Or useful tips for experienced users. How to extract Dell BIOS files? How does BIOS damage manifest itself?

A universal program for removing firmware and BIOS backups from any models of laptops and personal computers.

A dump must always be done when we want to do a firmware update, update or rollback of the BIOS. Sometimes they ask you to make a copy of the BIOS of a laptop or motherboard personal computer, for repair of similar equipment.

What is BIOS and what does this abbreviation stand for?

BIOS is an abbreviation for the English words Base_Input_Output_System and is translated as basic_input_output_system

Making a BIOS dump of laptops and computers using this program is very easy and simple.

Brief instructions on how to use the Universal BIOS utility Backup ToolKit 2.0 program to create a bios damp, or in Russian, a backup copy.

Video instructions for working with this program.

Many antivirus programs identify this program as a virus, but it is not.

After downloading, you can check this archive on the website www.virustotal.com which will say that half of the antiviruses will find various viruses in it, and the other half will not.

My AVG also detects it as a virus. And on the beech, Casper says that everything is fine.

After checking this file, see if your antivirus finds a virus in it. If so, disable it while the program is running.

Then unpack the archive and run the resulting file named Universal BIOS Backup ToolKit 2.0.exe

If your system says that administrator rights are required. Then right-click on this file and click on Run as administrator.

After this, a program window opens in which we see information about the type, version, size, manufacturer and date of your BIOS.

After this, click the Read button and wait until the BIOS reading process is completed.

After this, a sign will appear indicating that reading the BIOS was completed successfully.

Click OK. Then click the Backup button.

We are asked to choose a location where we will save the BIOS dump. Choose the desired folder and click the save button.

We all made a backup copy of the BIOS, you can update the version, flash a new or old stable version of the BIOS.

There are probably no users today who have not heard of BIOS. Beginner users (some spend their entire lives in the state of beginners) are afraid of this very BIOS like fire and have no idea how to enter it, let alone configure it. Well, experienced users or, as they are commonly called, computer enthusiasts, not only configure the BIOS system, but also reflash it. It should be noted that the BIOS flashing procedure even for specialists causes a surge of adrenaline, since it is by no means safe and often poses a threat to life. However, the procedure for flashing the BIOS is still a piece of cake. Much more extreme is modding, or editing, BIOS, which will be discussed in this article.

Before we start talking about ways to edit the BIOS, let us briefly recall what a BIOS is, what capabilities it provides to the user, and why it should be updated, much less edited.

What is BIOS

BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is a basic input/output system. More precisely, BIOS is a system for configuring and managing memory, processor, chipset, controllers integrated on the board and devices connected to the board. Unlike most other programs, the BIOS is not located on the hard drive, but on a special self-powered chip on the motherboard.

A lot depends on the BIOS in a computer. In fact, the BIOS defines the system settings that determine the functionality and performance of the PC. Often, the first BIOS versions with which motherboards appear are replete with “bugs” that disappear only in subsequent versions.

The BIOS system is included in any motherboard (with the exception of boards for Apple computers), whether it is for a desktop PC or a laptop. However, traditionally, the BIOS for a laptop has a minimum of settings and is more of an informational nature. Concerning Motherboard BIOS board for a desktop PC, it allows you to make a fairly large number of settings that affect both the performance of the system and its functionality. In particular, traditional system overclocking, which involves increasing clock frequency processor, changing the processor supply voltage, changing the clock frequency, timings and memory supply voltage are made in the BIOS settings. In addition, in some cases, the BIOS allows you to configure the speed mode of the fan installed in the processor cooler and additional fans installed in the system, and configure a RAID array hard drives if this array is created on the basis of a controller integrated into the chipset, as well as perform a lot of other fine-tuning of the computer.

The BIOS is located in a ROM memory chip (Read Only Memory), which ensures that the BIOS is always available regardless of the functionality of external devices. motherboard components (for example, boot disks). Since access to RAM ( random access memory) is carried out much faster than to ROM, many manufacturers provide at power-on automatic copy BIOS from ROM to RAM. The area of ​​RAM used in this case is called Shadow ROM.

Currently, most modern motherboards are equipped with Flash BIOS chips, the code in which can be rewritten using special program. This approach provides the possibility of updating (firmware new version) BIOS.

There are not so many BIOS kernel manufacturers. The most common BIOS are from AMI (American Megatrends, Inc.), AWARD and Phoenics Technologies. Other BIOS (from FirmWorks, Micro Firmware, etc.) are much less common. AMI BIOS currently dominates the market, so in the future we will focus on ways to flash and modify it.

Naturally, each manufacturer makes its own changes to the basic BIOS version, and, of course, one or another BIOS version is intended only for a specific product (computer or laptop) and is incompatible with other solutions.

Finally, we note that BIOS chips currently use two interfaces to connect to the motherboard: either the LPC (Low Pin Connection) bus or the new SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) bus.

Why flash the BIOS?

All manufacturers of motherboards and laptops strongly do not recommend flashing the BIOS unless absolutely necessary. Moreover, representatives of service centers constantly turn to motherboard manufacturers with a request to completely block the user’s ability to flash the BIOS. Of course, this idea is absurd and this will never happen, but we emphasize once again that the BIOS flashing operation is unsafe and can pose a threat to life. If the board or laptop is working fine, then there is no point in updating the BIOS.

At the same time, situations often arise when updating the BIOS is necessary. For example, you purchased a motherboard with a processor and found out that they are incompatible with each other. Most likely the problem is that your motherboard has firmware old version BIOS that does not support the new processor. The only option in this case is to find the old processor and update the BIOS on the board.

In addition, each new BIOS version corrects errors made in previous versions, so the procedure BIOS updates turns out to be quite useful.

The most secure in terms of BIOS flashing procedures are motherboards from Gigabyte, ASUS and MSI, which implement protection against unsuccessful BIOS flashing. Gigabyte motherboards are equipped with two BIOS chips (DualBIOS technology), and if the BIOS is not flashed correctly and the system cannot start, the emergency BIOS recovery procedure from the backup chip automatically begins.

On new ASUS motherboards, the BIOS emergency recovery technology is called ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3. The essence of this technology is that in the event of a BIOS crash or mismatch checksum after unsuccessful firmware A program automatically starts that searches for the BIOS on a CD/DVD disk, floppy disk or flash drive (with the FAT/FAT32 file system). If a file is found on some media, the recovery procedure starts automatically.

A similar technology, called M-Flash, is available on MSI boards. The only difference is that the BIOS file must be on a flash drive.

Methods for flashing BIOS

All motherboard manufacturers, along with new BIOS versions, also post utilities for flashing their firmware, as well as detailed instructions, how to flash the BIOS. Alas, there is simply no universal toolkit for flashing the BIOS. In general, there are three ways to flash the BIOS: from DOS, from operating system Windows and directly from the BIOS.

Actually, about ways to flash the BIOS from under BIOS and using proprietary utility from under the operating room Windows systems There's not much to tell. Everything here is simple and clear. Moreover, the method of flashing the BIOS from under the BIOS is the simplest and safest, however, alas, not all manufacturers support this function. The only exceptions are ASUS and Gigabyte.

Moreover, not all manufacturers provide their boards with utilities for flashing the BIOS from Windows, and in some cases, flashing from DOS is the only possible method.

The method of flashing the BIOS from DOS can be called classic, but also the most inconvenient. The fact is that, in addition to having the appropriate DOS utility, this method of flashing involves booting the computer not from hard drive, but from external media. Previously, ordinary 3.5-inch boot floppy disks with DOS were used for this, and the BIOS file itself and the DOS flashing utility were written to this floppy disk, along with the operating system. However, at present, 3.5-inch floppy disks, like the floppy drives themselves, can be considered obsolete devices. Many modern motherboards do not even have a connector for connecting a floppy drive, and laptops with 3.5-inch floppy drives have not been produced for a long time. However, this is not even the problem with this method of flashing the BIOS. In the end, you can find a 3.5-inch floppy drive with a USB interface, but this is unlikely to solve the problem. The fact is that a modern BIOS can be several megabytes in size and simply cannot fit on a floppy disk.

In principle, you can try to solve this problem, using a bootable flash drive with a DOS kernel instead of a boot floppy disk. But even in this case, complications arise. First of all, you need to find a utility that will allow you to make the flash drive bootable, and system files operating system DOS. On the Internet you can find several utilities that allow you to make bootable flash drives with DOS, the most famous of them are the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool and BootFlashDOS, which are freely available on the Internet.

The HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool allows you to create bootable flash drives if you have DOS system files, that is, it also requires the files themselves. However, on torrent resources you can find assemblies that include DOS system files.

If you use flash drives with a capacity of less than 4 GB, when formatting and creating a bootable flash drive using the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool utility (Fig. 1), you can use the FAT or FAT32 file system, but if you use a flash drive with a capacity of more than 4 GB, then you need file system FAT32.

Rice. 1. Creating a bootable flash drive with DOS
using the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

The BootFlashDOS utility allows you to create bootable flash drives with DOS by pressing just one button, since all the necessary system files are already included in the utility itself (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Creating a bootable flash drive with DOS using the BootFlashDOS utility

In principle, if you create a bootable flash drive with DOS, then there will be no problems with flashing the BIOS. It is enough to copy the DOS utility for flashing the BIOS and the BIOS file itself to a bootable flash drive and boot the computer from the flash drive. To boot your computer from a flash drive, you need to insert it into the PC, reboot, or simply turn on the computer and enter the BIOS at the boot stage to set boot from USB in the settings Flash Drive. Next, having saved the settings, we reboot the computer and, having loaded DOS, execute in command line the required command in accordance with the BIOS manufacturer's instructions.

We will give examples of executing such a command a little later, but for now we’ll look at another way to flash the BIOS from DOS. It consists in using a bootable CD/DVD instead of a bootable flash drive. It’s hardly worth reinventing the wheel here - it’s better to use a ready-made Hiren’s BootCD ( Current version 10.4), the image of which can be downloaded from the website www.hirensbootcd.net. In case of use boot disk Hiren`s BootCD will additionally require a flash drive (with a FAT or FAT32 file structure), on which the DOS utility for flashing the BIOS must be written, and the BIOS file itself.

Now let's look at the procedure for flashing the BIOS from DOS using the example of an MSI GX640 laptop with AMI BIOS. On MSI laptops, there is only one way to flash the BIOS from DOS using the proprietary DOS utility included with the BIOS file itself. Actually, all that is needed to flash the BIOS is to create a bootable flash drive, download from the MSI website an archive with all the necessary files, which includes the BIOS file, the flashing utility and the flash.bat executable file with the prescribed sequence of all actions. After this, you should unzip this archive onto a bootable flash drive and, after booting from the flash drive, run the flash.bat file for execution. The main thing is that all unzipped files are in one folder (you can unzip them to the root directory of the flash drive).

In general, it should be noted that for each type of BIOS (AMI, Award) there are specialized utilities from AMI and Award for flashing. For example, from the AMI company website you can download the amiflash package, which includes the afudos and afuwin utilities, which allow you to reflash the AMI BIOS from DOS and from Windows, respectively. However, you need to keep in mind that AMI BIOS can be either a classic AMI BIOS or an AMI Aptio BIOS. Aptio is a type of AMI BIOS, but the main thing is that AMI BIOS and Aptio AMI BIOS are used various utilities afudos and afuwin.

In addition, many motherboard manufacturers make such significant changes to the BIOS for their products that universal utilities AMI or Award simply do not recognize them, and therefore cannot reflash them. In particular, in the previously discussed example with the AMI BIOS of the MSI GT640 laptop, the afudos and afuwin utilities do not recognize it as an AMI BIOS and, naturally, cannot reflash it.

In general, the situation when it comes to modified versions of AMI BIOS, which are defined as AMI BIOS by the AMI utilities themselves, occurs quite often. These include many MSI boards and many Gigabyte boards. The only ones not seen in such “show off” so far are ASUS boards, the BIOS on which can be flashed using utilities from AMI (although, of course, utilities supplied by ASUS itself are better suited).

Why modify the BIOS

So, we have looked at the main ways to flash the BIOS, and now we will discuss how you can modify it. Naturally, the question arises: why modify the BIOS at all? One can argue endlessly about this, as well as about whether it is necessary to overclock a computer. Actually, if the BIOS modding procedure is possible in principle, there will always be enthusiasts who will do it.

Just a few years ago, few people thought about the possibility of editing the BIOS themselves. However, recently this procedure has become popular, and on the Internet you can find many resources dedicated to BIOS modding. Interest in this issue can be explained by the fact that recently many users have begun to flash the SLIC table in their BIOS, and this is one of the options for modding, or editing, the BIOS. The procedure of flashing the SLIC table in the BIOS itself is quite legal, but the purpose for which it is done, of course, is already illegal - this is precisely what explains the popularity of this procedure.

Let us briefly explain what we are talking about. Flashing the SLIC table in the BIOS is used to implement the OEM activation mechanism for the Windows 7 operating system in the same way that Microsoft OEM partners do to activate pre-installed copies of Windows without Microsoft verification. This method allows you to activate the system if three conditions are met: the use of a special OEM key and OEM certificate, as well as the presence of an SLIC table in the computer BIOS.

Windows 7 requires SLIC tables version 2.1 in the BIOS, and there is no strict binding of the OEM key to the SLIC table and certificate. The key is only tied to Windows edition and allows you to activate both x86 and x64 versions of the OS. The file certificate and SLIC tables are interrelated, and for successful activation both components must be from the same OEM partner.

We will not tell you how to illegally activate Windows 7, but we will focus on the procedure for inserting an SLIC table into the BIOS. Let us immediately note that this is not always possible and not all BIOS can be edited in any way.

You can find a package on the Internet software tools(AMITool), containing both the SLIC tables themselves and the utility (AMI SLIC Mod) for flashing them into the AMI BIOS. However, for this you need to use AMI BIOS on your board, but even in this case there is no guarantee that the procedure for flashing the SLIC table in the BIOS will be possible. As we have already noted, many manufacturers modify the BIOS for their products in such a way that the AMI SLIC Mod utility simply does not recognize it as an AMI BIOS, and therefore cannot modify it.

However, even in this case, you should not despair and run to the store for another motherboard. Before attempting to flash an SLIC table in the BIOS, you should check whether it is missing from the BIOS. If you bought a motherboard or laptop recently, then it may well turn out that the version of the SLIC table you need (version 2.1) is already available in the BIOS.

You can view the version of the SLIC table in the BIOS using the specialized utility RW - Read & Write Utility (current version 1.4.7), which can be downloaded from the website http://rweverything.phpnet.us. Another name for this utility is RW-Everything.

Having installed this utility, launch it and in the main program window on the toolbar, click on the button labeled ACPI. In the ACPI Table window that opens, click on the SLIC tab. Next, you need to view the table in hexadecimal format and find a line in it starting with byte 53 20. If the next four bytes are 00 00 00 00, then the BIOS has the SLIC table version 2.0 flashed, and if - 01 00 02 00, then the SLIC table is flashed table version 2.1 (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Determining the BIOS SLIC table version

Of course, embedding a SLIC table into the BIOS is far from the only option for possible modding. Another modding method is to unlock some BIOS features. Indeed, motherboard manufacturers often deliberately block some functionality BIOS to simplify the Setup BIOS setup procedure. They also disable those functions that are not present in a particular motherboard, but can be used in the following modifications.

Using specialized utilities, you can try to unlock all disabled functions and options in the BIOS. In addition, you can change logos (some motherboard manufacturers, such as ASUS, even supply special utilities for changing the BIOS logo), as well as some names, so that, for example, when booting, not the real name of the processor is displayed, but something like “AMD Core i9 -995".

Another example of BIOS modding can be given. Some craftsmen manage to unlock the ability to use SLI mode through the BIOS for NVIDIA video cards on those motherboards where this mode not provided. Actually, if a board officially supports SLI mode, then its BIOS has the corresponding key from NVIDIA. The idea of ​​modding is to cut this key from the BIOS of the board on which SLI mode is officially supported, and insert it into the BIOS of the board on which SLI mode is not supported (that is, in the BIOS without the NVIDIA key). In particular, there are examples of how, due to such modding, the SLI mode was activated on boards based on the Intel P45 Express chipset.

However, let's move from theory to practice and discuss editing BIOS, in particular editing AMI BIOS as the most common.

Editing AMI BIOS

To edit a BIOS with an AMI kernel, you will need the AMIBCP utility, which, by the way, is produced by AMI itself. This utility can be downloaded either separately or as part of the AMI BIOS ROM Utilities package. It should be noted that since, as we have repeatedly emphasized, manufacturers of motherboards and laptops make changes to the AMI BIOS for their products, there is no guarantee that the AMIBCP utility will recognize the BIOS. Alas, not every BIOS can be modified. As practice shows, BIOS can be edited without problems ASUS boards and ECS, but for motherboards from Gigabyte and MSI the AMIBCP utility is powerless.

So, let's return to the consideration of editing the BIOS in the case where this is possible. The AMIBCP utility (version 3.x) runs under the Windows operating system, but it should be noted that there are versions of the same utility for DOS.

After downloading the utilities, you need to open the BIOS file. In our example, we will look at editing the AMI BIOS for the ASUS P6X58D-E motherboard using the AMIBCP v.3.37 utility. We will edit the P6X58DE.ROM file.

So, in the main program window we load the BIOS file that we will modify (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Main window of the AMIBCP v.3.37 utility

First of all, the Setup Configuration tab is interesting, in which, in fact, the BIOS settings are modified. The left window of this tab displays the main BIOS settings menu. If you uncheck a menu item, it will not appear in the BIOS menu. In the example considered (see Fig. 4), we unchecked the Ai Tweaker and Advanced checkboxes, thereby blocking all options for overclocking the system. That is, the BIOS menu items, in which you can view information about the processor and memory, as well as change frequencies, supply voltage, etc., will simply be absent in the modified version of the BIOS.

The situation is similar when expanding the tree structure of each menu item BIOS settings: If you uncheck any sub-item, it will not appear in the BIOS menu. For example, if we do not want the Intel PPM Configuration item to be displayed in the Advanced settings menu, we simply need to uncheck the corresponding item (Fig. 5).

In order to block any option in the BIOS setup menu, just set the value to No in the Show column for the corresponding item. Such blocked elements will (after saving the changes) be highlighted with a green bar.

For example, if our system does not have additional fans installed in the case and we do not want their settings items to be displayed in the BIOS, then we enter the Power menu, then open the Hardware Monitor menu and for the options Chassis Fan 1 Speed, Chassis Fan 2 Speed, For Chassis Fan 3 Speed, Chassis Q-Fan Profile and Power Fan Speed, set the value to No in the Show column (Fig. 6).

Rice. 6. Block display in BIOS of various setup menu options

It should be noted that BIOS P6X58DE.ROM for the ASUS P6X58D-E board does not allow any improvements using the AMIBCP v.3.37 utility. All options in it are unlocked, so the maximum that can be done is to block what is not needed (though it is not clear why to do this).

You can also try to change some of the inscriptions, but keep in mind that the inscriptions will not be displayed in Russian. For example, if we want the string ComputerPress P6X58D-E BIOS Edition to be displayed instead of the string ASUS P6X58D-E ACPI BIOS Revision 0106 when loading, then just find the string ASUS P6X58D-E ACPI BIOS Revision 0106 on the BIOS Strings tab and change it to the specified one .

We just have to consider one more type of BIOS modding - changing the background image (logo) of the BIOS. At the same time, ASUS even completes its motherboards special utility, which allows you to implement this opportunity. Of course, for ASUS boards it is easiest to use this utility. However, for AMI BIOS you can also use the OEM LOGO utility from AMI itself (Fig. 7).

Rice. 7. Changing the BIOS logo using the OEM LOGO utility

The interface of this utility is very simple and does not require any comments. Just load the BIOS and specify the path to the file with the new logo. The only limitation is that the drawing must be of a certain resolution and format.

Oh, guess the riddle: standing there, the hive is buzzing. But there is no smoke coming out of the chimney, because this is not a native factory, but a computer on which the BIOS is damaged. And he hums because that’s all he can do now. Without the BIOS, it's just a bunch of lifeless hardware. Is this worth worrying about? Of course not. After all, now you have a great bedside table!

System unit as a bedside table? Well, I do not! We know how to make it work. Today we’ll talk about how to restore the BIOS if it crashes.

What causes the BIOS firmware to crash?

B IOS and its “descendant” UEFI, which modern motherboards are flashed with, are special computer programs necessary for the initial setup and management of PC devices until the operating system starts. They are stored in special flash memory chips on the motherboard, one of which is shown in the picture above. It seems like a good storage place, reliable, but sometimes the BIOS gets uncomfortable there and runs away. More precisely, it becomes damaged and ceases to perform its tasks.

There are not too many reasons for BIOS damage; in some cases they are obvious, in others they are not. Here is a list of the most common:

• During this time, the computer's power supply was cut off.
• The flasher program does not interact correctly with the firmware or flash memory chip.
• A BIOS version has been flashed that is not suitable for this motherboard. Yes, .
• If the update is carried out from a running operating system, there may be a system failure or software interference, for example, blocking by an antivirus.
• Incorrect user actions, for example, restarting the computer before the update installation is complete.
• Failure of the flash memory chip.
• Hidden BIOS firmware errors. Sometimes this explains spontaneous “gatherings” that occur for no apparent reason.
• Electrical problems with the motherboard.

How BIOS damage manifests itself

In most cases, the BIOS firmware is partially damaged, so the symptoms of the failure may vary:

• When you press the PC power button, only the cooler is turned on, which immediately begins to rotate at maximum speed. Sometimes the LED indicators on the case and keyboard light up.
• One or several seconds after switching on, a cyclic reboot begins. Outwardly, this is manifested by a cycle of spinning up and stopping the cooler, which is repeated as long as power is supplied.
• When turned on, the power indicator lights up, the cooler does not spin.
• The computer shows no signs of life. This happens when the boot block, the BIOS bootloader, is damaged. This is the most difficult case.

There is no image on the screen. Even the manufacturer's screensaver does not appear.

There are also other forms of damage to the BIOS, more precisely, to its area that stores the configuration of the ME controller (an integral part of the chipset) on boards working with Intel processors– the so-called ME region. If there is a problem in this area, the computer or laptop may:

• It won't load correctly or won't turn on at all.
• Shut down or restart at regular intervals.
• It is incorrect to regulate the rotation speed of the cooler, for example, turning it at high speeds regardless of the load.

Eliminating such failures involves reading a BIOS dump, replacing the ME region with a clean one, and re-flashing it using a programmer. Since this is usually done by repairmen, and not by computer owners, we will not dwell on this. It’s better to do what can be done at home without special equipment and the risk of finally sending your “iron pet” to the kingdom of eternity.

Restoring the BIOS without a programmer is only possible if you save the bootloader. It is sometimes possible to determine whether it has been preserved or not by indirect signs: blinking of the screen backlight, sound signals from the system speaker, the reaction of the motherboard to turning on without RAM (with sound or blinking indicators), etc. If the BIOS bootloader is intact, the first moments of operation computers run fine, the failure appears a little later.

How to restore functionality to a motherboard with a crashed BIOS

Asus

Many Asus desktop motherboards support the technology USB Flashback, which is designed to quickly update and restore the BIOS in the event of a failure. This does not require anything other than a USB flash drive with a capacity of up to 4-16 GB and the BIOS file itself, which must be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website from the section about your motherboard model.

After downloading the firmware you need to rename it. For example, the file “Sabertooth X79” (model name) is renamed to “SABERX79.ROM”, the file “Sabertooth Z77” is renamed to “Z77ST.CAP”. Information on what the firmware file for your model should be named is most likely on the Asus website, but if you don’t find it, check on the forums or in support.

Next, save the renamed BIOS on a flash drive formatted in FAT32 and connect it to USB port marked " Flashback" or " ROG Connect" It is advisable to turn off the computer before this, this will increase the chance of successful recovery.

After connecting the flash drive, turn on the PC and press the “ BIOS" Hold it down for about 3 seconds until the indicator light on the board starts flashing. Blinking indicates that the file has been successfully read and is being flashed into memory. When the firmware process is completed, the indicator will turn off.

If your board is from the budget segment or is not very new, that is, it does not support USB Flash back, most likely you can restore it in another way. If your computer has a floppy drive or optical drive, write the renamed BIOS file to the root directory of a blank floppy disk or CD, place it in the drive, turn off and then turn on the PC. The firmware will be completed when the drive indicator goes off. If there is no drive, use a flash drive.

Gigabyte

On Gigabyte boards with Dual (double) BIOS, failures rarely occur, since in the event of damage to the firmware in the main chip ( M ain_ BIOS) the dump is copied into it from the backup one ( B ackup_ BIOS). As long as the main flash memory is healthy and contains the firmware, even if damaged, the board remains operational.

Problems with starting a board with Dual_BIOS are possible in the following cases:

• The main chip is missing or faulty.
• The microcode in the main chip is completely erased.
• The contents of both microcircuits are damaged.

Some Gigabyte motherboards can boot from backup flash memory and use it as the main one. Another group of boards from this manufacturer uses a dedicated area on the hard drive as BIOS backup media. This is a less reliable option, but still better than nothing.

Recovery BIOS Gigabyte from backup usually runs automatically, but if this does not happen, try unplugging the computer, wait a little and turn it on again.

MSI and others

Most motherboards manufactured by Micro-Star use a firmware recovery technology very similar to ASUS’s - using a flash drive, floppy disk or CD. Copy the BIOS onto a blank medium, connect it to the PC, press the power button for 4 seconds, and hold down the combination on the keyboard leftCtrl +Home(or Alt+Ctrl +Home) and, without releasing the keys, turn on the computer. The start of the firmware process can be judged by the flashing of the flash drive or drive indicator.
BIOS on MSI board. On the right is the JSPI1 port for flashing firmware on the programmer

On motherboards from MSI and some other brands that are more than 8-10 years old, flashing the BIOS is done from a floppy disk. The instructions for AWARD and AMI BIOS are slightly different.

To restore the AMI BIOS, do the following:

• Rename the BIOS file downloaded from the motherboard manufacturer's website to AMIBOOT.ROM.
• Transfer it to the root of a blank floppy disk. Place the floppy disk in the drive of the switched off PC.
• Press left Ctrl + Home on your keyboard and turn on your computer.

To restore AWARD BIOS:

• Place the firmware and BIOS files on a floppy disk (usually downloaded in one archive).
• Create on floppy disk Text Document, which specifies the name of the BIOS file with the extension bin. Rename the document to autoexec.bat.
• Further actions are similar to those above.

By the way, some motherboard manufacturers post BIOSes on their websites only in exe format - in “one bottle” with a firmware program for updating from Windows. Sometimes such a file can be unpacked as an archive, but users often do not understand which of its contents is firmware. There is no universal solution for such problems. In order not to aggravate the problem, it is better to consult specialized forums or the manufacturer’s technical support.

On some boards, before restoring the BIOS, you also need to remove the real-time clock (RTC) battery from the socket or reset (remove) the CMOS clear jumper. It is important to clarify these points before starting the procedure.

Features of BIOS recovery on laptops

On laptops, as well as on Gigabyte boards, the BIOS is also often stored in two flash memory chips. But this is not Dual and backup copies he doesn't have it. Both chips contain different parts of the firmware, or one contains the main BIOS, and the other contains the multicontroller program. To prevent the device from turning on, it is enough to damage the microcode in at least one of them.

The method for restoring a crashed BIOS on laptops is approximately the same as on desktops. The firmware file and flashing program downloaded from the manufacturer’s website (the latter is not always needed) are placed on a clean flash drive formatted in FAT32/16, connected to a de-energized device (simply turning off the laptop is sometimes not enough, you need to disconnect the power supply and remove the battery), insert a charged place the battery in place, turn on the device and press the key combination. Different laptops use different keyboard shortcuts for this, for example:

• Ctrl (left only or both) + Home
• Windows + B (this and other letters are given in the Latin layout)
• Windows + F
• Windows+M
• Windows + Esc
• Fn+B
• Fn+F
• Fn+M
• Fn+Esc.

The main job is to unpack and rename the BIOS files. Again, there is no single rule here. In most cases, you have to get the firmware from exe files, but! Many manufacturers include BIOSes for different revisions of one platform or a whole series of platforms, and choosing the only necessary file from them can be very difficult. To avoid mistakes, read the instructions for flashing the firmware of your specific model and platform revision on specialized forums. And don't be shy to ask questions.

In this article, I deliberately do not provide instructions for restoring BIOSes by flashing firmware on a programmer with or without soldering, closing various contacts, hot-swapping removable flash memory, etc., since all these methods are unsafe and require certain knowledge. However, among the readers, there are likely to be those who did something similar on their PC and received good results. It would be great if you describe your actions in detail in the comments to the article. Stories about negative experiences are also welcome so that other readers, thanks to you, can avoid mistakes. In the comments, be sure to include the model name and revision of your motherboard, as well as the BIOS version you worked with.

Hello, dear readers of the site! My name is Roman Nakhvat and I present to your attention the third and final part of the article on restoring damaged BIOS firmware (using the example of a laptop Acer Aspire E1-532). Before reading this part of the article, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with and, in which we disassembled the Acer Aspire E1-532 laptop, removed the motherboard from it, connected the CH341A programmer to the BIOS chip and saved the damaged BIOS firmware to a separate file. Let's continue our work by preparing a new BIOS firmware file and then write it to the BIOS chip.

Restoring damaged BIOS firmware on a laptop using a programmer, if the laptop does not boot. Part 3. Extracting BIOS firmware from an exe file to update the BIOS. Editing the firmware file in a HEX editor and writing it to the BIOS chip

Let's go to the Acer company website to the support page for the Acer Aspire E1-532 laptop.

And we will download all available BIOS firmware.

For example, let's open the folder with firmware version 2.10.

In this folder we see a regular exe file, let's run it.

After running the V5WE2210.exe file, we get this error window, which states that this BIOS firmware is not suitable for this laptop or computer. We don’t press the OK button yet, since we need to extract the BIOS firmware file for our Acer Aspire E1-532 laptop from the V5WE2210.exe file.

Go to section C: along the way

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp (the username can be anything depending on what name it was created with Account). In the Temp folder we see the temporary folder 7zS2C4E.tmp, which appeared after running the V5WE2210.exe file.

Let's open the 7zS2C4E.tmp folder and see the isflash.bin file in it, which is the BIOS chip firmware file. Let's copy this file to a flash drive.

The isflash.bin file copied to the flash drive.

The size of this BIOS firmware file is 9.45 MB.

When we try to open this firmware file in the CH341A-USB program, we receive a message that the file size is larger than necessary, that is, this firmware file is too large to be used to flash the Winbond W25Q64FV chip (namely, this chip is installed on the motherboard of an Acer laptop Aspire E1-532).

Microcircuits can be of different sizes; let’s look at this using Winbond microcircuits as an example. As can be seen from the table, the capacity of the microcircuit can be 512, 256, 128, 64, 32 Mbit and so on.

The W25Q64FV chip has a capacity of 64 Mbit (or 8 MB).

Since our BIOS firmware file isflash.bin, extracted above from the exe file, weighs 9.45 MB, and the volume of the BIOS chip on the motherboard of the Acer Aspire E1-532 laptop is 8 MB, then to successfully restore the BIOS firmware we need to reduce the isflash.bin file from 9.45 MB to 8 MB. For these purposes, we will use a hex editor, for example HxD. Go to the address

https://mh-nexus.de/en/downloads.php?product=HxD20

and download the hex installation file for the HxD editor

Click on the downloaded file and start the installation.

Install.

Installation completed.

Click on the hex shortcut of the HxD editor and launch it.

HxD main window.

Click on File-Open.

Select the isflash.bin file and click "Open"

We get the following.

In the same way, open the file of the damaged BIOS firmware isflash01.bin (which we saved in the second part of the article).

Let's take a closer look at the structure of the isflash01.bin file. As you can see, the firmware file isflash01.bin starts with the values ​​FF (line 00000000), and line 00000010 contains the values ​​5A A5 F0 0F.

Now let's look at the structure of the isflash.bin file. We see that this firmware file starts with the values ​​4D 5A 00 00 (line 00000000). We need to make sure that the isflash.bin file begins in exactly the same way as the isflash01.bin file, that is, that the beginning of the isflash.bin file is FF (line 00000000).

IN open file isflash.bin click Search-Find.

And we search for the value 5A A5 F0 0F.

We see that the value 5A A5 F0 0F in the isflash.bin file is located in line 0001F340, and we also see the FF values ​​higher in line 0001F330.

In the isflash.bin file, select the range of lines 00000000-0001F320. To do this, select Edit-Select block.

We indicate the starting (00000000) and ending (1F320) lines of the allocated range.

The selected row range is 00000000-1F320.

Delete the selected range of lines from the isflash.bin file by clicking Delete.

As you can see, after deleting the selected lines, the isflash.bin firmware file now begins in exactly the same way as the isflash01.bin file, namely, line 00000000 contains the values ​​FF, and line 00000010 contains the values ​​5A A5 F0 0F.

Let's return to the firmware file isflash01.bin. Let's scroll to the end and see that it ends with line 007FFFF0.

If we scroll to the end of the isflash.bin file, we see that it ends with the line 009548F0.

Let's remove all lines from the isflash.bin file that are in the range 00800000-9548F0, that is, we'll make the isflash.bin file end with the line 007FFFF0. Click Edit-Select block.

Specify the range of selected rows.

The selected row range is 00800000-9548F0.

Delete the selected period range 00800000-9548F0 by clicking Delete.

As you can see, the isflash.bin firmware file now ends with line 007FFFF0.

Save the BIOS firmware file under a new name by selecting Save as...

Specify a name, for example isflash_new and click Save.

New BIOS firmware file isflash_new.bin.

It should be noted that the isflash_new.bin file weighs the same as the isflash01.bin file that we saved in the second part, namely 8 MB.

Since the W25Q64FV chip, as mentioned above, has a capacity of 64 Mbit (or 8 MB), and our edited firmware file isflash_new.bin weighs 8 MB, then we can start flashing. We connect the CH341A programmer to the BIOS chip in the same way as we did in the second part of the article.

Launch the CH341A-USB program. We indicate the manufacturer and model of the microcircuit and delete old firmware BIOS by clicking "Erase".

How to extract Dell BIOS files?

Copy the BIOS.exe file to drive C:
Run Command Prompt in Administrator mode and write this:

cd\
bios.exe /writeromfile
bios.exe /writebinfile
bios.exe /writehexfile

» bios.exe is a file downloaded from the Dell website. "

The unpacked bios file will be copied to drive C:!

Unpacking the new Dell BIOS.

• Download the Python 2.7 interpreter.
  https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7/
• Install Python 2.7 on your computer (exactly this version!).
• with Python script - DecompNewDell.py.
• Copy the DecompNewDell.py script extracted from the archive to the folder with the Python interpreter (usually C:\Python27).
• We also copy our downloaded bios from the dell website to the folder with the interpreter (usually C:\Python27). Rename it to biosupdate.exe. It should look like the photo below.

• Launch the Windows command line in administrator mode and write this:

cd\
cd Python27
python DecompNewDell.py biosupdate.exe

It should look like the photo below.

And in the Python folder (usually C:\Python27), the file biosupdate.exe_decompressed.hdr will appear.

• with the PFSExtractor.exe program, extract the program to the same folder where we created the .hdr file (usually C:\Python27).
• In the team Windows line we write:

PFSExtractor biosupdate.exe_decompressed.hdr

It will turn out like in the photo below.

And the folder biosupdate.exe_decompressed.hdr.extracted will be created, inside which there are all extracted files from which you can collect a dump for flashing the firmware on the programmer. Ready!