Cannot Flash SLIC'ed BIOS to Acer Extensa 4420-5212

Discussion in 'BIOS Mods' started by discgolfdc, Jun 9, 2011.

  1. discgolfdc

    discgolfdc MDL Novice

    Apr 20, 2011
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    #1 discgolfdc, Jun 9, 2011
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2011
    Hi, all...

    First off, please let me thank everyone here -- both in advance for any help you might be able to afford me with the question I'm about to ask, as well as for all the knowledge I've picked up off this forum. I have managed to do things that I never thought I'd be able to! This forum is truly packed with some serious genius.

    Anyhow, here's my situation, and if someone could help out, I'd be thankful:

    I have an Acer Extensa 4420-5212 running Win7Pro, but has been activated using Daz's loader. I recently managed to modify some BIOSes for other computers in my possession and thought to myself that getting the BIOS in this thing hardmodded shouldn't be an issue. When I received the machine, it was already up-to-date on its BIOS (Version 1.18). I have uninstalled Daz's loader, and rearmed Windows 7, so it is now telling me I have 30 days to activate. If I get this taken care of, I'll never have to see that again. If I can't, I'll have to re-install the loader.

    I got the BIOS file from Acer's support website (which is the same version as the one currently installed, 1.18), and, according to the Phoenix Mod Tool 1.85, successfully dropped a 2.1 SLIC in there. I figured I'd simply run the modded executable with the 2.1 SLIC and all would be well. Of course, just like a plumbing job, there's always a snag. Nothing horrible -- I'm writing this on the machine to which I refer, so I'm not locked out or anything.

    The WFlash utility in OTA118.exe will not allow me to overwrite the modded BIOS to the laptop because it does not allow same-time or older BIOS files to be written. Because the current BIOS bears the same version and build time as the modded one, the utility will not permit the flash. I've included some screenshots.

    Are there workarounds for this that are fairly reasonable to implement? Is there a way to go back into the modded BIOS file and alter the Build Date information so as to fool the utility into thinking that it is, in fact, a newer revision? Or are there other means that would allow me to finalize this project?

    Again, I greatly appreciate any help you can give.

    Thanks!!

    Screenshot 4.jpg Screenshot 1.jpg Screenshot 2.jpg Screenshot 3.jpg
     
  2. discgolfdc

    discgolfdc MDL Novice

    Apr 20, 2011
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    Sorry about the pictures. They're all transformed into something you can't see without a microscope. I'm sure everyone gets the idea, though.
     
  3. discgolfdc

    discgolfdc MDL Novice

    Apr 20, 2011
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    Thank you for guiding me to that post!!!

    Mine is an ATI system. I've not used PHLASH16 before, but I'm a quick study. Problem for me would be what file to "Phlash."

    There are four files in the ATI folder:

    ABVXD.VXD (7K)
    flash.sys (8K)
    OTA118.exe (1,903K)
    OTA118.wph (1,031K)

    It seems to be recommended to flash from DOS, but I am not certain how to boot my computer into DOS -- how to make the USB stick bootable.

    That's my next hurdle, I suppose.

    Thanks!
     
  4. Serg008

    Serg008 MDL BIOS/EFI Guru

    Feb 23, 2010
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    #5 Serg008, Jun 10, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: May 23, 2017
  5. discgolfdc

    discgolfdc MDL Novice

    Apr 20, 2011
    11
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    Much, much, much appreciated!!!!

    I should be able to take care of this a little later today. Keeping Win7 running is important to me because I use this machine to DJ digitally, and Win7 handles sound a whole lot better than XP or Vista. Almost tried it just before my show tonight, but I thought better of it! If I fried my BIOS, I'd have about 30 minutes to come up with a computer with which to entertain.

    Once I'm DONE tonight, though, I'll give it a whirl.

    Thanks for the guidance.