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Are there such things as BIOS viruses? And do they wipe out the whole BIOS or do they just target certain aspects of the BIOS?

Shinova wrote:Are there such things as BIOS viruses? And do they wipe out the whole BIOS or do they just target certain aspects of the BIOS?

It's possible to make a regular virus which nukes the BIOS. The code might have to be a little different for each mobo manufacturer, however.

In that case, can't you just re-flash the BIOS?

Dalton wrote:In that case, can't you just re-flash the BIOS?

No. If the BIOS is hosed badly enough, the machine can't even boot or POST, so it will never achieve a state which allows you to flash the BIOS.

Dalton wrote:In that case, can't you just re-flash the BIOS?

What's that? And how do you do it?


EDIT: Also, how do you protect your bios from outside flashing?

Shinova wrote:

Dalton wrote:In that case, can't you just re-flash the BIOS?

What's that? And how do you do it?

The BIOS and BIOS settings on your computer is stored on a EEPROM chip. To re-flash means to erase and re-write all the info on this chip. This is done by running the BIOS utility program that comes with your motherboard when you boot your computer up to the command prompt.

Shinova wrote:

Dalton wrote:In that case, can't you just re-flash the BIOS?

What's that? And how do you do it?


EDIT: Also, how do you protect your bios from outside flashing?

There's a bios setting and/or a jumper or switch on the motherboard.

Some bioses have a permanant component that allows you to reflash blindly.

There have been virri in the wild which have been reported to do such a thing.

If you end up in this situation, you may have to order another bios chip from the manufacturer and swap it with the one in the mobo.

Better to keep 2 good antiviruses running and updated AND Outlook patched. Or switch to a different mail client.

What's a BIOS, and why is it bad if it gets screwed?

The set of routines stored in read-only memory that enable a computer to start the operating system and to communicate with the various devices in the system, such as disk drives, keyboard, monitor, printer, and communications ports.

Basically, screwing your BIOS is a little like cutting of your head. It basically kills your computer so it can't even turn on, I think.

RogueIce wrote:What's a BIOS, and why is it bad if it gets screwed?

The bios is what makes the hardware go. No bios, and nothing will load.

Also, see the post above mine.

I almost got hit by one of those viruses a couple years ago- WIN32.CIH

The only way to recover from a badly hosed BIOS is to reprogram it with an EEPROM burner, if I recall. Fortunately there aren't too many BIOS-attacking viruses... although a flash update gone wrong can also hose a BIOS.

Some motherboards have dual BIOS chips just in case, but those are rare. Others have a permanent ROM section that will allow booting in case the rest of the machine is hosed (and thus reflash it).

phongn wrote:Some motherboards have dual BIOS chips just in case, but those are rare. Others have a permanent ROM section that will allow booting in case the rest of the machine is hosed (and thus reflash it).

I thought the permanent part was only good for reflashing the motherboard blindly, since it won't drive the video card.

I got hit by Chernobyl/CIH a couple years ago, but it didn't damage my BIOS.

One last question:


BIOS viruses tend to work by nuking the whole BIOS, or do some target only a specific part of the BIOS?

Cause the comp I have right now has this problem where if I turn on CPU Internal Cache, Windows either doesn't start or crashes sometime after loading. If I turn it off, it works but at a speed less than ~120MHz.

Shinova wrote:One last question:


BIOS viruses tend to work by nuking the whole BIOS, or do some target only a specific part of the BIOS?

Cause the comp I have right now has this problem where if I turn on CPU Internal Cache, Windows either doesn't start or crashes sometime after loading. If I turn it off, it works but at a speed less than ~120MHz.

A bios virri would tend to nuke the whole bios, and not just part of it.

What you are experiencing may be correctable with an update.

Pu-239 wrote:

phongn wrote:Some motherboards have dual BIOS chips just in case, but those are rare. Others have a permanent ROM section that will allow booting in case the rest of the machine is hosed (and thus reflash it).

I thought the permanent part was only good for reflashing the motherboard blindly, since it won't drive the video card.

Correct. You usually had to use a bootdisk that autoflashed the BIOS (via autoexec.bat) for it to work.