1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,040 You've done it now! Your PC lost power during a BIOS update because of a freak thunderstorm, 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:10,000 or a circuit breaker, or you just tripped over the power cord, and you've bricked it, 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:16,000 meaning you now have a very expensive paperweight. Is there any way to resurrect it from the dead? 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,320 Well, as with many things in life, the best way to deal with an issue is to stop it from 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:25,040 happening in the first place. And other than the obvious step of connecting your PC to an 6 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:30,880 uninterruptible power supply, or UPS while the BIOS is updating, or making sure the battery is full 7 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:36,160 if it's a laptop, the best thing you can do is buy a motherboard with some kind of BIOS backup 8 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:41,760 or easy recovery option. This can take the form of several different features. Some boards have a 9 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:47,280 full-on dual BIOS setup, where if your primary BIOS gets corrupted, the secondary BIOS chip will 10 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:52,400 automatically kick in when you try to start the PC, and it will copy its contents back over to the 11 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:56,960 primary BIOS so you don't have very much downtime at all. There are also some boards that require 12 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,080 you to flip a physical toggle to switch over to the secondary BIOS. Then, once you've started 13 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:06,960 the system and entered your BIOS settings, you can flip the switch back over and then flash the 14 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:12,320 corrupted chip. Other boards will allow you to overwrite a corrupted BIOS with a good copy that's 15 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:17,920 stored on a USB stick without needing to physically adjust anything on the PCB itself. You might see 16 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:24,400 this feature advertised under names like BIOS flashback or Crash Free BIOS. You just use a working 17 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:30,160 PC to download the BIOS file from the manufacturer's website, copy it to the USB stick, sometimes there's 18 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:34,560 a bit of formatting jiggery to make sure the file name is right, then you plug the stick into the 19 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:39,360 bridge PC. To load the fresh BIOS, some motherboards have you press a dedicated button on the I.O. 20 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,920 panel while others will simply detect and load it for you when you power the system on. Sometimes 21 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:48,960 there's a specific port you gotta plug it into as well. But let's say your motherboard doesn't have 22 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:55,040 any kind of emergency fallback option. It used to be that some motherboards had replaceable BIOS chips 23 00:01:55,040 --> 00:02:02,160 that fit into a socket similar to CPUs, but this is no longer the case. So now, the fun begins. 24 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:08,160 You could try sourcing a replacement BIOS chip from somewhere like eBay or an online retailer 25 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,640 that specializes in selling them, but you would need to be pretty comfortable with a soldering 26 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:18,560 iron. And since modern BIOS chips are rather small, it could be quite a delicate operation, 27 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:23,040 especially since you run the risk of damaging nearby components if you don't have steady hands. 28 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:29,840 Fortunately, there's another method you can try. It is actually possible to flash a bad BIOS chip 29 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:35,360 by connecting a device directly to the little pins that hold it onto the motherboard. You'll need 30 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:40,080 to pick up a little external BIOS programmer or flashing tool that looks like this, with the 31 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:47,120 CH341A being a popular model, and it'll cost you between $10 and $15. Just make sure that the one 32 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:52,240 that you buy includes one of these clamps. It kind of looks like a car jumper cable. 33 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:57,120 The basic idea is to connect one end of the cable to the flashing device itself, 34 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:02,080 while the clamp goes directly onto your bad BIOS chip. Just make sure the red part of the cable 35 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:06,640 lines up with pin 1, which is usually indicated on the chip with a little dot. From there, 36 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:12,240 you can plug the flashing device into a working PC via USB and load up either the included flashing 37 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:17,680 software or an application like AsProgrammer. Make sure your broken motherboard is disconnected 38 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:22,960 from power, then use the software to write a good copy of the BIOS back to your corrupted chip. 39 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:27,360 This process can take some time and can involve some trial and error, but it is a 40 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,040 heck of a lot better than dropping three figures on a brand new motherboard, 41 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:36,320 or dropping a hot soldering iron onto your foot. Thanks for watching, guys! Like or dislike, 42 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,040 check out our other videos, and leave a comment if you have a suggestion for a future fast as 43 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:42,000 possible topic.