how do i keep it alive?

hi, ave got an old compaq-presario desk top(32mb, 10gb,295mhz intel pmmx, modem,.....) i want to try a bios upgrade i checked its flashable but if i make a mistake , can i recover and how?

Hi owor, welcome to AO.

Quote:

---

how do i keep it alive?

---

The simple answer to that is by not killing it :)

Why do you want to update the BIOS in the first place? What are you expecting that to do for you?

I would generally not recommend the updating of BIOS on an old machine unless it is absolutely essential..................the risk of failure is too great.

The most likely thing that you will get is the ability to recognise a larger hard drive, and you can go to most decent HDD manufacturers' sites and get an installation tool that will take care of that (loads EZDrive or the like).

Any update is likely to be several years old anyway?

I cannot be too precise, as you have not given enough information............Compaq made lots of "presario" and "deskpro" models................It sounds like a PII or early PIII, and it cannot be 295MHz....................it sounds as if it is overclocked or underclocked. Go into <start> <control panel> <system> that should tell you what it really is?

If you screw up flashing the BIOS on a machine that old, you will have to replace the chip on the MoBo, and that would cost more than the machine is worth.

Without further information, my advice is don't do it.

Cheers

sorry but no chance for that if you have screwed up with bios. I dont think that there is any remedy for that oldy motherboard of yours. and as nihil said
Why do you want to update the BIOS in the first place? What are you expecting that to do for you?

0-80 updates for bios do nothing. so please try update if it is eXtremely need :)

I trashed a few BIOS's in my early days, the only remedy is to send the Mother Board back to the manufactures and they will either re-flash it or replace the CMOS chip, however with your computer being so old I wouldnt be suprised if they arnt able to do this if you mess it up, due to lack of equipment on their behalf.

However if you have the correct update for the BIOS and you falsh it properly there is nothing to fear really and it can solve certain problems, such as recognizing todays size of hard drive (as nihil said).

If you do decide to flash it make sure you let it restart when it wants to, dont do what I did the first time it done it and just turn the bloody thing off!!!

If you dont let it restart, it is 1000% absolutly guaranteed not to ever boot up again!! (trust me on this!)

Whatever you decide to do, i wish you luck!!

Yes,

The computer is very old and probably not supported, particularly as Compaq have been taked over by HP.

I would certainly not flash the BIOS unless absolutely neccessary, as it will be a years old update anyway?

Cheers

I've done a few and even now i still get swetty palms and palpatations. I have been lucky though and never botched one yet, "touch wood".

Only do it if it is an imperative, and do alot of research first.

What problem(s) are you experiencing anyway to make you want to flash it?

hav pII anyway apparently yo colleagues or even you (who knows) at bios central talk of programms for recovery but with all yo warnings i'll first get anew machine first
thanks

Lol, thats proberbly the safest solution!

Owor,

You have an old motherboard............if you mess up the BIOS on that you might as well throw the machine away.

Modern boards have dual BIOS and recovery features........your does NOT, so please don't mess with it.

Cheers