• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Chickened out of BIOS flash. Big mistake for dual core?

P

PantherModern1

Member
I decided not to flash my BIOS and update to the latest version, one modified specifically to support dual-core processors. How will I know if I'm losing performance because of it. I have the Athlon X2 4200 and the Asus A8n-SLI Deluxe board.

This may be totally unrelated, but windows task manager doesn't even differentiate between the cores as i've seen it do on other computers.

I'l run some benchmarks tomorrow, but I'm really not exactly sure how to tell if I'm losing performance because of that one issue.
 
Benchmarks... Although it is going to be harder since you are doing dual core. So, maybe running to sets of benchmarks at once???

What do you do with your computer to justify dual core?
Tas.
 
I honestly don't do anything with my computer that would justify dual-core . . . or any other high-end component for that matter. But since I like computers and spend my money on them I just want to make sure I'm actually getting my money's worth. I don't want to find out that I've essentially crippled the computer's extra abilities because the BIOS the board came with is horribly inefficient in dealing with two cores.

I've read that in single threads the 4200 will get the same benchmakrs as the 3500. So I need benchmarks that bring out the dual core advantage. I don't know of any or where to get them.
 
This may be totally unrelated, but windows task manager doesn't even differentiate between the cores as i've seen it do on other computers.
Click to expand...

Actually, it's completely related. You see one core/CPU because if you place an X2 chip into a board whose BIOS hasn't been upgraded to support dual-core, it functions as a single-core chip. You are not getting any of the benefits of your dual-core chip, and right now your system thinks you have a single-core Athlon64 clocked at whatever it is that the 4200+ is clocked at (2.2 GHZ?). If you want to get the benifits of owning a dual-core chip, you're going to have to summon up the courage to flash the BIOS.
 
Flashing the BIOS isn't a big deal. Just set everything at default, no overclocking, no tweaked RAM timings. Also most motherboards have a certain key combination you can hold as you power on that will force it to read the BIOS ROM from the floppy disk and flash the BIOS chip. So even if something did go wrong during the flash, you have another possible solution to the problem. I've probably done over 100 BIOS flashes between my rigs and the ones I build for others. I've only had one go wrong and it was on an old Shuttle Socket 7 motherboard back in the mid-late 90's.

*EDIT* Some1ne is correct, if you don't flash the BIOS, your 2nd core is going to waste and you basically paid ~$500 for a $250 3500+. It won't be used AT ALL if you don't flash the BIOS. Not in Windows, not in Linux, not in Unix.
 
I appreciate your help guys. Another question though. I already installed windows and lots of software and even activated XP. I've heard that it's best to update the BIOS before putting all that on. Should I format the disk and do it all from scratch? Orrrr should I just flash the BIOS right now as things are?
 
er if am not wrong as mobbos have utilities that allow you to falsh your bios in windows itself, i've already flashed my k8n neo2 three times already using the msi utility
 
Originally posted by: Some1ne
This may be totally unrelated, but windows task manager doesn't even differentiate between the cores as i've seen it do on other computers.
Click to expand...

Actually, it's completely related. You see one core/CPU because if you place an X2 chip into a board whose BIOS hasn't been upgraded to support dual-core, it functions as a single-core chip. You are not getting any of the benefits of your dual-core chip, and right now your system thinks you have a single-core Athlon64 clocked at whatever it is that the 4200+ is clocked at (2.2 GHZ?). If you want to get the benifits of owning a dual-core chip, you're going to have to summon up the courage to flash the BIOS.
Click to expand...

yeah if you haven't flashed to a bios that supports x2 then your just like a regular a64. you don't need to reinstall windows after a flash.
 
If you are a chicken and like wasting your money then send me your motherboard and I'll do it for a minimal for a small fee.

Seriously it's not that hard, just read the instructions and as long as you do everything right you'll be fine!
 
Actually it would be better to flash the BIOS with a floppy disk rather than in Windows. Windows is just one more thing that can go wrong during the BIOS flash.

Windows should detect the 2nd core when you boot after flashing the BIOS. Some software may have to be reinstalled if it's multithreaded since it may still think it's running on a single CPU system. But try everything first to see. Worst case scenario, you have to reformat. Best case scenario, everything works. I'd rather see if it works before deciding to reformat again. 🙂
 
I'm ok with uninstalling and reinstalling all my software. But i'd rather not have to call Windows to activate my product again.
So what's the more likely, OS problems or software problems if I flash the BIOS without formatting?
 
Originally posted by: PantherModern1
I'm ok with uninstalling and reinstalling all my software. But i'd rather not have to call Windows to activate my product again.
So what's the more likely, OS problems or software problems if I flash the BIOS without formatting?
Click to expand...

I flash my BIOS without formatting all the time. The problem you'll run into is that after the flash, you'll have two processing cores. Some software configures itself when you install it, and if it configured itself to run on a single CPU system, it might continue to operate that way even when Windows properly recognizes both cores. Either way, you should consider flashing the BIOS mandatory, otherwise you paid $500 for a $250 processor since as a single core, your 4200+ is the same as a 3500+.
 
I have the same board that you do and it's really easy and foolproof to flash it in windows. I've done it at least 20 times on this board without a single problem

Just download the latest Asus update utility 6.07.01

Here

Install it

Then download the latest released bios 1011 and save in My Documents or the Desktop

Here


Then open Asus update, select update bios from file, select the file and hit enter.
The progam will flash the bios, reboot your machine, and your done


No floppy, no dos commands. And 99.99% as safe as flashing from DOS, IMO. And much easier and foolproof for noobs🙂 Asus update also gives the options to flash directly from the website over the internet which eliminates the step of downloading the bios and saving it on your computer, but this increases the risk significantly because if your internet connection should happen to go down while flashing :shocked:, well you can figure out the rest




 
Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
I have the same board that you do and it's really easy and foolproof to flash it in windows. I've done it at least 20 times on this board without a single problem


what flashed your baord 20 time or so, hmmm why so many times ? I only ever had to flash a baord at the MAX 2 or 3 times in it's life time.
Click to expand...
 
There have been 10 released bios, and no less than 15-20 beta bios's issued for this board since its introduction in December. I tried all of the release bios and most of the betas in the first several months in search of a fix for the infamous 245mhz 1T overclocking issue (that was supposedly going to be fixed with a bios) never happened

Truth be known, if you count all the times I flashed back to a previous bios because the new beta was worse for overclocking or caused some problems. I've probably flashed it 30+ times
 
I have the same board that you do and it's really easy and foolproof to flash it in windows. I've done it at least 20 times on this board without a single problem

Just download the latest Asus update utility 6.07.01

Here

Install it

Then download the latest released bios 1011 and save in My Documents or the Desktop

Here


Then open Asus update, select update bios from file, select the file and hit enter.
The progam will flash the bios, reboot your machine, and your done


No floppy, no dos commands. And 99.99% as safe as flashing from DOS, IMO. And much easier and foolproof for noobs Asus update also gives the options to flash directly from the website over the internet which eliminates the step of downloading the bios and saving it on your computer, but this increases the risk significantly because if your internet connection should happen to go down while flashing , well you can figure out the rest
Click to expand...

I agree, I really don't understand why so many people still express such a strong preference for flashing from a floppy disk...maybe they still have nightmares about the days of Windows 98 and Windows ME. If you're running Windows XP, there's very little risk of something going wrong when flashing the BIOS (your risks are about the same as doing it from DOS, as long as a power outage doesn't hit in the middle of the process, it should work just fine). The Windows flash utilities have also improved by a wide margin over the past few years (I remember I once had an MSI board where the flash utility would only work if your HDD was not formatted as NTFS...if it was then you had to use the floppy method and set up a RAMDrive), and there's really not much reason to not use them anymore. Flashing from Windows is faster, easier, and simpler than creating a boot diskette and then flashing from DOS.
 
When flashing in Windows, you don't know if a program running in the background will conflict with the flash.

If you flash in DOS, then chance of a conflict is also zero.
 
A program running the the background really shouldn't interfere, unless it is something malicious like spyware or a virus, or maybe if it is something like a DVD burning app that is set to run at ultra-high priority levels...although why someone would want to flash their BIOS while burning a DVD is beyond me. Generally speaking, if you have a well maintained system, and don't try to do silly things while the BIOS is flashing (or downright stupid things like using the Task Manager to End Task the flashing process when it's halfway done), then flashing from Windows should be just about as safe as flashing from DOS.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top