Bios Question

wwpranma

Based off of my studies I've been taught that if , when flashing the bios, the power goes out, the bios is screwed. Now that's the easy part. The next step is what gets me. I assumed through my books that the easiest sollution was to just replace the entire mobo, but aparently through a test I will not name, I'm being told that you replace the cmos chip itself. So which awnser is best? I'm shooting for replacing the mobo, but I'd like some outside input. And further more, how many of you have honestly replaced a bios chip?

Sie

I would say either answer would work as the bios is 'stored' in the CMOS chip so replacing this or the mobo (which would also replace the chip) would solve this.

Now with the problem of it being screwed if the power goes down?

I knew this happend with older motherboards but i've had an error or two before with flashing a BIOS on a mobo and just re-flashed and all was fine.

wwpranma

Well the power factor of teh question makes perfect sense. Comptia wants you to assume the bios flash got messed up and corrupted the cmos chip that stores the bios. It's just the replacement factor that kinda bugs me, because I wanna believe that the best sollution would be just replace the entire mobo.

WanBoy67

On older motherboards ( I mean like 8+ year old motherboards ) the CMOS was soldered to the motherboard. So you couldn't replace it if you had to - you HAD to **** the entire motherboard. But manufacturers caught on by placing the CMOS into a socket - thereby allowing you to replace the CMOS if you had to, not the entire board. No point in needlessly throwing away a good motherboard just because of 1 replaceable chip.

sprkymrk

wwpranma wrote:

Well the power factor of teh question makes perfect sense. Comptia wants you to assume the bios flash got messed up and corrupted the cmos chip that stores the bios. It's just the replacement factor that kinda bugs me, because I wanna believe that the best sollution would be just replace the entire mobo.

Hopefully on the exam, the best choice will be clear. Either they will only give you one option or the other (not both) or they will stipulate a key word like "old" motherboard or "cheapest" solution.

wanboy67 wrote:

On older motherboards ( I mean like 8+ year old motherboards ) the CMOS was soldered to the motherboard. So you couldn't replace it if you had to

You could replace it if you knew how to solder.
I have a friend who did just that many times. This guy even bought the cheap motherboards that came with less options and using his soldering skills he "enabled" them himself. The cheap boards were exactly like their more expensive versions by the same manufacturer, but w/o the extra PCI slot, or w/o the AGP slot, etc. The solder points were there, but no slot was attached. He just obtained the appropriate slot from either a discarded MB or Radio Shack and soldered it onto the board. Voila! He got the $300 board for $75 and some soldering. Of course, you did risk ruining the board if you weren't careful...

WanBoy67

sprkymrk wrote:

You could replace it if you knew how to solder.

Lucky for me I never had to do that, cause my soldering skills ain't up to it

sprkymrk

wanboy67 wrote:

sprkymrk wrote:

You could replace it if you knew how to solder.

Lucky for me I never had to do that, cause my soldering skills ain't up to it

Me too!

blackmage439

wwpranma,

What everyone told you is true. You can re-flash a BIOS if an error occurs, even if power is lost during the process. However, if that error is so severe the you cannot re-flash the BIOS, you would have to replace the CMOS chip, if possible. Just something to keep in mind.

Good luck in your A+ studies.

royal

sprkymrk wrote:

wanboy67 wrote:

sprkymrk wrote:

You could replace it if you knew how to solder.

Lucky for me I never had to do that, cause my soldering skills ain't up to it

Me too!

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea how to solder.

Plantwiz

If you are a PC tech, it is a good idea to learn to solder. It's pretty easy and you can buy inexpensive components from Radio Shack.
Here are several sites to help get you started.

http://lifehacker.com/software/diy/learn-to-solder-166221.php

http://www.geocities.com/jeffhendrix67/lv2000/solder.html

http://www.irational.org/sic/radio/solder.html

http://www.oldtemecula.com/theremin/solder1.htm

etc... just google for more.


Worth knowing (IMNSHO).


As far as BIOS flashing...I agree with all the above. Flash with the PC attached to a good UPS. Read, read, read the instructions....and basically....practice (the more you do the more comfortable you will become).

royal

Although I have never actually worked as a PC Tech, I do build my own computers and know quite a bit about overclocking. I'm surprised I don't know how to solder because of that. Thank you very much for the links Plantwiz. I'm definitely going to check it out and learn.

Plantwiz

It's pretty fun!

One of the tools I made for myself and co-workers was from an idea from an older tech I first worked with. Take an old PC speaker and solder it onto a RJ11 wall mount box...turns into an modem tone detector/amplifier. (sure you can carry around a phone and plug it in, but this was a much smaller tool to carry and test a line.) Sort of an obscelete tool by todays means, but still fun

Plantwiz

Remembering this conversation...

I stumbled on this from Tom's Hardware
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/18/fixing_your_motherboard/index.html

Very useful way to make a few bucks and possibly a last ditch effort for a client who doesn't really want to upgrade, but if you kill their board...will upgrade


****edit***

As always....practice on your own *stuff* first, then practice on some friend's equipment if they really don't care about it....don't try pedaling yourself as a master solder until you've been able to revive a several boards.