You could have a problem here as the BIOS Chips in NB’s
by
hal 9000
·
about 16 years, 9 months ago
In reply to Thanks for the reply
Tend to be soldered to the M’Boards and are not easy to remove without destroying them. I’ve yet to see a NB BIOS Chip not soldered onto the M’Board.
But what you really need is a EPROM Writer as this will allow you to program the EPROM but you’ll need one of the same type as the EPROM on the M’Board of the NB. As there are quite a few EPROM Readers/Writers and they are expensive you really need to approach some place that performs Electronic Prototyping work where an erasable [b]Electronically Programmable Read Only Memory Chip[/b] can be used to to replace a lot of components and test with. The production unit would need to incorporate the correct electronic parts and not the EPROM as they are erasable by Ultra Violet Light. However on the good side they are cheap in compassion to some of the other IC’s mounted on the M’Board.
The only place that I know that sells BIOS Chips is here
http://preview.tinyurl.com/n2sgx
Though to be perfectly honest I’m not sure if they can supply NB BIOS Chips as this isn’t something that I’ve ever tried replacing. But I get the chips that I order within 7 days of placing the order in the US to AU so they do offer an excellent delivery service. This may be slow for your immediate needs but I think that if this place can make the BIOS Chip they would be your best alternative.
Even then this is going to require the dismantling of the NB and removal of the M’Board to remove the BIOS Chip and this is something that should be left to an Electronics Repair place not a computer repair shop as they just don’t have the right equipment most of the time and they would chose to replace the M’Board which is more expensive but much faster.
This depends on if you can find an electronics repairer willing to take on the job in the first place and get the BIOS Chip in from the States and then fit it or better still if you could take the replacement Chip in with you and get it replaced by them.
If they are half way decent they will warn you of the possibility of damaging the M’Board as Soldering Irons do place a electrical signal into each track that they are applied to and can do damage to the M’Board & though not a common issue it can happen. I’m just not sure about NB Boards as I’ve never attempted to repair one mainly because they are cheaper to buy than spend more than 35 minutes of my time repairing. To dismantle & reassemble properly should take about 1 hour and the repair rates in a good Electronics Repair Shop will be quite high where as the Computer shop which will take as long or longer has a lower hourly rate for repairs so it is possible to be cheaper to replace the M’Board than to repair it depending on who is doing the work.
I hope that gives you some idea of what is actually involved here.
[i]Edited to add[/i] The only place that I know of in the UK capable of doing this work is Ilmore the crowd that makes the Mercedes F1 engines as they have a massive Electronics Workshop on hand though any of the UK Based F1 teams should have this ability. I’m just not sure of who has what other than Ilmore, also I would imagine that they would be quite expensive but I’m only guessing on that one.
Col
