bios dump iei mainboard help

[taiks03]

hi all,

i need to dump a bios from an IEI motherboard, i downloaded a software from their site when i tried to dump it said something like protected. Its ami bios, i am sure the flash software works cause i have another identical main-board and the software works fine. To make the long story short i am trying to copy the bios of one main-board to the other, i think its a modified bios. This came from an arcade machine, the other machine just stopped working and suspected that the culprit was the main-board. So i bought a main-board online thinking it was the same when i plugged it in the software boots up but there is no sound and lan doesn't work plus other calibrations are off. A physical inspection showed the 2 main-boards are identical except for the bios.

the new mainboard showed an MX flash chip and was able to flash and dump.

was wondering if there was another way to dump the protected bios ?


thank you

[edwin]

thinking it was the same

based on what assumption? Do they have the _exact_ same part numbers and revision numbers?

the software boots up

what software is that? windows?

are identical except for the bios.

all chips have the exact same part number and exact same builds?

I think you need to enable the onboard sound and LAN in the bios first.

[taiks03]

yes they have same part no. IMB-Q354-R10, but the new board that i got has and -ED so its IMB-Q354-R10-ED. Both boards are labeled V1.0 The original one came from a arcade racing simulation game, the software seems to be windows embedded.
There is no gui or anything bios config seems to be the same except for the version. So i am thinking its a modified bios since most arcade games use modified bios.

I downloaded a bios from the IEI and it contained a flash program for it as well. So i was able to dump and flash the new board that i got using the bios and software that came with it. So i thought maybe i should try to dump the arcade one to get a match. When i run the software i don't remember the exact words but i think it said protected and it can't find the flash, there is no flash ID, hence nothing to dump.

[edwin]

It's an AMI bios or something based on an AMI bios. Normally you should be able to make a backup with an AMI flash utility.

[taiks03]

yeah

all's good i was able to get a copy of the bios from the manufacturer. and it turns out that its a modified bios after all.

thank you for the reply

[edwin]

oh that is even better. thanks for the feedback.