VOGONS


First post, by varrol

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I have a problem updating BIOS on my Asus P2B rev. 1.04 - always fails on one of two addresses during verification process.
Used both Aflash 1.37 and 2.21
Tried Bios 1012 and 1014.003

Funny is that when I try to flash back to the old BIOS it also fails on those addresses for the couple of runs and then it flashes successfully.

Also I'm not sure if Aflash should display new Bios after flashing - when changing from 1012 to 1014 still 1012 is shown as motherboard Bios.

Basically I have Bios version 1012 so its not bad, but someone put a subversion with no hardware monitor - however maybe that is the case and I should use 1014 without hardware monitor also.

AOpen AX6B+ | P3 1G | 1GB ECC REG | FX5200 | CT4500
AOpen AX59pro | K6-2 450M | 256MB | Rage 128
Asus CUBX-E | P3 1G | 512MB | GF4 TI4200 | YMF719E-S
Asus P3B-F | P3 933M | 384MB | Radeon 9200 | CT4520
Asus P5A | P55C 200M | 256MB | Riva TNT | CT3600

Reply 1 of 35, by bofh.fromhell

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varrol wrote:
I have a problem updating BIOS on my Asus P2B rev. 1.04 - always fails on one of two addresses during verification process. Used […]
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I have a problem updating BIOS on my Asus P2B rev. 1.04 - always fails on one of two addresses during verification process.
Used both Aflash 1.37 and 2.21
Tried Bios 1012 and 1014.003

Funny is that when I try to flash back to the old BIOS it also fails on those addresses for the couple of runs and then it flashes successfully.

Also I'm not sure if Aflash should display new Bios after flashing - when changing from 1012 to 1014 still 1012 is shown as motherboard Bios.

Basically I have Bios version 1012 so its not bad, but someone put a subversion with no hardware monitor - however maybe that is the case and I should use 1014 without hardware monitor also.

Silly question maby, but have you reseated the chip and is your battery OK?

Reply 2 of 35, by TheMobRules

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I had the same problem with an ASUS TXP4 motherboard. The problem was that the BIOS was an Intel chip not supported by the flash utility, I only realized that by reading on the manual that certain chips were not supported. I had to end up flashing with a programmer.

I recommend peeling the label from the BIOS chip in order to check the manufacturer and type.

Reply 3 of 35, by varrol

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bofh.fromhell wrote:

Silly question maby, but have you reseated the chip and is your battery OK?

I put new battery. Did not reseat the chip - I gonna take the motherboard out today and will try to do it, as well as clean it a little bit.

TheMobRules wrote:

I had the same problem with an ASUS TXP4 motherboard. The problem was that the BIOS was an Intel chip not supported by the flash utility, I only realized that by reading on the manual that certain chips were not supported. I had to end up flashing with a programmer.

I recommend peeling the label from the BIOS chip in order to check the manufacturer and type.

I think that aflash utility shows the exact brand and model number.

AOpen AX6B+ | P3 1G | 1GB ECC REG | FX5200 | CT4500
AOpen AX59pro | K6-2 450M | 256MB | Rage 128
Asus CUBX-E | P3 1G | 512MB | GF4 TI4200 | YMF719E-S
Asus P3B-F | P3 933M | 384MB | Radeon 9200 | CT4520
Asus P5A | P55C 200M | 256MB | Riva TNT | CT3600

Reply 4 of 35, by PARKE

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varrol wrote:
Basically I have Bios version 1012 so its not bad, but someone put a subversion with no hardware monitor...
snip
>>

This reminded me of something I once came across on this site:
ftp://ftp.tekwind.co.jp/pub/asustw/mb/slot1/440bx/p2b/

It seems there were two versions of the board, with- and without hardware monitor and there is a different BIOS version to go with each of them:
----------
bxnh1012.zip P2B (Intel 440BX chipset) without LM75/78 M/B, PnP BIOS ver. 1012 04/20/2000
----------
bx2i1012.zip P2B (Intel 440BX chipset) M/B, PnP BIOS ver. 1012 04/20/2000
----------

At the time I copied this note below:
(but I do not remember where exactly this note is situated)
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
LM 75/78 describes the Hardware Monitoring feature
If the right pane with the fan speed, temperature and voltage control appear
in the power management on the bios setup, so you have the LM75/78 hardware
monitoring feature and should update with the appropriate bios.
If not, you don't have the feature.
ASUS removed it from some new boards to reduce costs.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Maybe this is helpful.

Reply 5 of 35, by varrol

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PARKE wrote:

...
Maybe this is helpful.

The odd thing is that - when I run Speedfan under windows I get all the voltage, temp and fan readings fine - so HW monitor is present. So someone put incorrect BIOS? I'll try no HWM version of the latest Bios - if it flashes fine that would mean I cannot overwrite the one without HWM - or maybe I can but it reports verification error but would boot up fine.

AOpen AX6B+ | P3 1G | 1GB ECC REG | FX5200 | CT4500
AOpen AX59pro | K6-2 450M | 256MB | Rage 128
Asus CUBX-E | P3 1G | 512MB | GF4 TI4200 | YMF719E-S
Asus P3B-F | P3 933M | 384MB | Radeon 9200 | CT4520
Asus P5A | P55C 200M | 256MB | Riva TNT | CT3600

Reply 6 of 35, by PARKE

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My interpretation is that the 'Hardware Monitoring feature' refers to the on-board utilities plus the relevant section in the BIOS - not to external programs. Besides this I just noticed that the oldest revision of the P2B does not have an on-board thermal sensor connector which may also be a factor.
If your board has the power management setup as described in the manual for revision 104 you should be good with the bx2i1012 BIOS imo. If that does not work it there must be something else wrong.

Reply 7 of 35, by varrol

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Hah - finally it failed to flash permanently, then I bought a TL866 programmer and got the same error (same address). So the BIOS chip is broken - need to buy a new one.

Funny part is that, despite flashing error, system boots up - everything looks fine - I've got HW monitor in BIOS. Will need to test a little bit to make sure.

I'm trying to fin an answer if I can use any 2MBit EEPROM flash - 120ns or faster than original (AT49F002NT-120PC).

AOpen AX6B+ | P3 1G | 1GB ECC REG | FX5200 | CT4500
AOpen AX59pro | K6-2 450M | 256MB | Rage 128
Asus CUBX-E | P3 1G | 512MB | GF4 TI4200 | YMF719E-S
Asus P3B-F | P3 933M | 384MB | Radeon 9200 | CT4520
Asus P5A | P55C 200M | 256MB | Riva TNT | CT3600

Reply 8 of 35, by varrol

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Bought WINBOND W29C020C, flashed with the latest BIOS (1014.003) - working fine.

AOpen AX6B+ | P3 1G | 1GB ECC REG | FX5200 | CT4500
AOpen AX59pro | K6-2 450M | 256MB | Rage 128
Asus CUBX-E | P3 1G | 512MB | GF4 TI4200 | YMF719E-S
Asus P3B-F | P3 933M | 384MB | Radeon 9200 | CT4520
Asus P5A | P55C 200M | 256MB | Riva TNT | CT3600

Reply 9 of 35, by perhenden

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I successfully used the bx1012nh update for my "OPBX4 rev 1.0.2" labeled motherboard. It has a strange bios id string of '03/01/99-i440BX<<P2B>>-00'. Apparently, this card was an early OEM-version of Asus P2B, and not branded with "Asus". Used the aflash.exe 2.21 version.
This took me some time to research, so I write it down here, for the next person that goes looking!

Reply 10 of 35, by konsollfreak

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perhenden wrote on 2020-11-04, 21:19:

I successfully used the bx1012nh update for my "OPBX4 rev 1.0.2" labeled motherboard. It has a strange bios id string of '03/01/99-i440BX<<P2B>>-00'. Apparently, this card was an early OEM-version of Asus P2B, and not branded with "Asus". Used the aflash.exe 2.21 version.
This took me some time to research, so I write it down here, for the next person that goes looking!

Thanks man, I just bought a P2B too. Gonna look out for this.

Reply 11 of 35, by zyga64

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Asus P2B 1.04 is probably fake (according to Asus).

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  • Filename
    FAKEP2B.PDF
    File size
    402.19 KiB
    Downloads
    181 downloads
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    Public domain

1) VLSI SCAMP /286@20 /4M /CL-GD5422 /CMI8330
2) i420EX /486DX33 /16M /TGUI9440 /GUS+ALS100+MT32PI
3) i430FX /K6-2@400 /64M /Rage Pro PCI /ES1370+YMF718
4) i440BX /P!!!750 /256M /MX440 /SBLive!
5) iB75 /3470s /4G /HD7750 /HDA

Reply 12 of 35, by evasive

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@varrol: can you PLEASE make detailed pictures of your board and if possible a bios dump of the original bios?

We want to make a separate entry for this board in Ultimate Retro
https://www.ultimateretro.net/

Last edited by evasive on 2021-11-24, 22:10. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 14 of 35, by zyga64

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vetz wrote on 2020-11-13, 18:47:

First time I've ever heard about fake ASUS boards! Was this widespread?

I think I downloaded this file from somewhere in 2001/2002. Unfortunately I don't remember any details... 🙁

1) VLSI SCAMP /286@20 /4M /CL-GD5422 /CMI8330
2) i420EX /486DX33 /16M /TGUI9440 /GUS+ALS100+MT32PI
3) i430FX /K6-2@400 /64M /Rage Pro PCI /ES1370+YMF718
4) i440BX /P!!!750 /256M /MX440 /SBLive!
5) iB75 /3470s /4G /HD7750 /HDA

Reply 16 of 35, by varrol

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Wow, it seems I had a fake P2B - I had no idea they can be counterfeit. I no longer have it - sold in favour of P3B (and I suspect one of my P3Bs is counterfeit too) - but got some photos.

Amazing - it was so well made - really nice quality - mine was like brand new and worked flawlessly (besides BIOS chip - I no longer have original BIOS dump).

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AOpen AX6B+ | P3 1G | 1GB ECC REG | FX5200 | CT4500
AOpen AX59pro | K6-2 450M | 256MB | Rage 128
Asus CUBX-E | P3 1G | 512MB | GF4 TI4200 | YMF719E-S
Asus P3B-F | P3 933M | 384MB | Radeon 9200 | CT4520
Asus P5A | P55C 200M | 256MB | Riva TNT | CT3600

Reply 17 of 35, by auron

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that fakep2b.pdf is quite something... if the known fake boards at the time of writing were 1.04 marked, why even do a comparison with a 1.10 board instead of a genuine 1.04 one? unless fake and genuine 1.04 boards are literally impossible to tell apart (beyond that serial number sticker maybe), but given the awkward wording here it's hard to make much sense of what aspects are specific to fake boards.

wonder what even happened here, did an employee leave and leak the schematics or something?

Reply 18 of 35, by PARKE

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Some of the chosen examples to show the differences are indeed awkward.
For me the most compelling aspect is the frequency selection jumper set; instead of a 4-pin jumper block plus a separate AGP jumper there are only the 3 jumpers of the earlier board versions.
The board layout chosen by the counterfeiters is practically identical to rev. 1.02.

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Reply 19 of 35, by varrol

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Yeah - it does not make sense to show the difference between 1.04 and 1.10 - maybe at the time when there should have been only 1.10 left for sales - otherwise it may seem that genuine 1.04 is also fake...

Back in the days I often heard of producing fakes on the same lines as genuine (mostly cell phones) which were not possible to distinguish between - maybe same situation - they got parts left for 1.04 and they decided to make some money on them 😉

AOpen AX6B+ | P3 1G | 1GB ECC REG | FX5200 | CT4500
AOpen AX59pro | K6-2 450M | 256MB | Rage 128
Asus CUBX-E | P3 1G | 512MB | GF4 TI4200 | YMF719E-S
Asus P3B-F | P3 933M | 384MB | Radeon 9200 | CT4520
Asus P5A | P55C 200M | 256MB | Riva TNT | CT3600