Ultimate dummy guide to flash Compal HEL80

Sounds like your reseller may have screwed something up. Flashing the BIOS from inside Windows can be very dangerous, and it's recommended that you boot to a DOS session to upgrade the BIOS.

 

Hi, could you guys provide how to manage with doing this on Linux, I'd preferably love a ready made .iso image of course if anyone of you has the time (with the EL80118B.ROM file, available from here: http://www.bizcom-us.com/support/HEL80/BIOS/HEL8081BIOS118B.zip). Otherwise some simple instructions as to what to put on the iso image and so on (i can make bootable iso's with k3b, tho not tried it before but i suppose it's easy, just dunno what exactly to put on there- i mean, is for example 'FreeDOS' ok with compal's bios update utils?) would also be very appreciated.

Regards,

//m.

 

Any ideas on how i can get it fixt? Can you resett the bios anyway?

 

kanatrell,
I am sorry to hear about your troubles. The first post in this thread has some step-by-step instructions on how to flash your BIOS. If you will in fact need to reset your BIOS, you will need to get in touch with Compal so that they can give you the passwords.

I have merged your thread with this one.

 

i have some problems whit the step-by-step guide, because my screen is totally black. I have tried to make a crisis recovery disc on a usb stick. And start i upp while holding down fn+b, but i don't get it to work

 

I know this *seems* to have been partially answered in this thread, but not to my satisfaction

I have the HEL80 (PowerPro 8:15) with a 110B BIOS that I upgraded a few months ago.
Going directly to Compal's web site I see that:

The latest BIOS under "/Download/NB/HEL80_81/HEL80/BIOS" is:
HEL80_81 BIOS V116B.zip 1642272 bytes 2007/1/30

Now, if you go to the Driver's section, there's a directory called "Vista", with another subdirectory called "BIOS" (different from the "BIOS" above).
The dir: "/Download/NB/HEL80_81/HEL80/Vista/BIOS"
This contains three "unziped" subdirectories:
032B 2007/3/1
116B 2007/1/29
118B 2007/3/29

The 116B is under Vista is *identical* to the zipped 116B in the general BIOS directory.
BUT, the 118B is not listed under the general BIOS directory. Why?
The Bizcom-us.com site also lists the 118B version as "VistaBIOS118B".

What makes a BIOS a "Vista BIOS". If they add stuff to support some Vista functionality, how would it hamper XP or Linux? Or not? Why list it sepparately?

Anyway.. I'm gonna take the chance Maybe tonight, or tomorrow

 

I run Linux. Last night I decided to try 118B and my machine would lock up
while the kernel (2.6.21) was loading. I then tried 116, 114 and 112 and they all
locked up or turned off my computer at some point in the kernel boot process.
When the computer shut down it was at the point where it was auto detecting hardware.

I went back to 110B and all worked well again. When I get time I'll try to
troubleshoot it.

Anyone else try a newer bios than 110B with Linux?

-Raliegh

 

Ugh.. really? What distro was that? Any problems with XP under 118B?
With 110B I get some BIOS warnings and errors about PCI addresses and stuff when booting the latest kubuntu and it also happened sometimes with Mandriva... Kubuntu gives errors always and more of them... but it continues anyway.
It's a shame from Compal...the HEL80 is a great computer but they have this very buggy BIOS

 

I run Slackware 11, but with a custom compiled kernel. I'm guessing that If everyone else can run the 112+ bios, then I may have to tweak my kernel in some way. I only run XP in KVM under Linux, so I can't test native Windows functionality. The 112+ changelogs seem to show changes that are to fix Windows issues, none which fix the issues we have with Linux, like proper DSDT table to enable thermal monitoring or manual fan control.


-Raliegh

 

Hi,

I run ArchLinux 2.6.20-ck kernel with 118B, the only tweaks i've made to the stock 2.6.20-ck arch kernel line was to change the cpu support to pentium-m (the fans seem to work less often this way, not fully confirmed tho as it is more of a yet gut feeling, i'm using it - the pentium-m kenel - only for a day or so now) and disable SMP.

No issues, tho upgrading from 116 broke my ability to change screen brightness from anywhere later than BIOS/POST screen (for example grub screen already seems to make the keys useless).

The rest of the media keys never worked, apart from the volume keys - those work (fn+f6,f7,f8) fine with the HPZ9000 or so keyboard layout in Xorg.

Also, thermal monitoring works through i2c.

Regards,

//m.

 

i´m going to install Kubuntu this weekend, hopes it works whit my 1.14B

 

I have 114b with kubuntu 7.04 and run "without" problems...

 

The CPU fan of my HEL80 is anoying! It runs on full for 30sec, then totally off for 30sec. I used my finger to slow it down a bit, and there it doesn't need to slow down much in order to get almost completly silent.
I think the noise would be a lot better if the fan could run slower for a longer periode of time, or constantly. Does anyone know if that could be done by adding a resistor on the fan cable?

 

Updated with 118B and 119B, both work perfectly.

 

Really? several of us have reported that the 2 programmable key's don't work on the "vista" bios versions.

 

In my case, 118B with Vista Ultimate on new HEL80:
Program 1 key = works.
Program 2 key = doesn't work. Puzzling.
Browser key = works.
E-mail key = works.

 

Could be possible, I never use them.

 

Did you have to do anything peculiar to get KVM to work, because I can't get the kernel module to load; when checking the additional messages, it says the function is disabled in the BIOS, but there is no such option there :-(

Are you sure you have the kvm-intel module loaded, and not only the kvm module (which loads well here), but even without those modules you can use QEmu perfectly (though a lot slower than with KVM, as I've heard).

I don't run SlackWare, but Ubuntu Feisty (but that couldn't be causing the problem, or else I will have to learn to compile a kernel myself, if that's what you needed to do). Anyhow, do you use SlackWare in 32 bit or 64 bit (cause my Feisty runs in 64 bit, perhaps that's the issue)?

I did try updating the BIOS, I went from 110, 112, 114, 116, 118 and even 119 to get find an option in the bios to enable KVM-intel (Intel VT/Vanderpool). All those BIOS versions did work perfectly for me, but I don't really use the additional four keys (but I do use the remote control and media player keys, volume keys) and they haven't caused any trouble).

 

Flashed to 119b, and lol, look what it turned enhanced low power states to:

Before I was using 116b and states worked just fine, now the frequencies are always jumping up and down. Maybe it'll be better to flash back to 116?
Thought, the temperature strategy changed to, now it’s no more than 31 Celsius degrees, before it used to be between 25 and 35 degrees.

 

I typically run KVM on my desktop, and I had set it up on my notebook, but never realized the module did not load due to the BIOS not having the option to enable VT. That pretty much sucks, as that was the point for getting the T7600 cpu in the first place.

I'll see if I can get a contact at Compal that we can persuade to implement the feature. I'll also check to see which other Compal models, if any, support VT.

Raliegh

 

I've got the same problem as Dirt - I've flashed to 118b and now CPU stepping is crazy..Any ideas how to stabilize it?

 

Use something like RMclock or Notebook Hardware Control.

I'm assuming thats why I never noticed the crazy CPU throttles. I went back to 116B for Linux reason's though, so I also didn't have the BIOS long.

 

Added 121B. Seems to work, no idea what has changed:

 

According to Bizcom it has "T5300CPU support."

 

Could you help me with Compal IFL90 bios update?

i downloaded it from biz-us
http://www.bizcom-us.com/support/IFL9091/BIOS/IFT00110.zip

i unpacked this file and had 6 files:

Code:

 IFT00110.BAT
 IFT00110.ROM
 IFT00110.WPH
 IFT00REL.TXT
 k03arels.txt
 PHLASH16.EXE

what should i do now?

i don`t want to destroy my computer

 

As long as you aren't having any troubles that could be related to the BIOS (fans, the internet/email buttons, etc.), there is no reason to update. Besides, the IFL90 just came out so you should have a recent/up-to-date BIOS anyways.

 

imachine from this forum helped me
now i have 1.10 bios (instead of 1.07)

 

I was seriously scared when after the (apparently normal) beep and shut-down, my baby wouldn't turn back on. Only after two forced reboots by holding down the power button did it come back to normal.

Whew...

 

Try formatting, it solved my problem. On the other hand nothing else deed, even backing up till 116b.

 

Hey, first of all, please excuse my poor english.

Got this zepto 2425(compal hel80) in november last year. Not so impressed by the performance in BF2. (got a ****ty CPU tho i guess?)

From cpu z:

Got Bios : ver 105b
Cpu: T2050 1,6Ghz
Ram: 1gb
Can i get some boost in the performance by updating my bios?
Whats the best bios for me? (running XP pro)

offtopic: is it hard for me too change CPU? (have some experience from building regular PCs)

thnx for answears!

/S

 

surfaced,

It's not too hard to upgrade CPU in these notebooks if you are patient. The gaming will still be limited by the graphics card though. With the T7200 that I have, the graphics card is limiting me more than the CPU.

A later BIOS (MAY) allow better performance if you're not CPU limited. No guarantees though. BIOS upgrades are free and reversible, so back up everything and give it a try. Afterwards, please post your results for everyone else to learn from

 

Hey, is anyone else having a problem with the download link provided on the first post? Connection times out every time I try.

Another thing, I've just reformatted my HD and decided to run 3dmark (with the latest drivers) and returned a score of 1316.... that seems a bit underwhelming, thoughts?

 

Jeff.deKoz,

Check out the good info up in the Go 7600 OC thread at the top Theres a lot of info in it, but a good read if you want to set up your laptop for gaming.

 

I am trying to flash bios 115A on my HGL30 notebook. I downloaded and extracted the file from bizcom on my desktop. I found 3 files: GL30115A.wph, JGL, phlash16. I tried to follow the steps on the first page of this thread unsuccessfully. I first double clicked the phlash 16, i got a window saying that the flash process failed and it prompted me to click any key to exit. The same happened when i doubled clicked the JGL file. According to the instructions on the first page clicking this file should burn an image on a CD which u are supposed to boot from. Well, i had an empty CD in my drive but nothing happened when i clicked it. I burned the aformentioned files manually on a CD and tried to boot from it, but it didn't boot. (I had the boot configuration so as the computer would boot from the cd/dvd drive first). Can any of the experienced members please put a more detailed step by step process. Thanx for your time.

 

Theres a bit more to burning a bootable cd than the steps you followed. Its best to read and ask questions before flashing your bios. One mistake and your laptop becomes a brick.

-Raliegh

 

new bios, bump please alphagamma ;-)) would love to check out the new bootable cd... damn tho, they dropped the readmes in their bioses, that's really tough.

 

Added, not tested yet.

 

I don't understand why one wouldn't add the releasenotes.

 

Perhaphs they're fighting off the sources for the potential info that they have released broken/not fully capable firmwares in the past

On another topic, I will probably test it today or so, so expect some overall/Linux feedback

 

Hmm, for some reason the exact same method doesn't work anymore.
Doesn't get further then Starting Caldera DR-DOS, tried it with multiple CD-RWs
Some problem with 121B?

 

Anyone else has this problem? The old 121B flash image also doesn't work anymore, so it seems to be broken since I flashed to 121B.
Or maybe something is wrong with my drive, I hope not, it works perfectly in windows.

 

alphagamma - no its just your machine.
v121 and v122 flashing with your file works just fine BUT after i flashed to v122 cpu fan is allways working high speed and NHC shows 10C higher temperatures.
nothing helps. i tryied to flash back to 114,116,119,121 - nothing. its still +10c higher temps and fan is constantly running highspeed.

adasdfsgdg

 

Will this work with the Compal HGL-30? Which version is the most stable (ie. least likely to cause me problems?).

Thanks in advance

 

Hi all
I flashed my bios to 122B and I must say it did speed up my EL80 a bit.
But now the Fn button keeps on and I can't turn it off.
Is there a solution to the problem yet?

TIA

 

Is there BIOS reviews anywere, with pro and cons of anyone?


Thanks!

 

Trying to download 116B to downgrade, since 121B is causing some issues. However, the 116B link is dead. I'd be most grateful if alpha or someone else wouldn't mind re-uploading it :3

 

Hm ... not very much people had been writing something about the 122B-Bios ...
I'll make it short: I'm replying this post from my HEL80 ... it's alive!
The Sidewalker-Keys are working, all Fn-Combos too.
NHC is working like before, the fan isn't more active than before ...
To sum it up: The Bios 122B is working perfectly for me ... but i'm not able to tell you, what it will do with YOUR (H)EL-80
I'm lucky that none of the very-worst-cases happened to me.
@Nicke ... you should have a look at the bizcom Website ... but imho, the 116-Bios is "only" the Vista-Compatibillity-Bios
greets

 

theres something massivly wrong with 122b BIOS.
speedfan shows idle temps 42C but NHC shows 55C.
at maximum perf and full load speedfan shows 75C but NHC 89C
AND the fan is allways on and allmost at full speed :S

with previous BIOSes i didnt have that problem. after flashing to 122 the temps went up 12-14C and fan turned itself on for all the time.
flashing to older bios doesnt help . nothing changes.

anyone else has this same problem maybe?

 

sometiems bios updates have some other bios in them, like a graphics bios update as well... could it be perhaphs that flashing 122 flashes the say nvidia card bios as well, causing it to work faster, but hotter?

dunno

 

nope. its just weird.
after 6hours of doingnothing. cpu went down to 37C acording to speedfan and 52C NHC. GPU sais 38C but fan is still working loud and fast. damn this is ridicilous