uniflash.doc

UniFlash s version 1.17

                    UniFlash's version 1.17 documentation.
                    --------------------------------------
               (C) 1998 Pascal Van Leeuwen and Galkowski Adam

"Your program just saved the day for me!
 I tried to use AWDFLASH.exe to flash my new Shuttle HOT-603 v2.0(AMD640)
 with the new 603WWQ07.bin BIOS and it did! The only problem was that the
 BIN file wasn't complete.
 Evidently this destroyed the boot block too. I tried to restore the old
 BIOS to that EEPROM on a HOT-565(430TX) with all the other flash
 programs I could get my hands on to no avail. I was able to flash the
 HOT-603's EEPROM to 565WIQ0E.bin and it worked just fine on the HOT-565
 so I knew the chip it's self was still good. I finally gave up and
 ordered a replacement chip this morning. This evening while surfing I
 saw a  reference to you'r program on http://ping.be and downloaded it.
 With the 'Expert' mode I was able to properly flash the Winbond
 W29EE011-15 chip on the HOT-565 for the HOT-603."
 - Jack Freeman


0.0            DISCLAIMER
-------------------------
WARNING:
THIS PROGRAM COMMUNICATES WITH THE CHIPSET AND FLASH ROM CHIP AT THE LOWEST
HARDWARE LEVEL. WE INFORM YOU THAT THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROGRAM MAY BE
DANGEROUS TO YOUR COMPUTER'S BIOS IF NOT USED PROPERLY. THEREFORE USE IT AT
YOUR OWN RISK:  WE (THE AUTHORS) ARE _NOT_RESPONSIBLE_ FOR ANY DAMAGE THIS
PROGRAM MAY CAUSE TO YOU !!!.


0.1            COPYRIGHT and CO.
--------------------------------

This program is public domain. You may do whatever you want with it: copy it,
delete it, rip it, modify it, etc...
If you do something with it, it would be great if you credited us.


1.0            UniFlash? UNIFLASH??? What the HELL is it ??!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------

UniFlash is a flash program, used to write a new BIOS on your FLASH ROM Chip.
What's new there? , you may ask, there are already programs like this on
InterNet made by BIG BRANDS like AMI, AWARD or MR. Well... there is only a
little difference: COMPLETE, WORKING SOURCE CODE IN PASCAL IS GIVEN FOR FREE!!

Another thing: this flasher is mainly destinated for fearless people and
experienced users. If it's your first adventure with flashing your BIOS, we
recommend you strongly using these brand flashers. You'll have to understand
we are just experienced computer users/programmers and we haven't materially
the possibility to test every routine and chips we haven't. That's the main
reason we release it. We hope people may help us in debugging and testing
routines.
NOTE by PvL: Brand name flashers have a tendency to be unstable (this is
             especially true for AWDFLASH, which f*cked up my BIOS twice
             so far, leaving me no other choice than to hot-flash) so if
             you happen to be the lucky owner of one of the TESTED flash
             chips I can really recommend using UNIFLASH instead ...


2.0            What hardware do I need for UniFlash ?
-----------------------------------------------------

Here's the minimum configuration you need to run UniFlash:
       -At least a 386 (The whole thing works in flat real mode)
       -MS DOS 4.0 and higher
       -A well known flash rom chip (SST,WinBond,Atmel,Intel,...)

Here's a list of chipsets suported or going to be supported by Uniflash:

Mfg         | Model(s)             | Comments
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intel       | 430FX,HX,VX,TX,MX    | No comments It works in 99% of cases
            | 440FX,LX (not tested)| (The 440FX/LX have not been yet tested,
            | 450 KX/GX            | but should work well)
            | 434 LX/NX            | 450 & 434 not tested and may not (yet)
            |                      | work
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIA         | Appollo Master       | Only VP2 has been tested so far
            | Apollo-VP            |
            | Apollo-VPX           |
            | Apollo-VP2           |
            | Apollo-VP3           |
            | Apollo-MVP3          |
            | Apollo-P6            |
            | +our buddy the VXPRO |
            | (which is a remarked |
            |  Apollo VP2)         |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMD         | AMD 640 (remarked    | Works just fine
            | Apollo VP2)          |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPTi        | Vendetta             | Not tested
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SiS         | 559X series          | Not supported yet. Uniflash detects it,
            | +the wondreful TXPRO2| but it doesn't handle them. (SiS doesn't
            |                      | put his datasheets on free access. You
            |                      | have to register. It's free, but it
            |                      | doesn't work for me)
            |                      |*If your BIOS is an AMI WinBIOS, try
            |                      |running Uniflash with the -AMI parameter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ali         | Alladin series plus  | Not supported yet. For the datasheets,
            | the lovely TXPRO     | same situation as for SiS, but it's
            |                      | even worse.
            |                      |*If your BIOS is an AMI WinBIOS, try
            |                      |running Uniflash with the -AMI parameter


NEW!: The version 1.16d+ includes support for AMI's Flash Interface. It
allows you to flash even if you have an unknown chipset (new AMI WinBIOS is
necessary to use this feature). Uniflash will automatically try to use
this feature if there's no chipset detected. You can force using this mode,
even if your chipset is recognised by giving the -AMI parameter.



3.0            What flash chips are supported by UniFlash ?
-----------------------------------------------------------

UniFlash supports the following flash chips:
(* means tested and functional,
 # means tested, but doesn't work the way it should,
 ? means not tested at all (note that a lot of chips are very similar
to one another though, so if one of them works then the rest should work
fine too))


                AMD
                ---
                Am29F100T
               *Am29F010
                Am29F080B
                Am29F400AT
                Am29F400BT
                Am29LV004T
                Am29LV400T
                Am29F400AB
                Am29F400BB
                Am29LV004B
                Am29LV400B
                Am29F002T
                Am29F002NT
                Am29F200AT
                Am29LV200T
                Am29LV002T
                Am29F002B
                Am29F002NB
                Am29F200AB
                Am29LV200B
                Am29LV002B
                Am29F040B
                Am29F800BT
                Am29F800BB
                Am28F010
                Am28F010A
                Am28F020
                Am28F020A
                Am28F256
                Am28F256A
                Am28F512
                Am28F512A

                SST
                ---
                28x040 series
               *29EE010
                29x010 series
                29EE020
                29x020 series
                29x512 series
                29EE512
                28EE011

                Winbond
                -------
               *W29EE011
                W29C020
                W29EE512
                W29C101
                W29C010

                Atmel
                -----
               *AT49BV010
                AT49F1025
                AT49x020 series
                AT49F040
                AT49F010
                AT49F080
                AT29C040A
                AT29C1024
                AT29LV1024
                AT49F080T
                AT29xV010A series
                AT29xV020 series
                AT29LV256
                AT29xV040A series
               *AT29C010A
                AT29C020
                AT29C256
                AT29C257
                AT29C512

                Intel
                -----
               ?28F010
               *28F001BX-T
               *28F001BN-T
                28F001BX-B
                28F001BN-B
                28F200-T series
                28F200-B series
                28F002-T series
                28F002-B series

                Catalyst
                --------
               ?CAT28F150T
                CAT28F150B
               *CAT28F001T
               *CAT28F001B
                CAT28F002T
                CAT28F002B

                Macronix
                --------