Hardware Guides
  Home arrow Hardware Guides arrow Page 3 - Why and How to Flash Your BIOS
Dev Hardware Forums 
Computer Cases  
Computer Processors  
Computer Systems  
Digital Cameras  
Flat Panels  
Hardware Guides  
Hardware News  
Input Devices  
Memory  
Mobile Devices  
Motherboards  
Networking Hardware  
Opinions  
PC Cooling  
PC Gaming  
PC Speakers  
Peripherals  
Power Supply Units  
Software  
Sound Cards  
Storage Devices  
Tech Interviews  
User Experiences  
Video Cards  
Mobile Linux 
APP Generation ROI 
IBM® developerWorks 
Sun Developer Network 
Weekly Newsletter
 
Developer Updates  
Free Website Content 
 RSS  Articles
 RSS  Forums
 RSS  All Feeds
Write For Us Get Paid 
Request Media Kit
Contact Us 
Site Map 
Privacy Policy 
Support 
 USERNAME
 
 PASSWORD
 
 
  >>> SIGN UP!  
  Lost Password? 
HARDWARE GUIDES

Why and How to Flash Your BIOS
By: Barzan "Tony" Antal
  • Search For More Articles!
  • Disclaimer
  • Author Terms
  • Rating: 5 stars5 stars5 stars5 stars5 stars / 108
    2007-04-02

    Table of Contents:
  • Why and How to Flash Your BIOS
  • Understanding the Process
  • Precautions…
  • More Precautions

  • Rate this Article: Poor Best 
      ADD THIS ARTICLE TO:
      Del.ici.ous Digg
      Blink Simpy
      Google Spurl
      Y! MyWeb Furl
    Email Me Similar Content When Posted
    Add Developer Shed Article Feed To Your Site
    Email Article To Friend
    Print Version Of Article
    PDF Version Of Article
     
     
    ADVERTISEMENT


    Why and How to Flash Your BIOS - Precautions…


    (Page 3 of 4 )

    I can't stress enough that flashing the BIOS can be dangerous if the flashing process isn't finished successfully or if the newly flashed file doesn't match your system or is incorrect. First of all, be aware of electricity and the chances of a power outage. Never flash if there is bad weather outside; losing electricity while in the middle of flashing can have disastrous effects. It's always advisable to have a USP too. Flashing the BIOS doesn't takes longer than one minute so it's very important to be "safe" while flashing; if you must, borrow a USP from your next door neighbor, if possible.

    Before proceeding to flash don't forget to go into your BIOS and write down (or take a photo if you' have a camera) all of your settings. This is crucial because the "default" settings may not be the best option for your system, especially if you've tweaked BIOS and you do not remember anymore what tweaks you've applied.

    Do NOT reboot and/or shut down your system while flashing; the reason for that should be self-explanatory. It's also recommended that you set your BIOS options to "default": reboot, go into BIOS and select the option "Load Fail-safe defaults" or something similar. Now all you need to do is to make backup bootable system disk(s), which can save you in case of a bad flash. Let me explain why.

    I'm going to introduce and explain a new term in my article: the "boot-block." A boot-block is a small part of the BIOS that helps in case of a bad flash. Let me explain how and why. When flashing the BIOS usually (if you don't use additional commands) the boot-block remains intact, meaning that the "original" boot-block remains safe. The boot-block only contains the data that lets it know how to boot and flash the BIOS from a floppy disk or CD.

    Suppose the data on the BIOS is screwed up; no POST will happen, nothing will appear on your monitor but your FDD and optical drives are going to blink like hell. This means that you have a bad flash. Either the wrong version of BIOS was flashed onto the ROM or there was a power outage and the flashing stopped right in the middle of the process. You can save your computer by inserting a bootable MS-DOS floppy disk (or CD) that is going to have following files on it: your flasher, a new BIOS flash file and "autoexec.bat." Autoexec.bat is executed as soon as your system boots up in MS-DOS. You need to include a command to run the flashing utility. Check out the following two examples; the first one is for AMI and the second one for Award.

    amiflash.exe newbios.bin /A+ /-B /-C /-D /E /-G /I /L /N /R /V

    awdflash.exe newbios.bin /py /sn

    The above examples work only for AMI/AWARD chips, obviously. Replace the example with the correct commands, the name of the new flash file and use the appropriate flasher. After you've put everything on the floppy, insert it and reboot.

    More Hardware Guides Articles
    More By Barzan "Tony" Antal


       · Thanks for reading. Any feedback? :)
       · Does anyone have any tips for rescuing a bad Phoenix BIOS flash?
       · I think your references to a USP should really be UPS (Uninterruptable Power...
       · Yes. That's what I meant. Thanks for pointing that out. UPS = uninterruptible...
       · Hey,Well, have you tried the rescuing tips presenting in this article? Check out...
       · hi tony,i downloaded a bios update package from hp.com .(hp should not put that...
       · Hey other Loozah: Did you ever get your HP Flash crash repaired. I have an HP and...
       · can you flash the BIOS with a USB drive? I am at a loss for floppy drives on my new...
       · do mobo's generally arrive with the latest bios available (barring those sitting on...
       · please help meI have two problems first, I have problem to install the window xp...
       · hey just wondering if anyone can help me, i have a Fujitsu Siemens scenic t 845D...
       · i read your very help full article and decided to give it a go. i have been having...
       · Well I read your article and I was excited to try to salvage an old ShuttleX I had...
       · First of all i would like to thank you for this great article , most of us ( normal...
       · i just bought a computer from my friend, all the parts like the hard disk,video...
     

    HARDWARE GUIDES ARTICLES

    - Recovering Deleted Data
    - Gotta Have Green Gadgets
    - Top Five Green Laptops
    - Back it Up: the Best Way to Save Your Comput...
    - Brief Guide to Creating Your Own Ringtones
    - Going Wireless
    - Getting the Most out of Your Video Gadget St...
    - Troubleshooting Laptop Instabilities
    - Troubleshooting Laptop Hardware Problems
    - Getting the Most out of Your Audio Gadget St...
    - Advanced Study of Accurate Voltage Measureme...
    - An Introduction to Accurate Voltage Measurem...
    - How Cable and Wire Management Affects Aesthe...
    - Why and How to Flash Your BIOS
    - Competitive Benchmarking Tips and Tricks

     
    Best Practices for Windows Vista Migration Presentation
    Dell and Microsoft recently held a series of face-to-face seminars entitled, &qu....

     
    Creating a Culture for Code Reuse
    If you oversee development teams you know that like it or not proprietary and ex....

     
    Keys to Web Application Acceleration: Advances in Delivery Systems
    Accelerate Web apps by up to 5x. Ensure significantly faster access to the Web a....

     
    Optimizing Application Monitoring
    Tired of finding out from your customers that you're offline? This white paper e....

     
    Solaris to Solaris Migration -- Migrating applications from Sun SPARC to Dell PowerEdge R900
    This comprehensive Migration Guide reviews the approach that Principled Technolo....

     





    © 2003-2009 by Developer Shed. All rights reserved. DS Cluster 6 hosted by Hostway
    Stay green...Green IT