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Hardware :: Desktop PC :: Knowledge base : how to fix a PC that won't boot after a BIOS flash upgrade ; no keyboard ?
By: VGR France  Date: 24/05/2006 09:28:08  English  Points: 0 Status: Answered
Quality : Excellent
If you upgraded your BIOS via flashing the CMOS (EEPROM?REPROM?), and now it won't pass the POST and boot your OS (Windows, etc), it's probably because the BIOS data is now mangled due to differences in the memory structures. You ***should probably*** have "cleared" the BIOS memory after flashing ; there is a command-line switch to do so (/CC for Award BIOS)

Then I recommend that you re-flash your old BIOS and everything should be fine until you upgrade again with the "correct" command-line arguments (see your flasher's documentation, again it's /cc for awfl*.exe )

The WORSE that can happen to you, and it happened to me, is when you don't have the KEYBOARD any more. The LEDs do flash (recognition phase, so no "keyboard missing" error with according number of beeps), but afterwards the keyboard seems inactive. So you can't even type answers into the BIOS flashing program (like "do you want to save old BIOS?" or "input file name" or the final "press F1 to continue").

In that occurence, you really feel abandoned and stuck, I guess ;-)

The solution is to use a bootable diskette - thanks the floppies! even in 2006 ;-) - for an OS like W98 and to automate the flashing process so that you don't need the keyboard.

You don't ***need*** to do a "complete BIOS erasal" via the motherboard CMOS jumper, but keep that in mind in case you fail to enter the BIOS after reflashing the old BIOS in.

Now, please note you can't use the ./flashuty/award/winflash.exe that you may have used in the past, 'cause Windows won't start. You need to use the "DOS" version, named like "AWFL833D.exe".

Let's detail.

First you need a secondary PC (with an internet connection, unless you have been very cautious and already have your old BIOS binary file & flasher, in which case I suspect you don't need my help ;-)

This is to download your "old" (say, "previous") BIOS revision. Example : K8N neo2 Plat's 1.4 rev. at this nice page (I could also have used the msi.com.tw site, but it's slower, lagging, and unaccessible at times. Try to google for a similar site for your motherboard)

You also need that PC to produce the bootable Win98 diskette and put the necessary files on it.

--- download software ---
1) get the archive (example 7025v14.zip )
2) uncompress/unzip to any folder/directory
This will produce a file list like :
What you are interested in are w7025nms.140 (BIOS binary image file) and awfl833d.exe (BIOS flasher), but nothing prevents you from reading the other files, especially if you don't know the command-line switches and arguments by heart ;-)

--- produce diskette ---
1) the Win98 boot : go to this nice site and download the W98 d7 producer ( boot98sc.exe)
2) run it, introduce a blank formatted 3,5" floppy disk and wait for completion.
3) delete all files on it except the system ones :
IO.SYS (hidden)
MSDOS.SYS (hidden)
HIMEM.SYS
CONFIG.SYS
COMMAND.COM
AUTOEXEC.BAT


4) edit the config.sys so that it reads simply :

DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off FILES=30 BUFFERS=20 LASTDRIVE=Z


5) copy the BIOS flasher and memory image(s) (floppy disk size permitting)
6) edit the autoexec.bat into :

@echo off awfl833d W7025nms.140 /Py /Sn /R


Please note that I did NOT add the "memory clear" switch (/CC) for the first try. Add it if ever you can't enter the BIOS after reflashing.
You can also omit /R and just reboot with the power switch :D

A classical list of the six useful switches is :

/Py or /Pn - stands for answering "yes" (Y) or "no" (N) to the request concerning the BIOS reflashing. By means of /Pn you can ban FlashROM reprogramming. This option enables you to save the current version of the BIOS or to get its checksum without updating your BIOS. A backup copy will help you to restore the previous version of the BIOS. By default /Py mode is set.

/Sy or /Sn - stands for answering "yes" (Y) or "no" (N) to the request about saving the previous version of the BIOS. By default /Py mode is set again. In this case before reprogramming the FlashROM microchip you'll need to confirm saving by this request:

Do You Want To Save BIOS (Y/N)

/Sn is recommended to use for *.bat-files in case of automatic BIOS reflashing in systems without a display.

/CC - to clear CMOS after reflashing. This option comes in handy when there is a risk that the data arrays created by new BIOS version in CMOS may differ from those former ones. If so, then you are likely to have troubles with the mainboard startup. Clearing CMOS will let you avoid searching for Clear CMOS jumper on the board, which is really helpful if it isn't accompanied with a proper manual or is simply hard to access.

/CP - stands for clearing PnP (ESCD) Data matrix after BIOS reflashing. The information about PnP devices is stored in ESCD. The key /CP is an equivalent to Reset Configuration Data in PnP/PCI Configuration CMOS Setup. It makes sense to use /CP if you skip several versions of BIOS or if you have installed new PnP cards. If you don not update the ESCD, your board may suffer some startup problems.

/CD - stands for clearing DMI Data pool after reprogramming. Literally, DMI is a data base, containing all the information on the system as a whole. Clearing it may be fruitful in the above mentioned situations with /CP and /CC keys, as well as if some of the system components have been changed.

/R - stands for the system reset after reflashing. It lets you have your computer restarted automatically as soon as you finish updating FlashROM. The option is useful for working through a *.bat-file.



7) put that diskette into the problematic PC and boot et voila ;-)
8) extract diskette, reboot machine, everything should be back at nominal stage (keyboard responding, BIOS familiar again, and even the OS should start).
9) now more carefully prepare your next BIOS upgrade ;-)

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