Digital Equipment FR-902AA-A3, Service Maintenance Manual

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Utilities & Configuration Digital STARION 400i - 900i PC
14 MCS Logistics Engineering - Nijmegen
PHLASH .EXE
All computers have BIOS software in a read-only, non-volatile memory (ROM) chip. This BIOS initializes
hardware and boots the operating system when the computer is turned on. The BIOS also provides access
to other services such as keyboard and disk drives.
Starion Desktop PC computers are equipped with flash memory. This means that the computer's BIOS can
be restored simply by running the PHLASH.EXE utility. The computer's BIOS can also be upgrated to
future releases by running PHLASH.EXE along with any flash BIOS update diskette if necessary.
Before Using PHLASH.EXE
A crisis recovery diskette should be created before PHLASH.EXE is used to upgrade the computer's BIOS.
Then this diskette can be used to reprogram the computer's BIOS in case the flash process built into the
computer fails.
The following items are needed to create this diskette:
♦
A blank 3½-inch 1.44 MB formatted diskette
♦
A diskette copy of the BIOS upgrade diskette
NOTE
PHLASH utilities are not shipped with Starion 400i/500i/600i/700i/800i/900i
computers. However, they are available on the Digital Bulletin Board System.
Creating a Crisis Recovery Diskette
1) Turn on the computer and allow the POST to complete.
If POST detects an error, refer to Chapter 4, “Troubleshooting” to identify and determine how to
correct the problem. After the problem has been resolved, restart the computer.
2) Insert the BIOS diskette into the diskette drive and enter: A:DIR.
The entry should show that the following files are on the diskette:
MINIDOS.SYS
PHLASH.EXE
MAKEBOOT.EXE
MAKECRD.EXE
Note that there are some additional files as well. Refer to the README file on the diskette for
additional information.
3) Create an upgrade directory on the hard disk drive. For example, if the hard disk drive is c:>, enter at
the DOS prompt: C: MD UPGRADE.
Copy the files from the BIOS diskette into the upgrade directory on the hard disk drive. For example,
from the DOS prompt enter: COPY A:\UPGRADE\*.* C:\UPGRADE\*.*.
4) Insert a blank formatted diskette into drive A.
On drive A, make a directory for the files previously copied. For example, from the DOS prompt
enter: A:MD UPGRADE.
5) Return to the hard disk drive and copy the files. From the DOS prompt, enter: C:MAKECRD.
The makecrd command prompts you for a recovery diskette to be placed in drive A and then
automatically copies the files to drive A.