American Megatrends (AMI) UEFI BIOS [Aptio] Recovery: Recover Bricked PC With No Floppy Disk Drive Showing Nothing On Screen While Powered On:
NOTE: This guide is for UEFI AMI Aptio BIOS only. For UEFI BIOS (AMI Aptio), the recovery BIOS file name is not necessarily AMIBOOT.ROM. You will need to use the steps below to determine the correct filename for your system.
Another version of this guide is available for non-UEFI AMI BIOS here.
You will need:
1. USB flash drive (preferably an older one with <= 4 GB capacity and with access indicator light)
2. BIOS ROM file from your device manufacturer
3. Working computer to prepare recovery flash drive
4. AndyP's PhoenixTool - This tool requires you to install Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7 or newer beforehand. You can download a copy of Version 2.73 at DataFileHost | Mega.nz. (SHA1 hash: 203FDE92728B501BDAFA19D26EDBED57E3ED7B4C). Find more details regarding this tool here: http://bit.ly/PhoenixTool.
Important Note: Please back up all files on the USB flash drive you will be using to recover the BIOS. All files will be erased when you format the flash drive.
There are multiple guides on the internet that step you through recovering the BIOS on an AMI-based PC. However, most of them only have detailed steps for recovering from a floppy disk or CD, and are mostly outdated. For instance, bricked all-in-one PCs typically will not issue any beep codes or beep during BIOS recovery.
There are several important things you should be aware of when using a USB flash drive for BIOS recovery:
1. This may not work at all on your bricked PC if its BIOS does not contain a boot block or it is corrupted/overwritten, or if it does not support USB flash drive recovery.
2. Your USB drive must be connected to one of the ports on the PC, not via a USB hub. Some PCs require you to connect the USB drive to a specific USB port - you may have to try each one and find out.
3. A USB flash drive with an access indicator light is recommended. Often, a bricked computer will not show anything on screen while the BIOS recovery is happening. The light on the USB will tell you whether the BIOS recovery is occurring.
Steps to follow:
1. Prepare the USB flash drive. First, format the drive as FAT16 (as FAT32 will not always work) using this guide (if your drive capacity is 4 GB or less, you don't have to resize the partition and can proceed straight to formatting as FAT16 - this is a different option from FAT32). All data on the USB drive will be erased.
2. Extract and copy the BIOS ROM file to the root of the USB flash drive from the device manufacturer's support page.
3. Download and run AndyP's PhoenixTool (run PhoenixTool.exe). Open the BIOS ROM file in the tool. Then, wait for the tool to process the file. Eventually, it will tell you the recovery filename. Rename the file to the name given by the tool (you may have to show all file extensions in Folder Options). (Note: If the tool gave you multiple filenames, make several copies of the BIOS ROM file and rename each copy to each of the filenames).
4. Make sure the bricked PC is plugged in and powered off. Insert the USB flash drive into one of the USB ports.
5. Attach a USB or PS/2 keyboard to the PC. PS/2 keyboard is preferred as it will be recognized sooner by the BIOS.
6. Press and hold the CTRL and HOME keys on the keyboard as you press the power button on the PC.
7. Keep holding down these keys until the USB drive indicator light has started flashing for several seconds (or for at least 5 seconds if your USB drive has no indicator light).
8. Wait up to 3 minutes. The computer will program the BIOS chip and automatically restart once recovery is complete. You may hear beeps while the BIOS is being recovered, but this is not always the case. For larger BIOS ROM images, the recovery process will take longer. Note: Your computer may not necessarily restart automatically at the end of the recovery process. If so, wait 15 minutes before restarting the computer yourself.
9. The computer will restart automatically and start up if recovery is successful.
Troubleshooting:
- Did you format the USB drive as FAT16?
- Did you try different ports on the computer?
- Did you try older USB drives?
- Is your USB drive USB 2.0 and older?
- Did you clear the CMOS on the computer by unplugging the computer, removing the CMOS battery and pressing power button for 5 seconds?
- Did you disconnect all other peripherals and drives?
- Is your monitor working properly?
- Did you download the correct version BIOS from your manufacturer?
- Did you extract the BIOS ROM file only and rename it correctly (showed all file extensions to be sure)?
Did you find the above guide useful? If so, share it with your friends. Comments on how to improve the guide are welcome below.
Sources (for ISO-9660 CD/Floppy Disk BIOS recovery methods and methods for recovering other brand BIOSes):
https://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/support/faq_content.php?S_ID=392
https://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/how-to-recover-the-bios
https://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f15/bad-bios-checksum-need-hpbios-rom-62613.html
Showing posts with label drive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drive. Show all posts
Friday, April 10, 2020
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
American Megatrends (AMI) BIOS [AMIBIOS8] Recovery: Recover Bricked PC With No Floppy Disk Drive Showing Nothing On Screen While Powered On
American Megatrends (AMI) BIOS [AMIBIOS8] Recovery: Recover Bricked PC With No Floppy Disk Drive Showing Nothing On Screen While Powered On:
NOTE: This guide is for legacy non-UEFI AMI BIOS. UEFI BIOS (AMI Aptio) has a different recovery procedure as the file name is not necessarily AMIBOOT.ROM.
Another version of this guide is available for UEFI AMI BIOS (AMI Aptio) here.
You will need:
1. USB flash drive (preferably an older one with <= 4 GB capacity and with access indicator light)
2. BIOS ROM file from your device manufacturer
3. Working computer to prepare recovery flash drive
Important Note: Please back up all files on the USB flash drive you will be using to recover the BIOS. All files will be erased when you format the flash drive.
There are multiple guides on the internet that step you through recovering the BIOS on an AMIBIOS-based PC. However, most of them only have detailed steps for recovering from a floppy disk or CD, and are mostly outdated. For instance, bricked all-in-one PCs typically will not issue any beep codes or beep during BIOS recovery.
There are several important things you should be aware of when using a USB flash drive for BIOS recovery:
1. This may not work at all on your bricked PC if its BIOS does not contain a boot block or it is corrupted/overwritten, or if it does not support USB flash drive recovery.
2. Your USB drive must be connected to one of the ports on the PC, not via a USB hub. Some PCs require you to connect the USB drive to a specific USB port - you may have to try each one and find out.
3. A USB flash drive with an access indicator light is recommended. Often, a bricked computer will not show anything on screen while the BIOS recovery is happening. The light on the USB will tell you whether the BIOS recovery is occurring.
Steps to follow:
1. Prepare the USB flash drive. First, format the drive as FAT16 (as FAT32 will not always work) using this guide (if your drive capacity is 4 GB or less, you don't have to resize the partition and can proceed straight to formatting as FAT16 - this is a different option from FAT32). All data on the USB drive will be erased.
2. Extract and copy the BIOS ROM file to the root of the USB flash drive from the device manufacturer's support page.
3. Rename the file to AMIBOOT.ROM (you may have to show all file extensions in Folder Options).
- (For HP computers only: Make a copy of this file in the same directory. Rename it as HPBIOS.ROM).
4. Make sure the bricked PC is plugged in and powered off. Insert the USB flash drive into one of the USB ports.
5. Attach a USB or PS/2 keyboard to the PC. PS/2 keyboard is preferred as it will be recognized sooner by the BIOS.
6. Press and hold the CTRL and HOME keys on the keyboard as you press the power button on the PC.
7. Keep holding down these keys until the USB drive indicator light has started flashing for several seconds (or for at least 5 seconds if your USB drive has no indicator light).
8. Wait up to 3 minutes. The computer will program the BIOS chip and automatically restart once recovery is complete. You may hear beeps while the BIOS is being recovered, but this is not always the case.
9. The computer will restart automatically and start up if recovery is successful.
Troubleshooting:
- Did you format the USB drive as FAT16?
- Did you try different ports on the computer?
- Did you try older USB drives?
- Is your USB drive USB 2.0 and older?
- Did you clear the CMOS on the computer by unplugging the computer, removing the CMOS battery and pressing power button for 5 seconds?
- Did you disconnect all other peripherals and drives?
- Is your monitor working properly?
- Did you download the correct version BIOS from your manufacturer?
- Did you extract the BIOS ROM file only and rename it correctly (showed all file extensions to be sure)?
The above procedure worked correctly on Sony VGC-JS290J and HP TouchSmart 610-1020a all-in-one PCs.
Did you find the above guide useful? If so, share it with your friends. Comments on how to improve the guide are welcome below.
Sources (for ISO-9660 CD/Floppy Disk BIOS recovery methods and methods for recovering other brand BIOSes):
https://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/support/faq_content.php?S_ID=392
https://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/how-to-recover-the-bios
https://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f15/bad-bios-checksum-need-hpbios-rom-62613.html
NOTE: This guide is for legacy non-UEFI AMI BIOS. UEFI BIOS (AMI Aptio) has a different recovery procedure as the file name is not necessarily AMIBOOT.ROM.
Another version of this guide is available for UEFI AMI BIOS (AMI Aptio) here.
You will need:
1. USB flash drive (preferably an older one with <= 4 GB capacity and with access indicator light)
2. BIOS ROM file from your device manufacturer
3. Working computer to prepare recovery flash drive
Important Note: Please back up all files on the USB flash drive you will be using to recover the BIOS. All files will be erased when you format the flash drive.
There are multiple guides on the internet that step you through recovering the BIOS on an AMIBIOS-based PC. However, most of them only have detailed steps for recovering from a floppy disk or CD, and are mostly outdated. For instance, bricked all-in-one PCs typically will not issue any beep codes or beep during BIOS recovery.
There are several important things you should be aware of when using a USB flash drive for BIOS recovery:
1. This may not work at all on your bricked PC if its BIOS does not contain a boot block or it is corrupted/overwritten, or if it does not support USB flash drive recovery.
2. Your USB drive must be connected to one of the ports on the PC, not via a USB hub. Some PCs require you to connect the USB drive to a specific USB port - you may have to try each one and find out.
3. A USB flash drive with an access indicator light is recommended. Often, a bricked computer will not show anything on screen while the BIOS recovery is happening. The light on the USB will tell you whether the BIOS recovery is occurring.
Steps to follow:
1. Prepare the USB flash drive. First, format the drive as FAT16 (as FAT32 will not always work) using this guide (if your drive capacity is 4 GB or less, you don't have to resize the partition and can proceed straight to formatting as FAT16 - this is a different option from FAT32). All data on the USB drive will be erased.
2. Extract and copy the BIOS ROM file to the root of the USB flash drive from the device manufacturer's support page.
3. Rename the file to AMIBOOT.ROM (you may have to show all file extensions in Folder Options).
- (For HP computers only: Make a copy of this file in the same directory. Rename it as HPBIOS.ROM).
4. Make sure the bricked PC is plugged in and powered off. Insert the USB flash drive into one of the USB ports.
5. Attach a USB or PS/2 keyboard to the PC. PS/2 keyboard is preferred as it will be recognized sooner by the BIOS.
6. Press and hold the CTRL and HOME keys on the keyboard as you press the power button on the PC.
7. Keep holding down these keys until the USB drive indicator light has started flashing for several seconds (or for at least 5 seconds if your USB drive has no indicator light).
8. Wait up to 3 minutes. The computer will program the BIOS chip and automatically restart once recovery is complete. You may hear beeps while the BIOS is being recovered, but this is not always the case.
9. The computer will restart automatically and start up if recovery is successful.
Troubleshooting:
- Did you format the USB drive as FAT16?
- Did you try different ports on the computer?
- Did you try older USB drives?
- Is your USB drive USB 2.0 and older?
- Did you clear the CMOS on the computer by unplugging the computer, removing the CMOS battery and pressing power button for 5 seconds?
- Did you disconnect all other peripherals and drives?
- Is your monitor working properly?
- Did you download the correct version BIOS from your manufacturer?
- Did you extract the BIOS ROM file only and rename it correctly (showed all file extensions to be sure)?
The above procedure worked correctly on Sony VGC-JS290J and HP TouchSmart 610-1020a all-in-one PCs.
Did you find the above guide useful? If so, share it with your friends. Comments on how to improve the guide are welcome below.
Sources (for ISO-9660 CD/Floppy Disk BIOS recovery methods and methods for recovering other brand BIOSes):
https://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/support/faq_content.php?S_ID=392
https://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/how-to-recover-the-bios
https://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f15/bad-bios-checksum-need-hpbios-rom-62613.html
Format Large USB Drive As FAT16 In Windows
Format Large USB Drive As FAT16:
Maximum Volume and File Sizes for FAT16/FAT32/exFAT:
FAT16: Max volume size: 4 GB, Max file size: 2 GB.
FAT32: Max volume size: 2 TB, Max file size: 4 GB.
exFAT: Max volume size: 128 PB, Max file size: 16 EB.
If your USB flash drive partition size is larger than 4 GB, you need to resize it to 4 GB to format it as FAT16.
Steps to follow:
We will use DiskPart to Resize USB partition to 4 GB.
Warning: Back up ALL data on the USB as it will be completely erased by the formatting tool!
For each of the following commands, press ENTER on your keyboard after typing the command (denoted in this font).
1. Insert the USB to be formatted as FAT16.
2. Open a Command Prompt window as administrator.
- On Windows XP: Log in as administrator. Press Windows key + R to open Run. Type cmd to open.
- On Windows Vista and newer: Press the Windows key. Type cmd and wait for the option to appear. Right-click and select Run as Administrator. Click Yes when prompted by UAC.
3. Type DISKPART in this window to launch Microsoft DiskPart tool.
4. In the window, type: list disk
5. An example output is shown below:
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 238 GB 1024 KB *
Disk 1 Online 7538 MB 0 B
6. In the above example, the USB drive is Disk 1 (7538 MB). This may NOT be in your case! Identify the disk # by the size. If you are unsure, select one of the disks with the following command (substitute # with the disk number): SELECT DISK # then type DETAIL DISK to see the disk name and assigned drive letters.
7. Select the correct disk by typing SELECT DISK # to select it. An example output is shown below:
DISKPART> select disk 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
8. Type LIST PARTITION to double-check that you have selected the right disk. An example output is shown below:
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 7538 MB 1024 KB
9. Once you are sure you have selected the right disk, type CLEAN to delete all existing partition information from the selected disk. WARNING: THIS IMMEDIATELY DELETES ALL PARTITIONS ON THAT DISK!
DISKPART> clean
DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.
10. To create a 4000 MB (4 GB) partition on the now-erased USB, type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=4000 to create it.
DISKPART> create partition primary size=4000
DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.
11. Then, we will make this partition active by typing ACTIVE.
DISKPART> active
DiskPart marked the current partition as active.
12. Type ASSIGN to assign a drive letter to the drive.
DISKPART> assign
DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.
13. Type EXIT to close DiskPart. The Command Prompt window should remain open.
14. If a window pops up asking you to format the disk, you can follow the prompts to format the drive via the GUI (remember to select "FAT", NOT "FAT32" under "File system"!) and skip the remaining steps of this tutorial (you may type EXIT to close the Command Prompt window). Otherwise, continue below.
15. Now, we will format this newly-created partition as FAT16. First, open My Computer/Computer to see the drive letter of the USB drive.
16. Go back to the Command Prompt window. Type FORMAT X: /FS:FAT /Q where X is the drive letter of your USB, then type Y to confirm. This may take several minutes to complete.
17. The USB drive is now formatted as FAT16. Type EXIT to close the Command Prompt window.
If you would now like to return your USB drive partition back to FAT32 (or NTFS) to allow you to use the USB drive's full capacity again, just repeat the steps above, except at Step 10, where you will now type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY (without the SIZE parameter) to create a single partition spanning the entire disk.
Did you found the above guide useful? If so, share it with your friends. Comments on how to improve the guide are welcome below.
Improved and extended steps from https://www.instructables.com/id/Format-USB-Flash-Drive-to-FATFAT16-not-FAT32/.
Maximum Volume and File Sizes for FAT16/FAT32/exFAT:
FAT16: Max volume size: 4 GB, Max file size: 2 GB.
FAT32: Max volume size: 2 TB, Max file size: 4 GB.
exFAT: Max volume size: 128 PB, Max file size: 16 EB.
If your USB flash drive partition size is larger than 4 GB, you need to resize it to 4 GB to format it as FAT16.
Steps to follow:
We will use DiskPart to Resize USB partition to 4 GB.
Warning: Back up ALL data on the USB as it will be completely erased by the formatting tool!
For each of the following commands, press ENTER on your keyboard after typing the command (denoted in this font).
1. Insert the USB to be formatted as FAT16.
2. Open a Command Prompt window as administrator.
- On Windows XP: Log in as administrator. Press Windows key + R to open Run. Type cmd to open.
- On Windows Vista and newer: Press the Windows key. Type cmd and wait for the option to appear. Right-click and select Run as Administrator. Click Yes when prompted by UAC.
3. Type DISKPART in this window to launch Microsoft DiskPart tool.
4. In the window, type: list disk
5. An example output is shown below:
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 238 GB 1024 KB *
Disk 1 Online 7538 MB 0 B
6. In the above example, the USB drive is Disk 1 (7538 MB). This may NOT be in your case! Identify the disk # by the size. If you are unsure, select one of the disks with the following command (substitute # with the disk number): SELECT DISK # then type DETAIL DISK to see the disk name and assigned drive letters.
7. Select the correct disk by typing SELECT DISK # to select it. An example output is shown below:
DISKPART> select disk 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
8. Type LIST PARTITION to double-check that you have selected the right disk. An example output is shown below:
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 7538 MB 1024 KB
9. Once you are sure you have selected the right disk, type CLEAN to delete all existing partition information from the selected disk. WARNING: THIS IMMEDIATELY DELETES ALL PARTITIONS ON THAT DISK!
DISKPART> clean
DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.
10. To create a 4000 MB (4 GB) partition on the now-erased USB, type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=4000 to create it.
DISKPART> create partition primary size=4000
DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.
11. Then, we will make this partition active by typing ACTIVE.
DISKPART> active
DiskPart marked the current partition as active.
12. Type ASSIGN to assign a drive letter to the drive.
DISKPART> assign
DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.
13. Type EXIT to close DiskPart. The Command Prompt window should remain open.
14. If a window pops up asking you to format the disk, you can follow the prompts to format the drive via the GUI (remember to select "FAT", NOT "FAT32" under "File system"!) and skip the remaining steps of this tutorial (you may type EXIT to close the Command Prompt window). Otherwise, continue below.
15. Now, we will format this newly-created partition as FAT16. First, open My Computer/Computer to see the drive letter of the USB drive.
16. Go back to the Command Prompt window. Type FORMAT X: /FS:FAT /Q where X is the drive letter of your USB, then type Y to confirm. This may take several minutes to complete.
17. The USB drive is now formatted as FAT16. Type EXIT to close the Command Prompt window.
If you would now like to return your USB drive partition back to FAT32 (or NTFS) to allow you to use the USB drive's full capacity again, just repeat the steps above, except at Step 10, where you will now type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY (without the SIZE parameter) to create a single partition spanning the entire disk.
Did you found the above guide useful? If so, share it with your friends. Comments on how to improve the guide are welcome below.
Improved and extended steps from https://www.instructables.com/id/Format-USB-Flash-Drive-to-FATFAT16-not-FAT32/.
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