Updating BIOS?

[chu]

Ok here is where I am getting the info.

It says to type "FORMAT A:/S" in the dos prompt. So I typed in C:\FORMAT A:/S but whenever I try that it says "Invalid parameter /s".

It says it's to create a "Bootable system floppy disk", does it mean a system startup disk? Or to jsut format the disk?

Am I doing something wrong?

Also I dloaded AFLASH.EXE from asus.com. Does that have the new BIOS in it or is the bios a seperate file? In step 2, updating BIOS, it says to type the filename and path of the new BIOS. Please help.

 

[Shuzer]

You'll want to create a boot disk to get into DOS prompt.

Depending on your operating system, it varies, but if you're running XP, go to:

My Computer, right click A:\, click Format, check off "Create an MS-DOS Startup Diskette"


For Windows 98:

Click Start

Point to Settings and click Control Panel

Click Add/Remove Programs


Click the Startup Disk tab

Click the Create Disk button

For Windows ME:

Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then click Add/Remove Programs.
Click the Startup Disk tab, and then click Create Disk.

 

[SidewinderX]

ok. Go into my cimputer, right click on the floppy drive and format as a bootable disk (see above post).

Then copy the bios flash files/ progams onto that floppy.


restart your computer with the sloppy in the drive

it should boot up to a promt, and type the name of the file you need to run (aflash.exe) and it should run.


follow directions.

 

[chu]

Whenever I try to make an MS-DOS startup disk I get this message-

"An unexpected I/O error has occured"

Does this mean the disk is bad or something?

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

One of the reasons i love abit: They have flashmenu tool, just save the BIOS, open up flash menu and flash it.

 

[chu]

Asus has that EZ FLash, but you have to type in the filename and path of the new bios, what would that be?

 

[Shuzer]

Oh. That's easy, you just have to drop the ROM file onto a floppy disk.

What motherboard do you have?

 

[chu]

ASUS A7N266-C, ROM file?

 

[RABIES]

----just thought I would comment, I had a friend with an asus mobo, his bios update manual said not to flash from a floppy. So I did anyway, and it worked just fine. Still to this day it boggles my mind why they would say not to flash from a floppy.....----

 

[Noodlygod]

Chu: The updated bios should come in a zip file that has a .ROM file in it. Normally it's some big funky name that doesn't make any sense. the .ROM file IS the bios update. So copy that to a disk, reboot hit F11 and type in a:/filename.rom (whatever the name of the file is.) And ROM stands for Read Only Memory if you were curious.

Rabies: They say don't update from a floppy because it's "unstable" media. If you got it too close to a magnet of some sort it could corrupt the bios file and your system would be screwed.

If you've got a drive that's formatted as FAT32 then you can just copy the file to that drive and run it from there. (So if you have say a drive d that's FAT32 you'd then type say d:/filename.rom and it'd get the file from the drive... actually if your main drive is NTFS it'd probably make the FAT drive C: so it'd be c:/filename.rom) At any rate the floppy is the way I've always done it and I've never had it go wrong before. Theres just a slightly larger risk invlolved using a floppy.

 

[chu]

The where do I get the bios?

All I got from asus.com was that AFLASH.EXE.

 

[Noodlygod]

Ahh, that's the flash utility. I'm afraid I skipped past the last part of your post. If you've got the A7N266-C then you'll want this file:
(I grabbed it and stuck it on my server because the Asus site is generally a pain.)
http://www.focuslost.com/a7nc1004.zip

Also, because of the motherboards age I don't know if it will have the easy flash. If it does just put the .AWD file on a floppy and do what I said earlier. (It turned out to be a .awd file not a .rom file) If it doesn't have an easy flash utility create a boot disk as illustrated above, then copy both the aflash.exe file and the .AWD file (NOT the zip, the AWD) to the disk. Once you've booted from the disk type "aflash A7nc1004.AWD" And it should run the program and flash it. Some flash utilities don't take the filename when you launch the file. So if it gives you an error when you try it that way just type "aflash" and run the flash program. (Then enter the .awd file from within there)

Good luck!

 

[chu]

Well I can't seem to make a boot disk because I get that "Unexpected I/O error" everytime I try.

 

[crabcakes66]

is your disk drive set up properly?

 

[chu]

I believe so

 

[chu]

Another question, what files would be on the boot disk?

I have this disk that I might have made as a boot disk and these are what files are on it:

Display (System File)
EGA2.CPI
EGA3.CPI
EGA.CPI
KEYB (MS-DOS Application)
KEYBOARD (System File)
KEYBRD2 (System File)
KEYBRD3 (System File)
KEYBRD4 (System File)
MODE (MS-DOS Application)

 

[Noodlygod]

Those don't look like what you'd need but I can't remember exactly what should be on there. Is your floppy drives light on all the time? Or does it come on at all when you first boot up the PC? (If it's on all the time your cable is in backwords, flip it and try again. If it's never at all it's either broken or isn't getting power.)

 

[chu]

It works when I access files but it just doesn't want to make a boot disk. Could it be because of a bad floppy disk?

 

[crabcakes66]

hmm....that doesnt look right to me either.

edit: yes try several disks

i would look and see exactly what its supposed to look like chu but i dont have a floppy drive hooked up at the moment.

 

[chu]

Well the files on the disk are correct for a startup disk, except that I am missing three of the files needed though.

COMMAND.COM
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS