I cannot flash my BIOS!

~~Optimummind~~ · Jan 8, 2003, 07:39 AM

I have the SOYO P4I Firedragon MB and I've been trying to flash my BIOS to the most current version which dates back to Nov 14 2002. I've downloaded the .bin file (BIOS) as well as their AWDFLASH.exe utility. I've followed their directions and typed in:

awdflash p4iy2ba3.bin

I can make it to the point where I can make a backup of my old BIOS. However, when I authorize the programming of the new BIOS, i get this message:

Flash-ROM is write-protected!

This motherboard doesn't have any jumpers except for the CMOS. It's not my floppy either. Does anyone know what's going on here??

ToshiroOC · Jan 8, 2003, 07:41 AM

I've never heard of that problem before - how strange. Does the motherboard come with a built in flashing utility in the ROM? (It will say something like press Alt+F2 to flash the bios during bootup..). If so, try that and see if you get the same results.

nheimler · Jan 8, 2003, 07:55 AM

this is probably an obvious question, but did you boot with a disk that loads nothing into memory? (e.g., nothing in autoexec.bat or config.sys files) bad bois upgrade download possibly? i've never owned a soyo board before. how about clearing the cmos before the upgrade, then follow through with clearing it afterwards. make sure you have all your settings written down of course.

~~Optimummind~~ · Jan 8, 2003, 12:37 PM

The P4I Firedragon doesn't come with a built-in flashing program. This board is the 2nd P4I I've owned (the first one died on me and I got a replacement through the warranty). On the first P4I I've owned, I had flashed it successfully using the AWDFLASH.exe program available from Soyo's homepage so I know there isn't a built-in flashing program. That's why I'm confused since the first board didn't give me such a weird message about the flash-rom being write-protected.

I've searched web sites, forums, and articles on BIOS and I haven't seen anything that dealt with my current situation. Oh well~~my board is working fine anyways. But still, this is annoying!

Thanks for the input and let me know if something new comes up.

RIV@NVX · Jan 8, 2003, 01:03 PM

There must be some "BIOS lock" option in BIOS.
Have you searched for it?

~~Optimummind~~ · Jan 8, 2003, 01:25 PM

Unfortunately, there is no such option under the BIOS.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jan 8, 2003, 02:44 PM

make sure your bios shadow option is set to disabled, turn of any virus protection options in your bios, disable any bios protect,cold boot onto a ms-dos, win 95 or 98 boot disk you can get one at
http://www.bootdisk.com copy your flash files to it and it should work...

good luck......

~~Optimummind~~ · Jan 8, 2003, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by The_Neon_Cowboy
make sure your bios shadow option is set to disabled, turn of any virus protection options in your bios, disable any bios protect,cold boot onto a ms-dos, win 95 or 98 boot disk you can get one at
http://www.bootdisk.com copy your flash files to it and it should work...

good luck......

Arrgghhh!! This didn't make it work either~~I'm about to give up. Perhaps I'll send an email to SOYO's tech support. How can Flash-ROM be write-protected??!!

~~Optimummind~~ · Jan 8, 2003, 04:47 PM

I think the problem was with the downloaded BIOS update from SOYO's homepage. Instead of updating my BIOS with the latest version (dated 11-14-2002 or sth), I used the BIOS .bin dated back to 9-27-2002. That BIOS's file name is: p4iy2ba2.bin

Using that one, I didn't get any Flash-ROM write-protected messages. Thanks guys for your input.

ToshiroOC · Jan 8, 2003, 06:23 PM

Glad to hear you got that fixed up - so essentially the only thing that was holding you back was using the most recent bios instead of the second most recent one? Interesting... I would still email Soyo and ask them about that - it's always good to report things like that to the manufaturer, as it will help them make better products in the future, that will either compete better in the market and drive down overall prices or will end up in your computer, with you gaining the benefits of your consumer activism

~~Optimummind~~ · Jan 8, 2003, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ToshiroOC
it's always good to report things like that to the manufaturer, as it will help them make better products in the future, that will either compete better in the market and drive down overall prices or will end up in your computer, with you gaining the benefits of your consumer activism

Agreed!