BIOS Updating

I have an OLD computer that i would like to put in a new CPU but i need to update the BIOS so it will be able to use it. The porblem is that it's an biostar board M6TWG that has to use the Awardflash program to update it...which only will work in windows ME and i have XP installed.Is there anyway around it? Or do i have to install ME again to update it? Plus i kinda need some help with the bios itself...not sure how to do it really.The Read ME text seemed pretty straight forwad but i want to make sure. And before anyone says anything about it being older than dirt, it still runs fine...just slow with the 350MhZ CPU ,I just had a Old Dell pass away and the CPU in it is a 1G (wo wo) that works in it (370 pin also) but it run at 468 mhz untill I can upgrade the BIOS to "see and support it". Any help Guys???confused

 

Can't you just make a bootable floppy using something like drdos.exe then run the award flash prog from the resulting startup command?

 

Well i tried to use the floppy to flash the Bios but when i try it says "Award flash bios not found" which is why I'm not sure I'm doing it right. And the Biostar website says it won't work with windows XP - Doesn't support DOS in XP?

 

You don't flash from within Windows. You need to make a bootable floppy and boot from the floppy to run the flashprog.

 

ok...could you walk me through it..so-to-speak? make a MS-DOS starup disk thenput the awardfash program and the bios file on it? I hate to seem so dumb but....oh, what's drdos.exe?

 

Drdos.exe gets you to a startup command prompt.
Go here:

http://www.bootdisk.com/

click on the "1" beside "Driver Free Disk For BIOS Flashing" to download the file.

Extract it to a floppy and reboot making sure boot order is set to floppy 1st.

Yes then you can take that floppy out and put in the floppy that contains the award flash prog and the bios file.

Then you'll type something like Awdflash xxxx.bf /sn/py/r in the prompt to do the flash.

 

Ok, i'll give it a try.Thanks for your help so far! I hate acting like a big goober about stuff but i've been trying to do this for about 3 months now.But every time i tried to download the bios from the Biostar website it would come up as a page full of symbols??? I'll be back in a second it i screw it up! HOPE NOT!!!

 

Well I tried it and it still didn't work. Still says AWARDFLASH.EXE not found and i know it there! When i used your idea it would got to a command A:> but when i typed in the AWARDFLASH.EXE it would come up A:> again.Tried to do it this way restart-press tab- ALt F2 to load AWARDFLASH.EXE but it still says it cant be found with three or four beeps. IS there supposed t be a file that say AWARDFLASH.EXE? the only one i get from Biostar site is a read me file and a command? called AWD82g. Nothing AWARDFLASH.EXE???? I know I'm faily new at this but i can't be this dumb!!SOmething gotta be missing!!

 

Yes.
Download it here:

http://www.biostar.com.tw/support/bios/awdflash.exe

Put it on a floppy along with the bios update file.

Which BIOS file are you trying to use to do the update?

You'll need to type in the exact file name that you put on the floppy at the command line;
"awdflash.exe" not "awardflash.exe"

 

My MB is M6TWG and i'm trying to use the TWG0514B.BIN bios file. I finally go into the window that you can type youe file name in but it says "File Not Found!" It was leting me type the file name in then asking if i wanted to save the old BIOS .If i typwe in Y it would run a few seconds then say not enough room and start over. then I would type in the TWG0514b file and then it would say file not found? Am i doing it wrong?? I wouldn't doubt it. Am i typing the File name wrong?

 

Type in the file name exactly as it is on the floppy, i.e., "twg0514b.bin".
Include the extension .bin

 

ok..just wondering if your getting annoyed with me yet?I think i tried that but not for sure. Ok one more time....!
Well just tried it and it says "file not found" ?? but i see it when i click on it in normal XP and i know i put it there when i downloaded it??
Guess i just need to give it up..or keep trying! over and over and over...

 

Let's restate the check list:

1. drdos.exe is extract to a floppy

2. awdflash.exe and twg0514b.bin are copied on another floppy

3. boot order is set to A:

4. drdos floppy is in the drive and system is rebooted and the resultant boot takes you to a command prompt (A:/)

5. that floppy is taken out of dirve and the other floppy with the flashprog and bin file is inserted into the drive

6. you type in:

A:/ awdflash twg0514b.bin /sn/py/r

7. the flashprog runs, flashes the bios and all is right!

If not, does you system have the option to upgrade bios in cmos setup:

http://www.biostar.com.tw/support/bios/index.php3

???

 

Sorry, you are out of luck. The only CPU types that it will support, are the P2, P3 850, or Celeron 900. You are out of luck on the 1Ghz CPU.

ftp://ftp.biostar-usa.com/manuals/M6TWG/M6TWGreport.pdf
ftp://ftp.biostar-usa.com/manuals/M6TWG/M6TWGmanual.pdf

 

well dang it! But the P3 1g still works..although it clocked down to 772Mhz ...still faster than the 350MhZ CPu that was in it! I tried the cpufsb program and clocked it up to 1001Mhz for a second but being to greedy tried a leeeetle bit faster and it blackscreened me and now I can't get it back up to the 1001 again. it worked pretty fast for the 10 mins till i got greedy with the speed ha ha thanks for all you help ya'll!!

 

Try just pushing it to maybe the mid to high 900 range, and that should work. I have a 900mhz Celeron that works great for Internet, home office work, but lags if you try to play something like NeverWinter on it.

 

I've got an old eMachine eMonster that was documented to support up to 850Mhz cpu, but it did support a 1.0Ghz w/o any bios upgrade.
I traded the 1.0Ghz in on a 1.4GHz Celeron with a Powerleap PL-IP3T slocket adapter...but that swap did require a modded bios flash.

 

Well I not really into putting a money into for any uprades like the powerleap thing. It's just my old computer that I let my kids use for email and music and watching online videos. I'd get rid of it but i just keeps on going and going so i just can't part with it. As long as it still turn on and runs it will always have a home. The only thing i might buy for it is a 5 port usb card since it only has 2 of them and maybe a menory card reader for the kids camera. If ift ever does die i have a Kocab 18P MB with a Anthlon? 2000? Been awhile since i seen it. Never worked with a AMD CPU before though.Got to much old stuff..well did till my girlfriend cleaned my house:cry Defently need some help if i ever start that project!