Complete Newbie NEEDS Simple Help

[PHD]

I've been wondering how to get more out of my sys. & since I came upon AT's site, I saw that there's a some sort of driver or bios update that I can get for my motherboard. My motherboard is a ASUS a7m266.
I already downloaded 2 files: an older one & a more recent one. After I unzipped the files, I was left to figure out how to use them. They both have the extension ".awd".
So my 1st question is:

How do I use this file?!

My 2nd ques. is:

Should I use the older version then follow up & use the newer version? Or just use the newer version right away?


Thanks a lot.

 

[Colt45]

sounds like a BIOS flash file.
you need the utility to write it to your bios ( i forget the name at the moment)

and then put them on a floppy, boot to the floppy, and run the program (dos command line based)

beware though, it can screw up and render your mobo useless.

basically, if there is no problems as it is, there isnt much reason to upgrade the BIOS.

by the way, welcome to anandtech!

 

[Razl]

The BIOS flash utility for your board is called aflash.exe. Make a basic boot disk, NOT a full startup disk. A basic boot disk should only have MSDOS.SYS, IO.SYS, and COMMAND.COM file. Then add the aflash.exe and your .awd files to the disk. After booting, you be at the A: DOS prompt. type in aflash.exe. The flash utility will confirm your current BIOS version. You then type in the new .AWD file. That's it. Remember, don't do ANYTHING whiles it flashing or you'll end up with a dead computer. Flashing is very easy and safe if you do it correctly, but there always an inherant risk that something can go wrong.

Follow Asus' instructions if this is your first time. Good luck

 

[jmagg]

Flashing your bios is probably not going to increase performance. Better to get reading on some operating system tweaks or add more ram.

 

[Trashman]

I agree with others, only update BIOS if necessary. If something goes wrong with update you could really have a mess on your hands.

 

[paf077]

Hi PHD, it seems you have an ASUS mobo, ( very good) you don't have to flash manually.
searcgh around on Asus' site , they have a .exe that will flash your bios in windows and
it will downloa the newest bios during the process. If there's no newer one it will tell you.
I used a couple of times on my second rig and never had a problem!

Hope this helps.

 

[Warin]

MSI also does a 'LiveBIOS' thing. I havent used it, and I cringe at reccommending that anyone does it.

Here's why..

Windows is not anywhere as stable as DOS. I've never flashed a BIOS and had a failure in DOS.

It would truly suck to use one of these flash utilities within windows and get a BSOD half way through the flash preocess, thereby rendering your mobo dead until you can get a replacement BIOS chip.