Always clear CMOS when flashing ROM!

[ricercar]

I learned the hard way that it's best to clear all CMOS every time you flash a BIOS ROM. Yesterday I figured I could hotflash a ROM without clearing the CMOS, since I was flashing the same ROM version that I booted the machine with. Don't do that!

It would take me half an hour to list all the problems it caused. The machine was suddenly complaining about weird stuff, like bad memory, and unrecognized IDE devices, and lack of CPU support. It didn't even matter which BIOS chip was installed. I had three good ROMs and all three were having trouble. the CMOS was corrupted even more than a LOAD DEFAULTS could cure! When I finally wised up and reflashed with clear CMOS options, all problems went away like magic.

It's best to clear all CMOS at the time you flash a BIOS ROM. For example, don't omit the bold commands:

AWDFLASH.EXE filename.bin /py /sn /cc /cp /cd /R

You have been warned.