flashing oem bios

I just bought a gigabyte ga-8siml mobo from ebay. Anyway turns out it's an oem version from a packard bell which means no overclocking options in the bios. Is it posssible to flash the bios with the normal version from the gigabyte website. Does anyone have experience with flashing an oem version with its counter-part?

 

The critical thing is which company made the BIOS software on that particular mobo.
You go to a certain motherboard manufacturer's site to find the BIOS update posted but the actual BIOS software is made buy one of these companies.
So when you are downloading a BIOS update, more than the motherboard's brand, the company that installed the BIOS matters. OEM or retail, makes no difference. Gigabyte mobo's might be using (for example) Award BIOS software on their retail boxed motherboards but this mobo came out of a PackardBell system could have a customized/proprietary BIOS by PackardBell so you would need to check on their site for BIOS updates. Find out what kind of BIOS you have first of all then go from there.
Hope this helps.

 

Thanks Turcoioco, that's the confusing thing. I've used a couple of bios ident utilities and they identify it as an AMI bios but when you go to AMI website and use they're utility it says it's an NEC bios (NEC being Packard Bell). Anyway the bios chip has AMI stamped on it, when you enter the bios it has an AMI bios 2.01a title. I reckon it's an AMI bios made for Packard Bell. The bios update on the Gigabyte site is for AMI. The PB website also has updates but without the coverclocking goodies. So if it's basically the same board but with different versions of an AMI bios will this work?

 

Can't and won't say because if I am right, you are happy but if I am wrong bye-bye BIOS! but here is the thing, I thought Gigabyte mobos used dual-BIOS chip, is that the case with yours as well? If so, even if you installed the AMI one and mess things up you could use the second BIOS and you are fine.
IF that is not applicable, I would check with AMI/Gigabye for an answer....it seems like PackardBell/NEC customized it and flashing it with a standard AMI BIOS could cause problem.
Here is Turco's personal thoughts but dont let it influence you:
Same MOBO and SAME BIOS chip, so having a customized BIOS (meaning PB/NEC's BIOS software was used) shouldn't mean you can't override it with the original AMI's version of the BIOS software......I am guessing NEC/PackardBell did it to the motherboard before installing it in their systems....but Gigabyte's tech support could give you a more certain answer.

 

I'm thnking on the same lines as you Turcoioco, just wanted your thoughts on a couple of other things.
If this can be done why don't more people do it, I've searched high and low on the net and have found next to nothing on the subject.
I tried to overclock using CPUFSB, the PLL was supported but all I get is "error reading PLL" message, could PB have locked the PLL.
Unfortunatly I havn't got dual-bios, but AMI use boot block which would give me a chance to recover the bios if it all goes wrong but if that's been overwritten then it would be screwed
Anyway I just can't resist finding out. Once I pluck up the nerve to do it i'll let you know the results. If it does go wrong i'll just go back to my old system which to be honest this isn't a huge improvement on.

 

Yeah, I am not sure what PB has done....not much knowledge on the net either...no wonder they had to merge with NEC. Unfortunately most PC vendors were known to customize most of the parts to keep it 'private' meaning if you need a replacement, you had to go to 'Them'.
If you really want to do it go for it but if you are doing this to o/c a system that you are not even sure if it is overclockable or o/c'ing it would even be worth it then it is your call. I personally would think you need to save your money for a new system. I just built 2 identical systems for my 2 sisters as Xmas gift and they didn't cost that much.
Biostar/Amptron M7NCD NForce2 mobo, XP2600+ 333MHz FSB retail (comes with heatsink/fan) w/integrated Realtek AC97 sound = $112
512MB Infineonr PC2700 DDR SDRAM = $67
eVGA GeForce 4000mx = $35
60GB Maxtor 7200rpm w/8MB buffer = $50
Aliminum mid-tower ATX case w/500 Watt PSU = $39
Emprex 52x-32x-52x CD-RW Drive w/Roxio (retail) = $20
Best Data v92 56K modem = $13 (they use dial-up)
These are all you need to have a decent mediocre system and total cost:
$336....not to bad, huh?

 

In the U.K $336 is around £170 so that's really cheap for a decent system. That's what I've been doing, the whole reason I got this mobo was to avoid having a Dell, E-Machine etc and I've ended up with a Packard Bell piece of crap, I'm soooo p***ed off.
I checked the Gigabyte website again and it doesn't mention the bios is AMI, so I checked the manual for the actual gigabyte board and it uses an Award bios. The only option for me now would be to cross flash and there's no way I'm doing that.
Anyway suppose 'tis the season to be jolly so I better cheer up, dammit

 

I downloaded the bios from the gigabyte website just out of curiosity to see what the flash program would look like, surprisingly an AMI flasher popped up to load an Award bios, bit bizarre. So I thought what the hell, I backed up the old version , flashed the Award bios and held my breath. Unbelievably it worked, I managed to flash an AMI chip with an Award bios, give myself a pat on the back.
Now utility progs recognize my board as a gigabyte and not NEC, can't tell you how happy I am about that. No more PB splash on startup.
Had to re-install windows but that was a small price to pay. One minor disappointment though, no option to increase cpu voltage in the bios which is strange, any review I've read about this board says it has it, tried ctrl + F1 to unhide options but no joy, ah well can't have everything. The bios I flashed wasn't the newest one, I thought it would be safer to try an old version first, maybe the newer one has it.