Upgrade my BIOS

  • Thread starter Thread starter bunker1275
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bunker1275

I have a 160G hard drive and windows doesnt recognize it. My Bios only
recognizes it as a 137G hard drive. I was told to upgrade my Bios, but
Im not sure how to do it.
 
its not your bios u need to upgrade
I had the same thing
I have a maxtor HD of 160 Gig a downloaded a file from the maxtor site and
now window see the full 160 GIG
With partition magic or womething like that u can then make 1 big partition
of 160 GIG
 
I was told to upgrade my Bios, but
Im not sure how to do it.
Click to expand...

There are many ways to do this:

The unsafety way would be to look for the id of your motherboard appearing
at the bottom of your screen when you boot eg.

12/21/1999-691-596-W877-2A6LFTG9C-00

then google. Sometimes (as it´s the way on my board) the information is
under the name for four bios, eg my board shows

Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG, ...
.....

TRM-P6Pro-A5-V1.07

In my case it means that I have the P6Pro-A5 Board, which you can find under
the site of Tekram.

The safe way is to open up your computer an to find out the hardware you
have. Write out the numbers of your platine so you are sure what you have
inside your box.

It is more safe because in some cases you may find different information,
which suggests you to have the right bios file but it isn´t.

Once you have find your model just download the .bin or zip file to disk.
Older boards don´t have the possibility to upgrade live from net or when
your system´s running an graphical OS.

If you have a zip file extract it in a directory (eg. c:\nbios). You need
AWDFL789.EXE [AWDFLASH] or another flash-programm.

Build a bootable dos-disc (format a: /s or for Windows 2000 use the W2K CD -
valueadd/3rdparties/Antivirus/makebootdisk or something similar, please
check your CD). Then copy your files to the disc and boot again from disc.

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU MUST READ THE INSTRUCTIONS! ANY CHANGES YOU CAN CAUSE
DAMAGES TO YOUR BOARD AND MAY DESTROY IT.

No risk, no fun :-)

Rob
 
I have a 160G hard drive and windows doesnt recognize it. My Bios only
recognizes it as a 137G hard drive. I was told to upgrade my Bios, but
Im not sure how to do it.
Click to expand...

You go to the motherboard makers website and download the latest bios
for the motherboard a small file. And you download the utility
program to flash the bios.

Usually you copy the program and bios file to a bootable floppy disk
and then boot up with the floppy disk and execute the command to flash
the bios they give you.

Many makers have a really easy to use WIndows version too which Ive
often used with no problem. However this is often frowned upon since
more people tend to have problems though I havent had a single one.

The big problem is if you really screw up a bios flash you could end
uip with a dead motherboard. Then you have to do some really pain in
the ass type stuff to get it working again , or pay $15-20 for a bios
flashing service to reflash your bios chip properly and send it back
to you or you buy a new chip from them.

The ways you can go wrong is - the power is interrupted right in the
middle of flashing your bios ! You have corrupt data from a bad
floppy or hard disk. You flash the wrong bios etc !

You can do this because some sites can be really bad - confusing. Some
makers have lots revisions , versions of the same model board and have
different bioses for each one.

I was looking at some the new motherboards and they have a backup bios
system !
 
I have a 160G hard drive and windows doesnt recognize it. My Bios only
recognizes it as a 137G hard drive. I was told to upgrade my Bios, but
Im not sure how to do it.
Click to expand...

Get a program that can tell you what board and BIOS you now have.
AIDA32 is a good one.

Then download the BIOS flash utility, the latest BIOS, and the BIOS
recovery utility...and follow the instructions.

Pretty simply nowadays...almost impossible to not be able to recover
from a bad flash.

Good luck.


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!
 
My motherboard is a K7S5A ver:1.0 p/n 40-012-D17100. I looked on their
website I wasnt sure which Bios I should use.
 
My motherboard is a K7S5A ver:1.0 p/n 40-012-D17100. I looked on their
website I wasnt sure which Bios I should use.
Click to expand...

Try again. Just follow the bouncing ball. AIDA32 will tell you what
BIOS version you have...and will even give you a hyperlink to the
proper site.

But if yer not sure...DON'T DO IT!


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!
 
How do I determine which BIOS I should use to upgrade my system with.
I know my BIOS date, but I dont want to just guess and cause major
problems for my self.
 
How do I determine which BIOS I should use to upgrade my system with.
I know my BIOS date, but I dont want to just guess and cause major
problems for my self.
Click to expand...

Visit the motherboard manufacturers website. Get the latest available. If
they publish the revision history, be sre to review that. If there are forums
or newsgroups for your hardware manufacturer check there as well for comments
about good or bad revisions. Check the support web pages. Otherwise, just get
the latest. The manufacturer probably also has instructions and utilities for
upgrading the BIOS. To determine your motherboard model, manufacturer, and
BIOS rev try:

Everest:
http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en&pageid=1

SiSoftware Sandra:
http://www.sisoftware.net/

CPU-Z:
http://www.cpuid.com/
 
bunker1275 said:
How do I determine which BIOS I should use to upgrade my system with.
I know my BIOS date, but I dont want to just guess and cause major
problems for my self.
Click to expand...

First ask whether you have any reason to upgrade your bios. Is
there something it doesn't do, and if so, what? If not, why take
the chance of converting your machine into junk.
 
Its not recognizing the full size of my hard drive, its limit is 137g.
I want to find the best possible solution to use my hard drive at full
capacity.
 
The problem isn't your BIOS. You can upgrade your BIOS so it sees the
entire drive, but that won't cause Windows to see the entire drive.
First, what version of Windows are you using?
Second, which service pack have you installed?
Third, is this 160GB drive an addition to an already existing drive?
Or is it a new drive that you want to install Windows on?
 
bunker1275 said:
Its not recognizing the full size of my hard drive, its limit is
137g. I want to find the best possible solution to use my hard
drive at full capacity.
Click to expand...

You do seem to be determined to lose all continuity of this thread
by failing to quote. Who knows what you are talking about by now.
What is an "its"?
 
In message <[email protected]> CBFalconer
You do seem to be determined to lose all continuity of this thread
by failing to quote. Who knows what you are talking about by now.
What is an "its"?
Click to expand...

its is the possessive form of it.

Its is the possessive form of the pronoun it and is correctly written
without an apostrophe. It should not be confused with the contraction
it's (for it is or it has), which should always have an apostrophe.
 
I am running windows XP service pack 2. The drive is an additional
drive to an existing 40G drive.
 
Your original message was rather vague when you said that Windows does
not recognize the drive, but if you are running Windows XP with SP2,
then Disk Management should show the entire 160GB drive and allow you
to partition and format it.
 
Disk Management doesnt recognize the secondary drive. In windows I
have no secondary drive. My BIOS recognizes that I have a secondary
drive but it has a limit of 137G.
 
Disk Management doesnt recognize the secondary drive. In windows I
have no secondary drive. My BIOS recognizes that I have a secondary
drive but it has a limit of 137G.
Click to expand...

You'll probably think I'm exaggerating, but If I had a
(working) K7S5A rev 1.0, I wouldn't even breathe heavy in
it's general direction, let alone change the bios. Some ECS
boards just aren't worth it, and that's one of them. I'd
suggest that you add a PCI controller card, but the funny
part is that, that board also had issues with several
controller cards in it's earlier bios verisons.

The board might even be near dead already, your best bet
might be replacing the motherboard now while you aren't
suffering any downtime.
 
DevilsPGD said:
its is the possessive form of it.

Its is the possessive form of the pronoun it and is correctly written
without an apostrophe. It should not be confused with the contraction
it's (for it is or it has), which should always have an apostrophe.
Click to expand...

"Its" cannot possibly be that. Such usage requires a previously
clearly enumerated object to which the pronoun can refer, and such
is obviously missing in the original as quoted.
 
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