Armitage64 wrote on 2025-08-18, 17:19:

RyanH-Nostalgia wrote on 2025-08-18, 16:15:

The FSH.EXE program did not work? How I always did it if I wanted to save a .BIN file of a BIOS is that I selected the 'Save Flash BIOS' option (as shown in this picture here that I took) and would save it as something like 'A:\BIOS.BIN' and if anyone had a Gateway 2000 that already had a Micro Firmware BIOS already installed on their system, the BIOS could be saved that way. Did you try and do it that way and did it just fail? I really hope that you did not lose any data on your hard drive, did the boot sector get corrupted on just the floppy disk that you used? I really hope that your hard drive is ok and that you are still able to boot from it. I personally only use Floppy Disks to save BIOS .BIN files to, I make a Boot Disk, then copy the FSH.EXE program to there and then boot from the disk and go from there.

Correct, the program locks up on the initial screen where you should be able to press Enter to continue or ESC to quit. I can't get past that screen as the machine becomes totally locked up. When running the program from a boot floppy, the drive access light stays on even once the program is loaded further indicating a crashed state. I also tried completely disabling the on-board IDE controller and turning off large disk support in BIOS as well as booting from an older DOS 5.0 floppy just in case the program wasn't happy with Win95's DOS 7.1. I'm open to other ideas to try 😁

Hmm, I have no idea why that even is. the 'FSH.EXE' should be able to save a BIOS of any version that there is as the 'FSH.EXE' Utility programs were made for those Micronics motherboards. I also notice that since you and I have different Micronics motherboards that were made different years, mine was made in 1993 (Gemini VL-BUS 09-00144-xx) and yours was made in 1994 (JX30G VL-BUS 09-00189-xx) as far as I know from what I have researched and there were more versions of the 'FSH.EXE' utility and since I have an older Micronics motherboard in my Gateway 2000 and since you have a newer one, I think maybe these newer 'FSH.EXE' utilities were made for them, I have found 3 newer versions on theretroweb when I was experimenting with other BIOS files that were made for these different Micronics motherboards and they were included with them, I think maybe the one I provided you was too old of a version but I do not know for sure. I have provided 3 more of these utilities. The same results may still occur but give them a try and see if any of them work. Be sure and run them from a Floppy Disk and not on your hard drive so that in case of a fail, no hard drive data loss will likely occur.

Thanks for posting the other versions of the program. I will give them a try but I am away from the computer for the next week so I will pick this up when I get back.

Armitage64 wrote on 2025-08-22, 11:27:

Thanks for posting the other versions of the program. I will give them a try but I am away from the computer for the next week so I will pick this up when I get back.

Not a problem, there is no rush, Take your time.

I tried all three of the versions you posted, booting from a clean floppy disk with HDD, BIOS shadow, etc. disabled. Only the FSH20.EXE made it all the way to identifying the Flash chip on my board, but even that locked up the machine before I could press ESC or Enter 🙁

Armitage64 wrote on 2025-08-30, 17:35:

I tried all three of the versions you posted, booting from a clean floppy disk with HDD, BIOS shadow, etc. disabled. Only the FSH20.EXE made it all the way to identifying the Flash chip on my board, but even that locked up the machine before I could press ESC or Enter 🙁

Hmm, I am not even sure why the 'FSH' Utility programs that were made for those Micronics Motherboards are not even working for saving a .BIN file of a Micro Firmware BIOS. I wonder if there is some sort of code in the Micro Firmware BIOS of some sort that is causing the lockups with the 'FSH' Utility programs. I just did a bit more research online for some other BIOS Extracting Utility software that is DOS Based and I did find this one,
I recently found this hardware, AKA the Dumpster find thread.

I ran 'ROMSAVAT.EXE' on my Gateway 2000 from a floppy disk just to test it and see if it would work and it saved it as a a file called 'ATROM'. Download the 'GETROM.ZIP' and put all the files within onto a floppy disk and just run the 'ROMSAVAT.EXE' program and it should create a 'ATROM' file and see if that works.

ROMSAVAT.EXE seems to have worked properly. Here is the file it created:

Armitage64 wrote on 2025-09-03, 17:52:

ROMSAVAT.EXE seems to have worked properly. Here is the file it created:

Hi there, it has been a while since we posted here. I wanted to let you know that I watched your video on YouTube of the CPU Upgrade and I really enjoyed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ_6oDGFYaQ&t=851s

I also posted a comment on your video but I don't think it came through. Here is what I originally posted,,,

Hi there, I Really enjoyed your video on the CPU Upgrade. I have been meaning to get back to you on some updates on my Gateway 2000 BIOS issue myself and am in the process of planning a part 3. Furthermore, as I was watching your video, at 14:10 I saw the boot screen on your gateway 2000 PC showing the Micro Firmware BIOS and I have been meaning to ask if you could take a photo of it so I could see what it looks like. However, Can I get special permission from you if I take a screenshot of the BIOS screen that you showed in your video at 14:10 and show it in my Part 3 video that I am planning on doing? let me know if that is ok with you, Thanks.

RyanH-Nostalgia wrote on 2025-12-24, 20:17:

Hi there, it has been a while since we posted here. I wanted to let you know that I watched your video on YouTube of the CPU Upg […]
Show full quote

Hi there, it has been a while since we posted here. I wanted to let you know that I watched your video on YouTube of the CPU Upgrade and I really enjoyed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ_6oDGFYaQ&t=851s

I also posted a comment on your video but I don't think it came through. Here is what I originally posted,,,

Hi there, I Really enjoyed your video on the CPU Upgrade. I have been meaning to get back to you on some updates on my Gateway 2000 BIOS issue myself and am in the process of planning a part 3. Furthermore, as I was watching your video, at 14:10 I saw the boot screen on your gateway 2000 PC showing the Micro Firmware BIOS and I have been meaning to ask if you could take a photo of it so I could see what it looks like. However, Can I get special permission from you if I take a screenshot of the BIOS screen that you showed in your video at 14:10 and show it in my Part 3 video that I am planning on doing? let me know if that is ok with you, Thanks.

Hey, glad you enjoyed it and no problem if you want to use a screenshot or a clip of it in your upcoming video. Here's a screenshot extracted from the original source file.

RyanH-Nostalgia wrote on 2025-09-02, 18:35:

Hmm, I am not even sure why the 'FSH' Utility programs that were made for those Micronics Motherboards are not even working for saving a .BIN file of a Micro Firmware BIOS. I wonder if there is some sort of code in the Micro Firmware BIOS of some sort that is causing the lockups with the 'FSH' Utility programs.

Unless the Micro Firmware BIOS came originally with the board, most probably the Micronics FSH utility expects certain OEM specifc headers or "verify" calls in the ROM which aren't present in the Micro Firmware code, and that makes the FSH utility to crash (due bad coding/mishandled errors). Unfortunately, Micro Firmware own tools are coded so them never dump certain blocks or even the bootblock, so you can never get with these tools a complete chip dump flashable externally in a blank chip, with a rom programmer or a non-MicroFirmware flash tool.

That's why, people dump these files with 3rdparty tools, where them are available... Or directly with a hardware rom programmer.
Uniflash is handy in these situations when you have a supported flash chip and the proper chipset routines.

Ok, So here is a follow up video that I have posted on my YouTube channel and with some updates and research I have done, alongside a failed attempt to do a BIOS upgrade with a MOD that I did on an update only version of a Micro Firmware BIOS using a HEX Editor, not sure if it was corrupting the INSTALL.EXE of the Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrade Program or if further modifications need to be made or what, I had a theory that the HEX Editor that I was using could have been corrupting it somehow but I could be wrong about that as the program still ran, That theory came from an experience that I did on a Windows 3.1 program group (.GRP) File I did a few years back as it did get corrupted but I am not sure. In addition, here is the link to my Part 3/Follow up Video,,,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvNV3iQxTBI

I am not sure if I did the best of job on making this video as there were several steps to remember and I had like a check list of things I wanted to talk about and the fact that I made many videos and put them all together into one with Windows Movie Maker. Aside from that, to anyone reading my post about the research I have done and what I have come across so far, what are your thoughts and suggestions on the Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrade contents?

There is definitely something going on with the Micro Firmware, headers or otherwise.. Not only does the FSH utility lock up but even TOPBENCH crashes upon startup unless I specify the -s switch to skip the CPU/BIOS identification step.

The company did seem pretty protective of its IP. Perhaps they built in something intentional to make it impossible to duplicate the installed firmware or modify the installer; I guess it's possible there's a checksum or similar test that prevents you from hex editing the thing +directly. Not my area of expertise unfortunately.

RyanH-Nostalgia wrote on 2026-01-01, 01:59:

Ok, So here is a follow up video that I have posted on my YouTube channel and with some updates and research I have done, alongside a failed attempt to do a BIOS upgrade with a MOD that I did on an update only version of a Micro Firmware BIOS using a HEX Editor

Micro Firmware upgrade BIOSes aren't even complete ROM images, but only the upgraded modules, compressed and padded with certain patters known to their upgrade program (like many Phoenix and Intel BIOSes), so it can flash them in their correct rom blocks. Generally them don't even come with the BootBlock, and ofc the firmware Serial ID is "tattooed" in a block which also is never present in the upgrade image.

If you want to modify a MF BIOS, your best bet would be first upgrade the firmware with the supplied files and install program, dump it with an EEPROM programmer, modify the updated image, and then reflash it using the hardware programmer again.

PD: Take in count MF upgrade diskettes can only update MF ROM chips. MF "kits" consisted in a physical EEPROM chip to install in the board preflashed with the full version of the MF BIOS specific to your board, and a separate diskette with some diagnostic program, and in some cases, an upgrade program to flash the supplied chip to the latest version available to your board (most probably to avoid having to reflash the whole chip stock in case there were last time corrections to the supplied chip). No known MF software disks can change the original manufacturer existing BIOS to the MF supplied version. You need their supplied chip to be present (or a full EEPROM dump from someone else, to flash in a blank chip with a hardware programmer).

hyoenmadan wrote on 2026-01-03, 05:47:

Micro Firmware upgrade BIOSes aren't even complete ROM images, but only the upgraded modules, compressed and padded with certain […]
Show full quote

RyanH-Nostalgia wrote on 2026-01-01, 01:59:

Ok, So here is a follow up video that I have posted on my YouTube channel and with some updates and research I have done, alongside a failed attempt to do a BIOS upgrade with a MOD that I did on an update only version of a Micro Firmware BIOS using a HEX Editor

Micro Firmware upgrade BIOSes aren't even complete ROM images, but only the upgraded modules, compressed and padded with certain patters known to their upgrade program (like many Phoenix and Intel BIOSes), so it can flash them in their correct rom blocks. Generally them don't even come with the BootBlock, and ofc the firmware Serial ID is "tattooed" in a block which also is never present in the upgrade image.

If you want to modify a MF BIOS, your best bet would be first upgrade the firmware with the supplied files and install program, dump it with an EEPROM programmer, modify the updated image, and then reflash it using the hardware programmer again.

PD: Take in count MF upgrade diskettes can only update MF ROM chips. MF "kits" consisted in a physical EEPROM chip to install in the board preflashed with the full version of the MF BIOS specific to your board, and a separate diskette with some diagnostic program, and in some cases, an upgrade program to flash the supplied chip to the latest version available to your board (most probably to avoid having to reflash the whole chip stock in case there were last time corrections to the supplied chip). No known MF software disks can change the original manufacturer existing BIOS to the MF supplied version. You need their supplied chip to be present (or a full EEPROM dump from someone else, to flash in a blank chip with a hardware programmer).

The Micro Firmware BIOS upgrades that you are thinking of are the Hardware Replacement ROM Chips that were meant to replace the original non-programmable EPROM Chips in a System. From what I have researched, there were a total of 5, the other BIOS Upgrades that Micro Firmware made came on just a floppy disk as the BIOSes for those systems can be reprogrammed. For example, with my Gateway 2000 4DX2-66V (Which has a Micronics Motherboard, Part Number: 09-00144) I was able to try out other BIOSes that did not quite work and was also able to use a BIOS Recovery Diskette that I made as well using a Jumper setting on the motherboard. As far as I know, there are a total of 23 BIOS Upgrades that came on just a Diskette with their own serial numbers. Another example is that YouTube User retrobits has a Gateway 2000 486 with a different motherboard than what mine has (Micronics Motherboard Part Number: 09-00189) and he has a Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrade on Just the Diskette and he did not need to replace the BIOS ROM Chip in his system as it can be reprogrammed and he has used the Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrade with his and the Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrade for his is M4HS45GP and the one I am looking for is M4GS25 or a way to Modify an UPDATE-ONLY Version into a NON-UPDATE-ONLY Version using a HEX Editor or a similar program without corrupting the INSTALL.EXE file. I hope I was able explain this correctly. I also made this custom Chart of every Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrade that was made and what I was able to find that way everyone can get a full understanding of these Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrades.

As a follow up on Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrades, I want to point out that 5 of them came on hardware replacement chips to replace the original non-programmable EPROM BIOS Chips, and the other BIOS Upgrades came on just floppy disks for BIOS ROM Chips that are programmable. I also made this custom chart for info on these BIOS Upgrades from Micro Firmware.