2.5 Gigs of RAM?

I mentioned earlier that we may be able to solder chips with double the density then what is on the MB right now but I do not think it will be able to address the other half of the sectors. So, even if the chips where twice the capacity I am pretty sure it would still only see the size that is there now

 

I double- checked this, and there is no shorted spots.
About assembling 1Gb ram onto board.. Some models of MSI Wind on same chipset and has 1GB onboard and accept another 1GB additional, OR there is an option in BIOS to disable onboard ram, and it is accept single 2Gb module in a slot. So I assume that theoretically same can be done on A110. But for asssembling 1Gb chips instead of 512 we need to find same chips as installed (but double capacity) and I think we need co place SPD chip (U29) onto motherboard with right values inside it.

 

Speaking of SPD chip, did you desolder it off the Mobo? :lol:

 

I don't think he did de-solder the SPD chip. However, besides deactivating SPD wouldn't you have to also kill the voltage feed and CKE to the memory?

I have a chip programmer (Needhams EMP20). With that is software for read-write and so forth. I will have to look at the the file for BIOS. I will have to figure out what the BIOS chip is first and I doubt I can find where the info for ramm is as I do not have the knowledge for that stuff but I have found things this way before.

 

The Bios chip on AAO is:
BIOS vendor: InSyde
BIOS rom Type: W25X80VSSIG
BIOS ROM size: 1Mb CMOS boot block flash memory
BIOS package: 8 pin SOIC
Block size: 64Kb per block
Active power current: 15mA
Standby power: 4uA

The bios file can be downloaded from Acer's website or from this forum.

I think i've posted all of the information you need about the DRAM in an earlier post.

 

InSyde wrote the BIOS I assume. I need to know what the chip is that it is stored on. Like SST 29EE020. I will have to boot up my gaming machine and look at the pics I took and see if I can find the chipest for BIOS.

 

I quoted my own post from above

Isn't the BIOS rom type the bios chip that the bios is stored on?

Bios ROm Type: Winbond W25X80VSSIG


http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T083/1136.pdf

 

yeah, that's the bios chip
I had an ASUS P5K-Deluxe and it was also a SOIC chip.

 

LOL, I saw "BIOS Vendor" and didn't look any further . Winbond W25X80VSSIG is what I needed.

You know, if anyone ever screws up there BIOS, I could very easily reflash that chip on my programmer I just would have to figure out where it is on the MB as I believe there is not markings on the chip itself. However, it is probably right by the CMOS battery. I could take mine off and verify the checksum to find out

I need to get to bed but will look into more tomorrow.
g

 

Someone on this thread posted a lot of hi-resolution images of the MB. Just look over it and you'll find it.

 

lol, that was me . I looked over the images today but when I took them I never really looked for the BIOS chip. It looks like I may be correct and it is near the CMOS battery. I cannot tell by the pic though as the image is blurred at that point .

 

yeah, it's the BIOS chip, mine has a winbond chip on there as well

 

LOL

Someone should upload the high resolution pictures onto Microsoft photosync to get a 3d photo.

 

Hmmm I never seen that type of photo and have no idea what the software is. Don't make me learn something else, my brain is full and I am too old lmao

Anyway, I went through the Needham's software package being, EMP11 EMP20, EMP21, EMP20/31 and EMP300. I went through all of them and none support the Winbond25. Infact they do not go above an 2mb chipset that I can tell. I searched for similar chipsets from other manu's and still nothing. IN the past if you couldn't find the manu you could swap it with a similar (AMD27c01 could be used for an Amtel 27C01).

Regardless, I came up with nothing. I tried loading the file into a 2m chip buffer but they must split up the 1mb file into the entire 8mb in sectors. Even though the file is 1mb and the chip is 8mb it is split up so I can do nothing with it.

Now, I am not a programmer and only know what little I taught myself through trial and error so I do not pretend to have absolutely any idea of what I am talking about. However, I have changed files before with this method successfully. But again, I know what little I know from what I know, you know?

Add to that the fact that Needham went out of business

 

Isn't the chip itself 1MB? There are types of the same chip varying from 1MB, 2MB, 4MB, and 8MB.

 

hehehe, good thing this is not a test. I saw the "8" in there and assumed 8M byte. It is however 8m Bit and 1M byte I used to work with the 27 and 29's (if you know chips) so this is kinda new to me. :shock:

I will try again tomorrow.

 

Hey guys,
Sorry, i've been busy. I'm working on getting OSX onto an Intel Classmate PC

Where are we? Are you trying to flash new BIOSes? Are we trying an MSI Wind BIOS on the AA1? I was also interested in dissecting a BIOS, but I'm not sure on the process on how to do so. I would imagine if there is a small chunk of code in the BIOS to disable the onboard RAM, that'd be the IDEAL solution. I'm still very interested in the hardware hack side of the project, but it becomes very time consuming without a board file

I am relatively confident that the MSI Wind BIOS won't work, but i'd be willing to give it a shot, too. I can program the chips in my lab, too, if no one else can find a way. If we do find out that the chip can be programmed we can just flash our own chips, and no need for removal.

But then, if we do that, then the MSI Wind fans are going to point and laugh :lol:

Thanks for keeping the effort alive guys, I'll try and make my worthwhile contribution as soon as I can.

 

Also, can anyone that has a board naked right now trace those two vertical traces in the linked picture above? It is on the right of the 4 blank memory spots. I'm curious to hear what happens of the SPD chip is removed, as well.

 

I might try the HP DV5Z-1000 BIOS. I will have to check the specs on it but it has almost the same FOXCONN MB

HP - FOXCONN ML94V-0 E253117 168QT80001-027B

AA1- FOXCONN ML194V-0 E253117 168ZG50001-019E

Crap, just noticed it has an AMD CPU So close lol

Other then that, I have nothing on the BIOS hack. I know it is possible but I just do not have the experience. I cannot find my EMP20 software. It is a DOS based program where as the others are windoze based. I stated I used it above but it was a typo. As soon as I find that program I will try it again as I am more familiar with viewing the file data with EMP20.

 

It would be great if someone could hack the v3309 BIOS image so that the backlight levels for the AUO panels were the same as those for the later panels.