System Rom - HP Vectra XW Technical Reference Manual

2 System Board
Devices on the ISA Bus
The Windows NT operating system has an integrated driver (Creative
SoundBlaster 16).

System ROM

The computer uses 256 KB of Flash EEPROM implemented within a single
256 K 8-bit ROM chip. Flash EEPROM is ROM that can be returned to its
unprogrammed state by the application of appropriate electrical signals to
its pins, and hence can then be reprogrammed with the latest firmware.
The System ROM contains: 64 KB of system BIOS (including the 2 16 KB of
boot code, the ISA and PCI initialization, DMI, the Setup program and the
Power-On Self-Test routines, including the error message utility); 32 KB of
Plug-and-Play code; and 48 KB of SCSI BIOS code. The Setup and POST
functions are summarized in Chapters 4 and 5.
Updating the System ROM
The System ROM can be updated with the latest BIOS. This can be ordered
from HP or downloaded from one of HP's online services. (For more
information on HP's electronic services, refer to the Hewlett-Packard
Support and Information Services chapter in the User's Guide that was
supplied with the computer.)
The System ROM is updated by running the HP6Init utility ( )
HP6INIT.EXE
which is supplied with the BIOS upgrade file. You must specify the model of
the computer since the utility which is supplied for a different model cannot
be used with this one.
Before flashing, it is necessary to disable the "Secure Mode" switch on the
system switches (SW-3), and to type in the System Administrator's Password
when starting up the computer. The HP6Init utility must be run from
diskette. The PCI and PnP information is erased in the process.
The procedure for performing the update is given in the User's Guide that is
supplied with the computer.
Do not switch off the computer until the system BIOS update procedure has
completed, successfully or not, otherwise irrecoverable damage to the ROM
may be caused. The control panel switches are automatically disabled to
prevent accidental interruption of the flash programming process.
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