How can a BIOS get corrupted

[angryswede]

in the past week after adjusting my settings my computer's been acting real strange to the point where i had to do a clean XP install. through lots of testing and eliminating varibles i am pretty sure it is a BIOS problem, but I have never flashed it, and used the stock one since i ve had the board. I am wondering if there is any other way to corrupt the BIOS besides a bad flash?

Also, how would you recommend flashing a BIOS? I know a lot of people consider winflash risky and would rather use a boot floppy; however I don't have a floppy drive. Can I use a boot CD to do the same thing?

 

[o1die]

The nforce3 chipset isn't the most reliable. I wouldn't flash using winflash unless it's absolutely necessary. I toasted a bios chip on an older board that didn't work with winflash. I would try changing your memory timings first. I use cas 2.5 with 6-3-3. Instability is often a memory problem, or heat issue.

 

[angryswede]

Originally posted by: o1die
The nforce3 chipset isn't the most reliable. I wouldn't flash using winflash unless it's absolutely necessary. I toasted a bios chip on an older board that didn't work with winflash. I would try changing your memory timings first. I use cas 2.5 with 6-3-3. Instability is often a memory problem, or heat issue.

o1die,
when i don't have my overclock on it runs fine, but when i crank it up i get problems. I know this processor can handle the overclock fine, but I did just add a stick of ram to my board and i know that drops the mem banks speeds to ddr333. i used a divider and i have the sticks running only at ddr315 with 3-3-3-10 timings, which i think is pretty conservative, so it surprises me that i d have problems. i found a floppy drive that works, so i may try a bios flash.

 

[angryswede]

bump

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Google is your friend too

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=325031

Or you might check the forums at http://www.dfi-street.com/


...Galvanized

 

[o1die]

Be sure to save your old bios version when prompted. I found that sometimes the older versions work better. The problem might be somewher else.