I am having similar issues... Finding the modified bin file is very time consuming as most of the links don't work and finding the flash utility that works is just as hard. the search function of this forum is a bit overwhelming to search thrue do to the huge volume of information here. I have been working with older pcs that people are discarding and trying to give them a chance with Windows 7. ( I do not sell these computers for profit, peeps only pay for the parts that go into them and for a little of my time fixing them) I'm a hardware guy, so the soft aspect of computers terrifies me. I am very thankful that the people in this forum are as gifted and generouse as they are. Thank you!!! Now, I suppose I will go and create a new request for some of the machines I have on hand... The current one is a Dell Inspiron Desktop for a friend, thought I would let em have an upgrade from Vista, but it seems not at this time.
I can't find any of the bios' as all links are dead. I don't feel savvy enough to use any of the tools, either. Anybody point me or pm me where to find a bios that is SLIC 2.1 compliant? TIA!
hi: yep i can't get a dell inspiron 531 modded either. the downlaod bios file from the dell driver page with my service tag is named I531_1013.EXE. if i use the phoenix tool it excepts the bios in the top box but starts asking me questions about extracting hdr stuff to see if old dell bios. out of my league. I dont see any .bin files relating to the inspiron 531 bios. any help appreciated. regards..
Thanks for the files. I have an Inspiron 531S. I used a bootable 64M USB stick I made following instructions from the SevenForums: h$$p: w w w.sevenforums.com/tutorials/46707-ms-dos-bootable-flash-drive-create.html BUT, and it is a BIG one, I get a "Windows Invalid License" error when running the batch file which contains the following: awdflash.exe MOD1.BIN /f /py /sn /cc The below thread Yen finally says to just ONLY use the /f option. h$$p: forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/19898-Bios-Flash-Invalid-Windows-License-Error Since Yen made this mod with the above switches, and the awdflash is 8.73 (must use ver 8.x.x, I read) I am unsure what to (SAFELY) try next. Of course, I will find out what the switches do and do some more reading, but for now, I am still stuck. Any ideas or places to look would really be appreciated! TIA, Walt...
Now what? There appears to be no special magic associated past the plain /f switch with the above awdflash command line awdflash.exe MOD1.BIN /f /py /sn /cc The above only /f Use Flash Routines in Original BIOS For Flash Programming /py Program Flash Memory /sn No Original BIOS Backup /cc Clear CMOS Data After Programming AWDFLASH v8.73 (08/03) (C)Phoenix Technologies Ltd. 2006 All Rights Reserved Usage: AWDFLASH [FileName1] [FileName2] [/<sw>[/<sw>...]] FileName1 : New BIOS Name For Flash Programming FileName2 : BIOS File For Backing-up the Original BIOS <Swtches> ?: Show Help Messages py: Program Flash Memory pn: No Flash Programming sy: Backup Original BIOS To Disk File sn: No Original BIOS Backup Sb: Skip BootBlock programming Wb: Always Programming BootBlock cd: Clear DMI Data After Programming cc: Clear CMOS Data After Programming cp: Clear PnP(ESCD) Data After Programming LD: Destroy CMOS Checksum And No System Halt For First Reboot After Programming Tiny: Occupy lesser memory QI: Qualify flash part number with source file E: Return to DOS After Programming R: RESET System After Programming F: Use Flash Routines in Original BIOS For Flash Programming cks: Show update Binfile checksum cksXXXX: Compare Binfile CheckSum with XXXX vgaXX: Change to VGA mode XX(Hex value). ch: Update HOLE. Hx: Only update the specified Hole(0~7). NVMAC:XXXXXXXXXXXX NVGUID:XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Support nForce Input MAC,GUID Function,with "/wb" to update MAC and GUID. Example: AWDFLASH 6A69R000.bin /py/sn/nvmac:xxxxxxxxxxxx/wb
Hi Urie, Thank you. I fixed it. But not as the above link. The firmware MOD1.BIN works with BIOS version 1.0.13. I was at 1.0.6. In desperation I flashed the original latest listed Dell BIOS, I531_1013.exe which I had on my tiny 64M USB FLASH drive. Then I ran the DOSFLASH.BAT file from Yen with all the same switches shown above. The switches clear the BIOS settings so I reset the BIOS configuration on reboot via the Dell F2 menu. Everything cool and groovy now.... THANKS, Walt...
Seriously frustrated!!! I've been trying to get this to flash for a few days now and am getting extremely frustrated with the "Invalid Windows License" error. I've tried both Yen's and Busykid's mod with identical results following each one of their switch instructions properly. I've updated to 1.0.13 stock as r39o mentioned with no luck. And I've tried tried using a newer version of awdflash (893) but since there appears to be no /f available I believe is pretty much useless. If I go ahead and try to utilize just the other required switches it starts to work then tells me "program file's part number doesn't match with system." So I tried using the /QI switch "qualify flash part number with source file" thinking maybe this would fix that issue and it ended up giving me the same error as awd873 of "Invalid Windows License" as well. I've also tried clearing CMOS and utilizing the switches mentioned that fixed this issue in the thread urie posted above adding /cp /cd to the string. Why on earth are these mods working without a hitch for some, flukishly working after an update for others, and not working at all for unfortunates like me??? This isn't making any sense to me and I'm really stuck on this one. Almost forgot to mention I am flashing from pure dos booting off usb flash drive. Any help or suggestions would be very very much appreciated! I'm including Busykid508's mod in this post since it seems to be completely dead here and I managed to find it in my archives. hxxp://xxx.sendspace.com/file/cukox4
Asus awdflash v1.34 is the key! After reading this whole thread over and over quite a few times I found a small detail I managed to overlook in one of the earlier posts. The trick to flashing this bios is using Asus awdflash v1.34 as it skips the licensing issues. Not sure how I managed to miss that but I'm a happy camper now and hope anyone else who runs into this problem finds this post useful!
I lost my on board modem when I flashed my 531s. Any ideas on how to fix it or should I install a new modem. Need it for faxing.
Anybody have ACPI driver load failures? My 531S worked as it should under Vista which included an Nvidia GT8600 PCIe dual head video card. I upgraded the bios with out the card installed and every thing seemed to work. Everything validated OK and I was happy. Put the 8600GT in. Even using the latest Nvidia drivers (280.26) I get an ACPI driver load failure and the boot process freezes. Any ideas?
ACPI load fail I have flashed to both Yen's and BusyKid508's BIOS firmware. I *STILL* get ACPI load fails at boot time. The ntbtlog.txt files shows: Did not load driver @hal.inf,%acpiapic.devicesc%;ACPI x86-based PC I have don lots of things and, obviously, I can not figure out the magic! HELP? Anybody have any ideas? What obvious (or not so) am I just not getting? TIA...
One month later: I fixed it! Well it did not work after reflashing the bios. What a pain the no downgrade issue was! But it did not help anyways. Reflashing and setting defaults was NOT the cure. On a hunch I replaced the Nvidia GeForce 8600GT that worked fine under Vista with a MSI Nvidia N210 which I bought on sale at the annual big Fry's Electronics sale. $30 US and a rebate which is $25. So it is a $5 fix. But, low profile video cards can be hard to find (cheap ones, at least.) Computer works just fine with a fresh video card. No more ACPI load fails. It was a hunch because I would get the ACPI load fails with the old card installed. It would run fine with the internal VGA video and no card installed. Who wants just VGA? So now I am back to dual monitors with this 531S with added advantage that I now have HDMI, if I want to try. THANK YOU AGAIN!
Jeesus f***, but is this machine ever a pain in the ass. But I FINALLY got it to work AWDFLASH.EXE VERSION 1.33. three THREE. NOT three FOUR. After great gnashing of teeth, it works. 7 ultimate is in, and validated on this hateful old Dell Inspiron 531 desktop. Get squared away with bootable dos media. I'm not here for that end of things, ok? Just make sure awdflash.exe and 531.bin (renamed from the one you found elsewhere) are in the same directory, and then be in that directory before you proceed as follows: At a dos prompt in this directory type: awdflash 531.bin /f /py /sn /cd /cc With or without spaces between switches (space after 531.bin of course). Play around with it some, if you need to. Hit <enter> and then let it roll. Reboot. Check your activation status. Tra la la. Switch definitions, just because: /fis use original bios parameters /sndo not save existing bios /pyprogram flash /cdclear DMI data post-flash /ccclear CMOS post-flash This particular awdflash.exe program is Ver 1.33 and the story behind that is a serious pain in the goddamned motherf****** ass. This is an extraordinarily pissy motherboard and refuses to flash with all sorts of daffy errors and lockups, most prominently annoying amongst which is "invalid windows license" and there are zillions of posts all over the f****** internet and throughout them there are repeated calls to use a particular version of awdflash, and that version, called for over and over again, is v1.34. One Point Three FOUR. FOUR. Only problem being, is that every link, on every board, from Timbuktu to China is broken, leads to something useless, or is otherwise disfunctional to the point of f*** this s**t, it ain't there. Ok, fine. Via no end of labyrinthian comings and goings, the best I could do was to find a copy of awdflash.exe version 1.33 (One Point Three THREE. THREE.) from Asus, for a seriously WTF ASUS Crosshair II Formula motherboard (huh?) which is not any kind of Dell, here: hxxp://xxx.dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/AWDFLASH133.zip I had previously upgraded my Inspiron 531 bios to the latest version, 1033, via the upgrade that can be downloaded from Dell, here: hxxp://xxx.dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/AWDFLASH133.zip To repeat, I ran awdflash as follows: awdflash 531.bin /f /py /sn /cd /cc using the renamed 531_SLIC.BIN file originally created by Busykid508 (that guy is up for sainthood, by the way, and none of us will ever be able to properly repay him, but I'm trying, I really am) and which remains fairly findable, to this day, as part of a larger package which contains all sorts of wonderful things, including another award flash utility named awd873.exe and which, for reasons both mysterious and pissy, seems to not want to work for an awful lot of people, myself included. So f*** that 873 s**t, and f*** that 1.34 s**t, and roll with 1.33. For me at least, good old ver1.33 did the trick, and I'm paying it forward to one and all who might still be dicking around with this ancient Dell machine, for whatever unknowable set of misfortunes, and who would really like to get the sonofabitch to run Win7 Ultimate as a validly activated install. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.