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 […]
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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.

Armitage64 wrote on 2026-01-02, 21:45:

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.

I just wanted to give you a heads up on my Gateway 2000 BIOS Problem. First off, the Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrade that you have and added to Archive.org will work with 2 different motherboards that are nearly identical, only difference is that the one that is in your system (As far as I know) has a PS/2 Mouse and Keyboard connector and will not fit in the Gateway 2000 'Model: DESKTOP' case that I have as it was made for an AT Keyboard Port which the second version of that motherboard does have. So I went on eBay in Late January or early February and found one of those Motherboards for $60 with free Shipping and brought it just to experiment with originally to see if the Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrade that you have would work on it and it did. Furthermore, even though it was not the motherboard that I preferred to use as it lacks a secondary IDE connector which I decided later on that I did not really need anyways, I am rather happy with what I have got. I wanted to let you know that I have solved my BIOS problem once and for all even though I did so differently than I intended but overall, I am happy with the results.

I also made this video on my Youtube chlannel by the way and I also mentioned you in it too, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tktMtqP-O7c&p … DAwIDQ4Ng%3D%3D

I also say your Tower of Power Gateway 2000 photos on Reddit as well and saw that someone had mentioned my Original Part 1 and 2 videos of my Gateway 2000 system, can you tell this person that I said thank you for pointing my first two videos out to you?

Thank you again for posting the Micro Firmware BIOS upgrade to Archive.org

I ran the install.exe from the M4GS25 upgrade file through Claude Code and also compared it to the full M4HS45GP installer as well as i4hs10up.exe (which was compressed, but managed to dump at runtime).

I even disassembled the whole flash routine to confirm it is the whole 128kb BIOS. There is no shenanigans with only patching a subset of the original BIOS.

Feel free to test, but be careful! Best if these can be tested if you also have a TI-866 eprom flasher. If this works then can use same routine to extract the ROM/BIN file from the other upgrade executables (already attached).

First off, sorry it took me a few days to get back. Although I did get another motherboard for my Gateway 2000 and am pretty happy with the results so far, I would like to say thank you for posting this. I do still have my original motherboard and BIOS Chip with it, I want to mention some things first. I do have a programmer and I am not sure if it is the right one or if I am using the right software, Here is a photo (a few photos along with a photo of the top of my original motherboard's BIOS Chip in one photo) of the programmer that I got and this is a link to the software that I downloaded for it: https://xgecu.myshopify.com/collections/xgecu … i-3g-programmer I was doing some experimenting with my original motherboard's BIOS Chip and did try to rewrite another BIOS Image to it but it failed and erased all data on that BIOS Chip and so far I am unable to rewrite to that Chip. As far as I know, the Chip is still good as it can still read data off of it even though it is blank at the moment, I am currently unable to write to that chip with my programmer and am not sure if I am doing something wrong or not. I would love to be able to use my original motherboard again if I can and if I can get the data back on its original BIOS Chip which I did make a backup of and still have, the problem is that I cannot write to it with my programmer and I also can no longer use the BIOS Recovery Feature built into my original motherboard, My original motherboard has a set of jumper pins and with two Settings that I can choose from which are next to the BIOS socket and labeled 'W20', the two jumper settings are "Flash BIOS write protect enabled - W20 pins 2 & 3 closed" and "Flash BIOS write protect disabled - W20 pins 1 & 2 closed". Overall with my Programmer that I currently have and with the software that I have found and downloaded for it, Is there any way that I can restore my backed up BIOS data back to my original motherboard's BIOS Chip and is there a correct way that I have to do it? Or, do I need a different Programmer and/or software? I have also posted about my currant BIOS chip and my original motherboard before here: Need help Restoring a BIOS on my Gateway 2000 486 - Micronics Motherboard 09-00144-01 If there is a way to restore my backed up BIOS data to my old motherboard's BIOS chip, please let me know.

Hope you guys don't mind me jumping in this thread with my own query! I recently picked up a Gateway 2000 4DX2-66V, it has a Micronics JX30G motherboard, model 09-00189-10, revision B1 (see mobo photo). The BIOS installed is Version 0.10 GJX30G-04P (see post photo, ignore the Extended mem count, I caught it mid-count!).

I gather that this BIOS is not ideal for Windows 95 for various reasons, main one for me is no support for HDD larger than 528mb. I believe this BIOS linked to by @Armitage64 will fix that problem:

https://archive.org/details/install_20250814

Before I go ahead and attempt the update, I want to get a proper BIOS recovery disk sorted in case of disaster. What's the best way to do this?

jimnastics wrote on 2026-05-21, 08:39:

Hope you guys don't mind me jumping in this thread with my own query! I recently picked up a Gateway 2000 4DX2-66V, it has a Mic […]
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Hope you guys don't mind me jumping in this thread with my own query! I recently picked up a Gateway 2000 4DX2-66V, it has a Micronics JX30G motherboard, model 09-00189-10, revision B1 (see mobo photo). The BIOS installed is Version 0.10 GJX30G-04P (see post photo, ignore the Extended mem count, I caught it mid-count!).

I gather that this BIOS is not ideal for Windows 95 for various reasons, main one for me is no support for HDD larger than 528mb. I believe this BIOS linked to by @Armitage64 will fix that problem:

https://archive.org/details/install_20250814

Before I go ahead and attempt the update, I want to get a proper BIOS recovery disk sorted in case of disaster. What's the best way to do this?

Hi there, I personally have no problem with you posting on here about how to make a BIOS Recovery Diskette, This is what this set of posts her and what Vogons is for 😀 The BIOS Upgrade that is currently on Archive.org that @Armitage64 as uploaded will make a BIOS Recovery Diskette before it performs the Micro Firmware BIOS Upgrade. I also want to point out that the BIOS Recovery Diskette is in a proprietary format after it is created and can only be used in a certain way which I will mention in a moment. Here is a list of Steps on how the BIOS Recovery Diskette is Created and the how the BIOS Upgrade is Done (After Downloading the BIOS Upgrade that @Armitage64 uploaded to Archive.org and putting the 'INSTALL.EXE' and 'INSTALL.INF' Files to a Floppy Disk),,,

1. Insert the Floppy Disk into your Gateway 2000 PC
Quick Note, I recommend putting the two INSTALL Files from the Diskette to your Systems Hard Drive in something like 'C:\NEWBIOS' or 'C:\BIOS' and Running the 'INSTALL.EXE' file from there. Also before Running that 'INSTALL.EXE' file, Boot your PC from Just DOS and nothing in loaded into Memory, No Commands from 'CONFIG.SYS' and 'AUTOEXEC.BAT' should be Run.

2. Run the 'INSTALL.EXE' File and then it will load the new BIOS Data into Memory, Once it does, it will ask you to put in a Blank Diskette which which will become the BIOS Recovery Diskette, Then it will tell you to remove the Diskette after it is done and make sure you label it and store it is a safe place, Then the BIOS Upgrade will take place

Here is a link to a Jumper Manual for the Motherboard that you have: https://theretroweb.com/motherboard/manual/31747.pdf
There is a Jumper labeled 'W8', If you ever need to use the BIOS Recovery Diskette, With the PC Powered off, Move the Jumper on 'W8' from Pins '2 and 3' to '1 and 2' Insert the BIOS Recovery Diskette and then Power the System On and follow the instructions on screen.

Also one more Important Note, I have seen that some Micronics Motherboards in these old Gateway 2000 PCs, Moving the Jumper on 'W8' from Pins '2 and 3' to '1 and 2' may not work depending on the BIOS Chip and therefore a BIOS Recovery may not be possible, I cannot say for sure though. That being said, you should only perform this BIOS Upgrade even with a BIOS Recovery Diskette handy at your own risk.