BIOS is gone, please help

[mondaycat]

Thank for coming

I was flashing BIOS in WindowsXP but failed, and I didn't back up the original BIOS.

When I restart PC, there is tatally nothing appear. There is no windows, no BIOS screen. It seems like CMOS is empey. (I tried removing battery already.)

Is there anyway I can make something like a BIOS recovery disk to boot and reinstall BIOS?


I e-mailed ASUS customer service and they replied me this:
http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techmailstatus.aspx?ID=WTM200602231057256393


In the middle of the letter says that my BIOS chip is non-removable.

Does that mean it is time to buy a new mobo?

I heard that If I change mobo, I have to buy another WindowsXP. Is that true? :?



My mainboard is ASUS P4B533-V

http://www.abxzone.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-29292.html



I have little knowledge about hardware. Is CMOS the chip that keep BIOS data?


thanks in advance

 

[bombasschicken]

sorry to tell you this dude... but when a bios flash fails your mobo is toast.. even if you backed it up.. unless you have one of thoes dule bios gigabyte mobos... you will have to buy a new one...

you may not have to buy a new copy of xp though.. i think its 3 major hardware changes before windows de-activates... not positive on that one though..

 

[swifty_morgan]

I didn't read your attachments, but I'll try and answer 1 question.
No, you should not need to guy another license from microsoft. Just put in the new motherboard, along with all the other components, and it should boot without a problem. I just did it over last weekend. New mobo, chip, power suply, and video card. ( all different than what was originally in there ), Threw in harddrive, booted up, installed all drivers that came on cd with mobo, went to microsoft website and did updates...no prob..........

If by chance you do run into that prob, call microsoft and tell them the board died because of power surge, needed to replace it, and they should give you license over the phone.

 

[rick_h]

Back in the day, the BIOS used to have two sectors; one protected, the other not. The protected part of the BIOS provided a bootstrap to a floppy in the event that the non protected part of the BIOS was corrupted. The floppy would load an image of the BIOS and the problem was resolved. IIRC, the process also required a ISA slot for the video. This should give you an idea how far back this goes.

The alternate is removing the chip off the board. If you have any SMT rework experience and equipment, it shouldn't be difficult. Be advised that this chip may be fine pitch and will be difficult to remove. It may be easier to cut the chip off the board (by cutting the legs)and clean up the carnage.

In all, it will make you think twice about flashing in Windows again. As for me , I will continue to flash in Windows, as I own a cheap ECS Mo-Bo and refuse to buy an ancient legacy floppy drive. The risk is minimal for a small investment.

Rick

 

[Gnyf2003]

Hi

If you know someone with the precise same board you can still recover your mobo.
It's a risky process though
Take the BIOS chip from your friends PC. Insert in in your PC and it will boot.
Now you remove the BIOS while still powered on. Mount your own dead chip and then flash it. If you can reboot and it's alive you're saved.
If not, well buy the chip or a new board.

I've done it once and it went well, but be very careful when you dismount/mount that chip.

 

[bombasschicken]

Hi

If you know someone with the precise same board you can still recover your mobo.
It's a risky process though
Take the BIOS chip from your friends PC. Insert in in your PC and it will boot.
Now you remove the BIOS while still powered on. Mount your own dead chip and then flash it. If you can reboot and it's alive you're saved.
If not, well buy the chip or a new board.

I've done it once and it went well, but be very careful when you dismount/mount that chip.

haha i dont think i would have the balls to remove the bios while it was on.. btu it sounds like a good idea.. however he did mention that the bios was not removable... unless he wants to resoder it back on...

 

[IDEV]

Although it isn't a Great idea to remove the Bios while the system is on.. it's isn't quite as scary as it sounds. As long as you don't short anything on the board while you're in there, and have enough clearance to get to the chip, etc.. Electrically it's not that big a deal to the chip.

It's a good technique if you're desparate.

If the BIOS is in a socket - order a new one - it's much cheaper than a new board. If it's not... Check your local Electronics repair places and see if they'll do the swap. Most techs would be happy to do it for a beer and $10.

Brett

 

[mondaycat]

I have bought a new mobo and cpu this afternoon

problem solved .. . .