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Ex58-extreme bios failure
I flashed the BIOS and there was a problem. On reboot, it recovered the BIOS from the HPA, and there was a problem. One of my hdd's was failing at the time, and it did not occur to me that it would affect my flash. On reboot, it loaded BootBlock BIOS, and began 'scanning bios image in hard drive...' and then it rebooted and reattempted this... continuously, for about 10m until it powers off.
The system reboots automatically and the same thing occurs. I have tried unplugging all of the hdds. i have tried unplugging the odds. i have tried resetting the cmos, removing the battery, jumpering the reset, removing the power cord, removing the extra ram sticks, discharging the capacitors with the pwr button, an axe, a hammer, and a fishing rod (ok i didnt try the fishing rod but i know theres a way). I have even tried the trick for disabling the main bios with a short (several baker's dozen worth of times, which results in a) a freeze then pwr-off after 5m or
b) instant pwr-off and then re-pwr.
the only difference is that the system will display 'bios auto-recovering.............' before rebooting if the drives are connected.
Here is the question: How do I re-write the HPA data onto the hdd? Does anyone know which application will do this? I have a functional system with a 41-series GB board if needed.
Edit: I found information: The primary function of the HPA is to store diagnostic utilities as well as a boot record; this is useful when it is not possible to boot from the primary partition. One can use the SET MAX ADDRESS command to reset the HPA to the maximum user addressable sectors, and then boot from what was the HPA. If the volatile bit is also set then the HDD retains the new values on power up or reboot.
Any HDD that supports the HPA will also support the commands READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS and SET MAX, as described in the working draft of ATA-6 interface.
The system reboots automatically and the same thing occurs. I have tried unplugging all of the hdds. i have tried unplugging the odds. i have tried resetting the cmos, removing the battery, jumpering the reset, removing the power cord, removing the extra ram sticks, discharging the capacitors with the pwr button, an axe, a hammer, and a fishing rod (ok i didnt try the fishing rod but i know theres a way). I have even tried the trick for disabling the main bios with a short (several baker's dozen worth of times, which results in a) a freeze then pwr-off after 5m or
b) instant pwr-off and then re-pwr.
the only difference is that the system will display 'bios auto-recovering.............' before rebooting if the drives are connected.
Here is the question: How do I re-write the HPA data onto the hdd? Does anyone know which application will do this? I have a functional system with a 41-series GB board if needed.
Edit: I found information: The primary function of the HPA is to store diagnostic utilities as well as a boot record; this is useful when it is not possible to boot from the primary partition. One can use the SET MAX ADDRESS command to reset the HPA to the maximum user addressable sectors, and then boot from what was the HPA. If the volatile bit is also set then the HDD retains the new values on power up or reboot.
Any HDD that supports the HPA will also support the commands READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS and SET MAX, as described in the working draft of ATA-6 interface.
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