HOW TO IDENTIFY THE BIOS PART NUMBER

Sometime the specific BIOS part number must be determined. You may perform this operation with the bios chip installed in the motherboard or after it has been removed. If you perform this operation after the chip has been removed, use care so as to not drop the part or accidentally stab yourself with the pins. The bios chip was actually manufactured by a semiconductor company such as INTEL, ATMEL, WINBOND, AMD or MACRONIX. By examining the chip, you must determine the physical part number assigned by the semiconductor manufacturer.

1. Use your fingernail or other sharp object to peel back and remove the sticker from the top of the chip. If the sticker does not peel cleanly from the chip, carefully scrape away any remaining adhesive to expose the surface.

2. Orient the chip such that the information printed on the surface is readable.

Look at the numbers on the part. You are looking for the "CORE" part number. The core part number is the fundamental number used to identify the chip. This number may have prefixes and suffixes which indicate other chip information, however you are only interested in the core number in order to identify the device. The example is a MACRONIX 28F1000PC. The core part number is 28F1000. Another example is an ATMEL AT29C020-90PC. The core part number is 29C020. A third example is a WINBOND W29C020-90B. The core part number is W29C020. The core number is extremely easy to find and once you have seen a few bios parts, you will have no trouble determining the number.

Below is an example of an ASD 29F1008.

BadFlash.com thanks Andromeda Research Labs for permitting the use of their pictures and Text.