders. That's what is on the identical relic to yours, except it still has my adaptec 2100S + 15k RPM SCSI HDD's in it, no SATA/IDE.

Good luck with the recovery, and let us know!

[brethin]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

Isn't anyone crafty enough to hotflash anymore? That was always a fun adventure and usually quite entertaining!

I do most of the time when I make backups or when the board doesn't have any recovery support.

[brethin]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

I was trying to free up some 7 upgrade copies I had... this was my last personal system (one of two in the house) still using one... The mod had worked on everything else in the house (minus two Insyde BIOS machines, one I may retry later). Even my weirdass MPC AIW (with a Blazing pentium D no less) accepted... it's the first failure I've had.



I always update because I feel that if an update was made, there was a damn good reason for it. I'm also smart about when I update (I.E. not during a thunderstorm when I may lose power).



Socketed. As it should be.




/thread

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Made the Serial dongle (grabbed the parts at ratshack and soldered away). The floppy (which took some work to produce, I had the wrong CD in the box) is going as I type... If this doesn't take, can I take an identical chip from a dead board (different model/brand) and use the recovery to flash that?

It should take but if the bios chip it's self is bad yes you can use another chip from another board as long as it is the same type and size.

[ratdude747]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

It should take but if the bios chip it's self is bad yes you can use another chip from another board as long as it is the same type and size.

It's not taking... and I don't seem to have another chip (it's an intel with absolutely no info online). I do have a board that may have a similar chip bit I'm not exactly jumping for joy if I have to flash it.

[brethin]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

It's not taking... and I don't seem to have another chip (it's an intel with absolutely no info online). I do have a board that may have a similar chip bit I'm not exactly jumping for joy if I have to flash it.

When you say it is not taking what stage is it failing at and is there a error message?

[ratdude747]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

When you say it is not taking what stage is it failing at and is there a error message?

No video, It reads the disk for a bit before stalling with the floppy active light on (no floppy noises). Left it for 15 mins or so, nothing. Was there suppossed to be video too? (If so, I'll try a different AGP card?)

[stj]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

what's the part number on the chip?

[ratdude747]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

what's the part number on the chip?

It's an intel N82802AB8. And no, at least on my dead boards I have access to (I have tons more at a different property), I don't have an identical chip to try. I trtied some of my other dead pulls but the Floppy + dongle trick didn't even try to run... so either part of it is on the chip or else it has some way of telling a correct chip from a wrong one.

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Tried again with a different GPU... same result. let it try for 4 hours, same result (floppy light on, no floppy "noises", BIOS not reflashed). Also, when I pulled the chip a few minutes ofter powering it down (to get the number again), it was pretty warm... I'm really thinking the chip took a shit.

[stj]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

it crosses to a 49LF004A from what i can see.
it's a 4mb 3v3 hub-flash

[Per Hansson]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

If you want you can drop the chip in a snail mail & send it to me, I do have a programmer that accepts it...
Might take more time than you want to wait though...

Maybe an excellent opportunity to build a programmer as linked previously in this thread?
Even if failures are rare I have found them, though usually they have been caused by badcaps killing the chip with too dirty power... (That's been my guess anyway)

[brethin]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

No video, It reads the disk for a bit before stalling with the floppy active light on (no floppy noises). Left it for 15 mins or so, nothing. Was there suppossed to be video too? (If so, I'll try a different AGP card?)

Make sure you are following this step.

When the system starts to read the disk,
remove the serial key immediately.

[ratdude747]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

Make sure you are following this step.

When the system starts to read the disk,
remove the serial key immediately.

I'm removing it as soon as I can (after floppy start)... but it's a sorta tight connection. I get it out in about 2-3S or so... not fast enough?

[ratdude747]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

it crosses to a 49LF004A from what i can see.
it's a 4mb 3v3 hub-flash

I do have one of those actually... it's soldered to a dead HP NC6000 laptop board. Will desolder.

[ratdude747]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

Found two of them.. no dice. Crap.

I may have to just order a bleeping chip...

[stj]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

you do realise the bootloader is on the flash right, you cant just put the chip in and power-up.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

^^What stj said, and remember that a "normal" flash will never overwrite the bootblock.
But the flash for a custom BIOS might, depending on what has been changed.
It might even be required, depending on how the BIOS was modded...

I would not put $16 towards a pre-programmed chip, much better and more fun to build the flasher that was linked to previously for roughly the same money

[brethin]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

You could try force flashing on another board. I have done this a few times and it has worked.

First find a working motherboard that uses the same size flash chip that is removable.

Next make a bootable dos disk with the flash utility and the unmodified bios you want to flash.

Then boot the working motherboard to dos using the floppy.

Then with the motherboard powered on remove the bios chip and insert the one you want to program.

Then do a force flash including the boot block (using whatever switchs that are required for the utility you are using).

Then remove the chip and see if it boots in the Supermicro motherboard.

[ratdude747]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

You could try force flashing on another board. I have done this a few times and it has worked.

First find a working motherboard that uses the same size flash chip that is removable.

Next make a bootable dos disk with the flash utility and the unmodified bios you want to flash.

Then boot the working motherboard to dos using the floppy.

Then with the motherboard powered on remove the bios chip and insert the one you want to program.

Then do a force flash including the boot block (using whatever switchs that are required for the utility you are using).

Then remove the chip and see if it boots in the Supermicro motherboard.

I don't have any working boards in that category I'm afraid... I have another supermicro but it's dead IIRC.

[Topcat]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

Send me the chip, I'll see if I can hotflash it off my working one. I can also look through my junk and see if I have one of these eproms.

[ratdude747]

Re: Supermicro curse strikes again

Send me the chip, I'll see if I can hotflash it off my working one. I can also look through my junk and see if I have one of these eproms.

I may order some caps first...