The safest way to flash bioses on these old boards is to get yourself an eprom programmer, some chips, and a UV eraser if needed.
That way you can flash bioses to Your hearts content and see what happens, then revert to the original IC if you run into problems.

Imperious wrote:

The safest way to flash bioses on these old boards is to get yourself an eprom programmer, some chips, and a UV eraser if needed.
That way you can flash bioses to Your hearts content and see what happens, then revert to the original IC if you run into problems.

That sounds great for this purpose because I want to try a few and see what works best,
May I ask if you know what flash chip I should use?

It's pretty easy to figure out. If The bios is 128kb in size, also known as 1 MegaBit, then a 27c1001(101) or equivalent usually is correct. I would suggest electronically getting eraseable chips, it's easier than messing with UV eraseable ic's.

The Legend of Zida: A Tomato to the Past

andreja6 wrote on 2019-10-28, 06:07:

I recently received this board in fully working condition, but the BIOS doesn't support drives ~40gb, and just refuses to boot w […]
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I recently received this board in fully working condition, but the BIOS doesn't support drives ~40gb, and just refuses to boot with them
It's a 1998 board, so I'd expect the BIOS to support it.

A few websites gave me information for 1.01 rev boards, but never 1.20.

I found these BIOS files:

https://www.zida-bios.com/download-bios-151-f … with-id-34.html
https://www.zida-bios.com/download-bios-152-f … with-id-34.html

but I'm not sure how to flash them and more importantly if they are compatible with my motherboard. It only says TX98-3D

The current BIOS version is 1.09 (981228)

51-1228-008031-00111111-071595-VIAVPX-TX98-3D-HK0-F

According to the site, I also need AMIFLASH 5.24, but that doesn't exist anywhere!

I'm dealing with the same issue. Did you manage to flash via software or did you acquire a flashing tool?

Did the BIOS on the Zida site give you an error when unzipping?

Here is everything you need to know about the Zida TX98-3D:
http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/5825

I have added every version of BIOS to the page (from web archive or elhvb). There is also a manual if you need it.
I have tested all of them on my rev. 1.20 board (including the unofficial one) and they all work just fine.

You could use AFUDOS to flash them, but I found that some versions do not work on certain boards (in this case as well).
I've had the best experience with UNIFLASH, which you can find here: http://www.win3x.org/win3board/viewtopic.php? … 455&language=en

Version 1.16m has an optional boot logo at startup, which is neat.

computerguy08 wrote on 2020-11-03, 10:17:

Here is everything you need to know about the Zida TX98-3D: http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/5825 […]
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Here is everything you need to know about the Zida TX98-3D:
http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/5825

I have added every version of BIOS to the page (from web archive or elhvb). There is also a manual if you need it.
I have tested all of them on my rev. 1.20 board (including the unofficial one) and they all work just fine.

You could use AFUDOS to flash them, but I found that some versions do not work on certain boards (in this case as well).
I've had the best experience with UNIFLASH, which you can find here: http://www.win3x.org/win3board/viewtopic.php? … 455&language=en

Version 1.16m has an optional boot logo at startup, which is neat.

Huge thank-you. Worked perfectly as you described.

For those who wonder, when running UniFlash choose the write bootblock option.

This update solved some issues for me with an IDE-to-SD adapter using a 16GB SD card. I tried a 120GB SSD through an IDE-to-SATA adapter which worked as long as the drive type was set to "auto" in Basic CMOS menu. I also had a small FAT32 partition though I'm not sure if that made a difference. The BIOS appears to support up to 64GB.

Best wishes from Canada.

i bought a few weeks ago the above motherboard and yesterday i did the mistake to upgrade bios (1.09) to the latest 1.16 with no success. When i tried for 1.14 rom, procedure lasted for 20 seconds and then all black (screen).
I thought to wait maybe for 1 min to see if screen show something and finally decided to power off. Since then, no boot up although powered on while the BIOS CHIP is W29EE011 ( 1-megabit, 5-volt only CMOS flash memory organized as 128K ´ 8 bits). Any help ??? I took away cmos batt, power cords and all stuff but still no boot. Whats next ???

Rodos wrote on 2022-01-31, 16:39:

i bought a few weeks ago the above motherboard and yesterday i did the mistake to upgrade bios (1.09) to the latest 1.16 with no success. When i tried for 1.14 rom, procedure lasted for 20 seconds and then all black (screen).
I thought to wait maybe for 1 min to see if screen show something and finally decided to power off. Since then, no boot up although powered on while the BIOS CHIP is W29EE011 ( 1-megabit, 5-volt only CMOS flash memory organized as 128K ´ 8 bits). Any help ??? I took away cmos batt, power cords and all stuff but still no boot. Whats next ???

Sounds like the CMOS is bricked, you'll need a CMOS programmer to fix it.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-31, 17:41:

Rodos wrote on 2022-01-31, 16:39:

i bought a few weeks ago the above motherboard and yesterday i did the mistake to upgrade bios (1.09) to the latest 1.16 with no success. When i tried for 1.14 rom, procedure lasted for 20 seconds and then all black (screen).
I thought to wait maybe for 1 min to see if screen show something and finally decided to power off. Since then, no boot up although powered on while the BIOS CHIP is W29EE011 ( 1-megabit, 5-volt only CMOS flash memory organized as 128K ´ 8 bits). Any help ??? I took away cmos batt, power cords and all stuff but still no boot. Whats next ???

Sounds like the CMOS is bricked, you'll need a CMOS programmer to fix it.

CMOS ? U mean the battery bricked or the Bios Chip WINBOND W29EE011 bricked ? If Winbond bricked then i need to re-program it via an EPROM programmer ???

Rodos wrote on 2022-02-01, 14:22:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-31, 17:41:

Rodos wrote on 2022-01-31, 16:39:

i bought a few weeks ago the above motherboard and yesterday i did the mistake to upgrade bios (1.09) to the latest 1.16 with no success. When i tried for 1.14 rom, procedure lasted for 20 seconds and then all black (screen).
I thought to wait maybe for 1 min to see if screen show something and finally decided to power off. Since then, no boot up although powered on while the BIOS CHIP is W29EE011 ( 1-megabit, 5-volt only CMOS flash memory organized as 128K ´ 8 bits). Any help ??? I took away cmos batt, power cords and all stuff but still no boot. Whats next ???

Sounds like the CMOS is bricked, you'll need a CMOS programmer to fix it.

CMOS ? U mean the battery bricked or the Bios Chip WINBOND W29EE011 bricked ? If Winbond bricked then i need to re-program it via an EPROM programmer ???

It sounds like it tried to flash a bios version to the cmos chip that wasn't compatible, with these old boards you dont get redos, either it works or it doesnt and if it doesnt well then you have to fix it.

That Winbond chip is the CMOS (Bios) chip and its the one you would need to reprogram with the correct bios, since you cant do it while its in the board you'll need a EPROM programmer. There are others here that are far more knowledagble than me with these EPROM things so hopefully one of them will see this thread and give you some pointers.

Thank u for your reply

if any friend has an EPROM - USB which can setup again the BIOS 1.14 or 1.16 to the "bricked" WINBOND W29EE011 32 pins CHIP please let me know.
Thanks in advance

I'm not sure if this will work on such old motherboard, but you can always try standard AMI BIOS recovery procedure.

Copy your old BIOS file to floppy and rename to AMIBOOT.ROM
Put it into floppy drive (computer must be turned off).
Turn it on and wait some time. If floppy drive will start reading it wait few minutes (wait till it will stop spinning disk). Then reboot computer.

luk1999 wrote on 2022-02-01, 16:58:

I'm not sure if this will work on such old motherboard, but you can always try standard AMI BIOS recovery procedure. […]
Show full quote

I'm not sure if this will work on such old motherboard, but you can always try standard AMI BIOS recovery procedure.

Copy your old BIOS file to floppy and rename to AMIBOOT.ROM
Put it into floppy drive (computer must be turned off).
Turn it on and wait some time. If floppy drive will start reading it wait few minutes (wait till it will stop spinning disk). Then reboot computer.

Thank u for your advise, i will try and let u know.
in the meantime i searched and found this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwOcBT2aHjo&t=175s
and this
https://laborjag.com/venta/arduino/pic-k150-icsp-programmer/

Do u think such K150 programmer might help to flash the lets say 1.12 or 1.14 or 1.16 bios into the 32 pin CHIP ???