Reprogramming the “brains” of the car’s on-board computer. What does flashing give?
Well, my dream has come true - to change my “Masquerade” to something newer and more modern. The choice fell on the VAZ 2115I 1.5L 8V - there was enough money for the 2006 model year. Includes HBO, music, trip computer, not very good alarm system, 14mm wheels, arch protection, sump protection and worn covers. A list of priority work was quickly determined - a repair kit for the gas reducer and the entire range of work to put the gas equipment in order were needed. When running on gasoline, the car began to stall when the revs dropped (I’m not even talking about running on gas). The synchronizer for 2nd gear was worn out, an urgent oil and antifreeze change was required, the radiator dripped from below and a crack in the expansion tank was discovered. Thus began the study of the hardware of this car. But the Russian car enthusiast will not be scared by the VAZ after such models as the Zaporozhets and Moskvich!
A year of operation has passed and the list above has been supplemented by replacing the starter, purchasing a new mass air flow sensor, idle air regulator, installing a new alarm system with feedback, replacing a pair of fog lights broken by stones. But no matter how hard you try, bugs still remain on the products of our automotive industry. You could think about another car, but it’s a pity for the labor and money invested. True, replacement of parts was carried out only after repeated attempts to repair the next unit independently. I managed to do something, and if I have the opportunity, I will try to write articles on the following topics: repair and adjustment of the LPG gearbox, repair of the starter, installation of an alarm system.
Now I’ll focus on reflashing the ECU in order to teach the VAZ to drive. To begin with, I affirm that it is possible and even necessary to sew our domestic product. Moreover, a car that has not been serviced since birth, and I think there are 50 percent of these from the entire fleet of injection VAZs. Flashing is very easy and simple - click a couple of icons on the computer, click a couple of toggle switches and it’s as if rocket fuel was poured into your car! But to understand how all this is done, to connect various information it is not given to everyone and is much more difficult. Here is my respect for real masters! Alas, you most likely will not find ready-made information laid out on shelves anywhere. On the Internet you can piece this together by reading and re-reading numerous forums. It took me about six months before the first re-flashing with 2-3 “approaches to the projectile”. During this time, I mastered the firmware of other electronic devices, such as satellite receivers, setting up their work on the globe, setting up satellite Internet, operating motor suspensions and setting up the entire satellite system to the final result.
Don’t think that writing this lengthy article was motivated by a desire to write, everything is much simpler: it’s just that during the first attempt to read the firmware from the ECU, I immediately failed - the car stopped starting! Having lost some of her nerves (it was almost at night, and in the morning she had to go to work), fortunately we managed to partially revive her - we managed to fill her with stock gasoline new firmware(the gas part is still silent). Faced with such a problem, I want to do something to help those interested in this issue and so that no one steps on the same rake as me.
Before you start working on your own, you must:
Prepare theoretically;
. prepare equipment (make or purchase a K-line adapter, a tested computer and everything else that is needed to replace the software;
. find and download the necessary software for your computer;
. find firmware for the ECU.
I don’t pretend to be the ultimate truth, so I ask you not to criticize too much for the style and possible inaccuracies, but:
1. Usually there is a need for firmware to fix obvious bugs in the factory software, add car dynamics, or a desire to save fuel. This is also necessary when using liquefied gas as a fuel along with gasoline. One more thing - just study better device and operation of the engine control system.
2. It is better to carry out preparation gradually. Don't try to cover everything at once. It is important to understand the principles of working with electrical and electronics, and to have good computer skills in terms of installing programs and drivers. For the rest, the Google search engine will help, you just need to formulate your queries more specifically. For example: Esud VAZ; controller connection diagram; instructions for ECU firmware; K-Line adapter diagram; firmware; chip tuning of vases, etc. It is necessary to determine the types of ECUs and their markings, which engine needs which firmware and their designations. Deal with the immobilizer issue. When you realize that you have understood everything and decided that you have become a great specialist, do not hesitate and go to the service technician and try to discuss the virtual topic of replacing the firmware of your car and disabling (deactivating) the immo. I don’t recommend “torturing” a mechanic for a long time because you will take up the person’s time and most likely you will quickly have new questions, the answers to which are better to find on your own or ask for help on auto forums.
3. If your hands grow from the right place, then the adapter is not very difficult to assemble. The simplest one for a hardware COM port based on MAX232 and K1533LN1 and KT3102 can be found on the website Chip-tuner.ru. It will cost about a hundred even if you buy the entire package at a radio market. For starters, he'll go. True, there is a trap here - not all system systems have a standard COM port, and even those that have it may not work. I have exactly the same motherboard - the COM port works, programs like POBEDIT (for satellite OPENs) work, but flashing programs do not work. The shamanism with drivers and settings in the BIOS did not lead to anything. Installing new operating systems is the same without changes. Everything worked on someone else's computer. For such a case, an old data cable from cell phone based on the PL 2303 chip and + one ms L9637D. The scheme works 100% (tested on January 7.2), you just need to add one line in the driver registry with parameters for non-standard ECU speeds. You will get a USB-K-Line adapter. If you add 2 more transistors and a couple of parts, you can also get an L-line. In order not to go to the market for one ms, I sacrificed the polite interior lighting and removed 9637 from the APS-4 immobilizer.
As a connector I used 2 blocks from a computer IDE cable without modifications. The cable was cut into 2 pieces of 10-15 cm each. On January 7.2 they fit well under the top and bottom of the ECU socket (empty 2 pins of the pads remain at the top or bottom of the block legs), just when reconnecting, do not confuse their location, otherwise you will burn the block. I also used 3 microtoggle switches - common +12V, ignition “+” and switching to programming mode “+”. Before any operation, I turn off the 2nd and 3rd toggle switches, and turn them on in the order of 3 then 2. Sometimes I have to remove the general “+” for a short time to receive communication. Power can be taken from the car, when working on a table "-" from an adapter with a current of about 500 mA.
4. To flash the firmware, you need the following programs: combiloder 2.18 and chiploader 1.6 (1.96 is more expanded in blocks). The first program is included in the Ctp321-full kit (the loader is free and will start working when the adapter is connected). But sometimes he falls out of work or cannot complete the pouring process. The second one works without problems. The first one is needed mainly to remove protection from the firmware you find and to install the same protection when uploading software to the ECU. It is not possible to read protected software from the controller - it is erased. Therefore, I advise you to prepare and have at least several (taken from different places) factory firmware. After installation, the Stp321-full catalog contains a set of standard and tuning firmware, which may be suitable. You also need programs such as chipexploer 1.6 and Page 4.10 (with a tail). These programs will allow you to view the found firmware, edit, compare them with each other and assemble dual pr-ki. On 2-core computers (and with the hyper-trading function), the tail falls off on Page. Somewhere I came across information about a patch for this problem, on single nuclear ones everything is fine. Be sure to carefully study the help for these programs and work with the firmware in them in order to understand the features and capabilities of the programs. This way you will most likely weed out broken and questionable firmware. 2 more programs - Enigma for decoding software from the CTP standard and ICD for checking the adapter. It is better to take this entire set from the deposit (there are rarely non-working ones there). You will also get links to other resources when reading the forums. I recommend saving to your computer all useful pages, diagrams, photographs and documents found while surfing the Internet. It will come in handy more than once.
If, after reading the article up to this point, you still have the desire to learn and move on (reflash the car), I will be very glad and wish you all success. Proceed with what you have planned, but keep in mind that all responsibility continues to fall on you. If you are not sure or are afraid, contact the specialists.
While I was writing the opus, I found gas software, put together a dual petrol “+” gas system, filled it up and drove off. Made I203EL36/RB40, I203Ez36/RB40. Even with this software I felt a difference from my native EL35. I left any questions and ambiguities that arose until they were clarified.
As is known, any computer equipment and software becomes outdated over time and ceases to meet current requirements. This equally applies to primary BIOS/UEFI systems, the software of which is integrated into a special chip on the motherboard. When installing new equipment (“hardware”), it may sometimes be necessary to flash the BIOS. This procedure will be performed on a laptop or a stationary computer terminal, it doesn’t matter. The technology is almost always the same. Some users, unfamiliar with the basics of such techniques, believe (and not without reason) that this process is unsafe and difficult. If you can agree with the first statement, then you can argue about the second. Actually flashing the BIOS motherboard- the matter is not so troublesome. But to carry out this procedure correctly, special attention should be paid to some important details and nuances, which depends on the manufacturer motherboard and programs and techniques used for flashing.
Why do you need to flash the BIOS?
In general, if it is not planned, and the entire system is working stably, there is fundamentally no point in updating the BIOS version.
But when new equipment is installed on a computer, which the primary system may not support only because it is outdated (the device’s BIOS simply does not recognize it), flashing the BIOS becomes a pressing problem. Although many users find this process difficult, anyone who works with a computer can do this on their own. It will take no more than 10 minutes.
Flashing the motherboard BIOS: prerequisites
First, pay attention to several mandatory conditions, failure to comply with which can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Download files and programs to update primary systems only from official resources motherboard manufacturers. If you install unofficial firmware, no one can guarantee that the process will be successful and the system will work as expected after that.
The second thing to pay attention to is during the update. You need to take care in advance to ensure that there are no power surges or spontaneous disconnection of your computer or laptop from the power supply.
General rules for updating all firmware
Flashing the BIOS for almost all motherboard models involves using the same scheme:
For standard systems BIOS in most cases uses DOS mode. However, for some BIOS versions, as well as for more modern systems UEFI may apply special program for flashing the BIOS, created by the motherboard manufacturer, which is capable of running even under Windows operating systems without necessarily creating bootable media.
How to find out the modification of the motherboard and the current BIOS version?
The very first thing you need to do is determine which model of motherboard is installed in computer system, and also find out the version of the primary BIOS systems(perhaps it is currently relevant and does not need updating).
You can view information about the board and BIOS version in the section that is called from the Run console using the msinfo32 command.
For the motherboard, you can also use specialized utilities like CPU-Z (formerly Everest). For a device identified in this way, you need to find the latest firmware on the manufacturer’s website and save the files on your hard drive.
Preparing bootable media (general procedure)
If you use bootable media, when an update from Windows is not provided, the first step is to create one. Regular recording of downloaded files will not work.
To simplify your work, you can use the Rufus utility, which is very easy to learn and creates bootable USB flash drive within a couple of minutes. There is practically no need to change anything in the parameters. Only in file system you should specify FAT32, and use MS-DOS mode in the recording method, making sure to check the box next to the line to create bootable media. If this is not done, then when you reboot the device will not be recognized as bootable. Then, to install the update, in some cases you will need to additionally copy it to media control program and the firmware file.
Next, the process of updating the BIOS will be discussed with examples for motherboards from several well-known manufacturers. Although in general they are very similar to each other, nevertheless, each of them has its own nuances. We assume that the priority is already set in the BIOS settings.
ASUS
Flashing the Asus BIOS can be done in several ways. Among the preferred utilities, two programs worth highlighting are AFUDOS and ASUSTeK EZ Flash 2.
When using the first utility, you should create bootable media and pay attention to it in mandatory there was a program file afudos.exe and the firmware itself (for example, p4c800b.rom).
Flashing the ASUS BIOS looks like this. Booting from a flash drive. Since the media was recorded for DOS mode, the initial line C:\> will appear on a black screen, in which you need to enter the command /i p4c800b.rom and press the enter key. Once the update is complete, a reboot will occur, during which you just need to remove the media from the USB port so that the system starts from the hard drive.
Flashing the motherboard BIOS ASUS boards when using the second utility it is slightly different from the previous option.
Despite the fact that most firmware on the official ASUS website have the .rom extension, CAB files can sometimes be found. There is nothing wrong with this, since they are used for UEFI systems.
To flash the firmware, you should enter the UEFI settings when rebooting, go to Advanced Mode ( additional settings) and in the service (tools) section of the Tool, select the line ASUSTeK EZ Flash 2. Next, from the list, again select the media with the program (line of the same name), after which the required firmware file will be shown on the right. We select it and agree to the warning twice (first to check the file, then to start the firmware process).
At the end of the process, a reboot notification will appear, and at the beginning of the restart, a proposal to carry out initial setup. Press F1 and set the required parameters. Otherwise, we simply exit the settings without saving the changes.
Gigabyte
Flashing the BIOS of Gigabyte systems is quite different from other processes. First of all, this is due to the fact that you can use online update to install the firmware. But first, let's look at using the Q-Flash utility, which is believed to be best suited for updating firmware.
First, you should enter the BIOS settings and use the option to reset all Load Optimized default settings. After this, you need to save the changes, restart the computer and enter the BIOS settings again. Next, to launch the Q-Flash utility, press the F8 key, and the start is confirmed by pressing the Y and Enter keys. To begin with, it is recommended to save current version via the Save Bios option, after which you need to use Update Bios. Next, you will be asked to indicate the source from which you want to update. You should select HDD 2.0 as the media (this is how the flash drive is displayed in the settings). Then everything is as usual: select the firmware file present on the media and agree with all the warnings.
For an Internet update, you can use the @BIOS utility specially developed by Gigabyte specialists, which runs in Windows environment. In this case, it is strongly recommended to disable Hyper-Threading mode in the settings of the primary system, as well as deactivate anti-virus and other resident applications to avoid errors or failures during the update process.
After starting the program, you can immediately save the current BIOS version by clicking on the Save Current BIOS button, and then select the Internet Update online update mode, click Update New BIOS and specify one of the servers present in the list. After this, you will be asked to indicate the model of the installed motherboard, and the program will automatically download all necessary components and activates the update process.
MSI
Flashing the MSI BIOS, as in the case of ASUS, can be done either from Windows or from DOS. For DOS mode, a tool built into the BIOS called BIOS-MFLASH is used. But the MSI Live Update 5 or 6 application can also be used as an initial management utility. It is notable for the fact that with its help you can also update everything installed drivers MSI, and also reflash the BIOS of the corresponding graphics accelerators. Let's start with it.
In the main window you just need to check the boxes necessary elements. Select the MB BIOS component and click the scan button at the bottom (Scan). If new version The firmware will be detected, use the Download and Install button, after which the update process will start.
First you will need to select an update environment. To simplify matters, check the In Windows mode, in the next window click the button to close all programs that appear in the list (Close all listed programs), click the continue button (Next) and in the next window click the button to start the process.
For DOS mode, select it from the window running process update, after which we indicate the media and agree to the destruction of all data present on it (the process will take no more than a minute, after which a message will be displayed indicating the successful creation of the boot drive). When rebooting, all you have to do is follow the instructions of a kind of “Master”.
In case of updating using the built-in MFLASH mechanism, you will have to download the firmware manually, create bootable media and perform the same actions in the BIOS as described above (select the media and firmware file in the tools menu).
Acer
Flashing the BIOS of Acer systems is surprisingly much easier. You don't even need to create bootable media, although you will still have to format it in FAT32.
To install the update, a special utility called Insyde Flash is used, which is copied to removable media. At the same time, you need to copy the firmware file downloaded from the official website, which has the extension .fd and corresponds not only to the motherboard, but also to the laptop model, to the main directory of the program on the flash drive. Please note that the device must contain only one firmware file, otherwise the application will prompt you to flash only one of several. After running the utility while the power is on, you will be prompted to install the update immediately.
The second method is just as simple. First you need to completely turn off the laptop, unplug the cord from the outlet and wait until the power indicator stops blinking. Next, plug the cord into the outlet, insert the flash drive into the appropriate port, hold down the Fn and Esc keys and press the power button. As soon as the indicator starts flashing, release the pressed keys. After this, reading information from the drive will begin (this can be seen by the blinking LED on the device itself). Once the update process is complete, the laptop will reboot on its own.
Video cards
Since GeForce and Radeon are dominant in the video card market, flashing the BIOS will be considered using their example.
At the initial stage, you need to download new firmware and control programs for your card on the manufacturer’s website. If the system has several video cards, only one should be left during the update, inserting it into the PCI-Express slot.
For GeForce cards the NVFlash program is used (from two files), for Radeon - the ATIFlash utility (one file). Next, you need to create a bootable USB drive for DOS mode, and then copy program and firmware files to it.
When starting from a flash drive, you should make sure that the card is single-processor, otherwise the proposed method will not work. For NVIDIA use the command nvflash --list, for ATI - atiflash -i. If information is displayed for two cards, then the adapter has two processors, and the proposed firmware method cannot be used (it is better to go to the manufacturer’s website and find instructions there).
The next step is flashing the BIOS GeForce video cards involves disabling protection. This is done with the line nvflash -protectoff.
Next, to start the BIOS update process for GeForce cards, use the command nvflash -4 -5 -6 newbios.rom (the name of the ROM file must match the name of the downloaded firmware), for Radeon cards - atiflash -p -f 0 newbios.rom. After this, we wait for the process to complete and reboot the system in normal mode.
Brief summary
That's all for flashing the primary I/O systems. Based on all of the above, we can conclude that the best option is to install the update exclusively in DOS mode, although you can use special utilities. But they only work if there are UEFI systems, and are not suitable for standard BIOS versions. You need to be extremely careful with video cards, because incorrect installation update or the slightest violations during the flashing process can lead to the graphics adapter failing.
I tore up an old Pentium desktop. The main board is Zida 5svx. I found out from the manual (which I downloaded from the Internet) the location of the ROM chip on the board and took it out. The manual mentioned that the chip was a Flash EEPROM.
Now what I'm wondering is this: is there a way to erase the ROM and flash it, say a C program to flash an LED (I know this might send you into a fit of laughter, but read anyway), or control a motor?
I also want to know if I can build a mega size mega controller with left Pentium processor, several MB of RAM and this ROM.
Any suggestions?
P.S: I know that such a UC will require proper power supply settings and much more.
21 answers
The key is to obtain and deeply study the manufacturer's specifications for each device you remove and want to reuse. I'm guessing that since you asked the question that you did this, you are not a professional electrical engineer - that's ok, but you will need to do hours, days or weeks of training to really understand the table data well enough. to successfully use your motherboard because they are written for professional engineers with years of experience, and unfortunately they were not written to be understood by hobbyists. If you manage to achieve a thorough understanding of all the datasheets (and the corresponding user manuals, as well as for more complex tricks), you can do this to the point that you can run a custom design based on the refurbished parts, at least on paper. To test your design and ensure that every part of it works, you will need at least an oscilloscope and a voltmeter, and knowledge of how to use them. Understanding basic electronics is essential, you won't succeed without it. It will also require very good soldering/reworking/assembly skills if you hope your design will actually work - you can do everything else right and it can still fail if you lack skill in that area. I simply don't have enough time to advise you on everything you need to know, but if you're motivated, dedicated, and you don't give up when setbacks and roadblocks happen (and believe me, they happen far too often for even the best engineers and best designs) - this means that you are not easily disappointed when something does not work - then you have a chance of success. I wish you all the best and try to have fun while doing it (important in case you're cutting everything out of your project). :)
Today I want to talk to you about how to flash the BIOS on a computer motherboard. To be fair, it is worth noting that the question of flashing the BIOS does not arise very often, but believe me, sometimes this is the only way to restore a completely inoperable computer.
But let's remind ourselves a little, what is BIOS and what is its role in the operation of a computer? In order not to repeat myself twice, I recommend that you refer to the article "". It discusses these issues in some detail. Here we will simply limit ourselves to the following photo:
What do we see here? The “AMI” (American Megatrends Incorporated) BIOS chip, which is removed from its seat - the “pad”. The "cushion" serves to additionally protect the chip and makes it more comfortable to remove from the board.
By the way, it is better to remove the microcircuit using a special device called an “extractor”:
Let's talk a little more about in what cases it is necessary to reflash bios motherboard boards and what can this give us?
In general, on modern motherboards the process of flashing the BIOS boils down to the fact that the BIOS firmware image is written to the CMOS chip on the board. " CMOS" - the name of the technology itself by which this microcircuit is produced: " Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor» - complementary metal oxide semiconductor or " CMOS" CMOS, as a rule, is a flash memory in which microcode is written and where all settings are stored.
There are also situations when it is necessary to reflash the motherboard BIOS not because the computer is not working, but for another reason. For example: the board comes to the market with “raw” microcode (the manufacturer is in a hurry to release a new batch of products). As a result, difficulties arise with various integrated devices, or it turns out that the motherboard does not work with some models RAM, sometimes in order to install a new CPU (processor), it is also necessary to update (reflash) the BIOS.
We have several options for flashing the BIOS. Reflash the BIOS from Windows, from DOS, or directly from the BIOS itself.
Attention! During the process of updating (flashing) the BIOS, be very careful and careful. If the data in the CMOS chip is damaged during the update process or is written incorrectly (the power supply is turned off), it will be possible to restore the BIOS only in service center using a special device - a “programmer”.
Although, if we consider everything possible options, then on some modern boards two BIOS chips are installed at once. Such products are usually marked “ Dual BIOS" In this case, if the firmware fails, the BIOS will recover on its own. An error message and a request for recovery will appear on the screen. After confirmation of the restoration, the known working firmware will be copied from the second microcircuit.
We are done with the necessary minimum of theory. Now let's turn directly to the practical aspect of our topic today.
I will talk about how to reflash the motherboard bios yourself based on real example, which took place not so long ago in our IT department.
So, they brought it to us from a remote office system unit. To the question "What happened?" We get the answer: “After turning on, something incomprehensible is written on the screen.” Okay, we are accustomed to such “meaningful” explanations :) Turn it on and see the following picture:
Here, don’t go to a fortune teller, there is a problem with the motherboard BIOS. In such cases, the computer “talks” about bios errors (and they can be different), tries to detect the drive (drive A), “asks” to boot from the system floppy disk and press “Enter” in order to “upload” the new firmware.
Note: Do not confuse the situation when it “flew” BIOS firmware(the operating system does not start) and the case when we have a low battery of the CMOS chip.
In the second case, we can see approximately the following inscription when loading: “ cmos battery low" and in the lower left corner of the screen - a proposal to press the "F1" key to continue loading with the current parameters.
With a low battery, we simply have a situation where any settings we have made in the bios will be reset to default settings after rebooting the computer, but the computer itself will boot and work properly (after pressing the “F1” key). Everything is simple here - we change the battery to three volts marked “ CR2032"near our microcircuit and forget about this incident for another 5-6 years. Such a battery can be bought at any store that sells batteries or electronic watches :)
Now, in order to reflash the BIOS, we will need a system floppy disk. You can create it either in Windows 98 (if you still have it at hand) :), in Windows XP in the disk formatting window (check the appropriate box) or download from our website a small program that contains it boot image. The principle here is this: unzip, run the program, insert a blank floppy disk into the drive and press the “Create” or “Write image to floppy” button. After the process is completed, you have a boot floppy disk with Ms Dos :)
I foresee a tricky question: “And if there is no disk drive, what should I do?” :) Use its USB analogue. For example, like this:
By the way, that’s exactly what we did in our case! In order to flash the BIOS, we only need two files, which we must add to the files contained on boot diskette. This is the image itself BIOS firmware(usually it has the extension "bin") and - a flasher (a small program with the extension "exe").
The flasher is specifically engaged in “uploading” the bin file of the new bios into the cmos chip. Each microcode version has its own flasher (it is usually downloaded in the same archive with the firmware itself) or from the manufacturer’s website. For example, a stitcher latest version under DOS for Award Bios you can take .
So, having copied these two files to our system floppy disk, we must insert it into the drive and reboot. In case of a planned (not caused by a breakdown) flashing of the BIOS, it would be very appropriate to first save old version firmware. It will be of great use to us if something goes wrong and we have to “roll back” the system to its original state.
The backup window might look like this:
But in our situation, as you understand, flashing the BIOS was caused precisely by a breakdown and was a forced measure. So no matter what backup there was no talk at that moment. The task was to “revive” the computer itself. System board " DFI NS35-TL"completely refused to start, displaying a "BIOS" error message and an invitation to insert system disk into drive "A".
Our task was to boot from the system floppy disk and launch our flasher program from it. After launching it, in the corresponding field of the window that appears (approximately the same as in the photo above), you must indicate the full name of the firmware file along with the extension. It may look like this: ami8d10007.bin (depending on your downloaded image). After this, press the “Enter” key to confirm the bios flashing.
This is exactly what we did in our case. After the message from a successful rewrite, we reboot the computer and see how the system successfully passes the POST test, initializes devices on the “IDE” channels and finally loads the operating system Windows systems XP! :)
But we already wanted to take this motherboard to a warehouse or use it for spare parts. It has been working flawlessly for two months now.
Question: How to reflash motherboard bios occurs at regular intervals. Therefore, let's take a quick look at other options for flashing the bios.
On relatively old motherboards, this feature was implemented at the level of the bios itself. Here's what that option might look like:
Now the “Q-Flash” utility has become “fashionable”, which is integrated by the manufacturer into the BIOS itself and can be launched from there.
In this case, you yourself can indicate the device where the firmware is located (CD-Rom or USB drive- "flash drive"). The principle here is the same: select the “reflash BIOS” function in the graphical interface, do backup copy your BIOS to a floppy disk (or disk), specify the new (pre-downloaded) firmware and press “Enter”. The procedure itself takes literally a few seconds (the main thing is not to do anything with the computer during this time and under no circumstances restart it!).
Flashing the BIOS from Windows is even easier. In this case, the bios itself and the flasher are “packed” into one file with the “exe” extension and all you have to do is run it directly in Windows. Here's what it might look like:
Click “Ok”, confirming your intention, you see a running bar (flashing indicator) and after a couple of seconds you have a new BIOS. You can reboot, enter it and check whether its version has changed (its numerical designation is usually indicated in the upper right corner).
Another thing is that flashing the BIOS from Windows has its own pitfalls. For example: there was a case when, after updating the firmware in this way and rebooting operating system everything stopped working USB ports. I had to flash the BIOS again (with the same firmware), but in Dos mode (from a floppy disk). After that everything worked fine! Be sure to keep this point in mind when you perform a similar procedure in Windows.
Now a few words about where to get new microcode for our needs? I advise, if possible, to always download it from the motherboard manufacturer's website (this is not a procedure that can be taken lightly). The firmware is usually located in the same section as the drivers for the motherboard and can be loaded from there.
Advice! Often manufacturers on their websites instead of the word “ Bios" write " Firmware" This is essentially the same thing. So, keep this in mind.
Remember, at the beginning of the article we mentioned that if the bios is flashed incorrectly, only “ Programmer"? Now is the time to dwell on this point in more detail.
A programmer is a device that connects to a computer via standard ports (COM, LPT, USB) or can be made in the form of a separate PCI or ISA expansion card.
Here, for example, is what a device of this class “USB Willem EPROM Programmer BIOS” looks like:
A BIOS chip removed from our motherboard is placed in such a programmer, the device is connected to the computer and using a specific software The BIOS is flashed (updated microcode is written to it).
At the dawn of time, programmers were autonomous - they had a special keyboard. But with the spread of PCs, they were replaced by devices connected to them. The operation scheme looks like this: a special program (also called a programmer) transfers the firmware from the computer, and the programmer writes it into the chip’s memory. Using this device, flashing the BIOS is very easy! What am I telling you? We have told you in detail! :)
Important: after flashing, be sure to set the factory settings bios settings. I recently had a case where after updating the BIOS to Asus laptop K50L touchpad stopped working. Due to the routine, I forgot about it and then racked my brain for a long time, why doesn’t it work? Remembering that after the update I did not “reset” the BIOS to factory settings, I did this and after rebooting the touchpad worked! So - remember this moment!
If anyone needs it, we have decoding of BIOS sound codes (a specialized program is included in the kit).
Review new technology UEFI, which replaced the traditional Bios, we carried out on our website.
