Opening up the ROM in a Hex Editor - at the very bottom of the file it says: "Boot Loader. Copyright 1992-99 Insyde Software Corp" Any one know how to check if it is an Insyde ROM and how to recover?
it is an antique INSYDE bios assuming that the bios file name is R113.ROM The target notebook must in power off state. Plugged in USB flash drive (formatted to fat & with R113.ROM in it) to the target computer. Press Fn+Esc & press the power button to power on the computer. Keep pressing the Fn+Esc keys. When you see activity on the thumbdrive's LED indicator, release the Fn+Esc keys. (You'll need to see at the LED indicator carefully because the LED might blink too fast & you won't noticed it.) Wait for 5 minutes. If it doesn't reboot or shutdown after 5 minutes, power it off manually & power it on again. See if it can boot normally. If at no. 4, there is no activity on the thumbdrive, use another thumbdrive (preferrably different brand with smaller capacity like 512MB to 2GB).
Trying this now with a 512mb pen drive. Hasn't worked first time but will give it another go. Would there be any other key presses that could activate it? Does the filename of the .ROM have an effect? Could using a floppy drive have more success? Thanks for your speedy reply! I hope I get this one going!
you're true, but INSYDE for sure. have you found, other interesting informations concerning the recovery of this machine.
Well, I've obtained a USB Floppy Drive - now to find out what to do with the BIOS file to do the recovery! Other than what I've posted above, I don't have much more information! I can't find any Insyde BIOS recovery which isn't the new EFI method.
try something simple, format the floppy (non bootable that's important) copy the bios file only, and try to trigger the recovery by some usual key sequences. note: i've download the bios from manufacturer and found it is R113.ROM, are you using the same, are you sure it is the good one.