Bad Bios Flash?

[Nathan124]

If I mess up in flashing my bios, how come I have to get a new chip? Why can't I just short that pin? I thought that the software was built in to the chip so if the software part had a problem the hardware would right new software. Hardware is 'Hard' - not re-rightable. I was planning on flashing my bios. It has problems (Page up and Page down is backwards and I can't select certain things). What is the chance that it will work? And what do I do if I mess up?

Thanks

 

[Jhhnn]

When flashing the bios, the re-writable chip is erased with a voltage higher than operating, then new data is written to the chip. So, if the power fails during the process or if the computer is restarted or if the new program is corrupt- pfftt! you're screwed.

The part of the bios info (cmos) that is erased with the jumper is not flash memory, it is maintained by battery voltage.

Any board where the bios chip is soldered down rather than socketed basically becomes junk if a flash fails. There is a way of recovering a bad flash using another computer having a physically identical chip called hotflashing, or several bios services who have the equipment to flash chips. Check out Badflash.com, for example.

After flashing, unplug the power, clear the cmos, reboot. I only flash when necessary- once bitten, twice shy.

 

[billyjak]

Yea it's scary the first time. I had a bad flash once on my KT7 Raid board.
I orderd a Bios saviour from M-Wave and didn't have to worry any more.
You can get it here, highly recomended Look here

 

[CompKing]

Flashable mobots that are new enough and have the right technology will not require a new BIOS just because of a bad flash. Always save the old settings to the same floppy where the new program is being read from. If you have a bad flash, clear BIOS, boot from the floppy, and start over. If necessary, use the old settings.

 

[L00PY]

I'd disagree with what CompKing said. Like Jhhnn mentioned, if you get a bad flash, it's very possible that clearing the BIOS via a jumper or the like will do diddly squat. On the other hand, some BIOSes (like AMI I believe) have a recovery method for some bad flashes where they default to an ISA video output, and search the floppy drive for a backup BIOS (AMIBIOS.ROM?). Of course unless you have an ISA slot and an ISA video card, you'll have to do it blind.

I think the odds of a bad flash when you know what you're doing are pretty low. Given that your BIOS now is already flakey, who knows.