BIOS Saviour

[Alexandr Frolov]

Hello all,

I am wondering about using the BIOS Saviour device (IOSS RD1). If I 
understood it correctly  the 'original' flash card is at the bottom and 
'experimental' one is at the top.  The 'original' comes with IOSS RD1 
kit attached to the PLCC socket and could not be removed. The 
experimental is an any kind of flash chip of appropriate ROM type (in my 
case PLCC), for example the one which was installed in my motherboard 
before. The experimental is removable.

The reason that the origninal is used as 'back up' makes one to choose 
the device with approprite flash size. In my board I have SST49LF080A 8 
Mbit, should I use IOSS RD1-LPC8 which is 8 MBit also?

On the http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools#BIOS_Savior it is 
said that 'This device helps to minimize the amount of hot swapping 
required and reduces mechanical and electrical stress on the BIOS 
chips'. Actually I dont fully understand this. The exerimental flash 
chip is still have to be unplugged to be reprogrammed by flash 
programmer. This phrase makes sense to me only if in-circuit 
reprogramming is used (like 'hot-swap').

Could anybody share his expeirience with this device? How do you use it? 
Is it still possible to buy? It seems that manufacturer is out of 
bussiness now.

Best regards,
Alexander

[Peter Stuge]

Alexandr Frolov wrote:
> BIOS Saviour device

..
> In my board I have SST49LF080A 8 Mbit, should I use IOSS RD1-LPC8
> which is 8 MBit also?

Yes.
> The exerimental flash chip is still have to be unplugged to be
> reprogrammed by flash programmer. This makes sense to me only if
> in-circuit reprogramming is used (like 'hot-swap').
>
> Could anybody share his expeirience with this device? How do you
> use it?

The BIOS Savior contains one soldered flash chip, and one socket for
a second flash chip.

The idea is that you take your original flash chip out of it's socket
on the mainboard and put it in the socket on the BIOS Savior, so that
the BIOS Savior now has two flash chips - and then you plug the BIOS
Savior into the socket on the mainboard.

The switch connected to the BIOS Savior chooses which of the two
flash chips is actually connected to the mainboard.

The factory BIOS stays in the original flash chip and you use the
internal, soldered, flash chip for testing. E.g. flashing coreboot to
it. If there is some problem you flip the switch and boot the system
with the factory BIOS. When the system is started you flip the switch
again to activate the flash chip that could not boot the system
correctly, which you can then erase and rewrite with a tool such as
flashrom.

It is exactly the same as hot swapping, but electrically and
mechanically it is a much more safe and convenient solution.
> Is it still possible to buy?

I believe the BIOS Savior products are no longer being manufactured,
but some resellers may still have stock. I have met the good people
at eksitdata in Sweden, who have a very strong relationship with IOSS
since a long time, so eksitdata is perhaps the most reliable source
of BIOS saviors in this part of the planet.

http://www.eksitdata.com/_uk/index.asp

Unfortunately the RD1-LPC8 is out of stock, which most likely means
that the product is no longer possible to buy anywhere.

But RD1-PMC4 (Top 10 Best Seller #3) is also compatible with your
mainboard, so if it is sufficient for you to use a 4 Mbit (instead of
8 or 16 Mbit) secondary flash chip you could get that instead.
> It seems that manufacturer is out of bussiness now.

I haven't seen much from IOSS lately, but they have been around for a
long time so I would be a little surprised if they suddenly
disappeared.

However, BIOS Saviors are no longer a mass market product, since SPI
flash chips are often soldered on to the mainboard.

//Peter

Removable Boot drive ok ?

(My apology if this is off-topic. )

Computers that I have owned in the past have had boot drives that are pretty 
much locked down. They have been in steel
card cages that are not easily removed and pretty much inaccessable without 
dismantling everything.,

So, since I am klutzy and not confident about assembling one, I asked my 
local computer store to put one together with
a slide-out drawer that would hold the boot drive. To try out a different 
operating system I would simply shut down, put
a fresh drive in the drawer, close it and reinstall. That way I could boot 
into any operating system that I want.

Since Windows is favorably priced with a new machine, I asked for it as the 
first software configuration. The machine is ready for pickup.

Although I made it clear that this is what I need, the store didn't actually 
do it. I'm going to try again to get it my way.

So here's the question: Do you know of any reason not to do it ?

Is the BIOS modified by this activity ?

Thanks in advance for your response.

Bob

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Removable Boot drive ok ?

[Peter Stuge]

[e-mail] wrote:
> So, since I am klutzy and not confident about assembling one, I
> asked my local computer store to put one together with a slide-out
> drawer that would hold the boot drive.

Good idea.
> the store didn't actually do it. I'm going to try again to get it
> my way.

I'd suggest trying a different store, that actually listens to what
you order.
> So here's the question: Do you know of any reason not to do it ?

No reason besides not paying attention to the customer. :\
> Is the BIOS modified by this activity ?

Nope.

//Peter