Is it a brick?

Mon Oct 11 14:55:31 UTC 2021

On Mon, 11 Oct 2021 at 13:41, Grizzly via ubuntu-users
<ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
>
> >OK... what version?
>
> I reused that USB, but I don't think it had a version number, it was created by
> Rufus 34

Rufus only runs on Windows and I rarely use Windows. I find Rufus good
but very *very* slow, so I only use it for writing Windows ISOs to
USB.

In my experience it takes on the order of an hour to write a Windows
USB, but at least with Rufus you can rely on the resulting key
working. To write a Linux key I use `dd` or UNetbootin or the Ubuntu
Startup Disk Creator or something -- they only take 5-10min.

The only one of those that has a built-in function to make a FreeDOS
USB is Unetbootin, but it includes a really old version of FreeDOS --
version 1.0. That's a decade old or something like that, and you'd be
_much_ better off grabbing an ISO of 1.2 from the freedos.org website,
or just using MS-DOS.

https://bootdisk.com/ or something will help you there.

I am trying to tell you where you went wrong here so you can avoid it
happening again.

>
> >>  it went OK I backed up the old Bios "just in case" and then
> >> tried the update, only to see the "Insufficient memory" prompt
>
> >Oh dear. That's bad. That would have been a good place to stop and ask for help.
>
> I did extensive searchs which mainly advised against use of Dos Memory managers
> (EMM86 etc) on these DOS bootable USB's

As I said: *this would  have been a good place to stop and ask for
help*. Including here.

I am not typing this for fun, you know. I hang out here because I am
trying to help people. It raises my blood pressure when I do and then
people just ignore what I wrote.

You may call your searching "extensive" but it wasn't extensive
enough, it seems.

You don't need EMM386 to free up more memory on a DOS boot disk. Just
adding HIMEM.SYS to the CONFIG.SYS file and DOS=HIGH would have done.

> >Uh-oh. Danger, Will Robinson!
>
> It had worked for me before when checking Win7 support of older hardware

Checking is not the  same as modifying hardware. Reflashing a BIOS is
a hardware modification.

If you need to use Windows to do this, then _install Windows_ and use it.

> I have used "Win7-8 to USB" (ver 4.5 to 6.2) often

Never heard of it, and searching for your quoted phrase finds nothing.

> I could use the Win10
> version but that really needs more resources than most of my boxies have

Odd... there's not really a lot of resource difference between 7 and 10.

> >What *EXACT* model is this?
>
> X1301

I'll have a look.

> (Lesson: do not use
> >unactivated Windows to reflash firmware.)
>
> not unactivated,

You misunderstand what I wrote. I said that the lesson to learn here
was not to use unactivated Windows to reflash firmware. I did not say
anything about whether your copy was activated or not, because there's
no such thing as a proper official Microsoft live USB of Windows.
Windows does not support that.

There are half-ass cracks and things like Windows PE but you should
*NOT* try to reflash firmware with them. You have discovered why.

You seem to have misinterpreted 2 things I wrote in my email. You also
seem to have misinterpreted, from what you have said, the advice about
memory config on DOS boot disks for firmware flashing. Perhaps
something to take away from this is that your textual comprehension
(maybe while skimming? I don't know and can't tell) is not perfect,
and this has got you into trouble here.

Go more slowly, check more, and *ASK*.

So, looking for info on the  X1301, I am finding a lot of conflicting
information. For instance:

https://icecat.biz/en/p/acer/9p.xcm7z.u7n/aspire-pcs-workstations-aspire+x1301-3669171.html

This says its full name is

"Acer Aspire X1301 DDR2-SDRAM 620 Desktop Intel Pentium G 3 GB 320 GB
Windows 7 Home Premium PC Black"

(That's not a name, that's a description, but anyway.)

Note the part about "Intel Pentium G 3". This is odd; there's no such
product as a "Pentium G". It can't be an Intel Pentium; those are from
the mid-1990s.
But more to the point, look at the description:

"Aspire X1301 - Windows 7 Home Premium, AMD Athlon II X4 2.6GHz, 320GB
HDD, 3GB RAM, DVD RW, NVIDIA GeForce 7100 up to 1024MB, Keyboard +
Mouse, 19" Xseries TFT"

It says there AMD Athlon II.

It can't be both an AMD Athlon II and an Intel Pentium. These are
radically different chips that go into different sockets on different
motherboards with different chipsets.

By this point, alarm bells should be ringing in your head. This page
is telling lies.

If there is one model of Acer Aspire called "X1301" that has 2
different variants, one with and AMD chip and one with an Intel chip,
then you have to be super extra careful, because if you flash the
firmware for an AMD chipset and processor to an Intel motherboard, or
flash Intel firmware to an AMD motherboard, *YOU WILL KILL IT*.

This page:
https://uk.pcmag.com/old-spring-pc-buying-guide/22417/acer-aspire-x1301-b1812

... says it's an AMD.

So does this:
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/acer_aspire_x1301_quad_core_desktop_pc_9p.xcm7z.u7n/version.asp

And this:
https://www.reevoo.com/p/acer-aspire-x1301-quad-core-desktop-pc#info

So now we know that Google's first hit -- icecat.biz -- is just Making
Stuff Up and you can't believe it or trust it.

We also know that we are going to have to be careful Googling for info
about this computer because there is wrong info out there about the
X1301.

Next step, I went looking for info about recovering from a bad BIOS flash.

I found these, which *NOTE*
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/232905/Acer-Aspire-X1930.html?page=71are
both talking about different machines:

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/232905/Acer-Aspire-X1930.html?page=71

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/445233/Acer-Aspire-Xc600.html?page=83

*NOTE* I do not 100% recommend or trust this "manualslib.com" website,
either. The fact that it came up when I was searching for a different
model of machine is bad; it means the site is using SEO to lie to
Google for extra hits. That is bad.

This means they may not be real manuals, or not really for the
machine(s) they claim to be. But the fact that they describe an Acer
BIOS recovery process is good.

So that means that your next step may be to contact Acer and ask if
they still offer a "BIOS crisis recovery disk". I can't find anything
specific about one for the X1301 online or I'd leave a link.

-- 
Liam Proven ~ Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
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