BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

[FreddyAV]

Hi!

I have had a P35 S3L (PCB version 1.0) laying around for some time and the other day I ordered a Pentium DC E5200 since the latest available BIOS (F8) apparently supports this CPU.

I put an old E6300 Core2 CPU in the mobo and booted into Ubuntu Server 8.10 and fixed the network connection so that I could install some additional software. I rebooted several times and the network connection work on all reboots. I downloaded the F8 BIOS on an other computer, put in on my USB-stick with DOS and flashed it to my S3L, entered BIOS, loaded optimized defaults, made some more changes and saved the BIOS changes.
After this, the network adapter is not present in the device information table (last one before the OS gets loaded from disk), the choice of enable/disable for "onboard LAN H/W" in "Integrated peripherals" is gone, LAN MAC says N/A in system information in the BIOS settings (i.e. go into BIOS, press F9) and the leds on the back are dead. Obviously the same Linux install finds no hardware and hence I have no working ethernet connection.

I have tried to clear CMOS, flash most of the available BIOS versions throuh both DOS and QFlash. In DOS I've tried using "/C /E" when flashing, in QFlash I've tried both settings on keeping DMI pool data. If I flash an older version of the BIOS I can get the "onboard LAN H/W" item/option to appear again but toggling and saving BIOS settings has no effect.

I found two related previous threads in the forum:

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/one-ethernet-not-working-how-do-i-fix-28376/index2.html#post268313

where the guy apparently got the LAN hw to work again after there was some error with the flashing and the BIOS was recovered from the dual BIOS. My board has no dual BIOS from what I understand.

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/cant-connect-internet-after-bios-flash-29665/

Where the hardware is working to some extent since the driver/OS at least finds the LAN hardware. This does not seem to be the case for me.

I've still not opened the new CPU box since I might have to send it back.

What should I do?? Please help!

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Your right, your board only has virtual dual BIOS so shorting the chip or recovery from the secondary BIOS is not possible.

Try flashing from DOS again using these switches all at once

/py /sn /cd /cc /f /cp /r

Like so in case you are not sure >>>

flash895 p35-s3l.f8 /py /sn /cd /cc /f /cp /r

Or
flashSPI p35-s3l.f8 /py /sn /cd /cc /f /cp /r

^^ Whichever your BIOS downloads come with FlashSPI or Flash895 I mean

Then after the reboot load and apply optimized defaults only and F10 out and back to the BIOS. Of course also adjust the file name if that is not it, just wanted to give you an example in case you was not sure about it all.

Use this file, just in case your other is messed up somehow?
ftp://download.gigabyte.ru/bios/moth...p35-s3l_f8.exe

[FreddyAV]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Hi

Thanks for your reply. I tried what you suggested (using flashspi) but the program exits with the message that it could not load the BIOS file correctly if I include any of the command line switches you suggest and then goes on to loose USB-HDD support and locks up, but that is an other problem. I copied the files to an other HDD I had available, booted with the USB disk, changed drive to the other one and ran flashspi from there. In this case it does not lock the computer up, but still the same message about not being able to read BIOS file successfully. Doing a "normal" flash, i.e. "flashspi p35s3l.f8", still works from both drives though.

Running only flashspi lists available command line switches and none of the ones you suggested are in that list, however these are:

/C - Clear DMI pool data after...
/D - Load CMOS defaults after ...
/E - Clear CMOS after...
/R - Reboot System after...
/S - Save Original BIOS ...

Are you sure that the command line switches you suggested are not for awdflash?? Anyway, as you can see from my first post I already tried using /C /E with flashspi to no avail.

So... any more input? It would be highly appreciated!

[FreddyAV]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Uhmm yeah, one more thing, can I use awdflash instead of flashspi?? What about flash895??

I would like the possibility to use /cp to clear the PnP data after flash...

[FreddyAV]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Just thought I'd mention that I downloaded the "rset8168.exe" DOS diagnostic utility (version 1.10) from Realtek's website. Whan I run it, it finds nothing and just returns to the command prompt.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

USB Hard drive support, you lost me there? Please use a USB Stick and not a USB Connected Hard drive, or a floppy disk.

Yes, you can use awdflash, but I suggest not. Here is the meaning of the switches I posted, looks the same for FlashSPI only shorter switches. Sorry I forgot that it mattered!

/PY = program flash memory / program yes
/SN = don't save existing BIOS / save no
/CD = clear DMI data after programming / Clear DMI
/CC = clear CMOS data after programming. / Clear CMOS
/R = reset system after programming / Reboot

Extra
/CP = clear PnP (ESCD) data after programming
/QI = use BIOS I.D. string from BIOS .bin file

************************************************** *****
/f = flash/Force << Not needed, be careful when using to be sure you know what you are flashing/doing

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/gigabyte-latest-bios-28441/index129.html#post305818

Are you using the latest FlashSPI that came with the download? One other thing you could do is flash Via @BIOS and see if that corrects it, but I would only do that if you are stable. I think you already tried it though, maybe try again with the new BIOS file if you already did and failed before.

I would go ahead and see if awdflash will get it done for you using the above switches I mentioned the first time. It is an award BIOS so I see no reason why it would not work, but I have not tried myself since 965P a few years ago when Flash895 was around.

If it does not work then try @ BIOS as suggested below.

I do think the issue is the new QFlash that is part of the BIOS update, that's why Qflash is failing. If you have not already tried @BIOS try it now, and uncheck the Keep DMI Data button. @BIOS should not error on you with the new Qflash coding in it, this issue with Qflash has been happening across the versions for the past few months since they have been updating it. Less users using this model has brought in little or no reports of this so they likely are unaware of the issues.

[FreddyAV]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Hi

I'm talking about a USB-stick, it's just that USB-sticks can be formated in one of two ways; either as a floppy or as a HDD. Mine happens to be formated as a HDD (and is detected as a USB-HDD at boot) and thus my comment. Sorry about the confusion. The other thing I used was a HDD attached to the PATA-port.

Yes I'm using the flashspi that came with the F8 BIOS download (I assume it is the latest since it is the latest BIOS).

I'm not familiar with @BIOS, what is that?

I will dig up a recent awdflash version and give it a go, unless you have one laying around? :)

Then you lost me... problem with QFlash? QFlash failing? Remember the original BIOS upate that scraped my LAN was through DOS. No subsequent update through QFlash has ever failed to update the BIOS on me. Could you please explain what you mean with this "QFlash failing"?

Thanks for you input/help! :)

[FreddyAV]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Uhmm... "through BIOS" should read "through DOS". I've corrected the previous post. Sorry about the mess. :)

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

@BIOS is a program I suggest to not use, but only as a last resort which you have come to. It is a program that lets you flash the BIOS from within windows. Just be sure you load optimized defaults first, or that you are stable anyway before using it.

Sorry about the Qflash comments, I thought it was failing on you not DOS.

Here is @BIOS download page >>
GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Utility

awdflash I have (may not be the latest, but I did grab it last week to flash a Alienware to flash an unsupported BIOS into it) >>
awd873.zip

Do notice, the file name is not awdflash, so you will need to rename it to that or use awd873 in DOS.

You should be fine using @BIOS though, just be sure your system is stable and not overclocked

[FreddyAV]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

My problem is that I do not have a Windows install on this machine. I will have to transfer a HDD from an other machine so that I can run @BIOS. Will try with awdflash before @BIOS but I will have to wait until after the current thunderstorm as to avoid a power shortage/drop while flashing. :)

Stability is not an issue and I have never overclocked this motherboard.

Thanks for your help so far. Will get back to the thread when I've tried the two things you suggest.

/Fredrik

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Yes, that is true. Sorry about that

Yes, PLEASE DO NOT do any flashes if it is storming!!! Good thinking, and good luck I will see you later tonight

[FreddyAV]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Hi again

Sorry about the delay, we had our first child three weeks ago. He has a tendency to distort my planning! :)

Anyway, downloaded awdflash version 8.93 and it is a no-go since it does not even recognize my flash rom chip (i.e. nothing happens). Won't write or save BIOS unfortunately.

I did however find "uniflasher" with SPI support. Two questions: Have you ever tried it and can I thus trust it? [EDIT] removed some text related to SPI since I found this.[/EDIT]

Will try to find a Windows install I can move to this motherboard so I can use @BIOS but so far haven't had the time.

One more thing. I found a Award DMI editor and had a look around. The UUID for the motherboard is all FFs (i.e. FF FF FF FF etc). Since the related issues I linked in the first post all seemed to have circled around the flashing destroying DMI-data for the MAC address I'm thinking maybe I need a valid UUID for the MB as well. Total guesswork I know, but still, do you know anything about this??

Last thing: How does virtual dual BIOS work? Is there some documentation on how it works and how it is to be used??

F

[FreddyAV]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Ok, I used the DMI editor to browse my other Gigabyte motherboard (P35-DS4 ver 1.?) and the system UUID is equal to that systems MAC address! Except for 10 additional "00"s since UUIDs are longer than MACs.

This is can't be all a coincidence so I used the tool to edit my S3L's UUID from:

FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
to
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1A 4D 94 4F F3 (last six used to be the MAC address of that board)

but no change (that is LAN still not working, still not in BIOS device list just before booting OS, and going into BIOS setup at boot and pressing F9 for system information still says "N/A" for LAN MAC)!

However two important things though:

1) After I had set the UUID (which survives reboots) the UUID was again set to FF... when I flashed the BIOS with F8 (didn't try with any other).
2) I never get the message "Updating DMI pool data.... success" or "Verifying DMI pool data..." (don't know the exact spellings but you know which ones I mean) at boot. I do however get that on the DS4 motherboard. Does this indicate that my motherboard is broken in some other way?

I kind of feel that he DMI-part of my system is really messed up. I really would like my motherboard to rebuild the DMI pool data by itself, I have a feeling that would fix my problem, but how to force it???

F

[FreddyAV]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Bump.

Anyone?

[FreddyAV]

Re: BIOS update killed my LAN! (P35-S3L ver 1.0)

Bump again. Please?