is updating the BIOS really dangerous?

[meister]

"never change a working system"

hmm, why not just partitioning the harddisk?
i use an old pc which bios only supports 500mb lets make 2 500mb partitions out of 1gb and it works, doesn't it??

[aeallison]

manpreet,
Just out of sheer curiosity, could you disclose your boards particulars. I might also be of some assistance, I won't confuse you further with the procedures as everyone else here has covered that very well...kudos peeps I have been known among some as quite a flasher, I have flashed the un-flashable...

[manpreet]

Firstly, thanks to all of you for the positive responses. I think, I am now getting some idea about the risk factor involved in this task.

Well, aeallison & others, here is my bios information. Your assitance will be invaluable to me.

BIOS Date: 03/12/99
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
BIOS ID: 03/12/1999-691-586B-8661-2A6LFZ1AC-00
BIOS Eval: BX98 Ver 1.06 (990315)
Chipset: VIA 82C691 rev 1
Super I/O: ITE 8661/SiS 6801 rev 6 found at port 279h

Manpreet

[vvirtho]

Manpreet -
Do you know the manufacturer of your board and its revision number? It will be printed on the board. If you have the users manual or original packaging it will give the info there too. I know you have an Award bios for an Apollo Pro (691/596) Chipset, but can't give you anything else without more info. Is there any other information you can pass along that you see as the system boots up (in case you don't want to take the cover off of your case)? With Award, you definitely need to use the same flash utility that is presently being used on your system. I still have the command switches, if you need them, but without the correct bios update, they won't do you much good. Let me know what you discover or if you need some help finding out exactly where to look.
. . . V.

[vvirtho]

Manpreet -
Do you know the manufacturer of your board and its revision number? It will be printed on the board. If you have the users manual or original packaging it will give the info there too. I know you have an Award bios for an Apollo Pro (691/596) Chipset, but can't give you anything else without more info. Is there any other information you can pass along that you see as the system boots up (in case you don't want to take the cover off of your case)? With Award, you definitely need to use the same flash utility that is presently being used on your system. I still have the command switches, if you need them, but without the correct bios update, they won't do you much good. Let me know what you discover or if you need some help finding out exactly where to look.
. . . V.

[manpreet]

hey vvirtho, i donot have the manuals with me. so now where should i look for this information?

I think i had mentioned the chipset name and revision no.. in my above post. here it is again:
Chipset: VIA 82C691 rev 1

[manpreet]

hey vvirtho, i donot have the manuals with me. so now where should i look for this information?

I think i had mentioned the chipset name and revision no.. in my above post. here it is again:
Chipset: VIA 82C691 rev 1

[aeallison]

manpreet,
You will most likely need to remove the cover of your box and try to find the board manufacturer's name and model number as well as the revision number as vvirtho also stated. This way we can find the exact bios update for your board.

[aeallison]

manpreet,
You will most likely need to remove the cover of your box and try to find the board manufacturer's name and model number as well as the revision number as vvirtho also stated. This way we can find the exact bios update for your board.

[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.