Changing an Award BIOS boot logo results in a corrupted BIOS

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Colin Finck
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Hello,

I'm currently trying to modify the fullscreen logo of a Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 BIOS (Version F9). This mainboard contains a Phoenix-Award BIOS v6.00PG with a fullscreen BIOS logo. According to Award BIOS Editor, this is a 640x480 EPA 2.0 logo.

I now tried to replace this logo. I already converted my logo to the EPA 2.0 Format with the awbmtools. Then I tried to release the old logo and integrate my logo with Cbrom 2.15.
In compressed form, my logo is around 10 KB bigger than the original logo and I still have some remaining space, so it's not too big.

But after I flashed my modified BIOS, the computer booted the "Award Boot-Block BIOS" and recovered to a working BIOS. So it looks like the BIOS file created by Cbrom was corrupted.

I also tried using Cbrom 6.06 or Award BIOS Editor, but both tools produced the same result. Award BIOS Editor even creates a file, which cannot be read by Cbrom correctly.

Don't these utilities work with newer Phoenix-Award BIOSes? If so, where can I download working utilities for my BIOS?

Many thanks in advance,

Colin Finck
apple_rom
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Use cbrom32 ver.147 and higher.
http://bios.rom.by/ROMutils/
Colin Finck
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Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2005 4:34 pm

Thanks for your answer!

I now tried it with Cbrom32 v1.55, but it still does not work correctly.
Cbrom32 reported other values for the free space on the BIOS file. Therefore I had to reduce the file size of my boot logo, so that it fits into the BIOS file.

After I flashed my BIOS file, I got a strange error. I could see my boot logo and it looked like the POST went ok, but when the computer tried to boot Windows, a black screen appeared without any additional information. Even the Windows XP logo was not displayed.
Then I pressed the RESET button of my PC. After the reset, my computer turned itself off and rebooted automatically from the Backup BIOS (my Gigabyte mainboard has a Dual-BIOS).

I'm sure that all BIOS settings are right, because I used the same settings for the original BIOS and my modified BIOS.

Any ideas on what is going wrong here?

Best regards,

Colin Finck
Rabi_Doe
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I've been sniffing around while trying to get the proper dimensions for replacing my own logo. I have a QDI Legend Adv10F board with Award 6 Bios.
From QDI's site they recommend the CBLOGO.exe to replace the logo - first into the .bin file, then replace the Bios in the normal way.
The syntax for this method is (in DOS) cblogo.exe xxxxxx.bin photo.bmp - and when successful, then: awdflash.exe xxxxxx.bin and then reboot.
While this is obviously a different version of the logo changing program, I presume cbrom is the Gigabyte site's recommended prog, it does suggest that Bitmap format is the correct format to use, and the awbmtools suggested epa format might only be good for changing the EnergyStar Logo that appears on the post screen rather than full screen logo.
The awbmtools guy had only tried on a VIA board which may or may not be relevant.
I don't know if it is advisable to try getting cblogo.exe from QDI (or elsewhere?) and use it to insert logo into new bin file, then use recommended prog (cbrom?) to flash the amended bios.
Perhaps others might warn against that method, but it's a thought.
Hope I've helped a little.

Rab
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