I Need to Unlock Phoenix BIOS - Need You Gurus Help

[koolx]

I want to unlock my BIOS to reveal hidden settings on my Gateway M210 laptop. My BIOS is Phoenix. Below is my BIOS info.

BIOS Version: Phoenix W320.F08
Date: 6/6/2005

I would greatly appreciate your help.

[Sml6397]

Hello koolx,

I am having difficulties finding am official BIOS update for your computer.

If I am unable to find an official (and trusted) BIOS update for your computer, there is a method of creating a flashable BIOS image. This involves taking platform data from another official BIOS image from a notebook in the same series and with the same chipset as your own.


~Steven

[koolx]

Hello koolx,

I am having difficulties finding am official BIOS update for your computer.

If I am unable to find an official (and trusted) BIOS update for your computer, there is a method of creating a flashable BIOS image. This involves taking platform data from another official BIOS image from a notebook in the same series and with the same chipset as your own.

Thank you Steven. I would appreciate all your help you can offer. Thank you and I await your response.

[Sml6397]

Hello koolx,

For now, could you create a BIOS backup please?


To perform a BIOS backup, follow the following:

1.) Download Universal BIOS Backup Toolkit. Your Anti-Virus software may flag this as malware, but I assure you that it is 100% safe. This is the program that I used to backup my own notebook's BIOS. If your Anti-Virus program flags this program, you may need to disable it for a few minutes.

2.) Run UniversalBiosBackup.exe as administrator.

3.) Click "Read." This command will read the data from your BIOS chip.

4.) When the Read command is finished, click "Backup." This command will write your BIOS file to wherever you launched UniversalBiosBackup.exe from.

5.) Upload the BIOS file to this thread.

Let me know if you need any help along the way.


~Steven

[koolx]

Hello koolx,

For now, could you create a BIOS backup please?

Hey Steven. Just to let you know, there's something wrong with your link. But I was still able to download the BIOS file from elsewhere. I was able to make a backup.

So attached is the BIOS Backup file. Please take a look. I'm looking forward to the next step!

Thanks Steven.

[koolx]

Hi, Steven (SML). In my other thread, you had requested that I make a backup of my BIOS. But I never heard from you. Hope I'm not bothering you. Attached is my BIOS backup as you requested. Please let me know the next steps. Thank you.

[Sml6397]

Hello koolx,

Thank you. I will see if I can create a flashable BIOS image from this backup.

The reason for the delays is that I have been busy lately. Your BIOS mod also requires a bit more work than the standard mod as I have to find a compatible BIOS image to "borrow" platform data from.

I realize that you have been waiting for this for a while, so I will try to shift my bios-mods priorities towards your mod.


~Steven

[koolx]

Hello koolx,

Thank you. I will see if I can create a flashable BIOS image from this backup.

The reason for the delays is that I have been busy lately. Your BIOS mod also requires a bit more work than the standard mod as I have to find a compatible BIOS image to "borrow" platform data from.

I realize that you have been waiting for this for a while, so I will try to shift my bios-mods priorities towards your mod.


~Steven

Thanks Steven. I realize that you got a life ouitside this forum. Nonetheless, I still forward to the mod and please dont rush. Looking forward to your next response.

[Sml6397]

Hello koolx,

I have good news and bad news...

Good news: Here is a picture of what is available in your BIOS (there could be more, but I have not checked that far yet):    

Bad news: Finding a perfectly compatible notebook model (same notebook series and same chipset) that has an official BIOS update released from a trusted site is proving to be very difficult. Also, PBE (used for emulating compatible BIOS images) is reporting PCI Routing Table errors. Since this is a BIOS backup, I do not know if I can trust what PBE says or not. I cannot verify the image to be safe. I will never release a BIOS mod that I am unsure about, regardless of what that happens to be. This is for the safety of potential BIOS flashers.

But not all hope is lost... There is a way that you can change most of your hidden BIOS settings without even entering the BIOS menu or flashing a modified BIOS image. You can modify the CMOS NVRAM registers that control the settings. I have done this with my notebook. You would use symcmos to do this. Please post a reply if you are interested.

Your BIOS image had more settings than are normally expected to be in a small 512KB BIOS, but this does not mean that there are a lot of things that you can change. The menus are still somewhat empty compared to normal BIOSes.

[koolx]

There is a way that you can change most of your hidden BIOS settings without even entering the BIOS menu or flashing a modified BIOS image. You can modify the CMOS NVRAM registers that control the settings.

Hi Steven. Yes I am very interested in modifying it throught the CMOS NVRAM registers. Please let me know how to do this. Thank you so much Steven.


------- EDIT -------
I attached an updated file. Discard the last one I uploaded. Appreciate it.