Help on a 1998 Award BIOS chip

[Curious Marc]

Glen,

I think I wasn't thinking straight late last night when I finally found the chip was bad... I usually don't work on stuff that "new", so I was unfamiliar with the PLCC 32 format and have nothing to program it. I bet the reference of what chip it is hides just under the label! Assuming this is a run-off-the-mill EPROM chip, one should indeed be able to copy it with a semi-recent EPROM programmer (i.e., not mine...). Now, if it's one of these fancy Intel "Firmware Hubs" with copy protection, I am probably hosed. But I doubt it since there is an appropriately archaic CMOS settings chip next to it, so hopefully it is just a traditional ROM in a fancy package.

BTW to take a look at that bios, you have to take the plastic back off, then the metal cage back off, then the strip with the serial connectors off, then the power supply off. It's 15 minutes work and 16 screws...

In Dolch we trust.

Marc

> On Apr 16, 2018, at 10:09 AM, Glen Slick via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> Surely you must have a PLCC capable device programmer hidden away
> somewhere in your not so secret basement lab. And if you don't have
> one, why haven't you built one up from an HP-85 and some GPIO
> adapters?
> 
> I also have a PAC 65. I'll have to open it up and take a look. Wish
> there weren't so many screws involved. Whatever that 32-pin PLCC part
> is I should be able to read its contents with my BP Microsystems
> BP-1610 device programmer. I could program a new one if I had some of
> the same part on hand.
> 
> -Glen