Freeware to Record Contents of BIOS?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ben Alias
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Ben Alias

Is there any freeware program that will make a record (preferably
something I can print out) of the contents of my BIOS setup? I'd like
to have such a record, without having to copy the information down by
hand.

C'ya.

Ben
 
Ben said:
Is there any freeware program that will make a record (preferably
something I can print out) of the contents of my BIOS setup? I'd like
to have such a record, without having to copy the information down by
hand.
Click to expand...

One of these?

Program: CMOSSave
Author: Canadian Mind Products (Roedy Green)
http://www.simtel.net/pub/pd/50211.html

Program: Cmos Viewer
Author: Benu Software
http://www.sover.net/~wysiwygx/index.html

Program: Bios 1.35.1
Author: (Matthias Bockelkamp)
http://www.geocities.com/mbockelkamp

Susan
 
One of these?
Click to expand...

Thank you, Susan, for the swift reply and your research.
Program: CMOSSave
Author: Canadian Mind Products (Roedy Green)
http://www.simtel.net/pub/pd/50211.html
Click to expand...

This one appears to work, but it wasn't exactly what I had in mind.
But then, I am ignorant on technical matters, so this could be what I
really need. It saves the info to a 128 byte file that is readable in
Hex but not in English. Still, this is the closest thing to what I
was looking for, since it allows for the restoration of your BIOS to
its original settings if it ever becomes corrupted.

Thank you!

I wonder if it has been updated since 1992, though. Or whether it
needs to be.

Program: Cmos Viewer
Author: Benu Software
http://www.sover.net/~wysiwygx/index.html
Click to expand...

More direct download link is:

http://www.computerhope.org/download/hardware/cmos.zip


This might do what CMOSSave does, but I'm too ignorant
of the technicalities involved to be able to tell.
Program: Bios 1.35.1
Author: (Matthias Bockelkamp)
http://www.geocities.com/mbockelkamp
Click to expand...

This is probably the program I had read about in ACF previously and
was thinking about subconsciously. But it seems not to work in
WinME. It probably works on Win98 or previous OSes.
(It talks about booting from Real Mode.)

I might try fiddling around with booting my system from a Win95 or
Win98 boot disk and loading this one on a floppy, just to see if it
works then, but I haven't tried that yet.
Susan
Click to expand...

Thanks, Susan. This gives me a really good place to start.
I will need to ask some of my more techie friends about these
programs to understand better whether they will meet my needs.

Thanks for you help.

C'ya.

Ben
 
Ben Alias said:
Is there any freeware program that will make a record (preferably
something I can print out) of the contents of my BIOS setup? I'd like
to have such a record, without having to copy the information down by
hand.
Click to expand...

I would recommend printing out your settings for reference. On most PC's,
if you boot a DOS diskette (which loads the DOS print driver into memory),
then do a SOFT reboot (ctrl-alt-del) and immediately enter the BIOS, you
will find you can print the BIOS screens of information using 'print
screen'.
 
You can actually open that link? I get for the last couple of days a
"404" on it, and it seems to link to something at port 7775 at
simtel... Anyone?
Click to expand...

It opens and downloads fine for me.
 
Ben said:
On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 14:14:10 -0400, Susan Bugher
Click to expand...
I wonder if it has been updated since 1992, though. Or whether it
needs to be.
Click to expand...

[OT] newer $ware version is here:

http://mindprod.com/products.html#CMOSSV (version 38)
Thanks, Susan. This gives me a really good place to start.
I will need to ask some of my more techie friends about these
programs to understand better whether they will meet my needs.

Thanks for you help.
Click to expand...

You're welcome. :)

Susan
 
You can actually open that link? I get for the last couple of days a
"404" on it, and it seems to link to something at port 7775 at
simtel... Anyone?

Dick
Click to expand...

FWIW, I actually did have trouble with it. Got a bunch of "operation
timed out" errors. I finally got it to work, though.

C'ya.

Ben
 
I would recommend printing out your settings for reference. On most PC's,
if you boot a DOS diskette (which loads the DOS print driver into memory),
then do a SOFT reboot (ctrl-alt-del) and immediately enter the BIOS, you
will find you can print the BIOS screens of information using 'print
screen'.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I did not know this. I'll have to try this. :-)

C'ya.

Ben
 
Ben said:
FWIW, I actually did have trouble with it. Got a bunch of "operation
timed out" errors. I finally got it to work, though.

C'ya.

Ben
Click to expand...

Thanks Ben, good to know that I am not the only one having difficulties
with that site. Did you just retry over retry or did you change some
settings on your box (mine is quite tight in respect to security
settings).

Regards
Dick
 
Dick Hazeleger said:
I am not the only one having difficulties
with that site. Did you just retry over retry or did you change some
settings on your box (mine is quite tight in respect to security
settings).
Click to expand...

Makes me wonder why I have no problems with it.
Tried again now, and it still loads very fast.
I use Opera 7.50 and use Kerio 2.15 firewall in win98se.
 
Ben Alias wrote in said:
This one appears to work, but it wasn't exactly what I had in mind.
But then, I am ignorant on technical matters, so this could be what I
really need. It saves the info to a 128 byte file that is readable in
Hex but not in English. Still, this is the closest thing to what I
was looking for, since it allows for the restoration of your BIOS to
its original settings if it ever becomes corrupted.
Click to expand...

If that is all you need, you can simply (remove power cord first)
remove the CMOS battery for a couple of minutes - and the bios should
return to factory defaults when you reinsert it and boot. Se your
computer/motherboard manual (if you have one). On the other hand, if
it is laptop, then maybe not that simple (opening the case, finding
and getting access to the CMOS and so on) As for using those old
programs, I would read up on this if I where you. I seem to recall
something about modern bios using more storage space then those old
programs are made to handle, thus some settings might not get saved
with those. This is from memory, I might have it wrong. Do a goggle
search on BIOS or BIOS RESTORE or BIOS save (etc).

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
Roger said:
Makes me wonder why I have no problems with it.
Tried again now, and it still loads very fast.
I use Opera 7.50 and use Kerio 2.15 firewall in win98se.
Click to expand...

Me too, Roger, me too...

Dick
 
Dick said:
Me too, Roger, me too...

Dick
Click to expand...

Being intruiged by the idea that no CMOS save program from within
Windows would exist, I tried several combinations of descriptions for
such a program in Google. I found a few that look very good:

CMOS Viewer
Author: Benjamin Johnston
Home page: www.uq.net.au/~zzgajohn/
Size: 151,560 bytes zipped
Language: English

No install, unpack and use!The program can view, save and load data,
stored in CMOS. Offers the chance to make an "Emergency Restore Image".


Also:

Peters CmosInfo Version 3.1
Author: Peter Weigel
Home page: www.peter-weigel.de
Size: 378,705 bytes (zipped)
Language: German

No install, unpack and use! This program too can view, save and load
CMOS Data. The program is a nice, tabbed interface, and in fact the
only thing it lacks is multi-language support.This program also offers
you the possibility to change CMOS data real time (PLEASE BE CAREFUL
DOING SO!!!)


Also:
CMOS Tools version 1.0
Au

size 298Kb
 
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