Question about BIOS

Hey, I currently have an ASUS A7n8x deluxe motherboard. Maxtor 120 GB HD, Radeon 9700 Pro. I've downloaded all the latest drivers except for the bios as I've been told to be caucious about them.

I've been constantly getting crashes in various different games (Command and Conquer: Generals and SOldier of Fortune II). Would updating the BIOS possibly fix this ? Currently I'm using the BIOs that came from the CD.

So question is, would updating the BIOs have a good chance of fixing these problems, and will it have a chance of damaging my system?

 

I downloaded a file called nf2v116 that had a bunch of different updates in it (Audio, IDE, smartbus to name a few)

NOt too sure if thats what you meant by VIA,

I'll go take a look at the BIOs site now to see what they fix

EDIT: This is the site I'm looking at for the BIOs, http://www.asus.com/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7N8X Deluxe (I have XP home btw). NOt sure if anything there would fix the crashes, I have an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ with barton core btw

 

@ MA You have advised Nailer to get Via 4-in-1 drivers for a nForce2 board Oops.

@ Nailer235

Generally the BIOS that comes with the board is the "first issue" and when you visit the manufacturers website you will find several updated BIOS files to use. WARNING. To update the BIOS you need to re-program the heart of your computer. Failure to complete the process correctly COULD lead to total loss of motherboard functions.

Go to HERE first and get the recovery floppy in case the BIOS flash goes tits up on ya.
Then go HERE and download the applicable drivers for your system. Take note of some of the warnings displayed for the files.
Also visit HERE for the latest nForce2 chipset drivers from NVidia.

Hope this all helps a bit.

 

Its alright, I haven't installed em yet.

Ok having another problem... I did what that site said, I downloadeed the flash thing but when it opens up DOS it just blinks for a second... I.E. I only see the DOS screen for literally half a second then it closes...

 

MA you do realise I am gonna copy and paste that one into every forum I can find, just to prove the bad side of toooooo much vodka


It's good to see you are human too MA

@ Nailer235

When you say the "flash thing" do you mean the actual BIOS file?? If you do, that is because you (normally) have to do it from a bootable floppy disk before the OS even loads.

The following is the USUAL way to flash the BIOS (Some mobo's are different - mine has AWDFlash option already built into the CMOS )

1/ Download AWDFlash utility
2/ Download the latest (or required) BIOS update file (Has extension of .bin)
3/ Copy both files to a floppy disk
4/ Get a bootable floppy disk (Can be a Win98 or ME disk if you cant get a WinXP one)
5/ Restart computer with floppy in the drive (Assuming your BIOS is set to boot from floppy first)
6/ When you get to the a:/ prompt, change floppy disks to the one with the .bin file and AWDFlash file on it
7/ Follow the instructions to load the new file (Should get a ReadMe file with AWDFlash file telling you the exact command to use)
8/ Cross fingers and pray the power dont cut out halfway through

Once the AWDFlash utility has completed, reboot your PC and enter BIOS (Press Delete during POST - just after the beep) and confirm all settings are correct, and play with any new ones you get. Save settings, reboot, and enjoy.



NOTE Try the NVidia drivers first to see if that cures the problem. If not, then go for the BIOS flash if you feel happy doing so.

 

Alright, thanks. I'll get a boot disc later on then as I can't make one with XP -

Is there a good chance that the BIOs can be the culprit of the crashes?

 

It is possible. It is more likely to be either

1/ Driver problem
2/ Incorrect (Or non-optimised) BIOS settings.

The first one we have already addressed in earlier posts, for the second, go HERE and click the BIOS GUIDE link on the left of the screen for a superb BIOS settings explanation and guide.

 

Heres what happened before when I was trying to update bios... I had the files saved to a floppy and it said there was some link error. It said "please wait" so after 5 minutes I turned off the comp - nothing seemed to break though... hope that doesn't happen again heh, wish me luck