Horun wrote on 2024-12-30, 06:09:

An eeprom programmer is one of the most valuable tools anyone doing vintage can have and pays for itself with just one use. With it you could check your prom and see if it is still good, and if is can flash it.

Till date, was not having the need for a programmer but I am now contemplating on getting one. Cost seems to be a little prohibitive though for the 40 pin ones.

One note about making a bootblock flash recovery disk: Never test it on a working computer because if you did it proper it will/could write to it's eeprom messing it up.The proper command line structure for a boot black flash forces a bios write....

Agree on this. That is one reason I first tried it on a VM and on DOSBOX as well 😁 and any how it failed to start specifying BIOS mismatch. Same case with my actual PC. However, need to careful nevertheless.

soggi wrote on 2024-12-30, 07:02:

Depending of were you are situated you can also ask VOGONS' users to do that for you for a couple of bucks.

I am from India and yet to come across anyone into retrocomputing in my vicinity. So this seems like a dead end.

soggi wrote on 2024-12-30, 07:02:

Yeah...like Horun said, a programmer is very valuable - especially if you don't have another board to hotflash (for that it mostly only needs support for the same type of EEPROM/Flash, the rest doesn't matter normally). Because I own a wide range of boards, I don't have a programmer until now...but have to buy some one in the future, it's easier to handle and there's lower risk.

If I understand for hotflashing, only the actual ICs need to be matched and doesn't matter if it is from a totally different board/socket type. Let me know otherwise. If so, I do have an Asus P2B rev 1.10 and need to find it. Meanwhile if somebody could chime in on the IC model on the same P2B rev, would be helpful. The current IC on the M6VLR is Winbond W49F002U-12B.

stealthjoe wrote on 2024-12-30, 05:39:

I use the cable in the opposite way, I get the "INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" error.

Uhh?
That sounds like you've plugged it backwards at least once.

Inserte system disk is a step after "detecting floppy"

Does the light flash when you do that?

I suggest posting pics of the cable plugged in. Both ends

myne wrote on 2024-12-30, 13:07:

Uhh? That sounds like you've plugged it backwards at least once. […]
Show full quote

stealthjoe wrote on 2024-12-30, 05:39:

I use the cable in the opposite way, I get the "INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" error.

Uhh?
That sounds like you've plugged it backwards at least once.

Inserte system disk is a step after "detecting floppy"

Does the light flash when you do that?

I suggest posting pics of the cable plugged in. Both ends

I had actually plugged it in the required position. If reversed, then the floppy light will be always ON right from starting the board. Not in this case. Below are the pics.

The Gotek lights up only after the message "Detecting floppy drive A media" and stays this way forever.

stealthjoe wrote on 2024-12-30, 09:19:

I am from India and yet to come across anyone into retrocomputing in my vicinity. So this seems like a dead end.

There's at least one other from India here (-> BEEN_Nath_58) - I know, India is a very large country and I don't know if shipment costs are the same for the whole country no matter if it's 25 or 2500 km distance (here in Germany they are the same).

stealthjoe wrote on 2024-12-30, 09:19:

If I understand for hotflashing, only the actual ICs need to be matched and doesn't matter if it is from a totally different board/socket type. Let me know otherwise.

Even the EEPROM/Flash doesn't have to be the same one...it just has to be supported by the board on which you want to hotflash the BIOS for your bricked board and - of course - by the flash tool. I already flashed a BIOS for an AMD board on an Intel board (or vice versa). Good support is more likely if the chips are more similar to each other and have same size, but this is not mandatory.

kind regards
soggi

https://www.google.com/search?q=india+bios+flash+service
I'm sure if you change it to your city, you'll find a few people worth emailing

The OP has an image of the boot block BIOS screen on his PC with a PCI video card. Here's one from a Socket A system so it presumably had a PCI or AGP video card, as did my KT7A when I corrupted the BIOS and saw this screen. My take is that at some point they updated the boot block BIOS to support PCI video cards. But maybe I'm misinterpreting these images?

Are we 100% sure the "disk" is bootable?
It'd be funny if the gotek isn't sending the right disk image or it simply isn't a bootable image.

Update:
I bit the bullet and decided to try hotflashing. The donor board is an Asus P2B rev 1.10. First used awdflash, but it stalled at the main screen. Tried different parameters, but the same result.

Today, I proceeded to use UniFlash. Copied the file and started the process on P2B. Swapped the chips and ran the parameter with the BIOS file once in the Win98 bootdisk.

The flashing completed successfully. Switched off the board and re swapped the ICs. Then connected the M6VLR board. Now for the moment of truth.
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Voila!!!!! The M6VLR board posted successfully using the onboard VGA port. Finally!!!! To be sure it was a success, did some more tests such as booting into Windows 98, testing the ISA sound card, etc. Most importantly and surprisingly, the Gotek is now detected at startup and also within Windows. I also tested the P2B board to be sure there was no damage. That posted fine as well.

Thank you so much @soggi, @Repo Man11, @Spoxi & @Horun. If not for UniFlash and all your help, all of these efforts would have been a failure. This is a real game changer.

Good to hear 😀

Congratulations! That's exactly what I expected - UniFlash does it when everything else fails.

I know, at first glance it's one of the last things you want to do with a running motherboard - removing a chip from its socket, but it works and is the easiest way if you don't have a flasher/programmer.

kind regards
soggi