VOGONS


First post, by amadeus777999

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After having "successfully" locked myself out of an UMC board(by flashing it with a bios which was for a PS/2 KB + Mouse) I want to hot-flash the eeprom with a LS486E.

The problem is that the HOT433's flash chip is a 5V SST-Something while the Lucky's is a 12V MX-Something. While former board features a jumper setting to change the voltage when flashing(5 or 12V) latter unfortunately seems not to have such an option - so is it 12V only? The LS486E manual(.pdf or jpg version for various revisions) does only mention a jumper setting for -prom type but not voltage.

Has anybody any experience with using the LS486E flashing a 5V eeprom?

Reply 1 of 7, by kanecvr

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I've used a 5v eeprom in the LS486e by mistake for a few hours - weirdly enough it worked fine. I was trying out different bios versions and didn't notice until later that one of the eeproms I was using was 5v.

Reply 2 of 7, by amadeus777999

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Tried it but it didn't work out as expected. The LS486E has an award bios and the HOT433 an AMI one so the flash utility refuses to work with amiflash and the awdflash utility stops after starting the operation. Maybe the chip is fried now. On another note - since I have backed up the LuckyStar Bios, can I just flash the MX chip with the Award-BIOS for the HOT433 and insert it into said board?

An eeprom-writer(+eeproms) seems like the next item on my to-buy list.

Reply 3 of 7, by lazibayer

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If we can dial the clock back I would suggest checking the model number of the chips and their datasheets, and try a generic BIOS programmer like uniflash or flashrom. If the chips are no larger than 1Mbit, using a 3COM/Intel/Realtek ethernet card with 32pin socket is also a good idea.
Usually 12V chips operate under 5V when reading and only gets 12V from Pin 22 when programming, so a pre-programmed 5V chip should work fine in a 12V socket. If you have to flash a 5V chip in a 12V socket, you can lift Pin 22 and supply 0V or 5V to it according to instructions in the datasheet.

Reply 4 of 7, by amadeus777999

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Ok, tried to program the 12V but it seems that it isn't working anyways... its an MX 27c1000pc-15 which can't be flash'd - so much for my "intelligent inquiry" before asking for help.

Dumb moves/quickies aside, the real question I have now, is...
I) ...why doesn't the flash procedure work when I insert another programmable chip into the socket?
II) Could it be the the mainboard itself doesn't support flashing operations... and maybe therefor there's no 5/12V option?

Tried uniflash but it didn't work either - even when inserting the eeprom.

The pin22- and network tip is pure gold - wouldn't have though of this. Yes, one bios is 64 and the other 128K.
Would I hotswap the chip on the network card too... I assume I can just insert it before powering on?

Reply 6 of 7, by amadeus777999

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Ok, thanks for the help - this will make my path towards "reviving" the HOT433 a LOT easier. It seems that the LS486E's bios does not support flashing which would further explain the missing voltage jumper.
Should all else fail, I'll buy the eeprom Wellon programmer which is also capable of testing srams.

Reply 7 of 7, by lazibayer

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Yes MX27C1000 is an EPROM which cannot be programmed onboard. On the bright side, LS486E might not supply 12V to the chip at all since it's not programmable, so it won't fry a 5V chip.
The tricky part is... MX27C1000 takes 12V programming voltage from Pin 31, while such pin on most 32pin 5V eeproms is WE, which takes 5V at read operation (including identifying the chip) and 0V at programming. The operation will sure fail if the board doesn't have Pin 31 wired properly.
Again you can do the pin-trick if you like... But an NIC should be much easier.