Flashing BIOS....questions

[Dernhdtfan]

I just ordered the Shuttle AK31 rev.3.1 mobo along with an AMD XP1600+ from Newegg. Should be here early next week. I have read all the posts about the mobo that I could find, and see that the BIOS needs to be flashed to get the mobo to recognize the proc.

Question#1 : Is this still true with the rev 3.1 boards, or have they been upgraded to recognize the new procs?

Question#2 : I have never flashed a BIOS before. I have always read that "you must be very careful.....bad things......oooooo" when flashing, so I never did it. What is the correct procedure (in English) to flash a BIOS? I have come to trust the invaluable advice on the AT boards over that of the instructions on the mfg's websites, so some insight here is truly appreicated.

Question#3 : I am not big into OC'ing, but I'd like to setup the rig so that it is as stable as possible. Any suggestions as to BIOS settings, disabling functions?

Question#4 : Is there a fail-safe, fool-proof, no snags methods to installing a new system? I intend to FDISK and FORMAT C:/ the 7200 rpm drive to be my boot drive and start completely fresh. I want to be up and running and installing my other software as quickly as possible, but not at the expense of getting BSOD, runtime errors, system hangs, etc. What is the BEST sequence to install parts then the necessary drivers, (VIA 4in1, CDRW,Wheel, Mouse, Video, sound card, etc.)?
The parts to be installed are as follows:

Win 98 (not SE)
XP1600+
AK31 rev 3.1 mobo
Maxtor 13GB 7200 HDD
Maxtor 5.7GB 5400 HDD
Cheap Floppy Drive
Generic CDROM
TDK 121024 CDRW
Hercules Gamesurround Muse XL PCI Sound Card
Hercules Geforce 2 MX 32 MB AGP
512 MB Crucial DDR RAM PC2100
Logitech Trackman Marble Wheel USB
Logitech Wingman Formula Force Wheel/Pedals
Microsoft Internet Keyboard


Thanks in advance for any help.

Dave

 

[o1die]

The best method is to do a fresh install of windows using one card at a time. I have a beta version of my video driver and direct x 8.0 on cd, and install direct x first, then video driver, then modem, then via 4 in 1, etc. I upgraded the bios with my old athlon 1.2, but still had to clear cmos using the jumper before system would boot with the 1700 xp. I flashed the bios while windows was running, and had no problems. After downloading bios off shuttle website ( the new bios has a 9 in the sequence instead of the old version 8) I clicked on award flash and entered the new bios number, then was asked to save the old bios. You may be lucky and your mobo will come with the new bios already installed. I would try clear cmos first, then boot up and see if your mobo recognizes the cpu as xp.

 

[tcsenter]

Make sure any BIOS write protection jumper or BIOS setting is disabled.

Create a boot diskette. Browse the diskette with "view all files" option enabled in Windows. Delete ALL files except these three: COMMAND.COM, IO.SYS, and MSDOS.COM.

Copy or unzip your BIOS file and flash utility to the diskette. Shutdown your computer.

Cold boot your computer with the boot diskette. At the MSDOS prompt, type:

awdflash biosfile.rom /py/sn/cp/cd/cc/r

Watch the progress of the flash update, when your computer resets itself, eject the boot disk. Enter BIOS, load SETUP defaults, then save and exit. Done.

Be prepared for IO/IRQ resource conflicts. I recommend pulling every non-vital card or peripheral before the update, then installing them one by one after the update is done.

 

[Rahminator]

Everybody (even Shuttle) says that AK31A comes with Award Bios, but when I look down on the BIOS chip it has a Phoenix sticker on it. I don't have my Athlon XP yet so I can't tell anything for sure, but it looks like Phoenix BIOS to me.

 

[tcsenter]

Phoenix and Award merged about three years ago.

 

[Rahminator]

Well, apparently I just figured out how to get out from under this rock I've been under for a while.