I picked up & old Socket 7 mobo (MTI R534G) & it still had the original BIOS. I went to the MTI website, downloaded the latest BIOS version along with the Award flash utility. Just so ya know, I'm doing all this on the bench (i.e. not in a case) & there's no hard drive connected. I booted up with DOS 6.22 disk #1 in the floppy drive, which eventually kicked me back to the A: prompt due to the lack of a hard drive. Then I placed the floppy with the BIOS info into the drive. I typed AWDFLASH & the flash began...then I typed in the name of the new BIOS *.bin file. The flash continued to run as usual, but then I got an error message saying "Erase chip is Bad" & I got kicked back to the A: prompt again. When I rebooted, everything appeared to be OK & the original BIOS is still intact. Has anyone run across this before? Am I doing something wrong? or is the actual BIOS chip somehow damaged or corrupted? Thanks.

Since you asked, yes, I think you are doing something wrong. You should not try to flash your BIOS for no reason. So many people do this and end up ruining their motherboards, all for nothing. Of course if you do have a specific reason to update it just ignore the above. Usually the reason is to add support for newer processors. As for that error I have not seen it before. If everything is working ok I would just let it be.

The chip could have issues. I've never run into the error before though. The only other thing I might suggest is looking for the jumper to clear the NVRAM, which I'm sure you know clears the CMOS. Once you know it is clear try re-flashing the BIOS again. Just make sure you say the techs prayer this time first. "Please Work" KTTD

My problem is memory recognition. The board uses either 168 pin DIMMs or 72 pin SIMMs & supports 75 & 83mhz FSB. When I install a stick of 32mb PC100 SDRAM, it's recognized as only 8 mb. A stick of 128mb was seen as 32mb. If I change the jumper settings & install SIMMs instead, some are recognized as what they are, but most report as 1/2 their actual speed. 64mb (4 x 16mb) was seen as 32mb. I was hoping the new BIOS would fix that. The BIOS that's installed now is 3 versions behind. I didn't find any info regarding the other 2 versions & what they may fix, but the only info on the latest BIOS is that it adds support for LS-120.

The closest thing I can find is "erase chip failure" (symtom 7-110) The flash chip must be erased before the new BIOS can be programed into the chip. This is a report that it can't be erased by the loader program. WHY? There may be a "flash protect jumper" somewhere that needs to be set. An anti-virus measure, which is usually changing the voltage of the flash chip so that a virus can't erase the BIOS. The changing of the voltage back to the correct value is done with a jumper somewhere, but where? Last make sure that the flash loader you are using is the correct one for that particular motherboard. It may be different for each revision of the motherboard. The motherboard manual should have the necessary info in it, but where to get the manual? Maybe on MTI's website? The last resort will be to contact MTI or Badflash.com and get a new chip with the BIOS on it. It happens to all of us sooner or later. Right now I am waiting on an ASUS BIOS chip from Badflash which should be here next Monday or Tuesday. (Please, please, please, hope, hope, hope.)

Red Rider: Thanks very much. I had already downloaded the manual from the MTI website & only briefly looked thru it. After reading your post, I went back to the manual & there is indeed a jumper that has to be set before the BIOS flash can take place. That's a first for me...I've worked with a lot of different Socket7 boards, but I've NEVER seen that before! Thanks again...I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction. I'll post back later with my results...

Red Rider: SUCCESS! I found the info in the manual about the Flash EPROM selector...located the jumper on my board & set it accordingly...popped in the disk & everything went smoothly. Thanks again! :o)