Hi, Jeff. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ha escrito:
> I assume in the case you mention above that the chip in question was > one-time-programable, OTP? An EEPROM which was mis-flashed should have > been erasable unless the chip was destroyed, e.g. by applying the wrong > voltage to the wrong pin or something. I am a bit confused as to why you > had to replace the chip. Did your colleague install the chip backwards? The thing has to do with the way PC BIOSes work. The BIOS is much like the basic part of the Macintosh's ROM that manages teh power-on test and then launches an OS from a secondary storage media (disk drive, hard disk, CD-ROM, Zip...). The only difference is that, in recent PCs (from 1997 onwards) the BIOS is stored in an EEPROM/Flash chip instead of a ROM/PROM - this allows you to update it when a compatibility problem is detected (something that will not be neccessary anytime in a Macintosh). You don't extract a BIOS Flash chip from the motherboard in order to program it (in fact, most times they are soldered). If you want to update a PC's BIOS, you have to boot from an special diskette that contains a mini-OS, a program that writes the BIOS, and the BIOS image itself. Thus, if the proccess fails, the BIOS is damaged, and thus the computer won't boot again. Because you need to boot from a diskette in order to write to the chip that contains the BIOS, if it's damaged, you can't repair it - you can only update a working BIOS. This makes me think we must be grateful because older computers (like vintage Macs, PCs and 8-bits) are a lot easier to maintain/repair than modern ones, because they use more standard components and have a simpler architecture. Try to "fix" a nonworking DVD-RAM drive with simple procedures like the ones used with the old 400 kb disk drives... Greetings, Antonio Rodr�guez (Grijan) <ftp://grijan.cjb.net:21000/> -- Compact Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/>. Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Compact Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/compact.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/compact.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
