Recovering Dead Motherboards Killed by the CIH Virus

Removing the BIOS Chip

To remove the chip, you can use a small screwdriver, if the BIOS chip from your motherboard is DIP (Dual In-Line Package, see Figure 1). If it is PLCC (Plastic Leadless Chip Carrier, see Figure 2) you will need a special extraction tool.

Figure 1: DIP chip packing. You can remove this kind of chip using a small screwdriver.

Figure 2: PLCC chip packing. For this kind you will need a special chip extraction tool.

Figure 3: PLCC Extraction Tool, used to remove PLCC BIOS chips.

Watch out for not touching any metallic part from motherboard with the screwdriver or extraction tool, mainly any of the ROM terminals. If that happens, you can blow out motherboard.

To remove the DIP chip, just push one side of the chip and then the other side, as we shown on the following figures.

Figure 4: Push one of the chip sides a little bit.

Figure 5: Push the other side a little bit.

Figure 6: Pull it.

Figure 7: And presto!

When installing the chip back, pay attention to not insert it back in the wrong position. Let’s talk about it now.