Packard Bell IMedia J2411 Bios

Thanks for the reply. I know I might brick things but I am not quite there yet. The computer was gifted to me and came with Vista, no install or recovery disks so I put Linux Mint on it. I tried to upgrade things with a new graphics card and USB3.0 card but it failed to boot with the new card/s installed. No POST just sits and does nothing. Naturally I thought a BIOS upgrade might cure things so I went hunting for one.

It turns out that the file that I have linked to,

ftp://ftp.packardbell.com/pub/itemnr/7604710100/

Is a Packard Bell San Francisco Bios Update Disk Creator and needs to run under Windows. Unfortunately I only have access to a copy of XP under Virtual Box and it will not complete properly. Throws a CCDGUI v3.02 error. I assume that if it did run it might create some sort of start up disk image that would contain the' raw' bios image.

As I suggest the original bios is reported as being PBSANFMB 0800 and I assume that PBSANFMB means Packard Bell San Francisco Mother Board version 0800 and the file I have linked to would contain PBSANFMB 1000.

Any further thoughts would be appreciated. Perhaps someone might be able to create a copy of the disk and link to its contents.

The computer was gifted to me...

Click to expand...

It is a comfortable pair of shoes I can upgrade further for £30, already spent, or I can buy something new that will hurt my feet for the £350 that I do not have.

Apologies for the delay in answering. I managed to run the installer under Wine in Linux and whilst it still crashed it left its setup files in a temporary directory so I now have access to the raw bios image and the .iso file. Thanks for the offer but it seems I have what I need. I just have to try it..

Thanks Again.

Ho-Hum. Bit the bullet and flashed the bios. Computer is not bricked and the bios via F2 at boot reports that it is now PBSANFMB.1000

Unfortunately that did not solve the graphics card problem and dmidecode still reports,


Not sure why that might be. I've switched things off, pulled the battery, reset the CMOS. I did not think it would have much effect, which it hasn't. BIOS claims it is PBFSAN.1000 but Mint says it is still PBFSAN.0800

Anyway, other than it being a bit of a pointless exercise for myself this may be of use for someone else wanting to achieve not a lot as well. I can more or less conclude WITH CAVEATS that Packard Bell computers that report a PBSANFMB.XXXX bios via dmidecode can be flashed to PBSANFMB.1000 using the file from,

ftp://ftp.packardbell.com/pub/itemnr/7604710100/

In order to get the .iso set Wine to Vista, might not be necessary. Run the .exe and watch things fall over. Kill the process. Go to your Wine Drive C: and look under 'users','you','TEMP'. You should find a recently created directory which will contain sfran.iso Just in case, if you have to do it again delete that directory and the xx57.tmp and xx58.tmp files.

Burn sfran.iso to a DVD using Brasero. Bung it up your CD/DVD drive and, assuming you have set up your computer to boot from CD/DVD first, reboot your computer. After picking a language You will be presented with the option to update the BIOS. Proceed at your own discretion/caution.

I guess it is called life.

Again many thanks for your help.

Hi Again,

I think we may have hit a dead end here but just in case.

The new graphics card is an ASUS GT740 with 1GB DDR5
The old graphic card is a GeForce 7500LE 512MB

Under Linux Nvidia Settings reports that it is in a PCI Express x16 slot.
The Bios gives an option for Init Display First PCI/PCIEx.

The motherboard, Foxconn N15235, itself might be a bit weird in as much as there is no rear panel connector for VGA. It would seem that the onboard graphics are not implemented.

It is my understanding based on reading elsewhere that PCI should be backwards compatible. Performance may suffer but the card should work.... although it does not.

The card itself apparently does not need an additional power connector and there is none fitted. I have however upgraded the power supply from 250W to 550W.

Again I am running Linux so Windows drivers are not going to be of much if any use and as already mentioned the computer will not even enter POST with the card fitted.

Otherwise in terms of PCI slots dmidecode reports,

Handle 0x001B, DMI type 9, 13 bytes
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI0
Type: 32-bit PCI Express
Current Usage: Available
Length: Long
ID: 1
Characteristics:
5.0 V is provided
PME signal is supported

Handle 0x001C, DMI type 9, 13 bytes
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI1
Type: 32-bit PCI
Current Usage: Available
Length: Long
ID: 2
Characteristics:
5.0 V is provided
PME signal is supported

Handle 0x001D, DMI type 9, 13 bytes
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI-E
Type: 32-bit PCI Express
Current Usage: Available
Length: Long
ID: 115
Characteristics:
5.0 V is provided

Handle 0x001E, DMI type 9, 13 bytes
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI-E
Type: 32-bit PCI Express
Current Usage: Unknown
Length: Long
ID: 0
Characteristics:
5.0 V is provided

sudo dmidecode | grep "PCI"
PCI is supported
Designation: PCI0
Type: 32-bit PCI Express
Designation: PCI1
Type: 32-bit PCI
Designation: PCI-E
Type: 32-bit PCI Express
Designation: PCI-E
Type: 32-bit PCI Express

Again I do not think we will get much further but any suggestions would be appreciated.

Oh... in case it is of any use the closest I have found in respect of the motherboard is,

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/ProductDetail.aspx?T=motherboard&U=en-us0000234

Which includes some other BIOS/Driver files.. Microcode for CPU?

However the one I have does not have the on-board graphics fitted.

Aha... Looks like I am slightly out of luck. I'll add UEFI compatibility to my list of things to remember. The Foxconn stuff was grasping at other things in as much as I wondered whether the files provided were not specifically BIOS but some other area of on-board flash. Bit of a shame, it was/is a nice graphics card... practically NOS.

Once again many thanks for your help. I guess that's a wrap.