How to BIOS update for CF-52 MKIII with a different version

[onirakkiss]

First: It worked for me, but this does not include it will working for u! Makes sense?

I bought an CF-52PFN32PE in the bay. The seller wrote, there is a password from his girlfriend on the machine, but that was a lie. If I started the machine, there was a splash screen "Openreach BT Group". I had no access into the BIOS and also no access to the harddisk, even if I put them on an other machine. I found out, the hdd has an strong ATA password.
I asked BT-Group about the machine-ID, I got no answer. I asked toughbook.eu, they told me, it will cost about 1300,-€ to install a new motherboard....
Nevermind, to get access into the BIOS I downloaded the BIOS for the CF52 MK3 on the canadian Panasonic site https://panasonic.ca/PCS/Firmware/CF52P ... Binary.zip .
I've made an bootable 4GB USB-stick with DOS and the decompressed BIOS files. It does not start from the stick. Also the laptop want boot on CD except u pull the harddisk out of the bay. So I tried to create an bootable DOS CD with the BIOS on the same disk, but It does not work, because the BIOS file is 8MB and the biggest DOS Image is 2.88MB. So I installed Windows 7 32bit on a harddisk of an other well working Laptop and inserted this prepared HDD into the Panasonic laptop. Now it was possible to press F12 while booting and I got the DOS-prompt from my USB-stick.
The standard routine is to start the BIOSUP.BAT. But I got the error message, that the BIOS would not fit to the machine. I had nothing to loose, cause I found an better mainboard on ebay, which I would buy, if the BIOS would fail.
I typed:

bu52m3.exe v300L14.523 -im

into the console and voilà; BIOS flashed, password was gone
So '-im' is the flag, which will not use any checks, if the BIOS is the correct version, right?
BTW with 'KillCMOS' u can set the working hours to zero...but this does not make any sense for me...


And here are the flags for the bios flash tool from panasonic. I explored them by using IDA freeware version. This will probably help u, if u are trying an different BIOS to enable WIFI or something else ;-)

-rchk
-mlist
-f0
-d help
-f
-r
-cboot
-a
-m
-x
-partial
-sn SerialNumberFile
-cn ModelNumberFile
-wwanid WWANidFile
-kbid KeyboardIdFile
-st OEMstringFile
-wt OwnershipTagFile
-sum= file
-wbd file
-rbd boardRevisionData
-wdd writeDeviceData
-rdd readDeviceData
-whole BiosFile
-wpc WorkingTimeStartedCounterFile
-rpc recordTimePowerOnCountFile
+bb
-bb
-sec file
-sc3 file
-gen file
-issec MEI Standard Security PC
-im +++++++++ NO TESTS ++++++ be careful!!!
-entire
-savegbe
-savemac
-savepdr
-entiresave
+nvram
-nvram
-savesetup
-cfd ConfigurationFile
-abt CPT Attribute
-aba CPT Attribute
-abp CPT Attribute


If it worked for u, or not, tell me about.

[SHEEPMAN!]

Ok the GUN (MK2?) wouldn't take it .....YET. Mine boots from CD but not USB. Messed around all day and finally loaded DOS from unetbootin. Very small very quick. I loaded it along the side of the bios upgrade on the USB then used ploplinux on cd as a bootmanager to get it going. I was trying to avoid that but it seemed the only way to get USB reading.
Now that I have both files on USB I will transfer back to a cd...to eliminate any question of Plop interfering. I don't think it is.
I could not get several DOS programs to "see" the usb. This unit has issues and that is apparently one of them. Nothing broken so far so the adventure continues. Thanks.

[onirakkiss]

Hm, as I wrote above, I had the same problems. The final solution was to insert an HDD with a working Win7 32bit and the bootable (<4GB) USB-stick with DOS and the BIOS on the stick. Now I had started the engine and repeatedly hit F12. The DOS-prompt from the USB-stick appears :-) . It worked not everytime, but it worked.

[SHEEPMAN!]

I get no reaction at all from [F12]. That is why I used the other method.
I keep getting the "you can't do that" message.

[onirakkiss]

had u tried to boot from the stick in an other computer? only to verify the stick is bootable working...

[SHEEPMAN!]

Nope. Duh on my part. Maybe we should get Rob to combine the two threads.

[MrRe]

Hi!
First of all, thanks for telling how you managed this. There might be some clues in what you have done to help others.
I am wondering whether a similar approarch would work on a CF-51 with similar problems. I can only boot from the HD as far as I can tell. So, as your knowledge far exceeds mine, can you determine what is the critical procedure.
Would any OS, XP for example, be used, or does it has to be W7?
What is the significance of the F12 key?
I appreciate that these things are trial and error but the more informed I am the better!
Thanks!

Robin.

[toughasnails]

Nope. Duh on my part. Maybe we should get Rob to combine the two threads.

If you want me to move them let me know

[SHEEPMAN!]

Naw. That's O.K. It makes the forum look busy. lol

Thanks,

Jeff

[Shawn]

Has anyone ever duplicated this?
On another mark?