New BIOS released, 7811FX support NOT confirmed

I dont think this is true. The Drivers section for the laptop is just weird and it just comes and goes. Thats why my first 2~3 posts of this thread indicates, that I was going back and forth that the link just randomly disappears

 

Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it... Unless it enables RAID

 

Well..if anyone actually reads the please-read-me file inside the download, you'll notice the 7811FX is listed with the new BIOS. So, BIIIIG oops on Gateways part eh? Anyhow, not sure if anyone has called support..but Im on hold with them as they "look into it". I'll post if I get any useful info out of them. On a side note, I opened the BIOS with phoenix editor and it does add RAID and OC support for Extreme CPUs under the advanced settings tab in BIOS setup, and it *does* contain the BCP DMI settings.. So, if it flashes, it's a big plus cause Im capable of both!

Supported Products listed in the readme file:
P-6831 - 1015088R
P-6832 - 1015406R
P-6832 - 2906062R
P-6836 - 2906018R
P-6860 - 1015340R
P-6861j - 1015462R
P-7811 - 1015641R
P-7812jFX - 1015785R

There are others but these are the only important.

EDIT: I did try running from 32bit Vista, to no avail.. and 64bit winphlash doesn't work because of a setting in the .wph, and the BCP DMI still errors with USB or CD Boot

 

Whoever was wondering what the 7811 version was, mine is 9C.05.00

 

Well, after being on the phone for an hour with the Tech.. it turns out they can't help! Go figure.. However, he is emailing the issue to their programming/research department.. And they will be contacting me back with the results. Should only take about 1-2 weeks. He recommends I continue to check the website in the meantime, and call back if I don't hear back in the next 1-2 weeks. He is thinking the same thing we all are about the chipset being the pm45 not the 65, therefore it may just not be a compatible BIOS. But, maybe Gateway can tweak a lil somethin somethin and Hook a brutha up

 

so does this add any advantage to people with a 6860, or does it not matter? i don't want to update if i don't have a reason to.

 

Thanks Kharneth for checking, mine is 9C.05.00 also.

 

it will not unless your model number is listed in the readme.

 

I just got this beauty today.. my bios is 9C.05.00

 

Quit misleading! My 7811FX is listed, and so is *every* other P series. Unfortunately, this test dummy found out the hard way that the 7811FX is not meant to be flashed with this BIOS.

 

funny you should say that. i tried to flash my 6860fx with the new settings in the bios file and it just got bricked. so stripping it down and sending it off to gateway this week. seems gateway doesn't have a blind flash option or key code combination for invoking the blind flash. unless of course someone has a clue to this? i have about 3 days till my box gets here for shipping. the whole process went as it should, but apon reboot...nothing came on screen. so im asumming the flash didn't take for some odd reason. good thing i have 3 laptops or i might have missed this one for a few weeks..lol

edit: and neither is a 6860fx either

 

hey e, what are your marks for 1920x1200 res?

 

Hey Buddy, long time, are you kidding the Bios update bricked your lappy?, ****, did you use the cd method or the usb jump drive? Gateway will cover a bad Bios Update?

 

My 6860 flashed fine with the bios via cd and havent had any problems since then . That totally sucks johnkss hopefully they take care of it for you.

 

why would anyone flash his bios without reading first the read me (... Date: 12/28/2007) and without having a list of what it actually fix, I've seen more computers get bricked by bios update than anything else.

sorry for your new brick john, d'ont send it over with any improved components, you might have to sue someone to get them back.

 

hey flynnaz: yes, indeed. i used the usb floppy method. and i made one change to the bios file... changed it to 3.2 insted of 3.0. it seem to have flashed fine, but when it was turned back on. nothing.


and no worries, gateway is going to fix it. but the moral to this story is...the fx line does not have a bios recovery option. where as most of the other ones use fn+b or win+b or esc+ctrl to initiate the blind flash.

royk50: already been stripped down. just in case they send a different one back. and im not sending it with any drives or battery for that matter. and my main reason for flashing was to up the cpu speed only.

 

john..never ran it. Tell ya what though. I'm about to box this one up and take it for an exchange. The CPU downthrottles without any OC'ing of the GPU or CPU. The only way to prevent it is with RMClock, but then that underclocks the CPU to 11 instead of 11.5 multiplier. I had this issue with the first one, and coincedentally the Heatsink in the first one, and this one are the same type..identical. However, my 2nd one had a different sink, and also had no issues with downclocking. Yes, this is #3. It seems TZS0 under ACPI peaks at 98c, and downclocks..however with laptop #2, it would hit 98c only when OCd and *still* run along. It's odd. The CPU, the GPU, the HDDs, everything runs well within reason, even tsz1, but tsz0 spikes way up there and then the CPU throttles. I can't figure it out. Im assuming that there are different quality builds, seeing as the heatsink is also different. But, when I get home with the new one I'll run 3dmark for ya. In the meantime, if anyone figures out why the heck this happens..PLEASE let me know.

 

john, I looked at the BIOS, and it appeared that it supported all the way up to 3.6GHz for extreme processors.. It was under the advanced settings tab. Did you ever flash with the original BIOS download?

 

It worked for me Johnkss, thats wierd it didnt for you. Good luck though.

 

****! number 3 you say?

i was curious about the 1920 res scores for the 9800m gts. thanks

check the northbridge & southbridge. make sure the thermal pads are seated correctly. it would seem that these can also raise the temps in a laptop.

yep. i clocked it up to 3.2 and laptop is bricked.

when i seen yours, that's why i flashed mine, but now that i know you cant blind flash it...i probably wont flash it again. not unless i can program it in the bios to accept a blind flash in case of a bad flash.

 

http://support.gateway.com/support/...zilla BIOS Update Version 94.28&uid=207474223

Anyone try it?

Any changes and/or improvements?

 

Already a whole thread on this topic: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=295016 . . . . . . .. .. The title says 7811Fx but it's a BIOS update for almost all the recent models.

 

I second this. There's no way in hell I'd flash my stuff without knowing 100% sure what it does and if it applies to me.

On a second note, WTH is Gateway thinking? I doubt im going to get any further than the rest of you did, but I'm going to call the paid number, as my company has a "premiere account" (Wooh.) setup with them, and see if I can get some answers.

 

Nice avatar. And please, let me know if the paid for scripts are any more effective than the non-paid. I spent another hour last night talking via live chat on the gateway support site, to finally end at "spend 69.99 for 30 minutes of phone support to resolve your how-to request". It kinda, no it REALLY frustrated me. I wasn't asking how to flash the BIOS..I was asking *why* it doesn't flash. Anyhow, keep us posted!

 

it will flash, but im not sure you really want to. you need to flash it in dos mode. but without the bios recovery options not in place...then it's a 50/50 chance. i did it because i paid for mine and have a warranty. and i was flashing per their instructions. so they said they will fix it. they said nothing about having to pay for it.

 

Oh, i tried flashing in DOS.. I tried flashing in vista 32bit via winphlash, 64bit via 64bit winphlash, boot usb, boot floppy, boot cd.. I made my most valiant attempts, including having phlash ignore the checksums and such. But, it wasn't meant to be

 

Instead of applying only a thin layer of thermal paste, use alittle bit more and try to spread a thicker layer. After that, when you are installing the CPU, apply downward pressure on it. Basically squeeze he thermal paste between the cpu and the heatsink. You should be fine with the tzs0 after this.

 

No OC'ing on GPU or CPU the pic is below.. included HWMonitor shot.

 

nice.

yeah, if you tried all that to flash the bios, then let it be. because it's not meant for you to flash and mess something up...lol so the laptop gods are trying to tell you to LEAVE IT ALONE. lol

 

So how many of us with 6860s flashed succesful? mine did it just like ive done hundreds of other bios flashes in the past make boot CD reboot option pops up do you want to flash the bios Yes . watching bios being flashed via dos screen then the loud beep then reboot back to windows and all was good . i flashed mine for the hell of it and i sold it the next day and got my 7811 today but i ran it all night on orthos and games and benchmarks etc and 0 problems.

 

congrats on the new beast.
how does it feel ?

 

hummm, that's because you didn't try to alter the bios ...now did you? if i would have done like you did.... im sure it would have went fine. just like the other 100's of flashes i have done.

 

John, slight overclock of GPU, to stable clocks and nothing more gave 8722.. I could hit 9100-9200 pretty easily. And ya never replied earlier.. did you try flashing just the regular BIOS? It looks like it has the CPU OC options from gateway. Why not try and reflash it now?

 

New machine is awsome Royk50 lovin it for sure .

Johnkss im sorry i never read the part about you altering the bios and i should have known better when you had problems. i should have realized it wasnt because of some simple error .

 

never update your bios unless you know and need what it fixes.

 

nice job!

yeah, i replyed..look a bit higher or maybe i put it in the other thread.
i did one flash to try to flash the clocks to 3.2 ghz. everything when fine on the flash. laptop shut off like it was suppose to then i powered it back on...and nothing. so i gave gateway a call. they asked a few questions then shipped me a box to have it sent back. from what they tell me. the fx line does not have the blind flash option enabled. they say they have to reprogram the eprom. i still have like till either tomr or monday till my box gets here. still looking for the key combo to invoke the blind flash.

 

biosmods.com, try uflash..i think it is. Can't remember, going off memory. The universal flasher that doesn't care what it flashes.

 

i had been waiting all this time for them to come out with a bios update. just so i could over clock the cpu. only to find that it wont work and i only get one shot at it. im still looking over the bios and forums to see if you can code it in. if so..then ill flash the new one, but if not. ill leave it and sell it to get the 7811

 

flashing isn't the problem my friend.... it's making the system auto read the bios file to blind flash the system, when you cant see the screen.

 

Oh, I see.. Did you remove the system battery? Just to see if it would reset anything? If you take the autoexec.bat that came with the BIOS download, it should be easy to have it autorun the flash. Heck, when you load it all it asks is that you press 1 to continue, 2 to cancel. Just press 1, if you can't edit the bat..But the flash command was something like phlash16 /u /s biosname.wph, I deleted it already otherwise I'd look and tell ya for sure. But you should be able to make an autorun to handle it. And, I know when you flashed the program made a backup of your BIOS..do you know where it would have put that backup?

 

auto read floppy disk was made on day one, just in case flash went bad.
backed up bios just in case.

yep, everything you speak of has been done, but with out that keyboard key combination......is pretty much useless. i have an auto read cd in now and it wont read. so it would seem that the guys at gateway may be correct.... the fx line of notebook does not have a bios recovery option......dam3 shame really

 

Ouch. And no removeable chip.. that's harsh. How good are you with a soldering iron?

 

LOL!
i can do my share of soldering, but that's what the warranty is for...lol
but it looks like i still have till monday to figure this out. you can try this with your laptop as well...

1: turn it off.
2: pull out battery
3: take out any cd's in the rom drive
4: while holding one of these key combination's each boot, plug in the power cord and hit the power button. see if any of them kick the cdrom drive on or make the computer seem like it's going into bios recovery mode. if so, then just shut it off and reboot normally. then we will have our answer for the 7811. so far the 6860/6831 do not have these options

FN+ESC
FN+B
WIN+B
WIN+R
FN+R
CTRL+ESC

 

what about me the bios says that i have 94.29. I don't have to update it .

 

nope, really dont need this bios update as far as i can tell. and it's 94.28 for the one listed on gateways website.

 

i just did it Lol.

Just wanted to try if i can do the update in my method

I will try and find the 94.29

 

mine was 94.26, so this was necessary i guess

 

i will mail costumer support and ask from them to provide me with that BIOS.

 

Looks to me john, like you may need to move around a jumper on the MOBO..if there is one. And use the same bios you flashed with before. Lemme ask, do you have a USB flash drive? Make the USB bootable, whereas you won't need a keyboard.. and try to boot it. It looks like this jumper thing is a lock/unlock for allowing BIOS flashes if the BIOS gets wiped.

EDIT: Then again, I realized the post I was reading was from 2004. And possibly a desktop. Hah! Hope ya didnt break out the screwdriver just yet. Get your money's worth out of the warranty. Heck, you already got it all setup to be sent back. They may even bless you with a new system

 

I can't seem to get the jump drive methode to work, I downloaded the file it installed into the Cabs folder, I copied and past all files except the image file, reboot, set the jump drive as first boot device, and all it says is remove non systems disk and restart?