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Flashing PLCC32 BIOS chip (ASUS P4P800)

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First post, by martin778

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Hi all,
I'm trying to flash the PLCC32 BIOS chip on the ASUS P4P800 motherboard but I can't find enough information about the PLCC32 package.

I think I've got enough to do it: CH341 programmer, PLCC32 to DIP32 adapter + wires, BIOS chip, ASProgrammer 2.1.2 software and CH341 drivers, ASUS P4P800 ROM file
The BIOS Chip is the PM49FL004T-33JC

Has anyone succeded in flashing their PLCC32 packaged chip with the 341 programmer?

Reply 1 of 36, by Horun

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I do not have a 341 programmer but an older similar, was always a pain so got a Xgeku tl866ii Pro, which I have used exclusively since it's purchase....
very simple to use with a few PLCC to DIP adapters. If in same boat would get the T48 now

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 2 of 36, by DudeFace

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martin778 wrote on 2025-06-07, 15:54:
Hi all, I'm trying to flash the PLCC32 BIOS chip on the ASUS P4P800 motherboard but I can't find enough information about the PL […]
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Hi all,
I'm trying to flash the PLCC32 BIOS chip on the ASUS P4P800 motherboard but I can't find enough information about the PLCC32 package.

I think I've got enough to do it: CH341 programmer, PLCC32 to DIP32 adapter + wires, BIOS chip, ASProgrammer 2.1.2 software and CH341 drivers, ASUS P4P800 ROM file
The BIOS Chip is the PM49FL004T-33JC

Has anyone succeded in flashing their PLCC32 packaged chip with the 341 programmer?

ive got a couple of boards with the same bios chip, both MSI, one with a p4m800 chipset and the other with a p4m900, i dont have a programmer so i flash these chips in a motherboard with Uniflash which is the easiest, most straight forward way to do it.

Reply 3 of 36, by zyga64

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I don't think you can program parallel flash/eeproms with CH341. AFAIK it only supports serial ones (I2c, SPI, Microwire).

Edit: I've looked into your flash chip specification - it supports 2 modes: FWH (Firmware Hub) and LPC mode.
So far I don't have any experience with LPC mode, but I've successfully programmed Firmware Hub flash with Willem Programmer (on LPT) + Firmware Hub adapter.

Last edited by zyga64 on 2025-06-07, 18:28. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 4 of 36, by Paul_V

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martin778 wrote on 2025-06-07, 15:54:

Has anyone succeded in flashing their PLCC32 packaged chip with the 341 programmer?

I don't think you'll be able to flash parallel\FWH (firmware hub) flash IC's with CH341, as it's a serial (SPI) flash programmer.
I own Xgeku programmers, mentioned here, which always do the job.

Reply 5 of 36, by grjr

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like others have said this is a FWH chip, I've never used a CH341 so don't know if it can do the job. If you like to DIY, there is a way to program a FWH using a regular old arduino with some resistors under linux using flashrom and compiling a particular program available on github. It's a fun little project if you are into that sort of thing. There are other methods as well using various hardware with flashrom (not all of them support FWH programming) listed on the flashrom website. In fact here is the page for the CH341 https://www.flashrom.org/supported_hw/support … og/ch341ab.html which only mentions SPI compatability.

Reply 6 of 36, by martin778

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Argh, you're right...this is the wrong programmer. I just ordered the T48 programmer from China.

I have both the P4P800 and A7N8X Deluxe that both seem 'braindead' - PCI diag card shows 00 and no attemts to cycle through POST. This makes me think somehow both might have a corrupt BIOS chip or the previous owner has bricked them with bad flash. The P4P800 was tested with different CPU and RAM but gave the same result. I also put my IR camera on both boards and can see the VRM, chipset and other chips do warm up slowly.

Reply 7 of 36, by DudeFace

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martin778 wrote on 2025-06-08, 12:42:

Argh, you're right...this is the wrong programmer. I just ordered the T48 programmer from China.

I have both the P4P800 and A7N8X Deluxe that both seem 'braindead' - PCI diag card shows 00 and no attemts to cycle through POST. This makes me think somehow both might have a corrupt BIOS chip or the previous owner has bricked them with bad flash. The P4P800 was tested with different CPU and RAM but gave the same result. I also put my IR camera on both boards and can see the VRM, chipset and other chips do warm up slowly.

if you have another motherboard with the same bios socket you can hot swap the chip with uniflash, doesnt have to be the same chip, uniflash has an option to re-detect the chip before you flash.

Reply 8 of 36, by martin778

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Good one, so just pluck the chip out of the socket after the system has booted and put the other chip in? I do have a P4R800-VM that does have the same socket.

Reply 9 of 36, by martin778

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Wow, Uniflash must be one of the worst programs to get running 😀

@DudeFace, did you have yours installed on a 32-bit system?? I tried it on XP but to no avail, "unknown error" when starting.

Reply 10 of 36, by DudeFace

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martin778 wrote on 2025-06-08, 17:32:

Wow, Uniflash must be one of the worst programs to get running 😀

@DudeFace, did you have yours installed on a 32-bit system?? I tried it on XP but to no avail, "unknown error" when starting.

Uniflash need to be run from dos like other flashers such as afudos or awdflash, you can use an msdos floppy or make a freedos usb with rufus then use that to run uniflash, thats what i do, its one of the easiest programs to use for flashing compared to afudos/awdflash.

Reply 12 of 36, by zyga64

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Yes. Look here: https://soggi.org/motherboards/bios-update-fl … h-utilities.htm

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Aries: 486DX33 /16M /TGUI9440 /GUS+ALS100+MT32PI
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Reply 13 of 36, by martin778

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Ok, I got Uniflash 1.40 booted from FreeDOS USB, swapped the BIOS chip on the fly, detected again (even though they are all the same type) and after offering it the P4P81019.ROM file, it tried to flash but failed with FLASH DATA VERIFICATION ERROR. Tried 2 different chips of the same type but the result was identical.

Do I need a BIN file??

+++
Tried with a BIN for the A7n8x deluxe since the BIOS chips are the same - got the same error.

Reply 14 of 36, by zyga64

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DudeFace wrote on 2025-06-08, 13:06:

if you have another motherboard with the same bios socket you can hot swap the chip with uniflash, doesnt have to be the same chip, uniflash has an option to re-detect the chip before you flash.

I'm not 100% sure that the above sentence is always correct. Not only does the socket have to be the same - I think the flash chip pinout should match as well.
However, the author of the thread wrote that the BIOS chip on the board he tried to cross-flash was identical...

Scamp: 286@20 /4M /CL-GD5422 /CMI8330
Aries: 486DX33 /16M /TGUI9440 /GUS+ALS100+MT32PI
Triton: K6-3+@400 /64M /Rage Pro PCI /ES1370+YMF718
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Reply 15 of 36, by zyga64

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martin778 wrote on 2025-06-08, 19:46:
Ok, I got Uniflash 1.40 booted from FreeDOS USB, swapped the BIOS chip on the fly, detected again (even though they are all the […]
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Ok, I got Uniflash 1.40 booted from FreeDOS USB, swapped the BIOS chip on the fly, detected again (even though they are all the same type) and after offering it the P4P81019.ROM file, it tried to flash but failed with FLASH DATA VERIFICATION ERROR. Tried 2 different chips of the same type but the result was identical.

Do I need a BIN file??

+++
Tried with a BIN for the A7n8x deluxe since the BIOS chips are the same - got the same error.

Try Uniflash 2.0 (or 1.47)
In the readme of Uniflash 1.4 I found following statement:

----------|----------------------|--------------------------------------------
nVidia |*nForce | Tested and works
|#nForce2 | nForce2 might not work
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scamp: 286@20 /4M /CL-GD5422 /CMI8330
Aries: 486DX33 /16M /TGUI9440 /GUS+ALS100+MT32PI
Triton: K6-3+@400 /64M /Rage Pro PCI /ES1370+YMF718
Seattle: P!!!750 /256M /MX440 /Vibra16s+SBLive!
Panther Point: 3470s /8G /GTX750Ti /HDA

Reply 16 of 36, by martin778

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I will try the 2.0 but I'm flashing on a Radeon 9100 IGP motherboard (P4R800-VM). Only one I got with this BIOS IC and socketed.

+++
Same problem with the 2.0 version. Tried both IC's and multiple .ROM and even .AMI files, identical errors.

Reply 17 of 36, by DudeFace

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zyga64 wrote on 2025-06-08, 20:37:
DudeFace wrote on 2025-06-08, 13:06:

if you have another motherboard with the same bios socket you can hot swap the chip with uniflash, doesnt have to be the same chip, uniflash has an option to re-detect the chip before you flash.

I'm not 100% sure that the above sentence is always correct. Not only does the socket have to be the same - I think the flash chip pinout should match as well.
However, the author of the thread wrote that the BIOS chip on the board he tried to cross-flash was identical...

the chip i flashed was the same PM49FL004T, the board i flashed it with had a Winbond W39V040A both with 512kb bios, there may be some differences i haven't come across with the chips ive flashed so i may not be 100% correct on that.

martin778 wrote on 2025-06-08, 19:46:
Ok, I got Uniflash 1.40 booted from FreeDOS USB, swapped the BIOS chip on the fly, detected again (even though they are all the […]
Show full quote

Ok, I got Uniflash 1.40 booted from FreeDOS USB, swapped the BIOS chip on the fly, detected again (even though they are all the same type) and after offering it the P4P81019.ROM file, it tried to flash but failed with FLASH DATA VERIFICATION ERROR. Tried 2 different chips of the same type but the result was identical.

Do I need a BIN file??

+++
Tried with a BIN for the A7n8x deluxe since the BIOS chips are the same - got the same error.

ive not come across that error before, since all the boards you have use a 512kb bios i would have thought it should work, though if you had the same error with both chips/bios it could be that the board you're using just wont do it,

ive got a few boards with the same socket bios but only 2 boards will flash chips, the ones that dont tell me the bios is write protected or detects the chip as unknown, the error you are getting is probably down to the motherboard, i forgot to mention it might not work on every board but it was at least worth a try.

as for the bios file i dont think it matters with uniflash what the extension is, though i usualy rename it to .rom

Reply 18 of 36, by zyga64

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martin778 wrote on 2025-06-08, 21:41:

I will try the 2.0 but I'm flashing on a Radeon 9100 IGP motherboard (P4R800-VM). Only one I got with this BIOS IC and socketed.

+++
Same problem with the 2.0 version. Tried both IC's and multiple .ROM and even .AMI files, identical errors.

You can also try flasher provided by board manufacturer (awdflash) if there is commandline switch to disable board/version checking.

https://www.asus.com/us/supportonly/a7n8x-e%2 … pdesk_download/ <- choose Others here

It looks like you can use /f switch (force), according to this thread on another forum: https://forums.overclockers.com.au/threads/fo … wn-bios.155005/

Scamp: 286@20 /4M /CL-GD5422 /CMI8330
Aries: 486DX33 /16M /TGUI9440 /GUS+ALS100+MT32PI
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Seattle: P!!!750 /256M /MX440 /Vibra16s+SBLive!
Panther Point: 3470s /8G /GTX750Ti /HDA

Reply 19 of 36, by martin778

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The AMI flasher said the flash is write protected so I guess the P4R800-VM can't do it. There are no jumpers/BIOS settings to disable the write protect.

I wonder if the T48 xecu flasher can do it it then.