I am trying to upgrade the BIOS on a pc using floppy disks, i keep getting this error message in the middle of the process:
Phoenix phlash error
Cannot flash when memory managers ( e.g. HIMEM) are present.
press any key to exit.
I have tried several different ways, i have used WINDOWS ME start up disks then put in a floppy disk with just the PHLASH.exe flash utility program and the platform.bin BIOS file. Any help really appreciated.
It just occurred to me that a *.BIN file is NOT a Phoenix bios update file !
A *.ROM file is a Phoenix bios update file !
(OR, a *.ROM file can be an AMI bios update file.)
………
First of all, are you SURE you got the RIGHT Trigem bios update download?
imp_glve_101.exe is for the Trigem Imperial GLVE motherboard.
Are you SURE you have the GLVE motherboard ?
Look at the pictures here:
Trigem Imperial-G/GV/GL/GLVE Mainboard
http://www.e4allupgraders.info/dir1…
If your mboard is NOT GLVE, there’s no guarantee the bios update will work !
The only other Trigem bios update there on the e4all site is labelled for GLA .
Is your emachines model this mboard was / is in listed on the left side of that page ? It SHOULD be !
I tried many of the models listed on that page here:
Drivers and Downloads
http://www.emachines.com/support/dr…
NONE of the ones I tried have a bios update listed !
The Readme file beside the imp_glve_101.exe download on the e4all site says….
Good luck trying to translate Korean !
It attempts to translate the Korean characters on the right into English on the left.
Trigem is a company in Korea that makes Trigem mboards and all emachines systems. (Most newer emachines systems do not have Trigem mboards – the mboards are made by various major brands.) They ship their systems all over the world and their systems end up with bios versions suitable for the country the brand, in this case an emachines system, is sold in, but in this case, this bios update appears to be meant for upgrading a Korean bios version ! (They also supply some models sold as HP and Compaq desktop models.)
You may flash the bios successfully and then find the text in the bios is in Korean !
It may not be an emachines bios version !
I downloaded imp_glve_101.exe and executed it. I managed to make the boot floppy, but there was NO English text on the message boxes, just lines, except for an Error message, and on the buttons – OK, Cancel, Yes, No, etc.
I got text flashing by on a small message box, then
ERROR in a small message box over that.
Then I clicked on OK.
Then with a floppy in a drive , I clicked on OK again, then Yes.
It showed that it was formatting the floppy and while doing so apparently it extracted files to it.
(By the way, the first floppy I tried had bad sectors on it and it wouldn’t let me format it, etc.)
I looked at the contents of the floppy.
It has a —–.txt file that can’t be read.
It has the PHLASH.EXE flash utility (NOT PHFLASH) , PLATFORM.BIN, and a D00A.ROM file .
The platform.bin file is TOO SMALL to be a bios update !
The *.ROM file is the right size (512kbit – 1/8th the size of the bios flash chips’s 4mbit capacity – the update itself is always compressed).
(If the *.bin file were 512kbit it would be an AWARD bios update !)
It already has IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS (both are hidden files) and COMMAND.COM (visible) on it.
(When I boot with it the screen displays Starting Windows 98 – I made the floppy in Windows 98SE – it may copy whatever system files the system has, or it may already have those.)
It has an UP.BAT file – inside that file (RIGHT click on a *.bat file, choose Edit to read it ; DO NOT choose Open or double click on it, or it will Run) it has a line
PHLASH D00A.ROM /s /x /c /mfg /mode=3
That’s the line that loads PHLASH and the bios update file, and the /things after that are command line switches that perform functions the phlash utility executes automatically.
Apparently what you’re supposed to do is insert the floppy, boot the computer with it, and at the prompt, type: UP, press Enter.
……
When you boot into Dos and type /? after the name of most flash utilities, you get a list of the command line switches. I did that with the flash floppy.
There were so many switches listed only the latter part of the text about them was on the screen.
I typed PHLASH /? > A:/SWITCHES.TXT (press Enter) to make a text file on the floppy – switches.txt – that has the output text of the result of typing PHLASH /? .
I looked at switches.txt in Windows.
“PHLASH D00A.ROM /s /x /c /mfg /mode=3 “
/s – Silent operation (turn off speaker).
/x – not listed
/c – Clear CMOS checksum after programming. (Clear Cmos contents after flashing ?)
/mfg – Manufacturing mode – Automatically reboot without keypress.(after flashing)
/mode=3 – not listed
At the bottom of switches.txt it says:
To FLASH a part you also need the following files:
1) PLATFORM.BIN (manufacturer specific initialization file)
2) BIOS.ROM (BIOS ROM image file)
– so – you need BOTH PLATFORM.BIN and D00A.ROM on the flash floppy
……
I looked at PLATFORM.BIN in notepad
– most of it is in machine characters except for
Intel NBVV (FWH4 4M-bit ROM) CR board ZQFD2.00 BIOS.ROM
…….
4M-bit ROM – the bios flash chips’s capacity is 4mbit
……
I tried booting with the flash floppy on my 98SE system which has an Award bios version, and typing PHLASH to see what the utility looked like.
I saw the screen but it immediately generated an error message:
OPEN FAILED ON BIOS ROM IMAGE FILE.
(No memory manager error message).
I’m not sure what that message indicates.
I assume it’s either because
– the mboard was detected to not have a phoenix bios version
or – it was because I had not specified a *.ROM bios update file on the command line, e.g. PHLASH D00A.ROM, without the command line switches, would start up PHLASH and specify the *.ROM file, then you would choose what you want to do in the flash utility screens..
……..
After you flash the bios, the first time you boot you will get a “Cmos Checksum Error….” or similar message. You will either be prompted to enter the bios Setup or you will automatically go there. Enter the bios Setup, and set the Date an Time, Save bios settings.
(If you used UP.BAT, the previous Cmos contents have probably already been cleared. When you are not sure whether they’ve been cleared, you also load Bios Defaults after flashing the bios, otherwise, the contents of the Cmos part of the bios and what you see in the bios Setup may not match the bios version, and your settings in the bios Setup may not work properly.)
…….
NOTE that some Trigem mboards are known to have this problem….
Some mboards develop this problem – electrolytic capacitors were installed on them that were not properly made, and they fail eventually – the mboard manufacturer didn’t know they were improperly made at the time the mboard was made.
Open up your case and examine the mboard to see if you have bad capacitors, and/or other findable signs of mboard damage .
This was the original bad capacitor problem – has some example pictures.
History of why the exploding capacitors and which mboard makers were affected:
http://members.datafast.net.au/~dft…
What to look for, mboard symptoms, example pictures:
http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=5
Home page that site
– what the problem is caused by
– he says there are STILL bad capacitors on more recent mboards.
http://www.badcaps.net/
Pictures of blown capacitors, other components, power supplies, Athlon cpu’s, etc.:
http://www.halfdone.com/Personal/Jo…