SUCCESS!  It took forever but it finally went through.  There were all sorts of weird glitches & stuff that wasn't covered at all in any manual anywhere- lol.

The first time I tried the flash, I hadn't altered the jumpers on the board at all- this is when I kept getting the "source" error.  After I was "clued in" on the bios jumpers (with my other PC's it was done in the bios onscreen)- I checked the online .pdf manual for this board from ECS & if you read the text that refers to the pins, you'll see how strangely it's worded.  I decided to move the jumper & try again.  No go.

Next, I decide to change bios flash utility from the boot floppy Award to the Windows-based Winflash.  This time there's no prob on the "source error"- but it says it doesn't recognize the flash?  Gahh!
OK- I go back over everything again:  I put the jumper back to it's original position, use Winflash- this time having the utility & .bin in C:- it works!

Not quite over yet though~ It goes through the bios screen, sees my hardware, etc...I come to a screen saying: boot safemode, safemode w/dos, normal, or last good configuration.  I tried all four & got nothing--- yikes!!!

I decided, "scr*w it!"- I'll reload XP.  The CD wouldn't spin up- kept flashing but no boot.  Hmmm?  I restarted it about five times & finally the XP disk booted & I reloaded w/o issue.  Wheww!

I'm a happy camper now.  Got that stupid, cobbled emachine BIOS off- no more "emachine" splash screen- & I have the newest bios, to boot (no pun intended).

I also learned that manuals are a PITA!  Half the time they either give erroneous info or just omit it altogether.  Trial & error (& these forums) is how I've learned the bit I do know.

Just wanted to post this so everyone knew how it turned out.  Thanks for the input gang!



On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 11:56:23 -0000, m_sayer_ <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Tracy,
>I have just remembered that one of my m/b's had a switch (jumper) on it
>which had to be changed to allow the flashing of the bios. Maybe yours is
>the same?
>I would assume that this switch/jumper would cause the bios to be 'write
>protected' until altered?
>If there is such a switch/jumper on the board, the manual should refer to it
>somewhere.
>Hope this helps.
>Michele Sayer
>
>Everything goes along fine until it asks if I want to save my current BIOS-
>I say "Y"- name it, (oldbios.bin) then it starts the save process but ends
>with "Can't File Source File!"-------
>
>         PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download
>                     visit our download web page at:
>                  http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml

              The NOSPIN Group is now offering Free PC Tech
                     support at our newest website:
                          http://freepctech.com