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re: Creating a paper weight
Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:09 am
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by jack hall
(681 messages posted)
Thanks for the detailed response gewg_. But the point is that at the beginning of
the instructions, from Levono, it says it applies to a 6269 model, and if you read
the exerpt, further down, it seems to imply it DOES NOT. That was my question.
On Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 11:53 am, gewg_ wrote:
>||:BIOS is programming that controls low-level hardware operations,
>||:including interactions with diskette drives, hard disk drives, and the keyboard.
>||:The BIOS is stored on a chip. Your computer uses flash BIOS,
>||:which can be updated through a program on a flash diskette
>||:so that you do not have to replace the BIOS chip to update the BIOS.
>||
>||It's contradicting itself.
>|| Jack Hall
>||
>I don't see where that is true.
>"Flash diskette" is needlessly verbose
>--but that is referring to its *purpose*, not its physical nature.
>
>The box has to be able to POST to accomplish this task.
>The Bootstrap Routine runs and,
>if CMOS Settings are correct, boots to the floppy which executes a flashing program.
>(I don't think it even loads an OS kernel--just an x86-compatible binary.)
>
>|BIOS chips and CMOS chips nowadays
>|commonly are not ROMS burned once and for all at the factory.
>|They are EPROMS and new firmware can be loaded.
>| dhm
>|
>Actually, they are EEPROMS (*Electrically* Erasable)
>which is what allows this in-place re-programming.
>Most recently, the devices are NAND Flash Memory, an extension of that meme.
>
>Any PROM used in an IBM-PC has *always* been re-programmable,
>starting with the socketed, UV-erasable 2764 PROMs used in 1981.
>The in-place thing came a bit later.
>
>|Flash BIOS refers to this.
>|
>...if you put the second "E" on the front.
>
>|Find the flash program on the diskette. Run it.
>|
>|First consult the manufacturer: [link]
>|
>You've reminded me of the old joke about the 2 guys pinned down in combat
>and try to use a hand grenade by using an instruction manual
>which was written by a guy who should be in another line of work.
>
>"Throw grenade at enemy"
>{chuck}
>"...but first pull the pin." 8-(
>
>Step Zero in flashing a BIOS is to make sure you have rock-stable power.
>Make sure the power cord can't be bumped or tripped over or otherwise disturbed.
>
>A fully-charged uninteruptable power source is advised as well.
>(It bugs be when some folks call something with an AC output a "power supply".)
>
>Any perturbation during the process WILL result in the MoBo becoming a paperweight
>and, by extension, the computer becoming a doorstop or boat anchor.
>That is, an improperly flashed Bootstrap Routine
>will not allow the MoBo to boot to ANYTHING.
>The only recourse is to unsolder the ROM BIOS
>and replace it with one containing valid code.
- Written in response to:
- re: Creating a paper weight (gewg_: Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 11:53 am)
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 |  | |  | re: Creating a paper weight (jack hall: Thu, Jun 5, 2008, 11:09 am) |
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