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Changing BIOS boot image in old Gigabyte laptop

Changing BIOS boot image in old Gigabyte laptop
« on: September 18, 2010, 07:07:21 pm »
Hi everybody  :)
I have a Gigabyte N521U laptop with an Insyde BIOS. Does anyone know how to change the image BIOS shows when turning the laptop on (before any OS is checked on hard disk)? I searched a lot in the Internet, Insyde web site is not accessible and I need this answer for a research. :-\

Dark Mantis

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Re: Changing BIOS boot image in old Gigabyte laptop
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2010, 08:07:44 pm »
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Well this laptop/notebook is not one I am familair with but they all follow similar rules. Firstly let me post a couple of links that may be usefull:

http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Manual/nb_manual_n521u3.0_en.pdf    for the manual

http://www.insydesw.com/  for the BIOS writer

I have checked through the manual and that wasn't very helpful in this situation apart from letting  me know that you have to press F2 to enter the BIOS. Usually there is an option to enable or disable the splash screen in there but I must admit I couldn't find one. Anyway the BIOS will look for an image file to load from the boot sector files. This is limited in size and colour depth to 16 bit @ 640x480 pixels. Usually there is a file named logo.bmp and a batch file that loads it. Anyway the easiest way for you to do it is follow this walkthrough:

http://pcdoctor.me/how-to-change-xp-boot-screen-tutorial/
« Last Edit: September 18, 2010, 08:31:32 pm by Dark Mantis »
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

Re: Changing BIOS boot image in old Gigabyte laptop
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2010, 10:33:22 am »
Thanks for the reply Dark Mantis

I live in Middle East. I tried both  http://www.insydesw.com/  and  http://pcdoctor.me/how-to-change-xp-boot-screen-tutorial/
Neither of them is accessible. I don't think you can describe the steps in this forum, can you?
I think it is rude even to ask this. :-X

Dark Mantis

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Re: Changing BIOS boot image in old Gigabyte laptop
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2010, 10:49:00 am »
I am sure that nobody will mind me copying this here for you in the circumstances.
I am afraid I have had to leave out the screenshots but you will just have to imagine them ;) Hope this helps.
The following has been copied from the http://pcdoctor.me/how-to-change-xp-boot-screen-tutorial/ site

Depending on what computer you have, you probabaly have a boring splash screen displayed as the BIOS loads. Toady I show you some little tricks how to change your BIOS splash screen. This tutorial mostly for people whose computers are pretty much new – because only few years ago a new feature appeared in motherbards which allows you to change the BIOS’s splash screen seamlessly.  These are two separate image locations requiring editing in multiple places and some confidence in your computing skills, as the BIOS option can potentially damage your system if done incorrectly.

How to change your Windows Boot ScreenAll this magic manipulation doesn’t necessarily require any direct modification of system files. There are few ways which allows you to change the boot screen. One way is to delete it completely- which leads to display a blank screen until Windows completes the boot process. If you want such results and want to turn off the boot logo, in Windows XP or Vista click Start > Run and then type MSCONFIG in the dialog box to launch the System Configuration Utility. On the BOOT.INI section, check the box next to /NOGUIBOOT and click OK. So next time you reboot your computer, you will see the only BIOS screen and then nothing until Windows loads completely. The badside to this way is you won’t get any information if your PC will hung up in the middle of a boot process.



That was a simple way to remove any unwanted image or information from the boot process.

So what to do if you want to replace the boot image completely?  The easiest way is to download a free software called BootSkin. The application automatically replaces the default Windows boot screen, replacing it with one of the many different options in the WinCustomize BootSkin library. With some time spent practicing you can succide with your own custom Boot Skin as well.


Download BootSkin

If you want to be real wicked geeky – the third way for you would be to edit the operating system file where the boot screen information lays. But remember, you have to be VERY careful doing this or you will end up with a computer that won’t boot.

The first part of this third way is to create or find an image(picture, photo, etc. ) you want to use.  You need to convert your image to .bmp file format yousing a coverter. Here you can read how to conver it painlessly. Or you can use a Photoshop to convert the image.


So you need to create a 215×147 .bmp file with 16 colors (NOT 16-bit). If you have any image editor you can create .bmp file in there. The next step is to download free program called  Resource Hacker to make some changes.

Before proceeding, locate file ntoskrnl.exe in your Windows > system32 folder. Make a copy of the file called myskfile.exe or something equally easy to remember and leave the copy in the System32 folder.

Then make a second copy of the ntoskrnl.exe on your desktop (this is the one you will edit).

Open ntoskrnl.exe in Resource Hacker. Expand your  bitmap file > 5 and highlight the 1033 folder. Right-click the 1033 icon and choose Replace Resource.



Then click the Open file with new bitmap button and locate the image you created earlier. Click the Replace button. Save and exit Resource Hacker. You can also replace all elements of the boot screen if you want by editing each portion of the Bitmap.



Then reboot in SafeMode (press F8 at windows sturt-up) and copy your newly created ntoskrnl.exe file into the Windows > System32 folder.

Note: If you are using Windows 2000, you can simply replace the image in the Bitmap > 1 > 1033 location with a 640×480 16 color Bitmap to modify the Win2k boot screen in a similar fashion.

How to change the BIOS Splash ScreenIf you want to remove the branded splash screen associated with your BIOS, you need to obtain the firmware update for your current BIOS and then edit the logo file that’s part of the BIOS fileset before applying the update.

Assuming your PC manufacturer has you create a floppy designed to flash the PC bios, you can fairly easily make a change to the logo displayed. Follow the directions to create the BIOS boot disk, simply replace the included logo.bmp file in the BIOS update package with a logo.bmp file created by you. The key here is to use a 16 color (NOT 16-bit color) 640×480 BMP file. Then copy yourlogo.bmp file onto the disk used for your BIOS update and then run the bundled logo.bat file by double-clicking it. This converts the logo.bmp to a format ready for the BIOS update.

It’s vital to keep all the files in the BIOS update named exactly as they were or your computer may not work after the update. Any changes made to BIOS update files should be done at your own risk and with extreme care.
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy