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    (Problem) Need to update CF-19 Mk1 bios from XP to Vista compatibility

    Discussion in 'Panasonic' started by Problematic_Brick, Feb 29, 2020.

  1. Problematic_Brick

    Problematic_Brick Notebook Enthusiast

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    Greets, got a CF-19 MK1, would really love to upgrade it to vista bios however I find myself unable to do so.

    Panasonic offers the bios upgrade over at the japanese site in an exe form, its to upgrade the bios from

    V1.00L13
    To
    V1.00L16

    However, it appears that someone loaded a custom bios V1.00L13 M12 (Which is available over at the canadian toughbook support site which makes me think it didnt leave the factory in that state and someone manually installed it) leaving me unable to upgrade as running it from XP it gives an ERROR: this program will not run on this pc.

    The 1mil dollar Q here is whether there is a way to upgrade this at ALL. I figured that if I had the original bios rom I could probably flash the bios and load the original one which would then allow me to upgrade. However I cannot find this specific rom anywhere and I would be really grateful if someone could provide me with it.

    In general, I am really interested to know what other ways exist to go about this. Someone done this before on the same model?

    Thank you!
     
  2. Shawn

    Shawn Crackpot Search Ninja and Options Whore

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    Last edited: Mar 1, 2020
    UNCNDL1 likes this.
  3. Problematic_Brick

    Problematic_Brick Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks Shawn.
    This rar has 2 .bat, one for the bios and one for the controller.
    Is there an order in which I must flash these?
     
  4. Shawn

    Shawn Crackpot Search Ninja and Options Whore

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    I linked wrong file I think.

    =
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2020
  5. Shawn

    Shawn Crackpot Search Ninja and Options Whore

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  6. Problematic_Brick

    Problematic_Brick Notebook Enthusiast

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    Alright thanks. Do i need to flash the controller update? And if yes, in what order? Does this flash the bios program with the danger of MB bricking?
     
  7. Shawn

    Shawn Crackpot Search Ninja and Options Whore

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    The instructions seem to indicate controller first.

    Always a chance to brick it with any flash.
     
    toughasnails likes this.
  8. Problematic_Brick

    Problematic_Brick Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well, even though my model is CF-19mk1, the upgrade program gives an "This BIOS is not for this model." error in DOS despite stating that it's made for CF-19mk1. Probably a model or motherboard incompatibility. Weird.
    Is there a way to flash the original bios (V1.00L13), my current one is V1.00L13 M12 which seems to come from the Canadian server of panasonic. No idea where to find ROM for the original one.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2020
  9. Shawn

    Shawn Crackpot Search Ninja and Options Whore

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    The M12 indicates it is a custom bios.

    It might be force flashed to the one I sent using afudos. Not 100% sure.

    Do at your own risk.
     
  10. Problematic_Brick

    Problematic_Brick Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks shawn