HaswellCertifiedLvr wrote on 2024-11-16, 23:42:

Hello all, just acquired an old Sony Vaio VGC-RB30 computer off the marketplace and doing some upgrades on the PC for some old Windows XP gaming.
From what I've saw at https://www.elhvb.com/mboards/oem/sony/VGC1.html, it does have a new BIOS enough to support the newer Pentium 4 processors with 2MB L2 cache (EV91510A.04T.0062.2005.0811.0305) however my system came with an older BIOS which I assume was the BIOS at system's release by March, 2005 according to Newegg (0022.2004.1208.1651).

Is there a BIOS update for this system, or can I just crossflash it with a retail Intel BIOS considering the board is just basically a rebranded Intel D915GAG (Augsburg) board?

There is a (newer?) BIOS dump for the Sony board here - https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … 74979006fef10be - though no info on what this version provides.

"Comments:

Sony Electronics VGC-RB42G Driver. This is the original BIOS for the Sony VGC-RB42G using the 915GRO motherboard. I you accidentally flash with the Intel OEM BIOS and want to change back to default, this will do it! Sony does not have this BIOS on their site for some reason and so-far I've noted it being IMPOSSIBLE to find, so I saved mine before modifying."

You can sort of track likely changes through the Intel-version release notes (these are to April 05, the last release being Feb 06)...

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2024-11-17, 10:01:

There is a (newer?) BIOS dump for the Sony board here - https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … 74979006fef10be - though […]
Show full quote

HaswellCertifiedLvr wrote on 2024-11-16, 23:42:

Hello all, just acquired an old Sony Vaio VGC-RB30 computer off the marketplace and doing some upgrades on the PC for some old Windows XP gaming.
From what I've saw at https://www.elhvb.com/mboards/oem/sony/VGC1.html, it does have a new BIOS enough to support the newer Pentium 4 processors with 2MB L2 cache (EV91510A.04T.0062.2005.0811.0305) however my system came with an older BIOS which I assume was the BIOS at system's release by March, 2005 according to Newegg (0022.2004.1208.1651).

Is there a BIOS update for this system, or can I just crossflash it with a retail Intel BIOS considering the board is just basically a rebranded Intel D915GAG (Augsburg) board?

There is a (newer?) BIOS dump for the Sony board here - https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … 74979006fef10be - though no info on what this version provides.

"Comments:

Sony Electronics VGC-RB42G Driver. This is the original BIOS for the Sony VGC-RB42G using the 915GRO motherboard. I you accidentally flash with the Intel OEM BIOS and want to change back to default, this will do it! Sony does not have this BIOS on their site for some reason and so-far I've noted it being IMPOSSIBLE to find, so I saved mine before modifying."

You can sort of track likely changes through the Intel-version release notes (these are to April 05, the last release being Feb 06)...

The attachment EV0444P.pdf is no longer available

Will try flashing this one, thanks a lot!

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2024-11-17, 10:01:

There is a (newer?) BIOS dump for the Sony board here - https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … 74979006fef10be - though […]
Show full quote

HaswellCertifiedLvr wrote on 2024-11-16, 23:42:

Hello all, just acquired an old Sony Vaio VGC-RB30 computer off the marketplace and doing some upgrades on the PC for some old Windows XP gaming.
From what I've saw at https://www.elhvb.com/mboards/oem/sony/VGC1.html, it does have a new BIOS enough to support the newer Pentium 4 processors with 2MB L2 cache (EV91510A.04T.0062.2005.0811.0305) however my system came with an older BIOS which I assume was the BIOS at system's release by March, 2005 according to Newegg (0022.2004.1208.1651).

Is there a BIOS update for this system, or can I just crossflash it with a retail Intel BIOS considering the board is just basically a rebranded Intel D915GAG (Augsburg) board?

There is a (newer?) BIOS dump for the Sony board here - https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … 74979006fef10be - though no info on what this version provides.

"Comments:

Sony Electronics VGC-RB42G Driver. This is the original BIOS for the Sony VGC-RB42G using the 915GRO motherboard. I you accidentally flash with the Intel OEM BIOS and want to change back to default, this will do it! Sony does not have this BIOS on their site for some reason and so-far I've noted it being IMPOSSIBLE to find, so I saved mine before modifying."

You can sort of track likely changes through the Intel-version release notes (these are to April 05, the last release being Feb 06)...

The attachment EV0444P.pdf is no longer available

A bit of a bump, but do you know of an BIOS flashing tool that I can use for this board?
Intel iFlash seems to only support .BIO files...

This seems to be a simple binary dump because it has 512 KiB file size and the Intel flash tool doesn't support it. I would try to flash it with latest UniFlash v2.00.SPI.RC03, which is available from my website -> https://soggi.org/motherboards/bios-update-fl … h-utilities.htm.

But be sure to backup the old BIOS if flashing fails and you have to recover!!! Is the Flash/EEPROM socketed or soldered?

kind regards
soggi

soggi wrote on 2024-11-18, 06:48:

This seems to be a simple binary dump because it has 512 KiB file size and the Intel flash tool doesn't support it. I would try […]
Show full quote

This seems to be a simple binary dump because it has 512 KiB file size and the Intel flash tool doesn't support it. I would try to flash it with latest UniFlash v2.00.SPI.RC03, which is available from my website -> https://soggi.org/motherboards/bios-update-fl … h-utilities.htm.

But be sure to backup the old BIOS if flashing fails and you have to recover!!! Is the Flash/EEPROM socketed or soldered?

kind regards
soggi

I do have a backup of the old BIOS made using Universal BIOS Backup Toolkit 2.0, no worries.

It has an Atmel AT49LH004 BIOS chip soldered to the motherboard

Argh...soldered is bad, because you have to desolder the PLCC32 EEPROM if something goes really wrong (and no backup strategy works), are you able to do that or do you know someone which can do it for you?

BTW if you ever will be in such a situation don't resolder the chip, solder a socket instead and put the chip into the socket.

kind regards
soggi

soggi wrote on 2024-11-18, 07:44:

Argh...soldered is bad, because you have to desolder the PLCC32 EEPROM if something goes really wrong (and no backup strategy wo […]
Show full quote

Argh...soldered is bad, because you have to desolder the PLCC32 EEPROM if something goes really wrong (and no backup strategy works), are you able to do that or do you know someone which can do it for you?

BTW if you ever will be in such a situation don't resolder the chip, solder a socket instead and put the chip into the socket.

kind regards
soggi

I do know someone that can desolder the chip for me.

Is there a programmer that supports the AT49LH004 chip however?

This should be programmable by any PLCC32 capable programmer like TL866II Plus f.e. - but you can also hotflash the BIOS on another board (that's what I would do, because I don't own a programmer...too lazy to get one, maybe one day).

I think there's a good chance that the flash will work, I just wanted to show the risks so you aren't disappointed if something goes wrong.

kind regards
soggi