what are the benefits of upgrading/flashing my bios?? on a A7V

[smp]

I got the A7V.. not the 133.. the older one I guess.. (sh!t it's only two and half months old.. ).. I have the 1004d bios version.. My system is pretty stable.. it crashes every now and then.. but I blame Win98 for that.. not my hardware.. and it crashes when I do video capture with my AIW..
Anyhow, I see a lot of ppl in these forums flash their bios as soon as a newer version comes out... what are the advantages of getting newer bios versions? I plan to do some overclocking pretty soon too..
Another thing.. how do I flash my bios? It's a pretty tricky thing no? If someone can outline it for me or post a link I'de appreciate it.. thanks.

 

[techs]

Your bios should only be flashed when there is either a necessary or worthwile reason to do so. I have the same board you do and I am running the 1004d bios. It is absolutely stable. Bios flashes are not designed only for stability. In fact they usually address any number of issues, and stability is probably not the most frequent reason for an upgrade. You can read the reason for the upgrade at the Asus site. Unless it clearly directly affects you don't flash. Asus is famous for posting new bios versions, than unposting them a short time later, never to reappear.
If you feel you must flash there is a feature on the motherboard driver disk called Asus update. If you installed it you will find it in Programs. If not install it from the disk. With it you can update your bios from within Windows. I have used it and it has never failed me. Don't try the update from the web option, it has never worked. Download the bios from the Asus web site. Unzip it(or run it) to a folder that you choose and then run the Asus update and select update from file.
Hope this helps.

 

[Stealth1024]

You can run the Asus flash utility from your hard drive if you boot to a command prompt. To do this press F8 (Win95, 98, 98SE) when starting your computer (try CTRL or ALT for WinME). Use the utility to save your current BIOS to the hard drive so in case the flash should fail you can restore your original BIOS.



Asus Flash Utility

Asus A7V 1005c BIOS

 

[Stealth1024]

Before you try your hand at overclocking, do yourself a favor and update your BIOS revision. It might yield an increase in stability, performance, or options.

1005c is the latest BIOS posted on the Asus website, however 1005d is floating around out there and by the time you are ready to flash your BIOS, several more revisions will probably be released. I have heard of people trying to use the latest Asus A7V133 BIOS on the Asus A7V but I do not have any details concerning this...

 

[Regalk]

Actually I used the A7V133 BIOS on the A7V and it worked out fine UNTI my next restart - all hyroglyphics on the screen. For the Duron the best BIOS (and I have gone thru just about all) is the 1003e3 (hacked BIOS). Never flash unless your board needs to support something new not supported by current BIOS.
I am a bit surprised at the number of average Joes flashing BIOSes these days compared to say 2 years ago when only techies like us knew about that. This is not good for manufacturers since they open up themselves to higher RMA rates and of course complaints when a BIOS flash goes wrong.

 

[Stealth1024]

Previously, BIOS couldn't be "flashed", you had to carefully replace the chip with the latest updated version. I remember a few cheap motherboards with soldered in chips... what a pain to replace after failure