American Megatrends Megathon, User Manual

Page: 45 / 55

Chapter 3 Programming the Flash ROM 39
3 Programming Flash ROM
All versions of the Megathon PCI motherboard use Flash EPROM to store the
system BIOS. The advantage of Flash EPROM is the EPROM chip does not have
to be replaced to update the BIOS. The end user can actually reprogram the
BIOS, using a ROM file supplied by American Megatrends.
Programming the Flash EPROM
Step Action
1 Turn power off. Make sure the computer has a working speaker.
2 Insert the floppy disk with the S804P.ROM file in drive A:.
3 Press and hold the <Ctrl> and <Home> keys down while turning
the power on. Continue to hold the <Ctrl> and <Home> keys down
until the access light on the floppy drive comes on. It may take 10
seconds or more before this light turns on.
Since Megathon uses a 2 megabit BIOS, the flashing process may
take up to 3 minutes.
4 Release the <Ctrl> and <Home> keys. AMIBIOS issues a series of
beep codes that indicate that the system BIOS ROM file is being
updated.
5 When the flash ROM has successfully been programmed, the
computer will reboot.
6 When the computer reboots, check the BIOS Release text at the
bottom of the first boot screen to make sure that the correct BIOS
has been used.
7 The error message
NVRAM checksum bad, NVRAM cleared
will appear during the first boot after a successful BIOS ROM
update. This message indicates that the NVRAM area in the
system BIOS has been cleared. AMIBIOS will reconstruct the
NVRAM area before the computer boots completely, so you can
safely ignore this message.
8 Load the optional default and save.
Cont’d