Current thoughts on BIOS flashing

  • Thread starter Thread starter billh
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billh

I bought a new P5P800 MB running NTFS XP to use in a light file
sharing/print server application. I didn't buy a floppy drive with the
machine for the first time in my life since the general trend is to sell
floppyless machines. I have at least 3 used ones sitting in my parts box but
I deliberately didn't install one.

The only reason I see where I might wish I had a floppy is if I wanted to
flash the BIOS. In the past I have always used the DOS floppy method rather
than LiveUpdates or whatever. I also recall reading on NGs a few years ago
anybody who didn't use the DOS floppy method was seen as courting disaster.

I haven't followed current trends so I am asking what is considered the best
(safest) way to upgrade a BIOS these days? Or in other words, should I be
installing a used floppy drive?

Thanks for your help,
Billh
 
"billh" said:
I bought a new P5P800 MB running NTFS XP to use in a light file
sharing/print server application. I didn't buy a floppy drive with the
machine for the first time in my life since the general trend is to sell
floppyless machines. I have at least 3 used ones sitting in my parts box but
I deliberately didn't install one.

The only reason I see where I might wish I had a floppy is if I wanted to
flash the BIOS. In the past I have always used the DOS floppy method rather
than LiveUpdates or whatever. I also recall reading on NGs a few years ago
anybody who didn't use the DOS floppy method was seen as courting disaster.

I haven't followed current trends so I am asking what is considered the best
(safest) way to upgrade a BIOS these days? Or in other words, should I be
installing a used floppy drive?

Thanks for your help,
Billh
Click to expand...

I doubt that anyone has statistics for BIOS flash failure
rates as a function of the tool used. That will make it
pretty hard to argue conclusively for one method over
another.

I see a couple of ingredients that should help. The file
you use to flash the BIOS should be stored on a local disk,
whether that is your C drive, or a floppy diskette. I would
never use a method which is pulling the file live from a
server on the network (as if my modem drops in the middle
of the flash operation, I'm cooked).

The Asus download page frequently has warnings about which
flashing tools work, and which ones don't work, as a function
of the BIOS release version. I would want a flash method
that makes me read those notes before flashing.

From a hypothetical viewpoint, the last ingredient in terms
of risk, is any operation that can interfere with the BIOS
flash program. With a Windows LiveUpdate style option,
the Windows scheduler can usually be relied on to give
each program its fair slice of execution time. If you have
been experiencing a lot of OS crashes or freezes, that would
be a bad time to be using LiveUpdate. (Same for the floppy too.)
Similarly, if you suspect the computer has viruses or Trojans,
a compromise like that might affect the odds of something
happening right in the middle of the flash operation. In any
case, I would at least stop all unnecessary tasks (i.e. quit
my MP3 player), when doing the LiveUpdate.

The floppy method comes the closest to meeting those
requirements, and the worst part of the floppy method, is
relying on the floppy when reading the data. I would want to
make damn sure the floppy drive and floppy disk you have
selected are 100%, meaning at least a surface scan of the
floppy for bad blocks. Formatting a floppy on the drive you
plan on using it on, is the best from an interworking point of
view. If the floppy is new from the box, I would want to
format it before using it. This is especially true of floppies
that have been sitting around for a while.

I don't see a need to invoke a religion here, just make sure
you follow some reasonable precautions. For example, all this
caution would be a waste of time, if you left the machine
in an extreme overclocked state while trying to flash it.

If you have any greedy antt-virus software running on the
computer, that in itself might be enough reason to find
a different environment to be using for the flash operation.

Maybe flashing from Linux is the answer :-)))

Paul
 
billh said:
I bought a new P5P800 MB running NTFS XP to use in a light file
sharing/print server application. I didn't buy a floppy drive with the
machine for the first time in my life since the general trend is to sell
floppyless machines. I have at least 3 used ones sitting in my parts box
but I deliberately didn't install one.

The only reason I see where I might wish I had a floppy is if I wanted to
flash the BIOS. In the past I have always used the DOS floppy method
rather than LiveUpdates or whatever. I also recall reading on NGs a few
years ago anybody who didn't use the DOS floppy method was seen as
courting disaster.

I haven't followed current trends so I am asking what is considered the
best (safest) way to upgrade a BIOS these days? Or in other words, should
I be installing a used floppy drive?

Thanks for your help,
Billh
Click to expand...

Hi,

I just bought a P5P800S two weeks ago and the
enclosed CD has a utility which allows you to flash
the BIOS from within Windows, which means no
floppy drive is required.

I haven't been brave enough to try it yet, though!

Michael.

It's Not Rocket Science, It's Only The Human Psyche
©2005 www.mist.mirrorz.com
 
You already know the best way to flash a BIOS chip so I can`t figure out why
you bothered to ask.
As for should you be installing a used floppy drive, I guess you could throw
all caution to the winds and spend $15 on a new drive. If you can`t afford
the $15 then a used one will suffice.
 
What's wrong with a boot CD, emulating a floppy drive containing the dos
flash program and the bios file? That of course assumes you at least have a
CD drive in this machine to have installed the OS. I have used this method
for the past couple years w/o issue.

Dave
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billh said:
I bought a new P5P800 MB running NTFS XP to use in a light file
sharing/print server application. I didn't buy a floppy drive with the
machine for the first time in my life since the general trend is to sell
floppyless machines. I have at least 3 used ones sitting in my parts box but
I deliberately didn't install one.

The only reason I see where I might wish I had a floppy is if I wanted to
flash the BIOS. In the past I have always used the DOS floppy method rather
than LiveUpdates or whatever. I also recall reading on NGs a few years ago
anybody who didn't use the DOS floppy method was seen as courting disaster.

I haven't followed current trends so I am asking what is considered the best
(safest) way to upgrade a BIOS these days? Or in other words, should I be
installing a used floppy drive?
Click to expand...

I now use my trusty flash drive and a copy of DOS.

This makes it bootable if you have the DOS files handy:
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/hpcpqdt/us/download/20306.html

Bootdisk.com probably has a verion of DOS if you can't find one.

My flash drive appears as a hard drive, so I have to use the F11 boot
menu to prioritise it. (I have an MSI K8N Diamond)

Ben
 
David said:
What's wrong with a boot CD, emulating a floppy drive containing the dos
flash program and the bios file? That of course assumes you at least have a
CD drive in this machine to have installed the OS. I have used this method
for the past couple years w/o issue.
Click to expand...

Using a bootable floppy-emulation CD works just as reliably as a real
floppy, the only disadvantage is you can't back up the current BIOS
unless you have a writable FAT file system available.

P2B
 
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