On Sat, 2004-05-29 at 12:18, Linux wrote: > > What is "protected boot block" and what is RMAed? excuse the ignorance Flash memory is organized in blocks of various sizes depending on the total size of the device. When you flash bios, it is written a block at a time and not all blocks within the eeprom need be reprogrammed...a protected block would be one that is not overwritten by the flashing procedure so that the original contents remain undisturbed. Some eeproms have a block fused so that once written, it cannot be changed again. RMA = return material authorization...you get an RMA number from the vendor so that when returned, the vendor knows what's inside the box and can route appropriately. > > You say I should still be able to but there is no drive to the screen and no > attempt to even read the bios etc. > Do you think that flashing the bios could damage a mb? I would not have > thought so, it is 5 days old with all components same age. It worked fine > until I flashed it. You hadn't used the eeprom write circuitry or the regulated programming voltage going to the eeprom until you tried flashing...the defect didn't show until you tried those "features". > > I tried clearing CMOS, removing battery, removing all power including power > cables to board just to be sure that it cleared but it remains dead and no > attempt to read bios or drives, I must say I have flashed a few before but > never had one go dead on me. > I saved the existing bios to floppy and have the cd but they are no good if > I cant get it to read from them. > > Jeff No screen display says BIOS died...you should get a display from the boot block even with a corrupted bios according to the Asus manual. Whether the eeprom died because it was defective or because a problem on the MB killed it, it is a problem for Asus and I would definitely return the board to your vendor...since the eeprom did get written once in a programmer somewhere, the indication is that the problem probably originated on the motherboard...so I wouldn't attempt to flash that new bios without thinking long and hard.
