Guest awarner (MVP) Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 I have a laptop infromt of me that belongs to a friend of a friend etc, The story goes is that this lappy was infected with the agobot virus and a possible backdoor attack has taken place. It appears that the bios is completely screwed because when the pc boots the screen is covered in random extended ASCII code with smiley faces etc as an example. The PC in itself is working but you can not visably any information in the bios screens so it is impossible to change any settings. After booting Windows XP loads ok but there are numerous blue bars running down the screen. The interesting bit is if you print the page out these bars are also printed (so presumably this excludes the graphics card from being at fault) Now for the fun, I am trying to find either a bios update or replacement chip, but unfortunately I can not find anywhere on the net. Because the lappy is made by a third party and branded by PCWorld american megatrends who make the board and ami bios will not offer any support or bios update. So off i trundle to PCworld (knowing full well what to expect) the guy in the technical desk know bugger all about what I was asking and kept going into the back room ask for more advice. After 30 minutes of getting nowhere I had to give up. All I asked them was how can I get hold of a bios flash or chip, they kept saying bring it in so they can look at it (and charge me the privilage) they then finally announced that the bios chip can not be changed. Just shows how much they actually know about their own products as this bios is a socketed PLCC type and so can be changed unlike the surface mounted type. So the question at the end of this sorry tale is.... Does anyone know where I can get AMI BIOS chips or updates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tech Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 (edited) you CANNOT replace a BIOS chip - its fitted onboard - the only way to replace it is to replace the motherboard itself. If you go to the manufacturers website of the laptop - there should be BIOS updates available for download Every BIOS is different, every motherboard is different so there is no one generic BIOS download just also shows what pc world are like (id never go there) But you have just told me (for the benefit of the rest) that the BIOS chip is removable - very unusual! You would have to pretty much phone the lappy manufacturer up for this chip or send the lappy to them, if its under warrenty Edited May 20, 2006 by Tech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest awarner (MVP) Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 this bios is a socketed PLCC type and so can be changed unlike the surface mounted type ;) say no more :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fluffcat1 Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 (edited) If you can find the .bin file you can flash the chip yourself with a Edited May 20, 2006 by fluffcat1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tech Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 (edited) you probably could flash the BIOS with certain firmwares but it is recommended to use the original source/manufacturer! no point making it worse than what it already is :P however I still stand by my statements and still claim to be "true" from experience and confirmation of people...however lets not go into "who is right and who is wrong" situation.... To be honest - I would still go back to where you got it from and tell them to replace the BIOS - if they can't then well they cant really say that as they did at one time sell this product - otherwise I would go to the advent guys.... ;) Edited May 20, 2006 by Tech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fluffcat1 Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 you probably could flash the BIOS with certain firmwares but it is recommended to use the original source/manufacturer! no point making it worse than what it already is ;) No sh1t Sherlock....a gold star for stating the obvious! If it's currently unusable then a solution is needed. If Advent / Gericom cannot provide a bios then a 'clone' bios may be an option. The open source software supplied with the willem eeprom programmers allows for backup of the existing rom before flashing so you can always get back to your current bios in case the new ones don't work - so you've no chance of 'making it worse'. The software for the willem units on ebay is very easy to use with a clear GUI. http://search.ebay.co.uk/willem-programmer...ssPageNameZWLRS however I still stand by my statements and still claim to be "true" from experience and confirmation of people...however lets not go into "who is right and who is wrong" situation.... What experience? Have you tried and failed? Which models?... You state *in capitols* that something CANNOT be done yet it is relatively easy and fairly common to have to remove surface mounted chips to flash laptops - yet you present yourself as an authority on it.... You're statements therefore don't really stand up as being correct as to put it blunty you are wrong. Just because you don't know how to do it does NOT mean it cannot be done. It is very common, and I have done it with crashed nvidia VGA cards, non-socketed desktops (eg the gigabyte dual bios ones), and laptops, to have to remove the chip using an reflower before flashing. To be honest - I would still go back to where you got it from and tell them to replace the BIOS - if they can't then well they cant really say that as they did at one time sell this product - otherwise I would go to the advent guys.... :P Yeah, 'cos pcworld / advent's technical support are top notch like that when you 'tell' them to replace the bios ;) PCWorld are stupid and unless they have a flowchart system to 'fix' something they will tell you it's broken and buy another. Advent are a clone re-badger and from my experience of their re-badged Gerricom Netboy laptop that I had in bits they do not have any support files either. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest awarner (MVP) Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 Here are some screen shots. Here's the bios Standard settings page Some motherboard and bios info, you can see the corruption of the screen after booting to XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest awarner (MVP) Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 Here's the bios chip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 Right, after some serious googling, it seems the Advent 7026 is a rebranded Gericom Blockbuster 251S1. Download this file (PDF Datasheet): http://download.gericom.com/NOTEBOOK/Block...SHEET/251S1.pdf and check it's the same as your Advent. Assuming it is, you can download the BIOS image here: http://download.gericom.com/NOTEBOOK/Block.../N251S1BIOS.IMG and flash with the AMI BIOS flash utility here (you'll need to run this from a DOS boot disk): http://www.ami.com/support/downloadagreeme...zip&InpDrvID=90 Good luck, HTH, usual disclaimers apply etc. etc.... :P ;) P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fluffcat1 Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 and flash with the AMI BIOS flash utility here (you'll need to run this from a DOS boot disk): I hate dos - based bios flashers. Biostar has a bios flash utility *in* their bios that works great so long as you can get into the bios....Personally for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 PS I'd be really surprised if a BIOS update fixes this problem... ;) P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fluffcat1 Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 (edited) PS I'd be really surprised if a BIOS update fixes this problem... ;) P I think it should... the corruption is down to the onboard video's bios being screwed IMO. Be interesting to see what it looks like in VGA / safe mode currently. EDIT - if it were a video ram corruption or overheating issue then the dos screen would display OK with minor lines visible in the characters ( but they would all be there ) and windows would look strange or not display at all - from experience with radeon 9000's that have had issues. Richard Edited May 21, 2006 by fluffcat1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest awarner (MVP) Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 Cheers guys I'll look into it ;) Nice google Paul, better luck than I had ;) EDIT image on the pdf is a mirror image (hopefully :P ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest awarner (MVP) Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 No luck on flashing, the bios is too large to fit on a floppy and the flash utility does not appear to see the image when it is on the root of the hardrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 Can you repartition the hard drive to create a small FAT area, or put it on a CD, then use a boot disk with CD drivers? I get round this problem by having a bootable USB stick with plenty of room on... P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fluffcat1 Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 No luck on flashing, the bios is too large to fit on a floppy and the flash utility does not appear to see the image when it is on the root of the hardrive. I can lend you a willem programmer? Or they are fairly cheap from HK via ebay and will probably arrive before mine does... ;) Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest awarner (MVP) Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 Tried the bootable memorystick idea earlier, I will have to have a chat with the guy who owns the unit to see what he wants to do. Thanks for the programmer offer Richard, would it possible to send the chip to you? as you would have more experience and I can not justify the cost of buying my own programmer at the moment. Unless you know of anywhere decent I can order the chip from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fluffcat1 Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 (edited) Tried the bootable memorystick idea earlier, I will have to have a chat with the guy who owns the unit to see what he wants to do. Thanks for the programmer offer Richard, would it possible to send the chip to you? as you would have more experience and I can not justify the cost of buying my own programmer at the moment. Unless you know of anywhere decent I can order the chip from? I think the URL is something like www.badflash.com and they'll flash it for $15 or supply the bios on a new one for $30 from memory...if they don't have your exact bios you can send it via email or they can find an equivalent that will work ( similar to what I mentioned above ;) ) The only thing with sending the chip to me - it usually take 2 or 3 flashes to get it working (well, that's freeware for you ;-) and without the laptop there to test it you could be sending it back and forth... Plus I'm fairly chokka at the moment and forgettful ;) It is fairly easy to use. You select the type of chip to flash, it tells you where to locate it and how to set the dip switches, you erase the rom, load the new rom file, test flash then flash. Simple. :P Get your mate to buy one. Cheaper than a new laptop.... Richard EDIT - peel off the ami sticker and tell me the make and model of the actual chip. IT'll be something like '29FX1234' or 'AT49X1234' - if I have a chip with similar properties I can try flashing that and sending it. I can alos see if your particular chip can be flashed by the willem software. Some can't, though I don't have the latest download. 2nd edit - http://www.flashbios.org/catalog/product_i...&products_id=54 different company, only charge Edited May 21, 2006 by fluffcat1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest awarner (MVP) Posted May 22, 2006 Report Share Posted May 22, 2006 After a lot of hard work cleaning nice sticker glue etc off these are the numbers as printed. EON (looks like the manufacturer) SN09F040-70 87U1Gc.102 02441C.K1N On the middle line I'm fairly sure the first letter is an 8 and not B On the last line the it was a choice between C or G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fraser Posted May 23, 2006 Report Share Posted May 23, 2006 Everything I'd advise has been said by others except: You can get DOS boot CDs online that'll give you some more space. In DOS you can use retro serial transfer tools to copy it to a ram disk (try the Win98 MSDOS boot disk). Fluffcats suggestion of the online flashing service is probably the best; you might not be able to flash even if you can get it booted. One more option would be to reset the bios completely. Have you tried removing the CMOS battery overnight? Doesn't work on the more expensive laptops (anti-theft), but you might get lucky. You could also try reseting to defaults based on keypresses from a known good machine with a similar bios program. Just do them side by side... ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fluffcat1 Posted May 23, 2006 Report Share Posted May 23, 2006 EON (looks like the manufacturer) SN09F040-70 This is the code I need but I don't recognise it and it's not in the software I currently have. The number should break down thus: First 2 digits - manufacturer's code - EON is EN not SN? Next 6 digits - chip type - x9F040 is very common where x = 2, 3 or 4. Never seen a zero as the leading digit here and there are no chips listed with a zero here in the software I have to flash with. last 2 digits - access time in milliseconds So it may be better to send the chip to the professionals. I'll look for the updated software in the meantime but if the laptop is a few years old I'd expect the chip to already be listed - can you re-check the numbers? This company: http://www.biosflash.com/e/index.htm can flash the EN29F040 for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest awarner (MVP) Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 Thanks I'll give them a go ;) The guy who owns the lappy has it back now as he's thinking of scraping it and using the memory in his daughters lappy instead. Some people are just too impatient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fluffcat1 Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 Thanks I'll give them a go ;) The guy who owns the lappy has it back now as he's thinking of scraping it and using the memory in his daughters lappy instead. Some people are just too impatient. :P Tell him i'll give him some memory for his daughters laptop AND some for his desktop in exchange for this laptop...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest awarner (MVP) Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 ok managed to check and it looks like I made a typo THe number is 29F040-70 the first letter could be an E and not an S but the bottom part of the print is not visible. He's now changed his mind about scrapping it ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fluffcat1 Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 ok managed to check and it looks like I made a typo THe number is 29F040-70 the first letter could be an E and not an S but the bottom part of the print is not visible. For the money I'd order a brand new one ready flashed from the last link I posted - they have that chip in stock and will supply it flashed for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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