is updating the BIOS really dangerous?

[vvirtho]

Manpreet:
Sorry this took so long - I had a hard time finding the files I needed. Okay, the Manufacturer of your motherboard is Zida - it is a Tomato board (no joke). Model is BX98 and your Bios version is 1.06. I already told you it is the Apollo Pro (691/596) Chipset. Here's where it gets a little sticky . . . there are at least 3 revisions of this board. If it is a straight BX98 - then you have a dual AT/ATX board with a Baby AT form factor. There is a BX98-3D which is identical except for Creative 3D on-board Audio. There is also a BX98-ATX which is an ATX form factor board. Assuming you have the plain BX98, the latest bios update for your board is "BX98106E.BIN". In the bios upgrade info for these boards, I did not see any notation regarding the "32GB Limit Capacity". You may want to explore this further at http://www.zida.com/download/bx98/bios/ I would suggest checking http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=66 as well as the Seagate site. The reason is that you may be able to find a driver to correct the 'limit capacity' without having to resort to flashing the bios. Zida has downloads for user manuals, drivers, bios, etc. on their ftp site as well. If you find you do need to upgrade the bios, I found a couple of informational files you may want to look at - the 451 Setup and VIA 691 zip files: http://www.unicore.com/techsupport/award/awarddocs.htm
I wasn't able to find the original file I got the info from, but I did find my notes on the Bios Flash Command Switches. I tried to put it in a more 'useable' format - that would hopefully make more sense.

Bios Flash Command Switches

/py = PROGRAM YES
YES answer to: Run Flash program?

/sy = SAVE YES
YES answer to: Save Old Bios?

/sn = SAVE NO
NO answer to: Save Old Bios?

/cc = CLEAR CMOS
YES answer to: Clear old CMOS settings?

/cp = CLEAR PNP
YES answer to: Clear old PnP settings?

/cd = CLEAR DMI
Yes answer to: Clear old DMI/ESCD settings?

/R = RESTART
Restarts computer after flash upgrade completed.

Boot computer from a floppy disk containing a copy of the “system” files, flash utility program and the new bios upgrade file (may want to include a ‘clean’ copy of the old bios files as well). At the A:> prompt enter the following information (DO NOT USE QUOTES):

“flash utility program” “bios upgrade file.ext” /commandswitch /command switch /etc.

EXAMPLE: awdflash jn4116.bin /py /sn /cc /cp /cd /R

Do not enter the file extension for the flash utility program but DO enter the file extension for the bios upgrade. AMI bios upgrades use a “.rom” extension, while Award/Phoenix upgrades are “.bin”. There is a single space between the flash utility, bios upgrade and each command switch. Use of the various switches in the above example will assure the User a non-interactive upgrade. If you need to answer YES to saving your old bios files, once the files are saved to a floppy disk, the remainder of the upgrade is “no hands on”, until the system is restarted.
Please Note: The only capitalized command switch, is the “R” for “Restart”.

I hope you can find what you need with the information I have provided. If there is anything else I can help you find or something that you require more of an explanation on - just let me know.
. . . V.

[avdven]

How about I make this easy for you.

When you purchased your Seagate hard drive, it most likely came with a floppy disk which contains its own secondary BIOS. Simply install that and your drive will show up completely (Western Digital and other hard drive manufacturers have similar features). If the hard disk did not come with a floppy disk, check either the documentation or the web site. In my experience, Seagate places such information on a separate partition on the hard drive, and a properly executed command copies the necessary files to a floppy for installation. Hope that helps.

AJ

[avdven]

How about I make this easy for you.

When you purchased your Seagate hard drive, it most likely came with a floppy disk which contains its own secondary BIOS. Simply install that and your drive will show up completely (Western Digital and other hard drive manufacturers have similar features). If the hard disk did not come with a floppy disk, check either the documentation or the web site. In my experience, Seagate places such information on a separate partition on the hard drive, and a properly executed command copies the necessary files to a floppy for installation. Hope that helps.

AJ

[manpreet]

Thanks a lot vvirtho for that informational & helping post. Well, as for the board, I think its most probably BX98 or BX98-ATX. Those links helped me a lot. So, I am finally going to flash the bios. I hope it goes out well.

avdven>>As for the HDD, I have a Samsung 40GB and a 8.4GB Seagate. I downloaded the utils (disk manager) from the seagate site, but that util can only work on seagate disks

So, that means i "will" have to flash the bios. Got no other alternative.

Thanks a lot again

Manpreet

[manpreet]

Thanks a lot vvirtho for that informational & helping post. Well, as for the board, I think its most probably BX98 or BX98-ATX. Those links helped me a lot. So, I am finally going to flash the bios. I hope it goes out well.

avdven>>As for the HDD, I have a Samsung 40GB and a 8.4GB Seagate. I downloaded the utils (disk manager) from the seagate site, but that util can only work on seagate disks

So, that means i "will" have to flash the bios. Got no other alternative.

Thanks a lot again

Manpreet

[haoeng]

if u should run "fdisk" cmd frist.
i don't think the BIOS have problem.

[haoeng]

if u should run "fdisk" cmd frist.
i don't think the BIOS have problem.

[manpreet]

Originally posted here by haoeng
if u should run "fdisk" cmd frist.
i don't think the BIOS have problem.

Can u please explain further? I did'nt get u.

[manpreet]

Originally posted here by haoeng
if u should run "fdisk" cmd frist.
i don't think the BIOS have problem.

Can u please explain further? I did'nt get u.

[aeallison]

I really don't think he has a clue d00d...