I used 3 empty diskettes.

I downloaded the most recent version of afudos.exe (afudos unzipped) to diskette. I removed the diskette from the drive, and labelled it as “original-bios-plus-afudos.”

By using the name of my motherboard at support.asus.com/download/ , I located the most recent BIOS. I downloaded the .zip file, and extracted the .rom file. I copied the .rom file to an empty diskette (to make using EZ Flash easier).


FIRST CHORE

I used the third diskette to preserve my current BIOS. I began by using the procedure that Asus recommends for making a bootable diskette in Windows:

insert an empty diskette into its drive;
on the desktop, click START;
select My Computer;
select the floppy drive’s icon;
click on FILE > FORMAT >
when the Format-a-3.5-floppy-disk dialog-box appears, choose Create an MS-DOS startup disk >
click Start > wait

When Windows (XP) was finished writing to disk a:, I removed the diskette from the drive, and labelled it “MS-DOS startup disk.” I re-inserted the diskette into drive a:

I restarted my computer, and pressed Delete to enter the BIOS.
I set my boot-priority so that drive a: was first. I used Save and Exit.

At the prompt, I typed b: so that I had a:>b: I pressed <Enter>.

When MS-DOS asked me to insert the diskette for drive b:, I removed the MS-DOS startup disk, and inserted the diskette labelled “original-bios-plus-afudos.”

At the b:> I typed afudos /obios01.rom (See the Asus manual.) I pressed
<Enter>.

I waited patiently for the prompt to return. When the prompt returned, I knew my diskette had the original bios + afudos. I put the diskette in a safe place.


CHORE TWO

I did not update the BIOS by using diskettes, but the procedure would need two diskettes as above. MS-DOS would be on one diskette; afudos and the most recent BIOS would be on another.

I updated the BIOS by using EZ Flash. I restarted the computer, and used Delete to go into the BIOS. There, first, I restored the boot priority setting to make my hard-drive first. While in the BIOS, I inserted the diskette that contained only the most recent BIOS on it. In the BIOS, second, I went to TOOLS > EZ Flash2 > <Enter>

By pressing TAB and <Enter> and perhaps an arrow key, I was able to select the .rom file on drive a:.

EZ Flash asked if I was sure I wanted to continue. Asus says use the left arrow to select Y; then press <Enter>. (I pressed Y.) EZ Flash launched into its installation-routine. After a while, the computer rebooted. It gave me the following message:

CMOS Checksum Bad
Press F1 to Run Setup
Press F2 to load default values

“Checksum Bad” is good! It means that the BIOS has reverted to default values. I pressed F1, and modified some settings. Press F2 if you want to make your modifications later.