bob said:
Can someone walk me through how to upgrade my bios? It's for an asus a8n-e.
Use really stupid text as I've been trying for a month now and I'm totally
confused.
Thanks, Bob
Well, the first thing you have to understand, is what it is going to cost
you if the flash operation goes wrong.
1) Contact badflash.com . Order a new BIOS chip. Cost is about $25.
2) Wait for a number of days, for badflash to ship the chip.
3) Be unable to use the computer until the chip is replaced. The
BIOS chip is in a socket, and you use a chip puller to remove
it. It takes a fair amount of force to install the new chip
(and you don't use a tool to install the new one, you just
push down on it with your thumb). I recommend the motherboard
be well supported underneath the socket when installing the
new one, and that would mean pulling the motherboard out of
the computer case, if you want to avoid the possibility of
damaging the board.
So, to prepare for the worst case, do you have another computer ?
Can you stand to be without your A8N-E for a week, if the flash
goes bad ? Do you have a good reason to flash the BIOS - what
are you trying to fix ?
Your manual will describe several methods for flashing the BIOS.
The Asus Update program flashes the BIOS while in Windows. While
that is the simplest procedure for the user, it is also risky.
If using Asus Update, I would want the file to be downloaded and
on the computer already, before giving the flash command.
The second method, is booting a MSDOS floppy. Now, some people don't
have a floppy drive on their computer, and then that is not much of
an option for them. The advantage of the DOS method, is there are
no other tasks on the computer, or network activity, that can
interrupt the flash operation.
No matter what method you choose to use, you _always_ read the
warnings on the Asus download page for your motherboard. Some
BIOS releases can only be flash upgraded by one of the available
methods, as the other methods are guaranteed to bork the BIOS.
These are the warnings for the current release:
"Please do read the description before updating BIOS
To avoid crashing file system, please do update the chipset driver
to below version prior to this Bios.
For WinXP 32bit system, please download and update chipset
drivers V6.65 or later..."
Basically, the warning in this case, is to update the chipset
drivers, as apparently the newest BIOS will upset older chipset
drivers (maybe it prevents the system from booting ?). At least
there are no warnings about the flashing method to use.
Page 54 here describes using EZflash. Put the file to flash on
the floppy and press <alt-F2> when the computer first starts.
The colorful screen should appear, prompting for a file name.
You would type A8NE1013.Rom as the file name. There is no need
for A:\. The file should already be on the floppy. The floppy
should be inserted into the computer before pressing alt-F2.
ftp://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket939/A8N-E/e1911_a8n-e.pdf
You download A8NE1013.zip from the Asus site, and unzip it. A
file of name A8NE1013.Rom should result. It is exactly 524288 bytes.
Copy it to your floppy diskette. There should not be anything else
on the floppy.
Note that, EZflash does not prompt you to back up the current
BIOS. I like to do that, when I update a BIOS. The DOS method
(section 2.1.1 and 2.1.2 of the manual) where you boot into MSDOS
with a MSDOS boot floppy, would allow you to make a backup copy
of the current BIOS, before flashing. EZflash doesn't offer that
option. It just flashes the new BIOS. But at least EZflash is an
easy procedure to follow (easier than preparing a boot floppy),
and if the BIOS is borked, it is going to cost you $25 to fix it,
plus waiting a week for a new BIOS chip.
And if the manual is not enough for you, there are also descriptions
available here. You should still read your user manual, and get the
right name for the flashing program (awdflash). You need to know
which flashing program that your motherboard uses, in order to pick
the right document from the list here:
http://support.asus.com/technicaldocuments/technicaldocuments.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
Paul
