flashing BIOS without floppy?

[DrDavid]

can/should i do it?

i got an asus a7m mobo that still got rev 1.003, but now there is a 1.006 version out and i thought i was time to do an upgrade..

i dont have a floppy drive so i was wondering how i should do it in winxp (i got a hd with win98se also ...somewhere). can it be done??!

 

[Insane3D]

It's pretty easy actually. There is a couple of ways to do it.. I personally made a boot CD using Nero, then I put the bios files on a CDRW. I actually use those little mini ones because they are pretty handy. Boot from the CD and when it's finished, pop in the CD with the bios files and run the flash like you would on a floppy. Voilla! Also, you can boot from a Win98 CD and then do the same thing. Either way works great..

 

[Buz2b]

I'd like to add (as a user of the same board) that, while there might indeed be a reason you want to flash to a newer version BIOS, I really don't see it. You might want to flash to 1004a, but no further unless you are planning on getting an XP chip anytime soon. Since you currently have an Athlon 1.4, there is no reason to go above that version (1004a). In fact, you could run into some mild, but fixable problems doing so. First and formost, although mostly cosmetic in nature, your temp on your CPU will most certainly go up about 10 degrees. Some say that this is just a result of ASUS "overcompensating" for an under-reporting of the temps in previous versions, so whatever. Second, you may indeed have some difficulty getting the BIOS set up properly. You will encounter something called a "Slew Rate" in the newer versions. This has to do with timing/calibrations for the XP processor. You will have to set this correctly to get the system to boot properly. I don't have it in front of me but you can check over at the AMDMB ASUS Forum and do a search to find the settings you will need.
In a nutshell, if you must then I would recommend against going any further than 1004a right now. If you have immediate plans for an XP cpu, then go ahead because you can't flash to the newer versions with an XP processor installed; it must be done with a non-XP cpu first. Then you can install the XP CPU. Nice touch by ASUS, huh? BTW, there is a 1007 version that has been just released. Some have had major problems with it so I would not do that either until more testing is done or more people start using it and give better feedback. Good Luck.
EDIT: BTW, I forgot to mention that you will only see a few new, minor changes from 1003 to 1004a. Mostly this deals with RAM settings. Some basic benefit although I'm not sure how much. There are no real differences between 1004a and 1005 or 1006 though; other than the Slew thing or XP compatibility. No info on 1007.