Hello everybody, and first of all excuse me for my awkward English. I got some old Panasonic Toughbooks and now trying to mod a BIOS on them. Biggest problem is neither official Panasonic site nor Google knows nothing about BIOSes for that models. So I tried to dump a current BIOS by Universal BIOS Backup ToolKit, but cannot flash it back neither by WinPhlash.exe nor phlash16.exe for Dos because of lack of some information from .WPH file. Is it possible to make a FULL dump of current BIOS or flash it back by some tool without using hardware programmers? Just in case here my dump of current BIOS (just add a 'h' before URL): ttp://rghost.ru/7gmbWrwPt
problem is the .wph has extra data for the flashing tool. without programmer.. uhh not likely. ch341 and sop8 test clip is cheap
I would like to learn how to dump the -complete- Phoenix BIOS from a Panasonic CF-51 even if a programmer is needed. . More correctly, I would like to learn how to dump BIOS's using a programmer and I have a number of CF-51's available for the project. - And would like to mod the BIOS's on them anyway. - I have found NO BIOS's for this model available anywhere online and I've looked hard for one. A programmer appears to be the only option. . I'm a complete newbie to this. Never used a programmer. Don't even own one yet. . Recommendations where to start? Recommendations on a programmer? .
Your link is dead. Which mk of CF-51 are you working on? There are 6 mk versions and they all have different chipsets. (Thus probably different BIOS.) I have some mk3 and mk3LL I'm tinkering with.
Thank you. That is helpful. So I gather the "sop8 test clip" is used to connect the BIOS chip in question (in powered down laptop) to the ch341 programmer and the ch341 programmer would plugged into a different running machine? Yes?? Is it necessary to remove the CMOS battery also when doing this? Thanks
correct.. on most cases no but sometimes have to desolder chip due to components not allowing voltage 3.3v. and solder on programmer or socket adapter to not damage programmer PCB ps.. on some panasonics u can detach bios board from mainboard..
advantage being it supports (OLD) PLCC32 and many more.. not just spi 8 pin like ch341a and better voltage sustained from TL866 so the test clip might work better with more boards.
TL866A is what I actually decided on. Still shopping for a good deal on a package that includes lots of adapters. Thanks for the confirmation!