Flashing BIOS dangerous??

[Azuth9000]

I was just wondering if flashing my BIOS is risky at all. I need to flash it to be able to use the 2500+ barton, but my father keeps telling me that flashing it is kinda risky. He says that if it messes up, my motherboard is dead unless I buy a new BIOS chip. Anyway, I tend to believe him since he's built 6-7 PC's, but am beginning to think he is exaggerating the risk a little. Also, if it does happen to mess up while flashing, could I try to reflash it if I have the BIOS onm a floppy, or do I have to buy a new BIOS chip like he says?? Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated. BTW, I'm using an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe rev 1.04, current BIOS unkown, but likely not new enough to support the Barton.

Thanks

 

[Boonesmi]

its really not that risky... just follow the directions and make sure you are trying to flash the correct bios file (meaning the correct bios for your motherboard)

your dad is right that if something does go wrong it will kill the board... or at least kill it till you either get a new bios chip for it, or use the hot swap bios flash trick


the risk is very low and you really should flash to the newest bios

 

[TRUMPHENT]

"I need to flash it to be able to use the 2500+ barton."

Flash the BIOS! You have a need to do so. Your dad is correct, the previous post was correct. I suggest running off of a UPS to prevent an unexpected power event from making your day even more exciting while flashing. :light:

 

[Azuth9000]

I have a UPS, so I guess I'll flash it tonight. Thanks

 

[Jeff7]

I've flashed many BIOSes. I find that a long, gray cloak works best for flashing....oh, programming them. Never mind.

(Lame joke, take it out and have it shot now before I use it again.)

I have done many BIOS flashes though, and I've not had a problem with them, unless the system is already dying. And I mean dying, as in, has suffered serious physical/electrical damage. Normal BIOS flashing - you follow the directions, and it works.
I've built probably about 10 individual systems, but I do a lot of upgrades, so the guts of one PC will get ripped out sometimes, and only half of the originals go back in. My computer here for instance, my main system, the only thing left of it from back when it was a Pentium II 300 is the keyboard.
And I've done flashes, maybe every other month, or whenever another update was made available. I like to stay current I guess.

 

[Buz2b]

Previous posts were correct. Although there is a mild risk, the odds are much greater that you will be successful. Here's a point I think is missed though. If you dad has built "6-7 PC's", why not have him give you some assistance. Yeah, I know he's against it but let him know you are dead set to do so and see if he will help, since he is so sure it could harm things.
Another thing, either print out or write down the exact instructions from the MB builder on the flash procedure. Follow them to the letter and you should have no problem. Also, don't shut off the system for any reason during this procedure.

 

[Doh!]

Driving in NJ is considered risky. Getting on a surgery table at a county hospital is also considered risky. Read the instruction on your motherboard's site & take the plunge. You'll be fine. At worst, you'll learn to install a new bios chip or flash & bring back the life of a dead bios chip.

 

[cleverhandle]

Even if a flash fails, some modern BIOS's have protection against getting totally hosed. I've had one failed flash out of maybe 10, not due to anything obvious - the flash prog just froze up halfway through and that was it. Really unlucky memory fault, maybe? Anyway, the chip had "boot block protection" which left it just enough capability to boot up a system with only a PCI video card and floppy connected. I didn't have such a vid card handy, but I was able to write an autoexec.bat for the floppy that restored the BIOS.

 

[unbiased]

heh! here is my two bits worth(stolen from another forum).
I am in the process of flashing my bios for the first time. What I noticed in this thred is that nobody has mentioned till now that before flashing you have to set your bios to dafaults(I don,t know the reason but they say so)
Hope it helps.

 

[Azuth9000]

Thanks guys I flashed my BIOS without a problem to 1006. I think i even managed to convince my father that its not that risky. He wants to flash his now, but he doesn't have a floppy drive.... Any suggestions??

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: Azuth9000
Thanks guys I flashed my BIOS without a problem to 1006. I think i even managed to convince my father that its not that risky. He wants to flash his now, but he doesn't have a floppy drive.... Any suggestions??

Others can explain this in detail but you can flash from a CDROM or the HD. I'm not sure if all MB's support this but I assume that most will. Basically to do the CD method you would (with a CDRW) create a bootable CD, then copy the bios file and flash program to it. Others can explain this in more detail. The HD method is simply putting the flash file and bios (.bin) file in a specific folder you create on the root drive (C:/). Then boot into DOS, navigate to the folder and execute the flash program. This is of course assuming he can boot into DOS and to a command prompt. What OS is he using? BTW, you can't run the flash from a command prompt window, in windows. Don't quote me on these methods as I have not had to do either before. But they can and have been done by many people before. If you don't get an answer here with more detailed instructions, you can just do a google search or post the question of "How to.....?", in this or other forum here. You're sure to get an answer.

 

[Jhhnn]

Anybody flashing their bios needs to have a plan "B", like www.badflash.com, or a system with compatible bios chip and the savvy to be able to hotflash.

Many modern bios can be recovered with a properly prepared boot disk. It's unfortunate, however, that most mobo sites tell you how to flash, then how to recover if you made a recovery disk in the first place...

Older boards w/ soldered down bios chips are essentially unrecoverable- there was a particularly nasty macrovirus out a few years back that did just exactly that...