Flashing BIOS with programmer

[BigAlNZ]

Hi All,

I was wondering where to go to get a good answer to this question, and this place seems a good spot for a bunch of opinions from assorted PC repair folks who like to get there hands dirty.

Over the years I have got a bunch of motherboards that passed all the usual VRM and Cap checks but didnt boot in that there was no beeps even with ram/video removed and no video.

I wonder if some of these simply have a bad bios???

Anyone here program bios's with a programmer? How often do they come across boards with bad bios's?

I would like to know before I fork out my hard earned cash on a programmer.

Thanks in advance,

-Al

[Per Hansson]

Re: Flashing BIOS with programmer

Hmm, well
Once in a while

I can recommend the True-USB PRO GQ-4X Willem Programmer (add more adapters if you need of course)
http://www.mcumall.com/comersus/stor...idProduct=4312

[BigAlNZ]

Re: Flashing BIOS with programmer

Hmmm, sounds like its very occasional? I really need to try to get my head around how often I will come across them to justify the expense.

I was looking at this one:

http://www.weilei.pl/vp480uk.php

-Al

[NxB]

Re: Flashing BIOS with programmer

Probably more common to have failed chipsets like all of those emachines. I can't imagine bios going bad unless the customer mis-flashed it. A bga machine would probably earn the money back sooner.

[everell]

Re: Flashing BIOS with programmer

Working with industrial precipitator controllers, I would estimate that 2 to 4 per cent of repairs required reprogramming eproms. As a hobbyist, I have repaired a little less than 50 mother boards, and two required bios reflash.

Board no. one - I was told that owner attempted reflash but failed. It had some bulging capacitors. Between the two problems, the board would not do anything. I replaced bad caps, and it still would not do anything. Flashed the eprom and board works fine.

Board no. two would not do anything. No visible bulging caps. Blue esr meter did not find any bad caps. Reflashed bios and board came up working fine.

The programmer you are looking at looks like it only programs DIP style chips. Most computers these days use a square plcc style chip. Unless you are planning to program Pentium 3 or 8086 boards, you will need a programmer that can also handle plcc chips.

Unless you will need lots and lots of bios chips reflashed, it would be much cheaper to pay the five bucks or so and let someone else reprogram the chip. Do a search on ebay for "bios" and you will find several people offering this service. I used one of them and was very satisfied.

[NxB]

Re: Flashing BIOS with programmer

You would probably get more mileage out of a serial eEprom programmer these days too. You can remove laptop bios passwords that way. I think the willem has a PLCC adapter. The polish one looks like a carbon copy of the willem.

[BigAlNZ]

Re: Flashing BIOS with programmer

Yes they both have PLCC adapters.

The other thing I was looking at was either a PORT 80 card for desktops or PORT 80 card (mini pci) for laptops. There are some very cheap ones out there, and some VERY expensive ones out there.

Any thoughts?