update bios

[punjabian263]

Hello friends,
I need some help, I have installed OS win2000, and then I installed LINUX (red hat) for dual booting, after installation, when I restart the system, It gives an error message, for
Upgrading ACPI BIOS from www.hardware-update.com,
The system don't run. then next day I tried to start again, and it boot normally.
I want to know why there was error message. and now I should update my BIOS or not.
and what will be the benefit of updating the BIOS.


PUNJABIAN263

[Cybr1d]

having the most up to date bios is good but it doesnt really matter unless you have really old bios. Maybe there was a glitch which was then fixed automatically by the comp...so I wouldn't worry about it. The benefit of the updated Bios is *some of* that the bios will read all the new hardware installed properly. Such as reading a HD properly. When I was in high school, we got new HDs for old comps and their bios were only reading the HDs for about half the space there actually was.

[Ghost_25inf]

Updating the Bios can be very benificial, there are different drivers that can handle newer hardware, like AMD Athelon XP 1800+ worked fine with the 133 fsb but when i switched the jumper to support my newly added ddr 266 memory chips the computer seamed to lock up all the time. So updating it was a good thing besides the bios was version one now its version 8.

[punjabian263]

hello dears,
Thanks for guiding me.


PUNJABIAN263

***GREAT PEOPLE HAVE GREAT PUPIL***

[nihil]

Hi, the guys are quite correct in all they say about it being better to have the latest bios. Many modern motherboards (eg GigaByte) ship with software to make this easy. The principle is generally the same as always having the latest driver software, applying OS patches and so on.

My contibution (?) to this thread is to introduce a word of caution regarding older systems, as restoring these is one of my hobbies.

In the old days, the bios was not upgradeable by program........this is what is known as "flashing". If you lost your bios or needed an upgrade you had to insert a new bios chip on the motherboard.

More recently, all MoBos have shipped with "flashable" bioses; that is, the chip has external read/write capabilities, rather than purely internal ones from within the bios program itself.

The problem arises when you have a flashable bios chip that is "surface mounted". This means that the chip is soldered to the motherboard rather than being a plug-in component. Unless you are pretty good and have the right tools such as a de-soldering iron, any problems will mean a trip to the repair shop........................co$$$$tly!

Obviously if you flash such a bios chip and it fails you can be in big trouble, particularly as the older bios updating programs are not as fault tolerant as they are now.

The bottom line is that if you have a surface mounted bios chip, and things are working fine, you are probably better advised to leave them alone, as the risk outweighs the negligible benefits of updating.

Anyway, it does not make much sense to add new components that would require a bios upgrade to an old system????????

Cheers