BIOS flash corruption

Name: Ron Henderson

The power went out here while I was flashing my BIOS. The computer will not start now, it only comes to a blank, black screen and sits.

I read that some modern BIOSes have a fail safe option in case something like this happens. They leave a bit that’s still there and you can use a disk or something to fix it. How do I make the disk?

I’m afraid that your only options are:

1. Contact the motherboard manufacturer and see if they’ll send you a new BIOS chip. They may make you send them the motherboard and install the chip themselves.

2. This option is a little dangerous, and tricky. WARNING: I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS MYSELF! DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!. You can try booting the other computer with the similar motherboard, and while it’s still powered on remove it’s BIOS chip and stick yours on. It will of course have to be the same type of BIOS (Award, Phoenix, American Megatrends, etc). It’d be best if you can find the same model of mobo.

Once you have your BIOS installed on the motherboard (all while the machine is on, remember!) then you should be able to use the same BIOS utility you used before to flash the chip. Once it is flashed, turn off the computer, remove your BIOS, install the original BIOS and then stick the chip that’s yours back onto your motherboard. If all went well then you should be running again.

Try that at your own risk. If you had another motherboard available to play with that didn’t matter much then perhaps give it a try. If not, then I’d suggest just going through the manufacturer. It’ll cost you, but it’s safe.