I am trying to repurpose an APC 910 which was removed from a decommissioned machine.
I cannot access the BIOS since there is no image signal until the boot process is finished (Windows 10).
The question is if the BIOS can be updated via the ADI control center utility. When running the software, I am seeing the option to update the firmware but the option for updating the BIOS (current version 1.20) is grayed out.
I want to update the BIOS in order to restore its settings.
If video signal is not visible on your screen then very likely it is in BIOS set another video output for that. So try to connect display to another video interface you have available on your APC.
you can also restore BIOS to default without display. The sequence how to do that is during booting press DEL then F9 + enter then F10 + enter. The only problem there is that you have to have “proper” timing for that.
Thank you very much for your prompt and clever reply Mr. Kovar,
I just tried the key sequence and it would undoubtedly work under normal conditions, however in this case, since the PC is not restarting after pressing F10 + enter for the last time, I am guessing that the BIOS is password protected.
I have admin rights on the Windows image that is loaded on the SSD and also access to the ADI interface if this helps.
BIOS is password protected,hm? to be sure try to connect display to free video output interface. There, for sure, must be one where you will see BIOS. Another trick that can work is, just to download BIOS update, prepare another CFAST card with BIOS update, modify startup file in way that BIOS update will not wait for confirmation from keyboard, so it will start automatically. Unplug your CFAST card with OS Windows, plug new CFAST card with BIOS update…and power on your APC…
Through some online searching, I managed to find the BIOS password used by this manufacturer and load the optimized defaults with the key sequence you suggested.
I could then access the BIOS but I could only see the first page since I had limited access with this password.
The last step would be to update the BIOS via the EFI shell in order to erase the password, which worked flawlessly.
The problem is now solved. Thank you for your excellent support once again!
Last but not least, a few words on the image interface. All interfaces were probably disabled through the BIOS. The only interface I could not try is SDL3 (PC features an additional card) since I do not have a compatible panel at the moment, but I removed the SDL3 card and nothing changed. During boot sequence all image interfaces (analog & digital DVI and DP) remained inactive.
It would have probably worked via SDL3 though since I don’t think it is possible to deactivate all interfaces during boot.
we are here in community one big family:)