Mini9 BIOS flash problem

I have a Mini9 with XP Home.  The battery is dead and I purchased a new battery that does not seem to charge.  The laptop runs fine on A/C, but when I've tried to flash the BIOS from A00 to A06 but I get the dreaded -144 error from Winphlash.

I have not been able to find a workaround it appears from some searching that the battery must have at least 10% in order for Winplash to work?  Since both the batteries I have are dead, is there anyway to flash the bios with just A/C? 

Thanks!