BIOS attack!

Too bad my Microsloth Windows Vista Ultimate license (for my HTPC) is tied into my motherboard that has a BIOS.

I already spent good money for that (~$190 for OEM)
 
The Highlander said:
Problem not many motherboard have dual BIOSES.
Click to expand...

Giga-byte mobo are the only mobo have dual bios. It works wonder cuz I got hit by virus that reflashed BIOS. My Gigabyte system was redundant and it can get back up and running in 20 second if first BIOS were reflashed by virus. What 2nd BIOS does is to reflash the 1st BIOS if system doesn't boot in 20 seconds. 2nd BIOS is always "locked". You can unlock 2nd BIOS and it'll pop warning message if you want to risk doing so.

I would purchase Giga-byte again in the future cuz I had GB 7VAX board and it had been faithful to me for 7 years. Never an issue with BIOS.

I knew few mobo does have 2nd BIOS but I don't know what others.

Some mobo have jumper that prevent flashing. That's one big advantage.

Award BIOS is one of my favorite cuz if BIOS reflashed to wrong BIOS. System still boot but it'll post warning that CMOS is corrupted and won't go on further. It allows you to use floppy or CDrom to reflash correct BIOS without worry.

AMI BIOS would leave you in dark if reflashed wrong BIOS. But it'll allow you to use floppy with correct BIOS and boot up and install "blind". You won't know if it succeed or not until the floppy light turn off.

Any mobo that have removable BIOS chipset, You can do "hotflashing". If your mobo become dead after virus hit. You can use other system that have socket and using same chipset. You can pull BIOS chip from dead board. Then you boot up working system with removable BIOS chipset to DOS and let it run. Then pull the working mobo's BIOS chipset out and replace with dead BIOS chipset in. Then proceed reflashing it with /f (force). After it been flashed. Pull out reflashed BIOS and replace with it's original BIOS back in then shut down the system or reboot it if you plan to use Windows. Then plug the reflashed BIOS back in dead board and watch em come alive!! It's best to reformat hdd and reinstall fresh XP so it won't happen again.
It's not for Faint of Heart!!! You have to be brave enough to do it.. I'm too brave to do it anyway.

Catty :cool:
 
The Highlander said:
Problem not many motherboard have dual BIOSES.
Click to expand...

Because there really is no need for it if you backup the bios and set it up as read only. The extra bios is just for added insurance really.
 
Last edited:
jasin said:
Because there really is no need for it if you backup the bios and set it up as read only. The extra bios is just for added insurance really. With that being said, all the big motherboard manufactures have motherboards with dual bioses.

In addition, the bios being written over does not eliminate the data that already exists on the hard drive. The bios being over written just prevents one from booting the system.
Click to expand...

Well. Sometime BIOS went bad and motherboard won't boot up anything. How to solve the problem?

Only way to replace the new BIOS but some motherboard use soldering.
 
The Highlander said:
Well. Sometime BIOS went bad and motherboard won't boot up anything. How to solve the problem?

Only way to replace the new BIOS but some motherboard use soldering.
Click to expand...

Its extremly rare for the bios chip its self to go bad. I personally in my 15+ years as a computer technician never seen it happen.

As for what to do if this happens. I would not take the bios out and get a new bios. I would either upgrade the motherboard to a new one or claim the warranty.

Oh, and btw, boot problems are rarely anything to do with the bios, the chip its self.
 
jasin said:
Its extremly rare for the bios chip its self to go bad. I personally in my 15+ years as a computer technician never seen it happen.

As for what to do if this happens. I would not take the bios out and get a new bios. I would either upgrade the motherboard to a new one or claim the warranty.

Oh, and btw, boot problems are rarely anything to do with the bios, the chip its self.
Click to expand...

Ofc it's rare but I seem it once! ;)

BIOS chip cost only $5-$10 and easy to replace if it have socket. So no need to reinstall OS and reinstall drivers if motherboard is not outdate yet. :)

My job to make customer to be happy that spend $5-10 for BIOS is better than spend $80-$150 for new motherboard.
 
jasin said:
Its extremly rare for the bios chip its self to go bad. I personally in my 15+ years as a computer technician never seen it happen.

As for what to do if this happens. I would not take the bios out and get a new bios. I would either upgrade the motherboard to a new one or claim the warranty.

Oh, and btw, boot problems are rarely anything to do with the bios, the chip its self.
Click to expand...

Like if you abuse mobo like re-configuring BIOS and rebooting so often in a year, BIOS chipset would go bad.. Happens to me couple of time :lol: . I was messing around Linux OS and Doz OS.

Unless if you could replace removable BIOS and hotflash it. You will still keep mobo. If I were you, before throwing away mobo. I would pull BIOS chipset and keep it for next mobo (sometime it's good idea to experiment with different BIOS on same mobo by swapping BIOS and hotflash it like I did on Emachine's MSI ms-7184 mobo, I reflashed it to MSI's ms-7093 BIOS. It works like a charm!)

Catty
 
jasin said:
Not true. there are other brands and models with a dual bios. The xfx MB-X58I-CH19 is one example.
Click to expand...

I did mentioned that on my post in the middle of paragraph

"I knew few mobo does have 2nd BIOS but I don't know what others."

Catty
 
jasin said:
You said, Giga-byte "are the only". Why say that if you meant different? I don't get it.
Click to expand...

I did Google search and don't find different brand other than Giga-Byte mobo. So I ASSUME that it's the only mobo that have two BIOS. Why don't you check out GIGABYTE - Product - Motherboard - Main Page and learn of it's features.

I guess that it have to do with Copyrights that Giga-Byte own. They invented it, they own the idea.. Simple as it.

I really love the motherboard cuz I can reboot and get back to track 20 seconds after BIOS attack happen on my system. If I had different mobo with single BIOS, I would get crapped. I'm not worried about it cuz If you own two system with similiar removable BIOS chipset (even if it's a different brand mobo) and you can always "hot flashing" it so you can get ur dead system up and running no time.

That's the trick

If anyone own mobo with BIOS permanently soldered on board, good riddance!! Buy a new one.

Catty
 
purplecatty said:
I did Google search and don't find different brand other than Giga-Byte mobo. So I ASSUME that it's the only mobo that have two BIOS. Why don't you check out GIGABYTE - Product - Motherboard - Main Page and learn of it's features.

I guess that it have to do with Copyrights that Giga-Byte own. They invented it, they own the idea.. Simple as it.

I really love the motherboard cuz I can reboot and get back to track 20 seconds after BIOS attack happen on my system. If I had different mobo with single BIOS, I would get crapped. I'm not worried about it cuz If you own two system with similiar removable BIOS chipset (even if it's a different brand mobo) and you can always "hot flashing" it so you can get ur dead system up and running no time.

That's the trick

If anyone own mobo with BIOS permanently soldered on board, good riddance!! Buy a new one.

Catty
Click to expand...

Well, I did name a few others .. so its not specifically a giga-byte thing.
 
jasin said:
Well, I did name a few others .. so its not specifically a giga-byte thing.
Click to expand...

Yup I figure there's more than just one company that have Dual BIOS. That's why I ASSUMED. There's no definite one that have Dual BIOS. :giggle:

Catty
 
Back
Top