Gigabyte K8NSC-939 - trying to update BIOS

[Zorander]

Plugged in a spare X2 3800+ to replace the single core 3000+ and found out the mobo requires a BIOS update to recognize the newer chip.

Without a floppy drive and a Windows installation (it has Mint 14 installed installed instead), DOS update via USB is the only way I see. I created one via both Rufus and YUMI (Freedos) but the system refuses to boot frm usb. It keeps saying 'Missing operating system file'. The same usb stick works in another system so it's just the mobo somehow refusing to boot from it.

Could you suggest a way I can update the bios in this mobo? I would really like to give this old system a new lease of life.

Thanks.

 

[denis280]

is it set to boot from the usb

 

[Zorander]

Yes. It has a few usb boot options (usb-fdd, usb-hdd, usb-cdrom and usb-zip). I tried those but none works. Not sure if it will boot correctly from cd though.

Another way I can think of is to temporarily install windows on a spare hdd amd run the windows-based bios updater from it. I'd prefer to keep it simple though.

 

[jolancer]

sorry not familiar with live booting via Dos. justa thought tho incase it helps... are you sure the Dos usb you created isn't proprietary to the system you created it on? assuming you test booted it on the same system you created the usb... perhaps you need to slipstream or change the drivers on the usb to the system you'd prefer to boot it to

 

[Zorander]

I worked out how to boot from USB. Turns out the USB dongle is considered a 'HDD' so I had to select it from the HDD list. Not sure what the other 'USB-xxx' options mean but all is good now.

 

[denis280]

Good

 

[Steltek]

I worked out how to boot from USB. Turns out the USB dongle is considered a 'HDD' so I had to select it from the HDD list. Not sure what the other 'USB-xxx' options mean but all is good now.

Glad you got it working. For future reference, in the event you ever need to know:

usb-fdd = an external USB floppy disk drive.
usb-hdd = a bootable physical hard drive contained in a external USB enclosure/dock.
usb-cdrom = a CD/DVD drive in an external USB enclosure.
usb-zip = an external USB enclosure containing a old style ZIP drive.