DETAILED GUIDE TO FLASHING YOUR BIOS.

[anishcool]

Warning ! Before you begin please make note that improper flashing can render you motherboard useless !

Flashing is used when new hardware you have purchased is not compatible with your older bios. like for e.g. new memory sticks may not be compatible with older mobo's and u can flash ur bios to support them (though they should be of the same type).

Original Flash Method:

Two separate diskettes are needed. The first diskette is the Windows 95/98 Boot Disk. The second diskette should contain the flash utility and the file to program (unzipped) with no other files on the diskette.

Procedure:


Hard boot the system using the boot disk.
Make sure that you hit the F5 key when the book disk first starts running to make sure no other programs are loaded in the background without your knowledge.
You will come to an A: prompt. Remove the first diskette.
Insert the second diskette containing the flash utility and the file to program. Type "dir" to check the disk contents.
Type in the name of the flash utility followed by a space, followed by the file to program and any special triggers that would be required after the file program name. As a general rule all Award based bios flashes use the /py /sn /f /cc /r at the end of the flash utility to work correctly. AMI as a general rule uses /a /b /c at the end of their flash utility to work correctly. Not all flash utilities or versions require triggers on the end of the flash line. If there are special triggers to add on the end of the flash utility it would be stated in any FAQ's that would be on the website. EXAMPLE: flashv73 1854v107.bin /py /sn /f /cc /r (enter key) or phlash16 2460v104.rom (enter key)
Clear the CMOS jumper. Reboot system and the flashed version of the BIOS should now be seen during the POST screen details.

USB Flash Key Method:

BIOS must be able to boot to USB bootable devices. Not all core bios versions have USB as a bootable option. Double check your documentation if you are unsure if this option is supported.


Make the USB Flash key bootable
Insure that you have the command.com, IO.sys and MSDOS.sys files on the USB key so that it will be bootable.
Place the unzipped batch files (batch file, flash utility, bios file and .txt file) on the USB key.
Make sure that the USB Flash Key is at the top of the boot order in your bios so that when the motherboard is turned on it will immediately boot to the USB Flash Key and boot cleanly to an A: prompt.
Simply type in flash at the A: prompt and the rest will be handled by the batch file itself.
Clear the CMOS. Reboot system and the flashed version of the BIOS should now be present on your monitor.

These are two methods that we at our service centre use. There is another i.e. the Batch file method but it does not support all mobos yet. Interesting comments welcome !

[ujjwal]

Nice info anish ... btw, is there any method to detect if one's video card bios is flashable or not?

[anishcool]

does nobody want to post any interesting comments ?

[anishcool]

uh, yes ujjwal, but i'm not too sure, i hope some experienced users on this forum will help you out and make this topic a little more popular.