flash bios question

  • Thread starter Thread starter ~Aart
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A

~Aart

Hi,

When you get the program to flash a particular bios, is that mobo
independent? I mean, can you use it on any mobo that has the same chip set?
The reason I ask is my Uncle has a laptop circa 1998 with 2 usb ports on the
back but they don't work. It's a generic one he bought through the mail.
There isn't an "enable/disable usb" in the cmos. It has an american
megatrend bios in it. So I was wondering if I could flash the bios to light
up the USB ports for him. It would be nice to know for sure because he
lives thousands of miles away and it would have to be mailed back and forth.

Thanks,

Sammy
 
~Aart said:
Hi,

When you get the program to flash a particular bios, is that mobo
independent? I mean, can you use it on any mobo that has the same chip set?
The reason I ask is my Uncle has a laptop circa 1998 with 2 usb ports on the
back but they don't work. It's a generic one he bought through the mail.
There isn't an "enable/disable usb" in the cmos. It has an american
megatrend bios in it. So I was wondering if I could flash the bios to light
up the USB ports for him. It would be nice to know for sure because he
lives thousands of miles away and it would have to be mailed back and forth.

Thanks,

Sammy
Click to expand...

Nope. Don't even try it. BIOS programs are licensed to be used by hardware
manufacturers, BUT the catch is that the BIOS is customized for each
individual mainboard. Flash just anything in there, and your laptop is
suddenly a paperweight. If you want to update the BIOS, you will have to
contact whoever manufactured the laptop to get a BIOS update from them.
Even if that's possible, there is no guarantee that that will enable the USB
port.

If your USB ports aren't working, there are two likely explanations.
- The laptop maker was too cheap to include cabling for the ports, or
deliberately used an off-brand mainboard with no USB support
- (somewhat more likely) The drivers for the laptop have not been installed
correctly.

Either way, your Uncle might have better luck adding a PCMCIA format
expansion card to add USB ports. -Dave
 
~Aart said:
Hi,

When you get the program to flash a particular bios, is that mobo
independent? I mean, can you use it on any mobo that has the same chip set?
The reason I ask is my Uncle has a laptop circa 1998 with 2 usb ports on the
back but they don't work. It's a generic one he bought through the mail.
There isn't an "enable/disable usb" in the cmos. It has an american
megatrend bios in it. So I was wondering if I could flash the bios to light
up the USB ports for him. It would be nice to know for sure because he
lives thousands of miles away and it would have to be mailed back and forth.

Thanks,

Sammy
Click to expand...
Like Dave says, definitely forget a generic flash. What operating system
is Uncle using?
 
It came with Win95 on it, but I don't know what version, and don't know if
it's been upgraded. I remember there was a win95C out for a while that
supported USB so I guess that's what on it.

I didn't know there was a card solution to this,
do you mean there are cards out there, like the modem card that plugs into
the pcmcia or whatever port, that has a USB bridge/controler and usb ports
on it? If so, that's definately a safer way to go.

Thanks,
Sammy
 
It came with Win95 on it, but I don't know what version, and don't know if
it's been upgraded. I remember there was a win95C out for a while that
supported USB so I guess that's what on it.

I didn't know there was a card solution to this,
do you mean there are cards out there, like the modem card that plugs into
the pcmcia or whatever port, that has a USB bridge/controler and usb ports
on it? If so, that's definately a safer way to go.

Thanks,
Sammy
Click to expand...

Windows 95 support for USB was very bad, even on the last version. MS
rewrote the whole USB system for 98, and most of the USB peripheral drivers
will only work on Win98 (sometimes SE) or later. If your uncle wants USB,
he needs a newer OS

JT
 
Hi,

When you get the program to flash a particular bios, is that mobo
independent? I mean, can you use it on any mobo that has the same chip set?
The reason I ask is my Uncle has a laptop circa 1998 with 2 usb ports on the
back but they don't work. It's a generic one he bought through the mail.
There isn't an "enable/disable usb" in the cmos. It has an american
megatrend bios in it. So I was wondering if I could flash the bios to light
up the USB ports for him. It would be nice to know for sure because he
lives thousands of miles away and it would have to be mailed back and forth.
Click to expand...
You can use the FLASH UTILITY from a particular chipset/BIOS on any
similar but you cannot use the BIOS data file.

Do a search for AMIBCP. It allow you to alter what options can be seen
in the CMOS settings menus on a AMI BIOS. Use the flash utility to
create a copy of the original, use AMIBCP to enable hidden menus then
reflash the BIOS with the modified file.

BEWARE THOUGH: This is for people who know what they are donig and are
happy flashing BIOSes undertanding that a failed flash can result in
dead kit.
 
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