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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Jose on April 21, 2006, 01:30:54 AM

Title: Will I screw up BIOS NVram if I constantly change it ?
Post by: Jose on April 21, 2006, 01:30:54 AM

Hi. I want to dual boot my WinUAE PC with 2 Winblows configs but I want to keep some hardware hidden from one of the configs, the reason is too keep the other config free from acess in case I get a virus.
 I figured an obvious and eficient way to do it is to simply disable one of the IDE channels in wich I have one of the HDs with one of the Windows installs. However this means entering and changing the BIOS plenty times. Will I risk screwing the BIOS (flash EEPROM) like this ?

Title: Re: Will I screw up BIOS NVram if I constantly change it ?
Post by: Ohforf on April 21, 2006, 01:35:25 AM

AFAIK, the BIOS setup is not in Flash/EEPROM/EPROM Memory
its in SRAM buffered by a Lithium Battery.
You can modify it a billion times without Damage.

Title: Re: Will I screw up BIOS NVram if I constantly change it ?
Post by: Jose on April 21, 2006, 01:46:37 AM

@Ohforf

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to hear 8-)

Title: Re: Will I screw up BIOS NVram if I constantly change it ?
Post by: tonyvdb on April 21, 2006, 03:20:08 PM

The only risk you have is if you have a power bump or some other problem while you are changing the bios you will not be able to fix it.

Title: Re: Will I screw up BIOS NVram if I constantly change it ?
Post by: PaSha on April 21, 2006, 04:19:10 PM

Quote

tonyvdb wrote:
The only risk you have is if you have a power bump or some other problem while you are changing the bios you will not be able to fix it.

There's usually a jumper on the mobo somewhere, that resets the BIOS settings to factory default (ie erases the afore mentioned SRAM).

As long as the BIOS itself isn't damaged (this can only happen if something goes wrong/power failure while Flash-upgrading to a new BIOS).

Title: Re: Will I screw up BIOS NVram if I constantly change it ?
Post by: KThunder on April 21, 2006, 09:07:13 PM

changing the bios setup is different than flashing the bios. there is a limit to flashing the bios and this is what would be damaged if interupted by power failure or something.
changing a bios setting is separate from that though and only saves info to the sram.