Hello,

I tried updating the BIOS of my laptop / notebook using WinPhlash, the
flashing seemed to go okay, then the program attempted an automatic
restart. Windows pretty much logged off and everything and then
suddenly seemed to freeze before finishing the restart (the background
picture for my login screen was the only thing displayed).

So I tried holding the power button for a few seconds to force a
shutdown, but nothing happened. Since my battery holds a weak charge,
I decided to just unplug the laptop and let the battery drain, which
did the trick for shutting off.

Now the problem is, the laptop won't turn on. I tried turning it on
with and without the battery and with and without the adapter plugged
in. In all cases, the battery charging / charged indicator is green
(indicating full charge) which is strange since lately (the past few
months) it's been orange due to the weak battery. This seems in my
mind to eliminate any major fault with the motherboard or with the
adapter.

What I'd really like to know is, if the BIOS hasn't been properly
programmed, should it cause the power button to no longer respond?

Also, how does WinPhlash reprogram a BIOS? Does it reprogram while
Windows is running or does it somehow place the new BIOS code into
something like the Master Boot Record (MBR) or similar mechanism and
then load the new BIOS at the next computer startup? This last
question will help in ruling out a bad BIOS flash, since, as I
mentioned, the flashing seemed to go okay, just the hang up during the
reboot.

Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated

P.S.: I do have the skills and am prepared to desolder the flash chip,
reprogram it "manually", and resolder it if necessary. Especially
since I just bought a new battery for the laptop.

Thomas wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I tried updating the BIOS of my laptop / notebook using WinPhlash, the
> flashing seemed to go okay, then the program attempted an automatic
> restart. Windows pretty much logged off and everything and then
> suddenly seemed to freeze before finishing the restart (the background
> picture for my login screen was the only thing displayed).
>
> So I tried holding the power button for a few seconds to force a
> shutdown, but nothing happened. Since my battery holds a weak charge,
> I decided to just unplug the laptop and let the battery drain, which
> did the trick for shutting off.
>
> Now the problem is, the laptop won't turn on. I tried turning it on
> with and without the battery and with and without the adapter plugged
> in. In all cases, the battery charging / charged indicator is green
> (indicating full charge) which is strange since lately (the past few
> months) it's been orange due to the weak battery. This seems in my
> mind to eliminate any major fault with the motherboard or with the
> adapter.
>
> What I'd really like to know is, if the BIOS hasn't been properly
> programmed, should it cause the power button to no longer respond?
>
> Also, how does WinPhlash reprogram a BIOS? Does it reprogram while
> Windows is running or does it somehow place the new BIOS code into
> something like the Master Boot Record (MBR) or similar mechanism and
> then load the new BIOS at the next computer startup? This last
> question will help in ruling out a bad BIOS flash, since, as I
> mentioned, the flashing seemed to go okay, just the hang up during the
> reboot.
>
> Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated
>
> P.S.: I do have the skills and am prepared to desolder the flash chip,
> reprogram it "manually", and resolder it if necessary. Especially
> since I just bought a new battery for the laptop.

Acer bios take a long time to update

2 rules, 1 never update using battery, and 2 never interrupt it.
It can take 5 minutes, and has several steps in doing so.

Bios has nothing to do with MBR, Statup codes, disk drives, Windoze.
It's on a EEPROM

There is no emergency restore / dual bios etc. If the process did not
complete you have useless lump of Silicon on you desk.
If the PC has a virus or spyware, then the process might have taken too
long or did not complete.

Thomas wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I tried updating the BIOS of my laptop / notebook using WinPhlash, the
> flashing seemed to go okay, then the program attempted an automatic
> restart. Windows pretty much logged off and everything and then
> suddenly seemed to freeze before finishing the restart (the background
> picture for my login screen was the only thing displayed).
>
> So I tried holding the power button for a few seconds to force a
> shutdown, but nothing happened. Since my battery holds a weak charge,
> I decided to just unplug the laptop and let the battery drain, which
> did the trick for shutting off.
>
> Now the problem is, the laptop won't turn on. I tried turning it on
> with and without the battery and with and without the adapter plugged
> in. In all cases, the battery charging / charged indicator is green
> (indicating full charge) which is strange since lately (the past few
> months) it's been orange due to the weak battery. This seems in my
> mind to eliminate any major fault with the motherboard or with the
> adapter.
>
> What I'd really like to know is, if the BIOS hasn't been properly
> programmed, should it cause the power button to no longer respond?

Yes, without a working BIOS your laptop is effectively dead.

> Also, how does WinPhlash reprogram a BIOS? Does it reprogram while
> Windows is running or does it somehow place the new BIOS code into
> something like the Master Boot Record (MBR) or similar mechanism and
> then load the new BIOS at the next computer startup? This last
> question will help in ruling out a bad BIOS flash, since, as I
> mentioned, the flashing seemed to go okay, just the hang up during the
> reboot.

I would think that the BIOS is loaded from the EEPROM into memory and when
flashing the new BIOS is flashed into the EEPROM whilst BIOS functions can
still be accessed from the BIOS copied to memory. When you reboot however,
the BIOS is loaded from EEPROM and if the flash has gone wrong or the BIOS
isn't correct that is when you will run into booting problems.

> Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated
>
> P.S.: I do have the skills and am prepared to desolder the flash chip,
> reprogram it "manually", and resolder it if necessary. Especially
> since I just bought a new battery for the laptop.

The flash chip may well be surface mounted which is not going to be an easy
fix, but it's more likely to be socketed. You may want to check to see if
you can do a CMOS clear with a jumper (or whatever is applicable to our
laptop) first to see if that fixes it first.

If you have an EPROM burner you can reflash the chip manually. I don't have
any adapters for mine so I can only reflash older DIL EEPROMS otherwise I
could have done yours for you if you don't have access to a burner.

I would not expect a problem with the flash to cause a failure of the
laptop to turn on. Note the difference here between "turn on" and
"boot" or "post"; even if the flash went bad ... no matter how bad ... I
would expect the laptop to turn on (e.g. you press the power button and
the power light comes on). I very well might be totally dead
thereafter, and not boot or post, but I would still expect it to turn on.

Also, I have a general rule: ***NEVER*** do a flash update from within
Windows. The chances for disaster (which, again, shouldn't keep it from
simply turning on) are tremendously higher than when doing it from the
BIOS or from DOS (which the absence of a floppy drive does not preclude).

[In answer to your question, I believe that it does the reprogramming
while Windows is running, but there are ways to configure Windows so
that it is done on the next reboot. But I don't think that's how it
actually works, although it is possible to do it that way. Windows has
a mechanism for running program(s) at startup before Windows itself
starts; some Windows updates use this feature, which doesn't involve
fooling with the disk or the boot records (although that, also, is
physically possible). Also, on some laptops, the flash memory is no
longer a separate chip but is part of the chipset.]

My honest opinion is that if the power light won't even turn on when you
press the power button, then you likely have a hardware problem
unrelated to the flash update.

Thomas wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I tried updating the BIOS of my laptop / notebook using WinPhlash, the
> flashing seemed to go okay, then the program attempted an automatic
> restart. Windows pretty much logged off and everything and then
> suddenly seemed to freeze before finishing the restart (the background
> picture for my login screen was the only thing displayed).
>
> So I tried holding the power button for a few seconds to force a
> shutdown, but nothing happened. Since my battery holds a weak charge,
> I decided to just unplug the laptop and let the battery drain, which
> did the trick for shutting off.
>
> Now the problem is, the laptop won't turn on. I tried turning it on
> with and without the battery and with and without the adapter plugged
> in. In all cases, the battery charging / charged indicator is green
> (indicating full charge) which is strange since lately (the past few
> months) it's been orange due to the weak battery. This seems in my
> mind to eliminate any major fault with the motherboard or with the
> adapter.
>
> What I'd really like to know is, if the BIOS hasn't been properly
> programmed, should it cause the power button to no longer respond?
>
> Also, how does WinPhlash reprogram a BIOS? Does it reprogram while
> Windows is running or does it somehow place the new BIOS code into
> something like the Master Boot Record (MBR) or similar mechanism and
> then load the new BIOS at the next computer startup? This last
> question will help in ruling out a bad BIOS flash, since, as I
> mentioned, the flashing seemed to go okay, just the hang up during the
> reboot.
>
> Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated
>
> P.S.: I do have the skills and am prepared to desolder the flash chip,
> reprogram it "manually", and resolder it if necessary. Especially
> since I just bought a new battery for the laptop.

Barry Watzman wrote:
> I would not expect a problem with the flash to cause a failure of the
> laptop to turn on. Note the difference here between "turn on" and
> "boot" or "post"; even if the flash went bad ... no matter how bad
> ... I would expect the laptop to turn on (e.g. you press the power
> button and the power light comes on). I very well might be totally
> dead thereafter, and not boot or post, but I would still expect it to
> turn on.

Not necessarily though.

> Also, I have a general rule: ***NEVER*** do a flash update from
> within Windows. The chances for disaster (which, again, shouldn't
> keep it from simply turning on) are tremendously higher than when
> doing it from the BIOS or from DOS (which the absence of a floppy
> drive does not preclude).

Best not to do a flash update at all unless there is a specific fix for a
specific problem that can be fixed with a BIOS update.

Barry Watzman wrote:
> I would not expect a problem with the flash to cause a failure of the
> laptop to turn on. Note the difference here between "turn on" and
> "boot" or "post"; even if the flash went bad ... no matter how bad
> ... I would expect the laptop to turn on (e.g. you press the power
> button and the power light comes on). I very well might be totally
> dead thereafter, and not boot or post, but I would still expect it to
> turn on.

Not necessarily with laptops. The power led is in fact bios controlled usually.

> Also, I have a general rule: ***NEVER*** do a flash update from
> within Windows. The chances for disaster (which, again, shouldn't
> keep it from simply turning on) are tremendously higher than when
> doing it from the BIOS or from DOS (which the absence of a floppy
> drive does not preclude).
> [In answer to your question, I believe that it does the reprogramming
> while Windows is running, but there are ways to configure Windows so
> that it is done on the next reboot. But I don't think that's how it
> actually works, although it is possible to do it that way. Windows
> has a mechanism for running program(s) at startup before Windows
> itself starts; some Windows updates use this feature, which doesn't
> involve fooling with the disk or the boot records (although that,
> also, is physically possible). Also, on some laptops, the flash
> memory is no longer a separate chip but is part of the chipset.]
>
> My honest opinion is that if the power light won't even turn on when
> you press the power button, then you likely have a hardware problem
> unrelated to the flash update.

VERY unlikely to be a pure coincidence.

> Thomas wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I tried updating the BIOS of my laptop / notebook using WinPhlash,
>> the flashing seemed to go okay, then the program attempted an
>> automatic restart. Windows pretty much logged off and everything and
>> then suddenly seemed to freeze before finishing the restart (the
>> background picture for my login screen was the only thing displayed).
>>
>> So I tried holding the power button for a few seconds to force a
>> shutdown, but nothing happened. Since my battery holds a weak charge,
>> I decided to just unplug the laptop and let the battery drain, which
>> did the trick for shutting off.
>>
>> Now the problem is, the laptop won't turn on. I tried turning it on
>> with and without the battery and with and without the adapter plugged
>> in. In all cases, the battery charging / charged indicator is green
>> (indicating full charge) which is strange since lately (the past few
>> months) it's been orange due to the weak battery. This seems in my
>> mind to eliminate any major fault with the motherboard or with the
>> adapter.
>>
>> What I'd really like to know is, if the BIOS hasn't been properly
>> programmed, should it cause the power button to no longer respond?
>>
>> Also, how does WinPhlash reprogram a BIOS? Does it reprogram while
>> Windows is running or does it somehow place the new BIOS code into
>> something like the Master Boot Record (MBR) or similar mechanism and
>> then load the new BIOS at the next computer startup? This last
>> question will help in ruling out a bad BIOS flash, since, as I
>> mentioned, the flashing seemed to go okay, just the hang up during
>> the reboot.
>>
>> Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated
>>
>> P.S.: I do have the skills and am prepared to desolder the flash
>> chip, reprogram it "manually", and resolder it if necessary.
>> Especially since I just bought a new battery for the laptop.

Clocky wrote:
> Thomas wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I tried updating the BIOS of my laptop / notebook using WinPhlash, the
>> flashing seemed to go okay, then the program attempted an automatic
>> restart. Windows pretty much logged off and everything and then
>> suddenly seemed to freeze before finishing the restart (the background
>> picture for my login screen was the only thing displayed).
>>
>> So I tried holding the power button for a few seconds to force a
>> shutdown, but nothing happened. Since my battery holds a weak charge,
>> I decided to just unplug the laptop and let the battery drain, which
>> did the trick for shutting off.
>>
>> Now the problem is, the laptop won't turn on. I tried turning it on
>> with and without the battery and with and without the adapter plugged
>> in. In all cases, the battery charging / charged indicator is green
>> (indicating full charge) which is strange since lately (the past few
>> months) it's been orange due to the weak battery. This seems in my
>> mind to eliminate any major fault with the motherboard or with the
>> adapter.
>>
>> What I'd really like to know is, if the BIOS hasn't been properly
>> programmed, should it cause the power button to no longer respond?
>
> Yes, without a working BIOS your laptop is effectively dead.
>
>> Also, how does WinPhlash reprogram a BIOS? Does it reprogram while
>> Windows is running or does it somehow place the new BIOS code into
>> something like the Master Boot Record (MBR) or similar mechanism and
>> then load the new BIOS at the next computer startup? This last
>> question will help in ruling out a bad BIOS flash, since, as I
>> mentioned, the flashing seemed to go okay, just the hang up during the
>> reboot.
>
> I would think that the BIOS is loaded from the EEPROM into memory and when
> flashing the new BIOS is flashed into the EEPROM whilst BIOS functions can
> still be accessed from the BIOS copied to memory. When you reboot however,
> the BIOS is loaded from EEPROM and if the flash has gone wrong or the BIOS
> isn't correct that is when you will run into booting problems.
>
>> Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated
>>
>> P.S.: I do have the skills and am prepared to desolder the flash chip,
>> reprogram it "manually", and resolder it if necessary. Especially
>> since I just bought a new battery for the laptop.
>
> The flash chip may well be surface mounted which is not going to be an easy
> fix, but it's more likely to be socketed. You may want to check to see if
> you can do a CMOS clear with a jumper (or whatever is applicable to our
> laptop) first to see if that fixes it first.
>
> If you have an EPROM burner you can reflash the chip manually. I don't have
> any adapters for mine so I can only reflash older DIL EEPROMS otherwise I
> could have done yours for you if you don't have access to a burner.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

I beleive this bios one is a small pinky fingernail sized squarish chip
on a socket. Need a chip yanker or teensy weensy screwdriver.

On Aug 5, 11:12*am, "Clocky" <nice...@migo.com> wrote:
> Thomas wrote:
> > Hello,
>
> > I tried updating the BIOS of my laptop / notebook using WinPhlash, the
> > flashing seemed to go okay, then the program attempted an automatic
> > restart. Windows pretty much logged off and everything and then
> > suddenly seemed to freeze before finishing the restart (the background
> > picture for my login screen was the only thing displayed).
>
> > So I tried holding the power button for a few seconds to force a
> > shutdown, but nothing happened. Since my battery holds a weak charge,
> > I decided to just unplug the laptop and let the battery drain, which
> > did the trick for shutting off.
>
> > Now the problem is, the laptop won't turn on. I tried turning it on
> > with and without the battery and with and without the adapter plugged
> > in. In all cases, the battery charging / charged indicator is green
> > (indicating full charge) which is strange since lately (the past few
> > months) it's been orange due to the weak battery. This seems in my
> > mind to eliminate any major fault with the motherboard or with the
> > adapter.
>
> > What I'd really like to know is, if the BIOS hasn't been properly
> > programmed, should it cause the power button to no longer respond?
>
> Yes, without a working BIOS your laptop is effectively dead.
>
> > Also, how does WinPhlash reprogram a BIOS? Does it reprogram while
> > Windows is running or does it somehow place the new BIOS code into
> > something like the Master Boot Record (MBR) or similar mechanism and
> > then load the new BIOS at the next computer startup? This last
> > question will help in ruling out a bad BIOS flash, since, as I
> > mentioned, the flashing seemed to go okay, just the hang up during the
> > reboot.
>
> I would think that the BIOS is loaded from the EEPROM into memory and when
> flashing the new BIOS is flashed into the EEPROM whilst BIOS functions can
> still be accessed from the BIOS copied to memory. When you reboot however,
> the BIOS is loaded from EEPROM and if the flash has gone wrong or the BIOS
> isn't correct that is when you will run into booting problems.
>
> > Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated
>
> > P.S.: I do have the skills and am prepared to desolder the flash chip,
> > reprogram it "manually", and resolder it if necessary. Especially
> > since I just bought a new battery for the laptop.
>
> The flash chip may well be surface mounted which is not going to be an easy
> fix, but it's more likely to be socketed. You may want to check to see if
> you can do a CMOS clear with a jumper (or whatever is applicable to our
> laptop) first to see if that fixes it first.

It is indeed surface mounted, but like I said, I could desolder it
(and I have in fact read a forum post of someone who did such a thing:
http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/topic9260.html ) And now that I've
relooked at the forum post, I realize it is the exact same chip, an
SST 39VF040. By the way, I was able to locate the data sheet for that
chip which details the exact procedure of commands that need to be
sent to the chip to reprogram it byte-by-byte (obviously I will need
to automate this process if I'm going to reprogram all 512 kB)

>
> If you have an EPROM burner you can reflash the chip manually. I don't have
> any adapters for mine so I can only reflash older DIL EEPROMS otherwise I
> could have done yours for you if you don't have access to a burner.

As you can see from the pictures in that forum post, it's not a DIP
style, but what's known as PLCC, but as you said, they do have PLCC
sockets available. If need be I might try and make my own burner or
find a decent functioning but cheaply priced kit somewhere.

Thomas wrote:
> On Aug 5, 11:12 am, "Clocky" <nice...@migo.com> wrote:
>> Thomas wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>> I tried updating the BIOS of my laptop / notebook using WinPhlash, the
>>> flashing seemed to go okay, then the program attempted an automatic
>>> restart. Windows pretty much logged off and everything and then
>>> suddenly seemed to freeze before finishing the restart (the background
>>> picture for my login screen was the only thing displayed).
>>> So I tried holding the power button for a few seconds to force a
>>> shutdown, but nothing happened. Since my battery holds a weak charge,
>>> I decided to just unplug the laptop and let the battery drain, which
>>> did the trick for shutting off.
>>> Now the problem is, the laptop won't turn on. I tried turning it on
>>> with and without the battery and with and without the adapter plugged
>>> in. In all cases, the battery charging / charged indicator is green
>>> (indicating full charge) which is strange since lately (the past few
>>> months) it's been orange due to the weak battery. This seems in my
>>> mind to eliminate any major fault with the motherboard or with the
>>> adapter.
>>> What I'd really like to know is, if the BIOS hasn't been properly
>>> programmed, should it cause the power button to no longer respond?
>> Yes, without a working BIOS your laptop is effectively dead.
>>
>>> Also, how does WinPhlash reprogram a BIOS? Does it reprogram while
>>> Windows is running or does it somehow place the new BIOS code into
>>> something like the Master Boot Record (MBR) or similar mechanism and
>>> then load the new BIOS at the next computer startup? This last
>>> question will help in ruling out a bad BIOS flash, since, as I
>>> mentioned, the flashing seemed to go okay, just the hang up during the
>>> reboot.
>> I would think that the BIOS is loaded from the EEPROM into memory and when
>> flashing the new BIOS is flashed into the EEPROM whilst BIOS functions can
>> still be accessed from the BIOS copied to memory. When you reboot however,
>> the BIOS is loaded from EEPROM and if the flash has gone wrong or the BIOS
>> isn't correct that is when you will run into booting problems.
>>
>>> Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated
>>> P.S.: I do have the skills and am prepared to desolder the flash chip,
>>> reprogram it "manually", and resolder it if necessary. Especially
>>> since I just bought a new battery for the laptop.
>> The flash chip may well be surface mounted which is not going to be an easy
>> fix, but it's more likely to be socketed. You may want to check to see if
>> you can do a CMOS clear with a jumper (or whatever is applicable to our
>> laptop) first to see if that fixes it first.
>
> It is indeed surface mounted, but like I said, I could desolder it
> (and I have in fact read a forum post of someone who did such a thing:
> http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/topic9260.html ) And now that I've
> relooked at the forum post, I realize it is the exact same chip, an
> SST 39VF040. By the way, I was able to locate the data sheet for that
> chip which details the exact procedure of commands that need to be
> sent to the chip to reprogram it byte-by-byte (obviously I will need
> to automate this process if I'm going to reprogram all 512 kB)
>
>> If you have an EPROM burner you can reflash the chip manually. I don't have
>> any adapters for mine so I can only reflash older DIL EEPROMS otherwise I
>> could have done yours for you if you don't have access to a burner.
>
> As you can see from the pictures in that forum post, it's not a DIP
> style, but what's known as PLCC, but as you said, they do have PLCC
> sockets available. If need be I might try and make my own burner or
> find a decent functioning but cheaply priced kit somewhere.

You can order a replacement chip from badflash.com . You tell them the
chip type, give them a pointer to where they can find a BIOS file,
and they can program a new chip for you. This is only practical
if the old chip is socketed (PLCC socket for example). If it is
soldered. then it is up to you as to whether you can do a good
enough job soldering the new chip in there.

There are companies in the business besides badflash.com , so you
have more than one choice for this.

Paul

On Aug 5, 12:43*pm, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> I would not expect a problem with the flash to cause a failure of the
> laptop to turn on. *Note the difference here between "turn on" and
> "boot" or "post"; even if the flash went bad ... no matter how bad ... I
> would expect the laptop to turn on (e.g. you press the power button and
> the power light comes on). *I very well might be totally dead
> thereafter, and not boot or post, but I would still expect it to turn on.
>

I have to agree that I wouldn't *expect* the BIOS to be monitoring the
power button (especially when the laptop is off).

I *would* expect somewhat the opposite: the power button initiates the
BIOS's operation when pushed.

Just to restate what I said in my (lengthy) original post: the
charging LED indicator is *always* green, even when I know the battery
must be charging (due to letting it discharge completely), and the LED
should then be amber. It does seem reasonable that the BIOS would be
monitoring the battery's charge, and so the lack of proper LED
indicating is a point towards suspecting the BIOS.

Thomas wrote:
> On Aug 5, 11:12 am, "Clocky" <nice...@migo.com> wrote:
>> Thomas wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>
>>> I tried updating the BIOS of my laptop / notebook using WinPhlash,
>>> the flashing seemed to go okay, then the program attempted an
>>> automatic restart. Windows pretty much logged off and everything
>>> and then suddenly seemed to freeze before finishing the restart
>>> (the background picture for my login screen was the only thing
>>> displayed).
>>
>>> So I tried holding the power button for a few seconds to force a
>>> shutdown, but nothing happened. Since my battery holds a weak
>>> charge, I decided to just unplug the laptop and let the battery
>>> drain, which did the trick for shutting off.
>>
>>> Now the problem is, the laptop won't turn on. I tried turning it on
>>> with and without the battery and with and without the adapter
>>> plugged in. In all cases, the battery charging / charged indicator
>>> is green (indicating full charge) which is strange since lately
>>> (the past few months) it's been orange due to the weak battery.
>>> This seems in my mind to eliminate any major fault with the
>>> motherboard or with the adapter.
>>
>>> What I'd really like to know is, if the BIOS hasn't been properly
>>> programmed, should it cause the power button to no longer respond?
>>
>> Yes, without a working BIOS your laptop is effectively dead.
>>
>>> Also, how does WinPhlash reprogram a BIOS? Does it reprogram while
>>> Windows is running or does it somehow place the new BIOS code into
>>> something like the Master Boot Record (MBR) or similar mechanism and
>>> then load the new BIOS at the next computer startup? This last
>>> question will help in ruling out a bad BIOS flash, since, as I
>>> mentioned, the flashing seemed to go okay, just the hang up during
>>> the reboot.
>>
>> I would think that the BIOS is loaded from the EEPROM into memory
>> and when flashing the new BIOS is flashed into the EEPROM whilst
>> BIOS functions can still be accessed from the BIOS copied to memory.
>> When you reboot however, the BIOS is loaded from EEPROM and if the
>> flash has gone wrong or the BIOS isn't correct that is when you will
>> run into booting problems.
>>
>>> Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated
>>
>>> P.S.: I do have the skills and am prepared to desolder the flash
>>> chip, reprogram it "manually", and resolder it if necessary.
>>> Especially since I just bought a new battery for the laptop.
>>
>> The flash chip may well be surface mounted which is not going to be
>> an easy fix, but it's more likely to be socketed. You may want to
>> check to see if you can do a CMOS clear with a jumper (or whatever
>> is applicable to our laptop) first to see if that fixes it first.
>
> It is indeed surface mounted, but like I said, I could desolder it
> (and I have in fact read a forum post of someone who did such a thing:
> http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/topic9260.html ) And now that I've
> relooked at the forum post, I realize it is the exact same chip, an
> SST 39VF040. By the way, I was able to locate the data sheet for that
> chip which details the exact procedure of commands that need to be
> sent to the chip to reprogram it byte-by-byte (obviously I will need
> to automate this process if I'm going to reprogram all 512 kB)
>
>>
>> If you have an EPROM burner you can reflash the chip manually. I
>> don't have any adapters for mine so I can only reflash older DIL
>> EEPROMS otherwise I could have done yours for you if you don't have
>> access to a burner.
>
> As you can see from the pictures in that forum post, it's not a DIP
> style, but what's known as PLCC, but as you said, they do have PLCC
> sockets available. If need be I might try and make my own burner or
> find a decent functioning but cheaply priced kit somewhere.

I bought my burner off Ebay for about $20 plus postage (see link) and whilst
it's fairly basic it works very well. There are adaptors available for PLCC,
scroll down to see what is supported and what you need and if in doubt ask
the seller he was very helpful when I had some questions.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....m=190324568967

My Dell inspiron 1525 cant turn on in last week, I send it to dell.

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