How to flash bios without a floppy drive?

[diabx0r]

How do I flash my bios without a floppy drive?

My mobo is the Asus P5W-DH

 

[corkyg]

Burn the flash program etc. to a bootable CD and do it that way - or buy yourself an external floppy drive.

 

[LouPoir]

Or use the Asus provided Windows based program - Asus EZUpdate

 

[RebateMonger]

Actually, most motherboard manufacturers DON'T want you to use floppy disks for BIOS updates anymore, since they are the least reliable form of data storage (right along with invisible ink), and a data read error during a BIOS flash can be messy, at best.

 

[jackschmittusa]

The bootalble cd is the answer.

RebateMonger

I have flashed innumerable bioses for 15 years, the vast majority with floppys, and never had a problem.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Actually, most motherboard manufacturers DON'T want you to use floppy disks for BIOS updates anymore, since they are the least reliable form of data storage (right along with invisible ink), and a data read error during a BIOS flash can be messy, at best.

The only reason mfg's are stepping away from floppy updates is most systems don't have a floppy anymore. In fact up until a few years ago floppy flashes were still the #1 way to flash your bios.

I've read about more problems with Windows-based flashes than floppy disks. When the end user has 60 processes running and an unstable OS the last thing he needs is a windows bios flash utility. In fact if a floppy version is available that is my first preference.

 

[LouPoir]

Without a doubt, floppy based bios updates are the most reliable - Windows based is more risky.

 

[Navid]

A bootable CD is a good choice to try.
However, if you create the bootable CD from the floppy flash utility, it may not work if the utility wants to write (on to the floppy). Some floppy flash utilities write to the floppy first.

 

[lxskllr]

Use the EZ-flash in BIOS with a thumb drive. I've done this several times without fail.

 

[diabx0r]

Well, I decided to grab my nuts and do it the easy but risky way... through windows.

It worked.

😀

Thanks, guys!

 

[LifeStealer]

Originally posted by: John

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Actually, most motherboard manufacturers DON'T want you to use floppy disks for BIOS updates anymore, since they are the least reliable form of data storage (right along with invisible ink), and a data read error during a BIOS flash can be messy, at best.

The only reason mfg's are stepping away from floppy updates is most systems don't have a floppy anymore. In fact up until a few years ago floppy flashes were still the #1 way to flash your bios.

I've read about more problems with Windows-based flashes than floppy disks. When the end user has 60 processes running and an unstable OS the last thing he needs is a windows bios flash utility. In fact if a floppy version is available that is my first preference.

The reason mfg's are stepping away from floppy updates is because no one uses floppy because it is among the least reliable in data retention. Thumb drives will eventually replace the floppy. Why the LS120 never made it to mainstream I will never know, but it would have solved so many problems..

 

[Rastus]

I've always wanted to know how to do this too. I made a bootable CD to flash my Asus A7N8X, but when I ran the flash program, it defaults to the A: drive with no way to change.

So, when I flash this machine, I have to take a floppy out of another machine to do it. PITA.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Rastus
I've always wanted to know how to do this too. I made a bootable CD to flash my Asus A7N8X, but when I ran the flash program, it defaults to the A: drive with no way to change.

That begs the question - why don't the BIOS OEMs write the programs so that they will not default to a floppy but to a user selectable menu of drives?