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**olympia** · (This post was last modified: 2009-07-12, 01:39 by olympia.)

I've changed the default bios splash on my deticated HTPC to the following:

And an other one, from waldo22 (thanks to him)

If you want to use it, you can download the pic, with right-click and "save as"

The format and size of the picture has been modified to fit into my BIOS (ASUS P5N7A-VM), there is no guarantee to work with any other motherboard, but I guess it should work with all boards with newer AMI bioses.

BE AWARE! I take no responsibility if you brick your motherboard while playing with BIOS.

In case of ASUS, you can do it with MyLogo2, which is a bundled tool for your MB.

Edit: The aspect ratio of the picture is like this for purpose. When you BIOS is displaying it, it will stretch to fit to the screen. So this is made for 16:9 (not for 4:3, and nor for 16:10)

hebjor · 2009-01-25, 16:36

Great stuff! Will try the same a bit later. I have same MB so it should not be a problem. Just want this damn remote to work first in fresh-install 8.04 and 8.10 Ubuntu.

GileraGFR · 2009-01-25, 20:22

Does look sweet, cheers bud Big Grin

blittan · 2009-01-27, 01:15

Nice, thanks. Complements my HTPC perfect Smile

**ronie** · 2009-01-27, 01:25

Just flashed my BIOS and it's working like a charrm.

Cheers,
ronie

majorheadache · 2009-02-14, 21:23

Short of installing windows, I can't figure out how to run MyLogo2. I also have the P5N7A-VM. I haven't found a linux version. The ASUS CD seemed like it wanted to boot but was maybe looking for a C: drive? I have a Bart PE disc, if that helps.

blittan · 2009-02-15, 01:37

bartpe isn't an option.. a true windows is the only thing, I wouldn't even try wine on it, since its risky business anyways to update the bios..

BadMuts · 2009-02-15, 22:17

I have the same mainboard and will now also use the same bootscreen!
Looks really cool

Thanks a lot!

**waldo22** · (This post was last modified: 2009-02-16, 06:31 by waldo22.)

You should be able to do this with just about any Award or Phoenix BIOS that supports the full-screen logo.

I've got the old splash logo (oval shaped) working on my Zotac MiniITX motherboard and another Zotac MicroATX board.

Here's a YouTube vid of my setup (sorry for the awful quality, I used a picture camera, not a video camera).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpm3MOl25HU

Here are some instructions:

For BIOS splash screen (for Award or new Phoenix):
1) Your logo must be 640x480, 256 colors.
2) You'll need to save it as a TIFF file with a .tif extension and convert it to AWBM (Award Bitmap format) using a program called tiff2awbm (part of AWBMTools).
3) You can edit many Award and Phoenix BIOSes using the CBROM program. Remove old LOGO file and add your own. Your image must be named in 8.3 format (ie. filename.ext)

If you aren't good with graphic design, but you have a logo file that you want to use, I highly recommend IRFanView: http://www.irfanview.com/

It does a great job taking a normal image and downsampling the color depth to 256 or even 16 colors without making it look terrible, and also re-sizing to the appropriate size without losing the aspect ratio.
(click "image -> decrease color depth", and make sure to check the "use Floyd-Steinberg dithering" box)

Quick Summary of command-line syntax:

Code:
CBROM BIOS.BIN /LOGO Release       ## to remove old logo from BIOS image, where BIOS.BIN is your BIOS ROM

(you may be able to skip this first step, as the last step replaces the current logo anyway)

TIFF2AWBM myimage.tif myimage.bmp  ## to convert myimage.tif to myimage.bmp (the award bmp format)

CBROM BIOS.BIN /LOGO myimage.bmp   ## inserts your new logo back into the BIOS image

Then, reflash the BIOS.

AWBMTools is available here: http://www.blackfiveservices.co.uk/awbmtools.shtml
CBROM is availalbe here: http://www.virtualplastic.net/download/o.../cbrom.zip (or use Google, link may change) I used "cbrom606"
A great tutorial on the process, including using CBROM and tiff2awbm: http://deepthought.ena.si/logo/bios/
Another tutorial, mainly for the EPA logo: http://www.virtualplastic.net/html/misc_bios.html

-Wes

majorheadache · 2009-02-18, 03:50

I've come up with a method that I think SHOULD work, yet isn't. This is on an ASUS P5N7A-VM. I realized that Asus now includes an on-board, OS independent, BIOS updater tool. Simply press Alt-F2 during POST and the tool comes up.

In order to update the BIOS, I am using AMI's OEMLOGO.EXE which I downloaded as part of an AMI tools package. The tool has a small GUI that allows you to backup your old logo (works) and implant a new one. After I implanted the new one, I verified that it was present by "backing it up" again, and the new image came back out.

Next, with the updated ROM file on my flash drive I rebooted, Alt-F2 into Asus EZ Flash2, and it automatically found my new ROM file. But when I went to reflash teh BIOS it checked and said the file was "invalid".

Any ideas?

**olympia** · 2009-02-18, 14:34

majorheadache Wrote:I've come up with a method that I think SHOULD work, yet isn't. This is on an ASUS P5N7A-VM. I realized that Asus now includes an on-board, OS independent, BIOS updater tool. Simply press Alt-F2 during POST and the tool comes up.

In order to update the BIOS, I am using AMI's OEMLOGO.EXE which I downloaded as part of an AMI tools package. The tool has a small GUI that allows you to backup your old logo (works) and implant a new one. After I implanted the new one, I verified that it was present by "backing it up" again, and the new image came back out.

Next, with the updated ROM file on my flash drive I rebooted, Alt-F2 into Asus EZ Flash2, and it automatically found my new ROM file. But when I went to reflash teh BIOS it checked and said the file was "invalid".

Any ideas?

I was trying the same method with the same result. Unfortunately the solution (at least for me) was to install a full Windows and use MyLogo... (anyway, you also can access the updater tool from the bios itself. It is on the most right menu item)

majorheadache · 2009-02-19, 22:03

Well, I broke down and installed Windows and did the update. There's an hour of my life I'll never get back, but it did work. On the downside though, the update from 404 to 504 ads an Nvidia logo in the corner that sits atop the XBMC logo. I'm using the second bigger logo from the first post. I don't know if it's possible to overwrite that with nothing, or something that would match perfectly with the XBMC logo, but it would be nice.

In any case, I finally got it done. Smile

**waldo22** · 2009-02-20, 01:06

majorheadache Wrote:Well, I broke down and installed Windows and did the update. There's an hour of my life I'll never get back, but it did work. On the downside though, the update from 404 to 504 ads an Nvidia logo in the corner that sits atop the XBMC logo. I'm using the second bigger logo from the first post. I don't know if it's possible to overwrite that with nothing, or something that would match perfectly with the XBMC logo, but it would be nice.

In any case, I finally got it done.

Nice work.

It IS possible, using the method I posted above...

Download the CBROM program here: http://www.virtualplastic.net/download/o.../cbrom.zip

run

Code:
CBROM YourBIOSName.bin /D

That should list all the stuff in your BIOS file, as shown here:
http://deepthought.ena.si/logo/bios/

You can then find and remove the other logo. It should be called something.bmp (look on the right-hand side, probably nvidia.bmp).

use this:

Code:
CBROM YourBIOSName.bin /ITEMTOREMOVE Release

Where ITEMTOREMOVE is just the first part in BOLD on the left-hand side.

ie. to remove the item name "EPA pattern", original filename AwardBmp.bmp, you would type

Code:
CBROM YourBIOSName.bin /EPA Release

I'll try and do a wiki on this when I can.

-Wes

majorheadache · 2009-02-20, 01:53

It's possible I was doing it wrong, but when I last tried it, I found that CBROM rejected the P5N7A-VM BIOS file as invalid. I notice that it's expecting a .BIN file and we're using a .ROM file. But if you know that it will work, I'll give it another shot.

------------------------------------------

OK, I just tried again using the 3 latest builds of CBROM in the download. In each case it would appear to run but there was no output and a process named ntvdm.exe would be using 99% CPU. I tried both the logo switch and just the /d switch. I also tried renaming the extension to .BIN.

No joy.

Any ideas?

**waldo22** · 2009-02-20, 02:20

majorheadache Wrote:It's possible I was doing it wrong, but when I last tried it, I found that CBROM rejected the P5N7A-VM BIOS file as invalid. I notice that it's expecting a .BIN file and we're using a .ROM file. But if you know that it will work, I'll give it another shot.

------------------------------------------

OK, I just tried again using the 3 latest builds of CBROM in the download. In each case it would appear to run but there was no output and a process named ntvdm.exe would be using 99% CPU. I tried both the logo switch and just the /d switch. I also tried renaming the extension to .BIN.

No joy.

Any ideas?

Is this board using an AMI BIOS? (American Megatrends?)

CBROM is for Award and Phoenix only.

I'll do some more searching...