Hello there...,

         My name is ilhan and I have just started to use a linux operating system, so I am new to all of these linux applications...
While I am using this operating system, my self-confidence about diving into more tough stuff like flashtom-0.9.4. , has pushed
me a downgrade flashing attempt on my motherboard, Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3.

          Actually, I have tried a downgrade flashing whit my mobo's official  applications, such as asus update and bupdater, in both FreeDos and 
Win7 environments but, this did not help me and kept saying that  " you are trying to load an old version of bios"...

         So, I downloaded flashrom-0.9.4 source, installed it according to README file, read its manual
(http://www.flashrom.org/trac/flashrom/browser/trunk/flashrom.8) and finally I made a backup file.

         While playing around these linux applications and procrastinating my bios flashing, days gone by... Then one day :)... I just decided
to flash my bios because of increased freezings and shutdowns in Win7, without being aware of that I have lost my usb stick in which I
backup my mobos image whit using:

sudo flashrom -r m4a88tdbackup



       In other words; I, unconsciously, started the flashing whit out having a backup file...

I simbly downloaded my old bios to my desktop (M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 BIOS 1601) from:
http://support.asus.com/download/download_item_mkt.aspx?slanguage=en-us&model=M4A88TD-V+EVO%2fUSB3

I named this file as m4a88tdnew.ROM

and continue with ...

ilhan@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ >> sudo flashrom -E
ilhan@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ >> sudo flashrom -w m4a88tdnew.ROM

        After flashrom verified that the chip (winbond W25Q16) content and the file content was same, I hit the re-start button and this was the end of my computer :)
It has not respond anything after that, not even any fan has cycled... I have already  tried the firmware CD and usb  which both contains the
m4a88tu3.rom ( I think its  the equivalent of the amitool.rom in the asus due to user guide instructions), have clear the cmos without its battery and
have un-plugged everything (expect cpu) in various combinations... All I have now, at start, CD-rom trying to read the CDs but it gives up quickly and
the most important the cpu fan and the cpu ( I guess) does not work...

       Trying all of this with out any luck, I decided to buy a new but cheaper mobo. I bought a Asus M4N68T-M ( with Nvidia MCP61 chipset (un-tested) and Eon EN25F80
flash chip
). I plugged everything on this mobo and it just working like a charm.

With this new card I continued my attempts to flash my old cards chip but, I realized that I have no enough skills even making a simple confirmation of that: did I succeed it,
in a right way. I decided to go in short way, made a simple search on the issue and found the yann's report (http://paste.flashrom.org/view.php?id=687)  about my old card.
I requested from him to send me his back up image file via e-mail and he, kindly, said that he hadn't got any backup and directed me to the Asus support site which I already tried.

After all of this, as a last resort, I  decided to stole your precious time for my unimportant problem... Can you help me about it. Can I resque my old card and how?
I thought, if you can help me, in return of this help; I could contribute by sending you a report about both my new and old mobos :) I thing it is a good deal...:))

So How can I flash my old card's chip in my new card and verify its flashed in a right way?

I thank you very much by now for just reading this long.



Have a good day....


--
Ŭlhan KAHRAMAN
Undergraduate  Student at
Materials Science & Engineering Department
and            
Department of Industrial Design,
Anadolu University, Eskisehir,
Turkey
e-mail: ilhan805@gmail.com