Rewrite bios through port serial

Hi all

It is possible to rewrite the chip bios , with Win XP, with Electronic card, attacched to serial port, or parallel or Usb port?

Thanks

Regards

Presuming that the PC in question supports BIOS updates, yes it would be possible over USB. BIOS updates are often delivered in the form of executable files, so running the file from a USB-connected device should be do-able.

Serial port? Yes, using a file transfer protocol to download a BIOS update and then run the update. Parallel? Not supported in a standard setup. Either could be used if an appropriate application was running on the target machine.

I mean

through an electronic card, with which to connect the chip bios, rewrite the file bios.rom, in to plcc bios chip, using software, and the electronic card, connected to the serial port or usb port.

Regards

Maybe. You can possibly remove the BIOS chip from the motherboard, insert it into an EPROM programmer board, which communicates with a PC via serial, parallel, or USB. I use a Willem EPROM programmer for the purpose.

Obviously, you can't do this on the PC with the BIOS chip removed, so you'll need a 2nd PC.

If the BIOS is in a flash RAM chip, it's most likely not removeable. Most such systems have a jumper near the BIOS chip to enable a recovery mode. That will usually allow a floppy disk boot, with the BIOS recovery software. If that's not an option, you can also rewrite the BIOS using the JTAG port, but that requires detailed info from the motherboard manufacturer which is often not available.

Are you looking for something to program a PLCC flash chip that contains a BIOS, with the chip removed from the parent system?

If so, do a search for "device programmer." Some examples are

New ones are not cheap, so searching the auction sites for a good used model may be indicated.

There used to be a fair number of hobby/enthusiast models out there but that market has pretty much dried up with the advent of JTAG and other serial in-system programming.

You might have better luck with the Bus Pirate device (about $30US). It can talk to the newer BIOS chips that use I2C or SPI. More info here:

John

Sure, but It's probably cheaper to order a replacement bios chip from the maker.

the buspirate works with plcc bios chip?

Regards

When my copy of Slackware 11.0, kernel 2.4.33.3 boots, it loads its own BIOS and bypasses the ROM entirely.

Cheers! Rich

might be helpful if you'd disclose what you're trying to accomplish. is this a computer? processor? OS? model? motherboard? age? something!!! Does it run and you want to update? fixing a failed bios update? Trying to clear a bios lock password? other? Are those your only options? no cdrom, floppy, bootable usb, network boot? Some older systems had means to recover flash with a parallelport dongle, I think? Without ANY clues, it's hard to help.

the mobo is PcChips 810ML socket 462, bios Ami 1999.

know which version of AMI BIOS or what kind of motherboard does restore the bios with the procedure AMI :

Quick Flash Instructions For AMI Motherboards: (FLASH UTILITY NOT REQUIRED)

- Unzip file, copy the "ROM" file to a diskette in "A" drive. (Diskette does not have to be bootable).

- Make sure you are using the on board floppy controller.

- With system powered off and diskette with "ROM" file in "A" drive.

- Hold down on the "CTRL & HOME" keys and then power on system.

- There will be no video and notice floppy drive being accessed.

- You should hear 1 beep let go of keys.

- Then you will hear 2 beeps and then 3 beeps.

- System should reset and notice new BIOS release date at top of screen.

- Enter BIOS SETUP run the OPTIMAL SETINGS OPTION.

- Change BIOS SETTINGS for your configuration.

Regards

For what it's worth...

The documentation for my ASUS board specifically says "Do not update the BIOS unless you are absolutely certain the problem is BIOS-related, and the newer BIOS will fix it." This is probably CYA on ASUS's part, but it makes sense.

Identify the board properly (including version number), download the bios and flash using the recommended method. Being a PC CHIPS board, be sure that you really want to use it. Their boards are generally crap and I wouldn't really be suprised to see bad capacitors failing on it, never mind the bios update process actually suceeding.

Looking at bios flashing instructions for other motherboards will confuse you.

pahm Inscribed thus:

One of my clients had a machine with that M/B. Bad caps ! The power devices in the CPU PSU got so hot the solder melted and the devices slid off their pads destroying the board. If I remember correctly the CPU is soldered directly to the board.

maker.

It certainly is NOT. The BIOS is a separately licensed software component, after all; delivering a second chip costs the maker another license fee, while supporting an update path simply debugs the original version, under the original already-paid-for license.

What boots Slackware?

details, details. :)

jamie

From a cold boot, the ROM BIOS reads the boot sector of the floppy, the CD, or the HD. That points to LILO, the Linux Loader, which gives me the option to boot Slack or Windoze. If I pick Windoze, then LILO passes control to the windows loader, and if I pick Slackware, then LILO goes ahead and starts the Slack boot procedure on the drive. The first thing that the loader does is read the new BIOS, and reports the data check, and then runs init, and so on.

A quick google turned this up - they can probably explain it better than I can:

Hope This Helps! Rich

Or, the gag answer, of course, is "the reset button" ;-)

Cheers!