You need an EEPROM burner.
I would at least try clearing the cmos before trying again. beeps means the bios is doing something and
You should be able to look up what the beeps mean, unless You meant no beeps as well now.

It makes a quick double-beep and the CD-ROM drive blinks a few times but that's it

Do you have another mainboard with compatible EEPROM socket? You could try a hotflash.

Doornkaat wrote on 2023-06-22, 10:14:

Do you have another mainboard with compatible EEPROM socket? You could try a hotflash.

I think the closest thing would be my 486 (Intel Classic R), but I'd feel better using an EEPROM programmer. I got one of those CH341A units awhile ago for flashing video cards, not sure if it's the same type I need or what to look for if not...

You need something that can work with 32pin DIP, your programmer is not designed for that afaik. The current eeprom is probably a 27c010 or similar 1mbit.

hotflash. any other motherboard with a compatible socket will do. i think i used uniflash the last time i did this. damn p4m90-m4 bios spontaneously corrupted on its own.

I also hotflash in these situations. I have a Socket 7 board with the BIOS socket in a corner for this purpose.

kahlil88 wrote on 2023-06-21, 03:14:

I seem to have bricked my Gigabyte GA-586HX board trying to update the BIOS and double bricked it in my attempt to recover the original BIOS.
I downloaded the latest BIOS from Gigabyte but used a later version of adwflash that has the /tiny option (the one provided kept saying "insufficient memory"). It appeared to flash fine, but after a reboot I got no video and some odd beeps. I made a recovery disk following this guide, and thankfully was smart enough to backup the original BIOS before flashing. It must have attempted the flash because there was quite a bit of disk activity, followed by a few minutes of silence. I crossed my fingers and manually restarted but now it's even more dead. Beeps, no video, no floppy activity.

Maybe a bit late to the party, but have this board, and in my experience it's kind of picky with Awdflash versions. The version bundled with the latest BIOS from Gigabyte's support site would not work for me.

I've also experienced Awdflash not dumping the BIOS correctly. Maybe your backup is corrupt?

Attached the BIOS I'm using (2.9), an Awdflash version that worked with my board (7.71), and MR BIOS for the GA-586HX if you want to play around with that instead.

You can try the blind flash method you used before with those files. If it doesn't work (and it probably won't given what you've told us about floppy activity etc), I'd suggest reading up some on 29 series EEPROMs, and then try flashing your BIOS chip with some suitable host. A proper HW flasher like a TL866 would of course be the safest and easiest option - in my opinion an HW flasher is a must have in the retro computing enthusiast's toolbox - but there are also alternatives ranging between DIY Arduino based HW flashers like Tommyprom, using software + option rom socket in a network card etc, or hotflashing in another computer as suggested earlier in the thread.

Not sure if this will work with you but I had a problem back in the day flashing my GA-5AX.
It turned out that if you put literally command.com (doing a format /s) and the bios .bin file on a floppy, the bios had a recovery feature - it worked. May be helpful for you?
The instructions were put the floppy disk in the drive before turning on then just leave it to do its thing.

What's a good source for the TL866 flasher or something comparable?

kahlil88 wrote on 2023-07-08, 04:39:

What's a good source for the TL866 flasher or something comparable?

Ordered my T56 directly from Xgecu's Aliexpress shop, https://xgecu.aliexpress.com/store/4805043 .

In retrospect, a T48 would have been enough. Consider buying a kit including adapters for other chip packages. PLCC is common even in old computers, and when you're dealing with newer stuff you might want adapters for different surface mounted packages.

Looks like the TL866 specifically has gone out of production. Be aware that there still are lots of TL866 counterfeits on the market that might or might not work.

XGecu T48 has arrived, however the numbers on the bottom of the chip don't seem to come up in its database. Sticker says PCI/PNP 586 and shows a serial number, nothing underneath it. Socket on the motherboard says 27010.

kahlil88 wrote on 2023-07-12, 02:27:

XGecu T48 has arrived, however the numbers on the bottom of the chip don't seem to come up in its database. Sticker says PCI/PNP 586 and shows a serial number, nothing underneath it. Socket on the motherboard says 27010.

Yeah, also noticed that the silkscreen print says 27010, which is kind of funny. A 27 series (E)EPROM wouldn't work at all since the pinout is completely different from the 1Mbit 29 series EEPROM the board expects 😀

My board specifically used an SST29EE010. The make/model can be found on top under the BIOS hologram label, but if you don't want to remove it, you can use the profile for any 5V 29 series 1 Mbit EEPROM in XGPro if you skip the ID check. I'd suggest that you try the SST29EE010 profile, and if your board is using another model and fails the check, just untick the "ID check" box in the lower left corner before trying again.

As a sidenote, you might also be interested in Xgecu's official programmer software/firmware update channel here if you haven't found it already.

Nothing under the hologram label except for another small sticker that says 5HX. It does give an ID check error but if you're sure it will work, I'll do a test read and try flashing one of the BIOS ROMs you posted!

kahlil88 wrote on 2023-07-12, 07:13:

Nothing under the hologram label except for another small sticker that says 5HX. It does give an ID check error but if you're sure it will work, I'll do a test read and try flashing one of the BIOS ROMs you posted!

That's odd, never encountered an unmarked EEPROM myself.

Yeah. As long as it passes verification after programming, you're good to go 😀

kahlil88 wrote on 2023-07-12, 07:13:

Nothing under the hologram label except for another small sticker that says 5HX. It does give an ID check error but if you're sure it will work, I'll do a test read and try flashing one of the BIOS ROMs you posted!

Started playing around some in Xgpro and found Read ID under the Device menu. Maybe you can find your chip in this list and identify it that way? 😀

Wasn't quite sure which file to use for the MR BIOS so I flashed the other and it's alive! I did end up flashing it via floppy but now it won't boot my CF card. Oh well, nothing wrong with the original BIOS (except that eyesore EPA logo)
Thanks for the list! ID check says 1FD5 (Atmel AT29C010A)

kahlil88 wrote on 2023-07-12, 08:30:

Wasn't quite sure which file to use for the MR BIOS so I flashed the other and it's alive! I did end up flashing it via floppy but now it won't boot my CF card. Oh well, nothing wrong with the original BIOS (except that eyesore EPA logo)
Thanks for the list! ID check says 1FD5 (Atmel AT29C010A)

Ah good job 😁 You're right, there were two MR BIOS images. There are differences if you compare the images by content, but they seem identical when installed. IIRC I ended up using V098b5wf.bio image, since its modification date is newer.

That's probably a question of settings. I'd just load the setup defaults and reconfigure the BIOS from scratch if I were you 😀

Oh, and you can replace or remove the EPA logo with CBROM if you like. There are also 3rd party GUI editors that should be able to do the job.

I made a nice custom Gigabyte logo and thought I'd share