Customizing the BIOS Boot Logo

Coding the File and Upgrading the BIOS

After converting your bmp file into an epa type file (don’t forget to save it), you’ll need to code this file inside the BIOS upgrade file. To perform that, you’ll need to use Cbrom program and also you will need the BIOS file for your motherboard (downloaded from the manufacturer’s website). This program must be used in DOS prompt as below:

Cbrom BIOS_FILE_NAME /epa epa_file.epa

For example, supposing you’re altering Soyo 5BT motherboard BIOS, whose BIOS file, downloaded from manufacturer’s web site, is called 5bt_1b7.bin, whereas the name of your logo file is logo.epa, the command would then be:

Cbrom 5bt-1b7.bin /epa logo.epa

This command will modify the contents of BIOS file. After this modification is done, next step is to perform the BIOS upgrade, and have the file contents actually recorded inside BIOS computer. This procedure must be done by means of the Awdflash.exe file, which is available from motherboard manufacturer’s website.
When executing this program, it will prompt you for the name of the file to be recorded (in our example 5bt-1b7.bin) and also whether you want to store the current BIOS in a backup file. We recommend this to be done, just in case something goes wrong during recording. In Figure 4 we see Awdfash.exe in action.

Figure 4: Performing the BIOS upgrade.

Wait until the program ends BIOS recording. As we mentioned before, you may want to read our tutorial on BIOS upgrade if these instructions are too complicated for you.
If everything went well, after next boot, PC will be displaying your logo.