Problem with updating the BIOS on the ECS P6VAP-Me board \ VOGONS

Problem with updating the BIOS on the ECS P6VAP-Me board

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First post, by Maryoo

Posted on 2024-07-16, 15:57

Maryoo Offline

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I have an ECS P6VAP-Me board which, when booting, displays a message about a BIOS problem and asks for a floppy disk to update it. When trying to update, half of the writes show Write Fail. The FLASH ROM jumper is set to ENABLE. Every update attempt ends in the same way - failure. What could be causing this?

Reply 1 of 3, by Repo Man11

Posted on 2024-07-16, 22:55

Repo Man11 Offline

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As I have a chip flasher I would take the chip out and attempt to flash it that way. If that also failed to flash, I'd be confident I had a bad EEPROM. Before I had a chip flasher, I would likely have tried doing a hot swap flash with a compatible board.

What's the history on this board? Was it working then this began, or is this how it was when you received it?

A little oxidation on the contacts could cause this (though that would be a long shot) so it wouldn't hurt to pull the chip and reseat it.

After watching many YouTube videos about older computer hardware, YouTube began recommending videos about trains - are they trying to tell me something?

Reply 2 of 3, by Maryoo

Posted on 2024-07-17, 08:56

Maryoo Offline

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I bought a functional board but I decided to update the BIOS. During this upgrade the first few blocks showed write fail. Then during startup I started getting this screen asking for a boot disk.

I think what I will do is buy a new EPROM and replace it on the board before updating. I wonder if this will work.

Reply 3 of 3, by soggi

Posted on 2024-07-26, 17:14

soggi Offline

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AWDFLASH v7.52C from your picture could be the problem - I would try a newer flash tool like UniFlash or AWDFLASH v8.99 (in that order, available on my website -> https://soggi.org/motherboards/bios-update-fl … h-utilities.htm). If both won't do the job, I would consider the EEPROM/Flash to be defective.

BTW did you rename the .bin file? The original name is "VAPM15D.BIN".

kind regards
soggi

Vintage BIOSes, firmware, drivers, tools, manuals and (3dfx) game patches -> soggi's BIOS & Firmware Page

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