First and foremost, if this question has been answered 1000 times over, I sincerely apologize and would be eternally grateful if you could direct me to the answer as I have not been able to find a direct answer in my literal weeks of googling. (Can’t backup a phoenix BIOS without a new ROM/WPH file)
Second, this might be a noob question because I have zero intentions of getting into the thick of BIOS modding, but from what I have been able to google, most results point back to here, so this seems like the best place to ask.
Onto the issue at hand (next paragraph is the tl;dr): I have an old (circa 2007, I believe) embedded solution PC that is running a Phoenix BIOS on a VIA chipset. It was an ad-hoc computer that is built into a larger system and the OE one has failed. The company that originally manufactured said larger system no longer supports or repairs them. I have a need to attempt to repair the computer as the larger system is reduced to about 60% functionality without the working computer. I did manage to find some used replacement PC’s, but the BIOS on the OE PC was apparently messed with: POST screen is bypassed with OEM’s logo, boot sequence altered, different key is used to enter CMOS settings, etc. Back in my good 'ole PC modding days, when it was generally discouraged for the end user to do this sort of stuff, there was still always the “be sure to backup your BIOS and firmware before attempting anything, just in case things go south.” So as I am looking at this system I am thinking I can just use a backup utility to create a backup of the custom BIOS settings (don’t need platform settings as the PC is a direct replacement and hot-swapping the BIOS chips does work) and then re-flash the new Phoenix BIOS with the custom backup. Doing research: Hey! Phoenix has winphlash for backing up and flashing BIOS! Kind of what I expected. Oh wait… winphlash won’t let you backup your BIOS unless you already have the new ROM available for flash? Then how the h*** are you supposed to back yours up in the first place? Oh and never mind that obtaining a new copy of the BIOS ROM is apparently impossible because Phoenix apparently doesn’t do that anymore, at least not that I have been able to find on their current website.
tl;dr: Does anyone know of a way I can backup a 2007ish Phoenix BIOS without having a “new” ROM/does anyone know where I can get a “new” ROM so I can backup my Phoenix BIOS. I’ve tried winphlash (requires new ROM), I’ve tried wincris which supposedly came with a “dummy” ROM (I have yet to see a copy that actually includes said ROM). I didn’t think I was asking for the world here, but apparently I am. And before you give me the “if you don’t know what you are doing then you should really stop here” I am a decently technical individual and I am more than willing to learn, but at this point I can’t even start because “you need to specify a ROM file before you can continue.” …for a backup…
If you read this far, I thank you and appreciate any help you can give me.
Follow-up: Computer wasn’t Phoenix BIOS, it was Phoenix/Award BIOS. After a bit more research I was able to use winflash in windows XP (original operating system of the embedded PC) to create the backup, but winflash would not flash the backed up BIOS “may be hardware protected.” A little more research and eventually used a DOS boot of awdflash to flash the backed up BIOS onto the new BIOS chip. So if mods want to close/delete this topic, feel free.