Re-loading BIOS

[bazofstour]

Have cleared the CMOS on my other machine. Have created ms-dos floppy and downloaded bios from manufacturers site.Shoul I copy the flash utility and bios onto the same floppy as the ms-dos or copy to a new floppy?Advise please.

 

[raybay]

Can you download them all to a flash drive, or simply to a extra folder on your computer... I would think of the floppy as the worst possible choice.

 

[bazofstour]

I have down -loaded the bios and unzipped it to a folder in my docs. My problem is to flash it onto the cmos in the faulty computer, which without a bios , has no screen, and only a floppy drive which is bootable.

 

[raybay]

Be aware that some motherboards have been designed and built in such a way that only certain ways on installing the BIOS will work. I just finished one Gateway that reported simply, "This system does not accept a flash BIOS" from a USB source, nor a floppy drive, although the BIOS downloaed to both. No report on what it did accept. Still awaiting a reply.

Perhaps you have researched what methods of BIOS update are accepted. If not, it would be worth a look.

 

[bazofstour]

Many thanks for your reply. Yes I have researched, and the acceptable way is to flash the bios from floppy.Main board is about 9 years old, and I am attempting this to learn.Unfortunately the cmos is dead, so I have no video.Am trying a program called UNIFLASH to flash the bios(recommended by this site), but after downloading it I can find no instructions on how to use it.They only tell you how to compile an emergency floppy!any suggestions please. Sorry about delay but I reside in UK,four corners is a nice area though, and phoenix and Sedona.been there once!

 

[raybay]

I would be extremely surprised if you can flash the BIOS on a dead board... You must be able to boot to the floppy disk, and I do not see how you can do that without a BIOS.
Tell me if I am wrong.
A nine-year old motherboard sells for about $20 on eBay. That should be the fastest course to a resolution.
There are tricks to the floppy disk as well.
#1 you must use an original IBM Floppy disk... It cannot be formatted by any version of an operating system higher than Windows 95. Not Windows 98, WMe, 2K, XP...
Then you must install original IBM-DOS boot code to the floppy.
Then you must copy the BIOS update to the floppy that has the boot enabled without damaging the boot code.
This is explained in detail at several sites online that you can find with a google search.
The BIOS boot will not work unless the floppy disk is setup correctly, and an old Floppy disk may be too stiff to work or to receive that data.
Find a good site online, then follow the instructions EXACTLY.
Still, the motherboard must be capable of booting a floppy drive, and without a BIOS, that is probably not possible.
Worth a try, perhaps, but...

 

[bazofstour]

Your right, the process seems to be littered with snags.Already been looking at repacement motherboards. It was a mistake to clear the cmos initially, thought I was re-setting it.The original problem was that the bios completed POST ok, all hardware ok, but would not start to boot the xp system CD in the CDROM, just a flashing curser at the bottom of the screen. May have another go with the sites you suggest, perhaps a good learning process? But will probably install a more up-to-date Motherboard. Many thanks for your help!

 

[Tedster]

read the bios updating guide in the guides forum