I assume you got it from
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Product/Prod … nuID=24&LanID=0
There seem to be boards with a 1 Megabit BIOS chip and some with a 2 Megabit BIOS chip .
If your board only has 1 Megabit BIOS chip, you might need to change it before you can flash, 5.6 which is a 2 Megabit image .

How do I determine if I have a 1 Megabit BIOS chip or a 2 Megabit BIOS chip? Thanks.

Download a utility called Navrátil System Information (NSSI) and see what information it tells you about your BIOS chip.
You can also save your current BIOS with this utility, which will then enable you to confirm the size of the BIOS file.

Alternatively, peel away the sticker of the BIOS chip to see what the markings are.

Why you even bother to flash ECS ?!?!? I will understand if was some ASUS board like P2B or P3B-F, or Gigabyte BX2000 series, or ABIT BE6 series, or even MSI, but ECS is waste of time and money, just sell it and find one of the one i mentioned, they are by far better choices...

Also if you want to flash bioses, just use windows and Award win flash program, it makes the life lot easier...

Radical Vision wrote:

Why you even bother to flash ECS ?!?!? I will understand if was some ASUS board like P2B or P3B-F, or Gigabyte BX2000 series, or ABIT BE6 series, or even MSI, but ECS is waste of time and money, just sell it and find one of the one i mentioned, they are by far better choices...

Also if you want to flash bioses, just use windows and Award win flash program, it makes the life lot easier...

Hey, *you* like the high-end boards, others have different preferences when doing retro stuff. Just like some people collect old Ferraris and Porsches, but others like tinkering with a Morris Minor or a Trabant. Don't go judging others' motivations or choices; if you can help, do. If not, just let others do so.

On-topic:
If you have the file for BIOS version 2.4 you can easily check what size chip it fits. 128kB = 1Mb, 256kB = 2Mb.

If it turns out (as we suspect) that the 2.4 image is 1Mb and the 5.6 image is 2Mb, you need to get yourself a 2Mb (=256kB) 32p DIL EEPROM. If you have flashing hardware etc, just flash. If not, you can try hot-flashing. That sounds a bit scary but is simple & safe enough if you're careful:
- boot with the current BIOS
- after boot, get everything ready to flash in software (i.e. boot to DOS from a hard disk (NOT floppy), have all the relevant files in the current directory)
- while the system is running, carefully remove the current 1Mb EEPROM. Be sure not to let the pins touch anything on the motherboard.
- carefullu insert the new 2Mb EEPROM.
- start the flash program.
- if all is well, it will happily flash the new chip with the big file.
- reboot and enjoy

If for whatever reason the new BIOS doesn't work well, first clear CMOS. Still not happy? You have the old EEPROM with 2.4 BIOS on it, so just plug that in to roll back to before.

Size of existing one is read from the datasheet.
dip32 eeproms are inexpensive. https://www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-W27C020-70-27C0 … icAAOSwmQBZirNC $6 for two, some have 10 for 10. Boot to the flash util, pull the chip out, put the 256kB one in, and flash.

Im just asking him why, as im wondering. Also i did tell him what are the qality boards, as P2B and BX2000 are middle range boards, not the high end, bcuz maybe he does not know what are the good slot 1 boards..
Also i did tell him far easier way of flashing bios, as the floppy and disketes can be pain in the a$$......

tegrady wrote:

I am fairly sure that I am using the correct bios file as I downloaded it directly from the manufacturer's website.

Did you also check the revision of the mainboard? There are very often different BIOS updates for different revisions of a mainboard. You can not e.g. flash a BIOS for rev. 3 if your mainboard is rev. 1. Might be the case here.

Radical Vision wrote:

Why you even bother to flash ECS ?!?!? I will understand if was some ASUS board like P2B or P3B-F, or Gigabyte BX2000 series, or ABIT BE6 series, or even MSI, but ECS is waste of time and money, just sell it and find one of the one i mentioned, they are by far better choices...

Also if you want to flash bioses, just use windows and Award win flash program, it makes the life lot easier...

Why would I want to flash the bios? Because it currently will not recognize a large hard drive and I don't have any hard drives smaller than 10gb....

The reason I chose this motherboard is because it seemed to have all the features I needed and it came bundled with a 450mhz P2 and 512mb of RAM and was very cheap.

derSammler wrote:

tegrady wrote:

I am fairly sure that I am using the correct bios file as I downloaded it directly from the manufacturer's website.

Did you also check the revision of the mainboard? There are very often different BIOS updates for different revisions of a mainboard. You can not e.g. flash a BIOS for rev. 3 if your mainboard is rev. 1. Might be the case here.

It is revision 1.1. Thanks.

Well if ECS works for you good, on other hand when i get something like this or shuttle, akorp or other junk brands, i just sell them, while i keep for me the good brands and models..
As is strange for me to see someone to like the bad brands like ECS and similar, instead of moving to a better one...

Funny, didn't you say in another thread how you like the PC Chips M321 mainboard - even though the brand is considered bad? Changing your mind that fast?

No the thing is (probably you can see it too) the old ECS on 286, 386, 486 seems solid build, but that is far far away the case with newer ECS on Slot 1, socket 370, socket 462 and such...
Im not sure at what moment they did start to make their products trash, maybe after socket 7, but all products of PCchips/ECS before S7 are considered from me as solid ones, as we all know back in that days most of the brands seems did not cheap so much on their production, not like years after. So most brands till socket 7 was ok, and under S7 you can grab whatever you want it will do the job not big differences, but after 486 and specially socket 7 things have changed, and they did start to reduce costs...

Radical Vision wrote:

Well if ECS works for you good, on other hand when i get something like this or shuttle, akorp or other junk brands, i just sell them, while i keep for me the good brands and models..
As is strange for me to see someone to like the bad brands like ECS and similar, instead of moving to a better one...

What makes it junk? If it runs and is stable, what's the problem?

tegrady wrote:

How do I determine if I have a 1 Megabit BIOS chip or a 2 Megabit BIOS chip? Thanks.

Usually Award flash utility will tell you the model and size of your BIOS chip. For example,

Yours doesn't say anything after "flash type -", so it's possible that your chip isn't supported by awdflash 8.99.

To determine the size of your chip, you can save your current BIOS to a file and check the file size. Or you can peel off the sticker on top of the chip and read the model number.

Many things makes ECS, Akorp, Asrock, Shuttle and similar junk, they are all over with the lower possible quality of all components on the board, not a single feature on them, like is on the better boards like IDE RAID, or overclocking capabilities, or Dual BIOS, or over current protection and others...

Also they tend to have more problems with different memory modules, way inferior BIOSes that have only very basic options inside...

For example you can compare your ECS Slot 1 with the very best ones like Gigabyte BX2000+, ASUS P3B-F and ABIT BE6-II V2....

As far as I know, Abit and Gigabyte used crappy caps on many boards . I have not seen many Shuttle boards in the wild, but I can say those I have seen had Japanese capacitors .

Capacitors aside, I think calling them all junk is bit strong a word. Inexpensive boards with basic feature sets had place in the marketplace and they still do .

Just my two cents .

I can tell you Gigabyte have better quality then many other brands back in the days. Gigabyte did have good caps and Dual Bios and CPU overcurrent protection even on mid range board like BX2000, and the caps that are important for the CPU the VRM they are SanYo, while the rest on the board that are not so important are some junk, but who cares, as the most important caps are the ones closest to the CPU right...
ABIT have really bad caps, no one say they did not, but when it comes to compatibility and support not to mention the Soft Menu III ABIT is unmatched specially when it comes to overclocking, also they did have IDE RAID....

So you can clearly see that the BX2000 have high quality japan caps close to the slot and CPU, also Dual BIOS and CPU protection....
You can also see all the japan caps on the 462 Gigabyte, Dual BIOS and lot of other useful stuff. And the ABIT this is the best ever made socket 462 motherboard, 110% stable no matter what OC someone will made, very high quality...

I have here x2 shuttle trash boards, they are working, no leaked caps, and still NO japan caps on them, no Dual BIOS, no CPU protection, no x4 SDram slots, nothing..... If i can i will trow Shuttle boards to some gold digger, in exchange for other useful Slot 1 boards like ABIT, ASUS or Gigabyte......

Just my 2 piece of gold bars.....

lazibayer wrote:

Usually Award flash utility will tell you the model and size of your BIOS chip. For example, http://www.ecs.com.tw/extra/flashut […]
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tegrady wrote:

How do I determine if I have a 1 Megabit BIOS chip or a 2 Megabit BIOS chip? Thanks.

Usually Award flash utility will tell you the model and size of your BIOS chip. For example,

Yours doesn't say anything after "flash type -", so it's possible that your chip isn't supported by awdflash 8.99.

To determine the size of your chip, you can save your current BIOS to a file and check the file size. Or you can peel off the sticker on top of the chip and read the model number.

I tried an earlier version of Awdflash and received the same error. I also tried upgrading to one of the BIOs listed as 1 Megabit and still got the same error. Not sure what's going on.

I have ordered a Promise Ultra ATA PCI controller card, so that should solve my issue with recognizing larger hard drives....

Thanks.