Bios Mods -The Best BIOS Update and Modification Source

I second the request for a shot of the whole board

Banana19 i dont know what that means either!

(05-01-2010, 10:17 PM)1234s282 Wrote: [ -> ]I second the request for a shot of the whole board

Banana19 i dont know what that means either!

also the only thing unlocked on the focxconn version of the bios is the CPU multiplier.

Nick

Some new pics On my new board bios is much easier to identify but dont see such a chip on this "old" board...but it is marked blue, like one (smaller) eight-pinned chip on this board, too...maybe that is really the bios, it is the second chip of the one which Nick already figured out! It is between/left the DDR-sockets and above the silver heatsink, seen on photo 2!

But i cant find a connector on board...

EDIT: Why are the pics - everytime i upload - displayed tyo times, doubled??

Im not sure about the double up issue , it occurs with all attachments!

Will check it out

Admin

(05-04-2010, 05:29 PM)1234s282 Wrote: [ -> ]Im not sure about the double up issue , it occurs with all attachments!

Will check it out

Admin

this looks about right

Nick

(05-04-2010, 08:27 PM)banana19 Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-04-2010, 05:29 PM)1234s282 Wrote: [ -> ]Im not sure about the double up issue , it occurs with all attachments!

Will check it out

Admin

this looks about right

Nick

Could be the 7 Pin SPI Header

To back this up , the service manual labels these 7 pins as IR - Infrared function header

That sound about right Nick? SPI chip is reprogrammed using Infra Red (Hence it doesnt have to be removed from the board so im assuming its done through IR) and these 7 pins are the header

Also , looking at the service manual , what do you make of J10/J11 - they are listed as "Acer Special Requirement" - Wonder what these do?????????

Admin

(05-04-2010, 10:59 PM)1234s282 Wrote: [ -> ]To back this up , the service manual labels these 7 pins as IR - Infrared function header

That sound about right Nick? SPI chip is reprogrammed using Infra Red (Hence it doesnt have to be removed from the board so im assuming its done through IR) and these 7 pins are the header

Also , looking at the service manual , what do you make of J10/J11 - they are listed as "Acer Special Requirement" - Wonder what these do?????????

Admin

its not on the foxconn version. Its on a few other acer boards. No clue whats its for.

Nick

i was thinking SPI repgramming (Or is that jus because thats what i want it to be? ) Apparantly some retail boards do not have a SPI header but most OEM ones do because if your BIOS dies then you RMA it back to them and they generally reprogram it without removing the chip and send it back to you. I recently phoned Acer and made up a request saying i have this motherboard and I need the Bios chip reprogramming. i asked whether I could just remove the Bios chip and have Acer reflash that as opposed to shipping the whole board. The sales person let on a little more than he should of I think and quoted that

Quote:"The chip is soldered onto the motherboard. We require the whole motherboard in order to successfully reflash the Bios chip. The chip does not have to be removed in order for us to program it"

So i think we have found the 7 pin SPI header.

All that remains is me to interpret the odd diagrams floating around to make a homemade SPI ISP cable to connect and then buy a programmer which has the correct connections (My existing cheap programmer apparantly supports SOME SPI programming but the chip has to be removed first!)

Admin

Hi, I resume this thread for a question.
I have an Acer M5500 that seems to have the foxconn Q9657MC-8KRS2H MB, but has the IEEE 1394 too (it has the square IEEE 1394 chip near PCI slots, the quartz crystal near the battery ad all the passive components around - this is stated in the PC maual, of course...).
I would like to select from bios from wich of my 2 HD let the PC boot, but acer bios doesn't let me; from standard bios setup I'm unable to see the disks, as all options are greyed out.
I also have a problem with the CPU fan that runs at full speed after I disconnect the power cord: I must clear CMOS to get it run slow again; CPU (E6430 ) temp is 9°C that is strange too.
I've upgraded the BIOS to R01-B01 (previous was R01-A4), but nothing changed.
Do you think i's possibile for me to try the foxconn BIOS (even if there is IEE1394 on board), so I will be able at least to boot from both HD, or the are serious chances I will end up with a dead MB?
Thanks in advance.