bios puzzle

[Guest]

hi all...i hope someone knows for sure...
how do i upgrade my bios in winXP..???
in previous windows i just put it on a bootable floppy restarted went into DOS and it installed but winXP has no DOS...i've read of people that tried that on winXP but it messed their puters up...so i'm reluctant to try that..i've asked around but no joy even the motherboard manufacturer failed to reply..they have the usual floppy instructions on their website....any help out there guys..or maybe Tom..?????

 

[Toejam31]

If you'll list some pertinent system specifications, such as the brand name and model number of mainboard, and the BIOS version + the BIOS date, someone here can surely tell you exactly how to flash your BIOS.

I've flashed different BIOS versions in WinXP, and the procedure was exactly the same as with Win9x. I've had the best luck using two floppy disks ... one with DOS 6.22 for the boot, and then accessing the second disk with the BIOS and the flash manager from the command line.

<font color=green>"in previous windows i just put it on a bootable floppy restarted went into DOS and it installed but winXP has no DOS...i've read of people that tried that on winXP but it messed their puters up."</font color=green>

My guess is that this is due almost entirely to user error, and not because of using a startup disk.

The MS-DOS you need to boot to a command line is on the floppy disk, and doesn't need to be a part of the operating system. It isn't necessary to re-boot the operating system into an underlying version of MS-DOS that is part of the OS in order to flash a BIOS ... but only into the version of DOS that is on the floppy.

MS-DOS is a very small operating system .. especially the limited version of Windows DOS on a Win9x startup disk!

Toejam31

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<font color=purple>"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."</font color=purple>

 

[Guest]

thanks toejam
its an Elite K7S5A...i'm thinking of changing it but was concerned cos i thought it had to go into DOS...you think its ok to use winXP MS DOS huh?....i know how to flash it..it was just this DOS thing that worried me...by the way where can i download DOS 6.22 ??

 

[Toejam31]

No such thing as WinXP DOS ... just Windows DOS, or MS-DOS, or a full version of the OS. LOL!

You can download a DOS 6.22 boot disk <A HREF="http://www.mirrors.org/archived_software/www.bootdisk.com/original.htm" target="_new">here</A>. And several others as well.

Let us know if you get stuck on something, or need specific instructions.

Note: Be sure to change the boot order in the BIOS to floppy first, and check to see if there is a setting in the BIOS that allows it to be temporarily flashable. It's this that often causes checksum errors after a flashing. And always ... ALWAYS backup the old BIOS on the floppy ... just in case!

I also prefer, personally, to shut down the system after a BIOS flash, clear the CMOS with a jumper (if available), rest the jumper to "normal", boot up, and then manually set my BIOS perferences after loading the optimal defaults.

You'll know if you did it correctly if the date of the BIOS has changed, and the system boots without errors.

Last thing. Make sure the floppies are freshly formatted. You don't need a file system error during a BIOS flash ... that = bad news.

See ya!

Toejam31

<font color=red>My Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new"><font color=green>Toejam31's Tantalizing Tantric Toy</font color=green></A>
<font color=red>Second Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new"><font color=green>Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</font color=green></A>
____________________________________________________________

<font color=purple>"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."</font color=purple>

 

[Guest]

thanks for your time and help Toejam....
dos has always confused me and when i found out winXP had no dos [like win95/98/ME ] and i'd heard that others had met problems when upgrading the bios..i just couldn't take the chance without really finding out about it...you are the only person thats bothered to respond also clear and simple [like me..lol ]...i'll post again if i run into trouble...and THANKS again

 

[Zoron]

Some boards have utilities available to flash the BIOS while in Windows. Asus is the example that comes to mind, I have an A7V that I've flashed five times using the Asus Update Utility in Windows...

Check with your board manufacturer to see what they have available for flash utilities.

<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>