How to Flash a BIOS Without Giving Yourself a Headache

I have received many emails and questions in the forum on how to flash the illustrious BIOS.
Many people seem in awe of this simple task. "What is a BIOS flash? And what is a BIOS,"
some of you might ask. And for some, this may be a no-brainer, but for the new it can be a little
daunting. The BIOS is a firmware driven device which controls the functions of your
motherboard, and is usually updated as new fixes and new support are added to the features of
the board. BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System. Updating this firmware is a task called
flashing the BIOS and is not as hard as it may seem

  Step 1

There are two major players in the BIOS game: AWARD Software and Phoenix Technologies.
Most motherboards have one or the other BIOS installed. AMI was a common BIOS
manufacturer a few years back, but is not a commonly used BIOS in today's high-end
motherboards. Only Intel seems to be using the AMI BIOS on their motherboards. A few simple
steps and precautions can make this procedure a very simple task, even for the computer leery. I
will walk you through the steps, and show you how to flash your BIOS without giving yourself a
headache. Follow along as we go through it step by step. Enjoy as you continue to read on and
learn.


Tools you will need: One formatted floppy disk, a pen or pencil, and paper.
The decision to upgrade your BIOS is yours. By following the procedures outlined in this
article you agree that Motherboard HomeWorld is in no way liable or responsible for any
resulting loss of system functionality. If your system is working without problems or
conflicts, then it is not recommended that you flash your BIOS. 

Identifying your motherboard model number and BIOS version are the key things in determining
your BIOS flash needs. When you first get a POSTing on your screen, you will see a set of

numbers and BIOS date in the left hand corner. Identify your BIOS version and date, and write
them down on a piece of paper. Make sure you check yourself twice, as this is a very important
thing. The wrong BIOS flash can result in a dead motherboard. Sometimes the screen does go by
pretty quickly, so you might have to restart it a couple of times to get it right. Take your time and
get the exact details needed to ensure a successful mission.

The decision to upgrade your BIOS is yours. By following the procedures outlined in this
article you agree that Motherboard HomeWorld is in no way liable or responsible for any
resulting loss of system functionality. If your system is working without problems or
conflicts, then it is not recommended that you flash your BIOS. 

Step 2

Find your manufacturer's Web site, and go to the drivers section of the site. This is found most
commonly under the support section, but can also be found on the motherboard information
page. Motherboard HomeWorld will also have BIOS updates available for download. We are
currently finishing up our database to better serve you with this feature. Some sites, such as MSI,
have an auto-update program that does this for you. If your site doesn't offer this, you will have
to do it manually. Locate your motherboard and download the Phoenix BIOS 4.0 or the AWARD
FLASH EXE program from the site. It is usually in the same place as the BIOS upgrade bin file,
and can be found with a little searching of the site. Then you need to find the most current BIOS
for your make of motherboard and download it. This is most likely to be a zipped up bin file that
needs to be unzipped before you can use it. Once again, make very sure you are getting the BIOS
update bin file for your exact motherboard. Download these two files to your system and you are
ready for the next step. 

Step 3 

Go into your control panel, then go into Add/Remove Programs, and you will see a tab saying
"Startup Disk". Get a formatted 1.44 floppy and put it into the floppy drive. If the disk is not
formatted do so at this time. Create a startup disk within this screen; it is the choice on the far
right. After you make a boot disk, find the Phoenix BIOS 4.0, Release 6.1 or the AWD FLASH
EXE and copy it onto the boot disk. Find your new BIOS and unzip or extract the new file to the
boot disk. This will create a bin file, and it is the actual data for the BIOS Flash. Sometimes the
disk will say it is full. If this happens, you can remove these files to free up space on the disk.
The following files can be removed from the disk: FDISK, FORMAT and MSCDEX. These are
files that are not used or needed in the BIOS flash procedure, so removing them will have no
effect on the task at hand. You should also write on a piece of paper the new updated BIOS 

name. You will need it later in step 4. After all files are successfully extracted, unzipped, and
copied on to the start up disk, restart your system with the boot disk inserted into the floppy
drive. If your system does not boot to the floppy, you will need to go into your BIOS and change
your boot sequence to search for a floppy drive and make the floppy the first boot device. This
will enable the floppy to read the boot disk at startup.

Step 4 

Once your system boots to the Windows Options screen after reading the floppy disk, hit the F5
key and this will bring you to the A: prompt. Type "Dir" (this is a DOS command meaning show
the directory) in the chosen drive or file you wish to read. This will show you all the files on the
boot disk or selected file. Find the name of your flash EXE and the name of the update bin file,
and type the command "cd awd flash exe" or the name of your BIOS flash EXE. This will bring
you into the flash BIOS programming screen. You will be asked to type in the name of the new
BIOS you are trying to upgrade to. Type in the name of the new BIOS bin, and remember it is
case sensitive. If you typed in the correct file name you will come to a prompt asking if you want
to save the old BIOS. When asked, select "Yes", so in case the new BIOS does not improve or
destabilizes your system you can always flash it back. If you get any error messages do not flash
the BIOS. If it is the right file for the right motherboard you will be prompted to save the old
BIOS, and then it will ask you to flash new BIOS at this time. Select "Yes" and the firmware will
update itself, and you will be told by the program that the flash was successful on the update
screen 

Step 5 

Restart your computer. If you followed my instructions, in the left hand corner of the POSTing
screen you will see the new BIOS version number. Enter the BIOS again by hitting the Delete or
F2 key, and choose "set BIOS to default settings". Restart the system and go back into the BIOS,
then you can adjust your BIOS to whatever your settings were before or choose new settings.
Restart your computer and you should be off and running. If you do not like how the new BIOS
affects your system, follow the steps and re-flash your BIOS off the saved bin file you created
when you flashed the BIOS. If for some reason the system does not restart, you will have to
contact your vendor or manufacturer. The EPROM chip can go bad sometimes, even when
everything was smooth sailing, and will have to be changed out. This procedure is not for the
meek, as it is a delicate task and should be done by the vendor or manufacturer of your product 

Why and How to Flash Your BIOS - More Precautions

There is another way to flash AMI BIOS without the need for a bootable floppy disk. Rename
your new BIOS flash file to "AMIBOOT.ROM" then copy it to a floppy disk (that will contain
only this file). Insert it into your FDD and reboot. Hold down "CTRL"+ "HOME" to launch the
flashing process.
You'll notice that the floppy LED (or the light on the optical device) is going to report that it's
reading. Your system will boot up in MS-DOS and then the flashing process will start. Don't
expect anything to appear on your screen; you need to wait until you figure out yourself that the
LED isn't blinking anymore and it completed its task; you can wait up to a few minutes
maximum to be sure that the process is finished.
Eject the CD or get the floppy disk out and reboot your system. If everything goes all right it is
going to POST correctly and work as usual; what a relief. You've just saved your system from a
bad flash.
But what if this doesn't help? Or what if you've flashed corrupt data also on the boot-block?
What can you do then? Well, there are a few ways to flash a new and correct version of BIOS
onto the chip. The most popular technique is "hot-swapping." You are going to need another
ROM chip that is flashed with the correct BIOS, meaning that it's taken out of a working
motherboard which is exactly like yours.

You borrow that chip for a half an hour (from a friend, neighbor, etc), install it in your
motherboard and boot up; your system will POST if the data on the new chip is correct. As soon
as you've booted up into MS-DOS, you take out the BIOS ROM chip on-the-fly and replace it
with your chip (which has corrupt data on it). 

Then you proceed to flash.

As a side note, please be very cautious and aware that fiddling with components without turning
the PC off is very dangerous; you can do more harm than good. Then again, this technique is
tried and tested; it works but it's recommended only as a last resort when everything else fails.
Basically you're taking out a chip that is powered on, so there is a slight chance of screwing
up the entire motherboard's circuitry along with the chip.  

 

Final Words  

Great, we've come to the end of this article. You should have understood by now what the whole
"bios flashing" process is. I'm also sure that you've already decided whether you're going to flash
your BIOS or not with the latest update that's available. That choice is definitely yours. Although
you should keep in mind the consequences too. If there are no serious reasons (unsupported
hardware components) and you aren't familiar with flashing, also you're afraid, then don't do it. If
you do need to flash your BIOS then read and research before proceeding -- do your homework;
when you're ready you'll feel ready.
Whatever future problems you may face that are related to computer hardware and computing
don't forget to join and ask for help at the