BIOS Recovery: In case you screw up your flashing

[Prof.Wizard]

I found this interesting article by VIA Arena. I wasn't aware that this was the exact procedure.
Good to know. Tell me what you think.

 

[blakerwry]

wow... sounds dangerous...


I have also heard that you can do a much simply process to fix a dead bios....

It involved putting the BIOS file on a floppy with a special name... "AMIBIOS" I think was what the name... I can't find any specific details at the moment, but a few other sites seem to cooberate this.

Of course you will probably have to usea different name if you dont have an American Megatrends BIOS.


oh, here's somethign on Award BIOS's

Boot block: Some Award chips may have a boot-block on them, a segment of information not rewritten during a flash. Supposedly it will be able to execute an AUTOEXEC.BAT file on a floppy disc (and nothing else) so it may be possible to resurrect the BIOS by putting system files, the flash program, a source file and an appropriately-written AUTOEXEC.BAT file on a floppy before reboot. This method is not available on VT6X4 mainboards.

 

[Groltz]

Better yet, just install an IOSS Bios Savior if you are worried about getting a bad bios flash.

Review One

Review Two

When you visit the US I'll sell you the RD1-2M that I am no longer using. :wink:

 

[blakerwry]

neato

 

[honold]

http://www.amptron.com/documents/Recover.pdf

 

[Explorer]

I've actually "revived" a ROM-BIOS (EE-PROM) once that got glitched during a flash update.

To do it, I pulled an identical ROM-BIOS out of an identical working mobo and installed the good ROM-BIOS into the mobo that had the bad BIOS (removed temporarily). I then started the computer with the previously affect mobo. Next, I initiated the BIOS flash update, but just before I actually pressed the key to initiate the flash update, I carefully extracted the "good" ROM-BIOS chip (I'm talking about a HOT extraction -- or powered-up extraction) and then inserted the "bad" ROM-BIOS chip in its place. Next, I pressed the key to start the flash update. The update proceeded until terminating normally. The system rebooted fine with the swapped-in previously-glitched ROM-BIOS.

 

[Prof.Wizard]

Isn't "hot extraction" a little bit risky?
I mean... you were lucky not to be electrocuted! :errr:

 

[Stereodude]

Isn't "hot extraction" a little bit risky?
I mean... you were lucky not to be electrocuted! :errr:

Yeah we all know how dangerous 5V TTL signals can be.

Stereodude

 

[blakerwry]

what frightens me the most about hot extraction is that I might inadvertantly create a short between connectors or possibly insert the BIOS chip wrong....

Those square chips look alot easier to remove (the rectangular ones are a bitch if they are inserted into a tight connector) However, the square ones look like they are more likely to short adjacent conenctors if not inserted carefully.

 

[Cliptin]

Isn't "hot extraction" a little bit risky?
I mean... you were lucky not to be electrocuted! :errr:

No, It's not a problem and pretty common as far as resolving this particular problem.