Acer Aspire M5100.. Europe Firmware with machine purchased in US?

Discussion in 'BIOS Mods' started by classic77, Oct 28, 2009.

  1. classic77

    classic77 MDL Novice

    Oct 28, 2009
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    #1 classic77, Oct 28, 2009
    Hello,

    I have an Acer Aspire M5100.. I checked the Acer's Website for the United States (Where i live, and where the PC was purchased).. and There is NO bios downloads available...
    hxxp://us.acer.com/acer/service.do (replace hxxp with http.. due to forum 2 post limitation)
    (Driver Download -> Desktop -> Aspire -> Aspire M5100)

    However, If i check Acer's European website.. there is 4 bios downloads available..
    hxxp://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/desktop/aspire_m5100.html (replace hxxp with http.. due to forum 2 post limitation)

    Does anyone know if the bios updates from the european site will work with a unit purchased in the united states? or do they run different firmware images?
    If i can't use a European based bios update.. can i retrieve the bios file from my own computer, modify it.. then reflash it?

    Checking my bios for more info.. this is all the info in there.
    Acer Aspire M5100
    Version: R01-A3
    Motherboard Name: Acer F690GVM

    and grabbed some more info using Everest.
    Bios Type: Award
    Bios Version: This BIOS is exclusively for Acer only <R01-A3>
    Award Biod Type: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
    Award BIOS Message: This BIOS is exclusively for Acer only <R01-A3>
    System BIOS Date: 10/10/07

    SLIC:
    ACPI SignatureSLIC
    Table DescriptionSoftware Licensing Description Table
    Memory AddressBFFE8000h
    Table Length374 bytes
    OEM IDACRSYS
    OEM Table IDACRPRDCT
    OEM Revision42302E31h
    Creator IDAWRD
    Creator Revision00000020h
    SLIC Version2.0
     
  2. shakeyplace

    shakeyplace MDL Addicted

    May 5, 2007
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    #2 shakeyplace, Oct 28, 2009
    Most bios updates (I think all) have a system model check, when you attempt to update your bios they check that the system you are updating is compatable. That said, there is ways around that but I doubt Acer or any reputable company would post the update if it didn't have those checks in place..
     
  3. spkleader

    spkleader MDL Senior Member

    Oct 13, 2009
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    #3 spkleader, Oct 30, 2009
    For my old Aspire 5315, the european site had 5 updates against 1 in the us site (blehk!)
    I downloaded the bios version that had in both sites and ran a crc32 check on both. They matched.
    So I pretty much assume it's safe to update your bios using the one from the european site.
    But again, you can try that I did to make sure :)
    As for the crc32 info, you can uncompress both files, rename let's say one to US.ROM and the other to UK.ROM. Then compress both in a single archive using winrar and double click the compressed file when finished. There will be the crc32 info there for each file. If it matches, voila! :)

    Best wishes from Brazil,
    SpkLeader