Flash protect

[Bebel]

Hi,

I have an X3 + pro switch. It works great and I'm really happy with it. I just have one question, regarding the flash protect switches.

Right now, the flash protect switch on my chip (internal switch) is off. I have never had any trouble flashing the bios and have done it countless times.

The thing is, the protect switch on the pro switch (external switch) doesn't seem to do anything. I can flash the bios whether it's green or red, on or off. In other words, the protect function on the pro switch ain't working.

So here's my question(s): does the internal switch on the chip have to be on for the external protect switch to work? In other words, does the switch on the chip override the external switch or the other way around? Or are they totally independent of each other?

Can anyone think of a reason why my external flash protect switch has no effect?

(I should add that the bios bank switches on the pro switch work great.)

Thanks.

Bebel

 

[Martin C]

They work independantly. However, setting flash protect ON on the chip itself overrides the switch.

As for your external switch not working, it may be the cable isn't connected 100% properly and the pin associated with this switch setting is not making contact.

Martin

 

[Bebel]

Thanks. I will double-check the contacts.

Supplementary question: my problem with the external flash protect switch couldn't have anything to do with my soldering, could it? The switch simply interrupts the flashing circuit and doesn't have anything to do with the motherboard or the solder points -- is that right?

Thanks again.

Bebel

 

[Bebel]

Okay, I've done some checking, with possibly strange results.

First of all, I should say that the internal flash protect switch works no problem.

The connector for the switch on the X3 chip is supposed to have 12 pins, from what I can tell (having searched the forums), as follows:

01 J3:05 Flash Protect Switch
02 J3:04 (Not Used)
03 J3:03 LAN Activity 3.3v
04 J3:02 HDD Activity 3.3v
05 J3:01 Mod Enabled 3.3v
06 J2:07 Mod Disabled 3.3v
07 J2:06 BIOS Bank 1 Switch
08 J2:05 BIOS Bank 2 Switch
09 J2:04 BIOS Bank 3 Switch
10 J2:03 BIOS Bank 4 Switch
11 J2:02 Ground
12 J2:01 Unknown

(The quote is from http://www.teamxecuter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26429&highlight=flash+protect+wire.)

On my X3, however, the connector has only 11 pins, seemingly missing the one for the external flash protect switch. Like this (side view):

(5V) o........... (contrast wheel)

The 'o' is where there is (seemingly) a pin missing. The dots are the 11 other pins.

Examining the connector with a magnifying glass, I can see that the pin is actually absent, not bent or broken.

So I think this is the explanation for why my external flash protect switch doesn't work. Can someone confirm this please?

If I'm right, the next question is whether I got an X3 with a defective switch connector. Comments?

Thanks again.

Bebel

 

[Bebel]

Okay, please ignore that last post -- I obviously need new glasses.

I checked the connector again and found that the "missing" pin was perfectly bent over and stuck up against the pin next to it. It was so squished that it just looked like one pin, where there was in fact two. Okay, I know it seems like I could've noticed that before but trust me, they're tiny buggers and it was so fitted to the neighbouring pin that I just couldn't make it out at first.

Anyway, I worked at it very carefully for 10 minutes with the tip of a dressmaker's pin and managed to straighten it out enough to reinsert the cable into the connector. And bob's your uncle, it now works like a charm. Everything works, it's all good, and I'm very pleased. Apologies for the previous useless post.

Thanks to Martin C for replying to my initial post.

Bebel

P.S. Did I mention that I love my X3?

 

[Martin C]

Okay, please ignore that last post -- I obviously need new glasses.

I checked the connector again and found that the "missing" pin was perfectly bent over and stuck up against the pin next to it. It was so squished that it just looked like one pin, where there was in fact two. Okay, I know it seems like I could've noticed that before but trust me, they're tiny buggers and it was so fitted to the neighbouring pin that I just couldn't make it out at first.

Anyway, I worked at it very carefully for 10 minutes with the tip of a dressmaker's pin and managed to straighten it out enough to reinsert the cable into the connector. And bob's your uncle, it now works like a charm. Everything works, it's all good, and I'm very pleased. Apologies for the previous useless post.

Thanks to Martin C for replying to my initial post.

Bebel

P.S. Did I mention that I love my X3?

Hehe nice one for getting it sorted!

Before the above post I was going to ask you "are you sure it's missing - it may well have been pushed to the side or something"..

Looks like I didn't need to!

Have fun!

Martin