Is flashing your bios too much a bad thing?

[krazynutz]

Just curious, but can flashing your bios to the current/latest version occasionally be a bad thing? Does it hurt the mobo the more you do it? What I mean is, if you have the latest bios, and you reinstall the latest bios, say - two or three times in a month - is that bad for the mobo?

<font color=blue>Asus P4P800 Deluxe, 2.6C @ 3.25Ghz, 1GB Geil Platinum PC4000, Antec TruePower 430, Swiftech MCX4000 w/Sanyo Denki 92mm - 26 deg idle.</font color=blue>

 

[Cybercraig]

Not if you do it right. You first need to cut a pair of pants off just above the knees. Then cut a nice dress shirt off just above your belly button. Now, get naked and duct tape the pant legs on. Put on the cut-off shirt and put on shoes and socks. Put a raincoat on and close it up. Admire yourself in a mirror. Now, sneak up on your motherboard, throw open your raincoat, and yell YAAAWW! If the BIOS chip changes color slightly and squeals you will have successfully "flashed" the BIOS.

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

 

[krazynutz]

LOL....ahhh....and all this time I was doing it with a trenchcoat!

<font color=blue>Asus P4P800 Deluxe, 2.6C @ 3.25Ghz, 1GB Geil Platinum PC4000, Antec TruePower 430, Swiftech MCX4000 w/Sanyo Denki 92mm - 26 deg idle.</font color=blue>

 

[Cybercraig]

All seriousness aside, you can't hurt anything but your BIOS chip by flashing it. Why would you be doing it 2 or 3 times a month though? I think there is a limit to the number of times you can flash it, but I don't know what it is. Just don't become a "flashaholic".

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

 

[Crashman]

Your BIOS chip can only support a certain number of flashes. I have no idea how many flashes it can support, but Asus boards used to have a problem with CMOS failures because ESCD values were reflashed at every boot and that part would "wear out".

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Nights_L]

how about Video cards' Bios?

 

[krazynutz]

just this past month, I had issues with a PSU that went nutz and killed itself. I had to clear the CMOS to get everything to work properly again. My one SATA HDD is still giving me grief, though. Anyway, I reflashed the bios a couple times (about a week apart) to hopefully resolve any problems that might go unseen. Can a southbridge chip/SATA controller go bad when a PSU dies?

<font color=blue>Asus P4P800 Deluxe, 2.6C @ 3.25Ghz, 1GB Geil Platinum PC4000, Antec TruePower 430, Swiftech MCX4000 w/Sanyo Denki 92mm - 26 deg idle.</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

As far as I know they're using the same chips on many cards, same chip technology, etc.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[krazynutz]

Ok, but can a PSU dying affect the Southbridge only? Something's very wrong here. Either my HDD's screwed, or my southbridge is. If I get a "disk read error," is that most likely the HDD or is it the mobo not accessing it correctly? If the mobo randomly can't see the SATA drive, is it the drive's fault, or the mobo's?

<font color=blue>Asus P4P800 Deluxe, 2.6C @ 3.25Ghz, 1GB Geil Platinum PC4000, Radeon 9800 Pro, SB Audigy 2, Antec TrueBlue 480, 2x120GB Maxtor DM+9's: 1 SATA, 1 PATA, Plextor DVD+RW, Plextor CD-RW.</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

I give up, you tell me what's wrong, then fix it! LOL

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[krazynutz]

lol...K. I'll try RMAing my HDD and if the new one does the same thing, I'll RMA my mobo. Let you guys know in a week or so!

<font color=blue>Asus P4P800 Deluxe, 2.6C @ 3.25Ghz, 1GB Geil Platinum PC4000, Radeon 9800 Pro, SB Audigy 2, Antec TrueBlue 480, 2x120GB Maxtor DM+9's: 1 SATA, 1 PATA, Plextor DVD+RW, Plextor CD-RW.</font color=blue>

 

[Nights_L]

so flash video card bios could lead the v.card death too, ok thanks, then i better stop flashing it

 

[Crashman]

Yes, after several hundred to a few thousand flashes, it will surely die!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Nights_L]

cuz i used to flash its bios each I'm trying a new speed..when I'm satisifed, I just flash the bios, I think I've flashed it at leaset ~30 times?

 

[Crashman]

That's not nearly as many times as it took to blow the ESCD portion on those Asus board's chips.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[krazynutz]

well now I can rest easy...

<font color=blue>Asus P4P800 Deluxe, 2.6C @ 3.25Ghz, 1GB Geil Platinum PC4000, Radeon 9800 Pro, SB Audigy 2, Antec TrueBlue 480, 2x120GB Maxtor DM+9's: 1 SATA, 1 PATA, Plextor DVD+RW, Plextor CD-RW.</font color=blue>

 

[Nights_L]

heh, ok..then I guess that I can continue to flash it then :lol: