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K7S5A PRO Motherboard Bios question
I have a K7S5A Pro Motherboard.
Is it possible for malware to re-write the bios on this board? I haven't seen a jumper to inhibit write, so if there isn't one I guess I'd need to get a spare bios chip just in case. Anybody know about this? Can I inhibit writing the bios? My normal OS is Debian Sarge and I run a firewall under iptables, but I need to install XP on the other HD, so I don't want to lose the bios under some darned virus or worm infection through Windows. I will run a firewall on it too, but who knows if it will be compromised? Thanx..., -- ....Dave Dawson P.S. My real email address is: beagle7[X]pacificcoast.net replace the [X] with an @ |
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David Dawson wrote:
I have a K7S5A Pro Motherboard. Is it possible for malware to re-write the bios on this board? I haven't seen a jumper to inhibit write, so if there isn't one I guess I'd need to get a spare bios chip just in case. Anybody know about this? Can I inhibit writing the bios? My normal OS is Debian Sarge and I run a firewall under iptables, but I need to install XP on the other HD, so I don't want to lose the bios under some darned virus or worm infection through Windows. I will run a firewall on it too, but who knows if it will be compromised? Thanx..., Writing a spare BIOS chip is always a good idea. But there is a way you can prevent a program from writing to your bios without much work. There are two jumpers used on this MB for the purpose of selecting which type chip your bios has. If you remove these chips, it removes the voltage from pin #1 which is the enable voltage for writing to the chip. Therefore, nothing can be written without this voltage present. Simply write down their current position so that you can restore the settings when you decide you want to upgrade the bios version. |
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Ken wrote:
David Dawson wrote: I have a K7S5A Pro Motherboard. Is it possible for malware to re-write the bios on this board? I haven't seen a jumper to inhibit write, so if there isn't one I guess I'd need to get a spare bios chip just in case. Anybody know about this? Can I inhibit writing the bios? My normal OS is Debian Sarge and I run a firewall under iptables, but I need to install XP on the other HD, so I don't want to lose the bios under some darned virus or worm infection through Windows. I will run a firewall on it too, but who knows if it will be compromised? Thanx..., Writing a spare BIOS chip is always a good idea. But there is a way you can prevent a program from writing to your bios without much work. There are two jumpers used on this MB for the purpose of selecting which type chip your bios has. If you remove these chips, it removes the voltage from pin #1 which is the enable voltage for writing to the chip. Therefore, nothing can be written without this voltage present. Simply write down their current position so that you can restore the settings when you decide you want to upgrade the bios version. There is a flaw in your plan, not so much a flaw as ruddy great hole. What if, for whatever reason, he needs to flash the BIOS? If he removes the chips the utility won't be able to write to it... -- Facon - the artificial bacon bits you get in Pizza Hut for sprinkling on salads. |
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On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 14:38:25 -0800 The moonlight laughed on the
blade's edge when David Dawson wrote : I have a K7S5A Pro Motherboard. Is it possible for malware to re-write the bios on this board? I've never had this even since using old systems with win95. All you have to do is copy a known good BIOs .rom to a floppy as per, http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/awardflash.html Covers AMI BIOS as well. HTH I haven't seen a jumper to inhibit write, so if there isn't one I guess I'd need to get a spare bios chip just in case. Anybody know about this? Can I inhibit writing the bios? My normal OS is Debian Sarge and I run a firewall under iptables, but I need to install XP on the other HD, so I don't want to lose the bios under some darned virus or worm infection through Windows. I will run a firewall on it too, but who knows if it will be compromised? Thanx..., -- Free Windows/PC help, http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html remove obvious to reply Free original songs to download and,"BURN" :O) http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm |
#5
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Miss Perspicacia Tick wrote:
Ken wrote: David Dawson wrote: I have a K7S5A Pro Motherboard. Is it possible for malware to re-write the bios on this board? I haven't seen a jumper to inhibit write, so if there isn't one I guess I'd need to get a spare bios chip just in case. Anybody know about this? Can I inhibit writing the bios? My normal OS is Debian Sarge and I run a firewall under iptables, but I need to install XP on the other HD, so I don't want to lose the bios under some darned virus or worm infection through Windows. I will run a firewall on it too, but who knows if it will be compromised? Thanx..., Writing a spare BIOS chip is always a good idea. But there is a way you can prevent a program from writing to your bios without much work. There are two jumpers used on this MB for the purpose of selecting which type chip your bios has. If you remove these chips, it removes the voltage from pin #1 which is the enable voltage for writing to the chip. Therefore, nothing can be written without this voltage present. Simply write down their current position so that you can restore the settings when you decide you want to upgrade the bios version. There is a flaw in your plan, not so much a flaw as ruddy great hole. What if, for whatever reason, he needs to flash the BIOS? If he removes the chips the utility won't be able to write to it... I suggested he remove the JUMPERS, not the chip. When he decides he needs to flash his current bios chip to a different version, he can re-install the jumpers and he will then be able to flash it. Removing the jumpers prevents a flash from taking place when he does not want it to occur. |
#6
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Ken wrote:
Miss Perspicacia Tick wrote: Ken wrote: David Dawson wrote: I have a K7S5A Pro Motherboard. Is it possible for malware to re-write the bios on this board? I haven't seen a jumper to inhibit write, so if there isn't one I guess I'd need to get a spare bios chip just in case. Anybody know about this? Can I inhibit writing the bios? My normal OS is Debian Sarge and I run a firewall under iptables, but I need to install XP on the other HD, so I don't want to lose the bios under some darned virus or worm infection through Windows. I will run a firewall on it too, but who knows if it will be compromised? Thanx..., Writing a spare BIOS chip is always a good idea. But there is a way you can prevent a program from writing to your bios without much work. There are two jumpers used on this MB for the purpose of selecting which type chip your bios has. If you remove these chips, it removes the voltage from pin #1 which is the enable voltage for writing to the chip. Therefore, nothing can be written without this voltage present. Simply write down their current position so that you can restore the settings when you decide you want to upgrade the bios version. There is a flaw in your plan, not so much a flaw as ruddy great hole. What if, for whatever reason, he needs to flash the BIOS? If he removes the chips the utility won't be able to write to it... I suggested he remove the JUMPERS, not the chip. When he decides he needs to flash his current bios chip to a different version, he can re-install the jumpers and he will then be able to flash it. Removing the jumpers prevents a flash from taking place when he does not want it to occur. I just looked at my K7S5A MB and there are NO jumpers for the BIOS chip. I was thinking of another MB I have. There is however a way to accomplish the same thing. Pull the BIOS chip from its IC socket and install it into a IC socket like the type mounted in the MB. Remove or bend up the leg corresponding to pin #1 so that it does not connect and push the IC socket with the EEPROM into the MB from where it was removed. You will have removed the enable voltage from the EEPROM used for bios. When you decide you wish to update the version of bios, re-insert the EEPROM chip directly into the socket soldered into the MB. |
#7
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Miss Perspicacia Tick wrote:
Ken wrote: David Dawson wrote: I have a K7S5A Pro Motherboard. Is it possible for malware to re-write the bios on this board? I haven't seen a jumper to inhibit write, so if there isn't one I guess I'd need to get a spare bios chip just in case. Anybody know about this? Can I inhibit writing the bios? My normal OS is Debian Sarge and I run a firewall under iptables, but I need to install XP on the other HD, so I don't want to lose the bios under some darned virus or worm infection through Windows. I will run a firewall on it too, but who knows if it will be compromised? Thanx..., Writing a spare BIOS chip is always a good idea. But there is a way you can prevent a program from writing to your bios without much work. There are two jumpers used on this MB for the purpose of selecting which type chip your bios has. If you remove these chips, it removes the voltage from pin #1 which is the enable voltage for writing to the chip. Therefore, nothing can be written without this voltage present. Simply write down their current position so that you can restore the settings when you decide you want to upgrade the bios version. There is a flaw in your plan, not so much a flaw as ruddy great hole. What if, for whatever reason, he needs to flash the BIOS? If he removes the chips the utility won't be able to write to it... A thousand apologies!!!!! I just looked up the data sheet on the EEPROM in my K7S5A MB, and they no longer use pin #1 for the programing voltage. Therefore, removing the voltage from it no longer prevents programing of the chip as on some older EEPROMs. The suggestion of programming a spare bios chip seems to be a good strategy unless someone knows how to inhibit programming the chip. The data sheet is at: http://www.pmcflash.com/resource_cen...512%20V1.3.pdf |
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