[ale] bios chip removal?

[Geoffrey]

Doug McNash wrote:
> If the BIOS is socketed it is probably not rewritable in place.  
> Removing it or replacing it will probably not do what you want.  The 
> active BIOS parameters are probably not stored on that chip but in some 
> RAM, most likely on a RTC (Real Time Clock) chip.  The RTC will be 
> powered by a battery or a capacitor, most likely a larger axial lead 
> component and the only axial lead component on the board.

I see 4 axial lead components, none of which are anywhere near the rtc 
chip.  Not really sure what they are, as it's been a while since I've id 
components.  There are a number of capacitors in and around the rtc 
chip, but none of them are axial lead.  I guess I could start by 
draining all the caps.

> 
> If you can find the capacitor, drain it by shorting it with a low value 
> resistor.  If a battery look for a disconnect jumper or unsolder one of 
> the leads for a second as it might not be rechargable. Otherwise, I 
> would try to find the RTC chip, look up the data sheet for it a see if 
> it has some RAM.  If I couldn't find a reset jumper near it, look on the 
> data sheet for the RST pin and ground or pulse it depending on what the 
> data sheet says.

I did locate the data sheet for this rtc chip. There's a rclr (ram 
clear) which looks like what I need.  Says to ground it to clear the 
'114 bytes of general purpose ram.'  Of course I have to pull board out 
to get to it. :(

-- 
Until later, Geoffrey	esoteric at 3times25.net

Building secure systems inspite of Microsoft