How do I update the Bios? Never done it before

[pmbauer]

I mentioned in a previous post see below.... I'm thinking if I updating the bios. I've downloaded a zip file from Asus but it doesn't have the .rom extension so this is throwing me a bit. I have my manual to my mobo but I'm extremely nervous to do something wrong and be in even worse shape then I'm in. Another confusing thing to me is my bios says it's American Megatrends Inc. 1004.006 from 8/3/2004 why wouldn't it be Asus or K8vsexxxx. If I could just get XP to see the drives I'd be good!


7 years ago a fried helped me build a pc using the K8V SE Deluxe mobo with a amd64 cpu. We installed 2 WD hard drives (1) for software (1) for data, with no Raid. Everything has been working well but it's been running slow and then started acting up. It will still boot into Windows XP but I loose my active desktop settings. I decided to just reload XP wiping out all the software on the drive. When I boot from the oem installation cd and press F6 and load the Promise Sata378 drivers it continues on like it's going to load xp but then it fails saying "Setup didn't find any hard disk drive installed in your computer. Also I do see the drive in the bios but I don't see anywhere to change it's status. It shows up as via vt6420 1st HDD. I've completely unplugged the 2nd HD until I can get the OS back on. How can I get XP to recognize the hard drive?

Thanks, from a stay at home mommy that likes her oldie but goodie computer!

 

[dingo07]

AMI is correct. What is the file extention of the file you downloaded? If it's .exe then just double-lick it and it will run either the program to update the bios, or the extractor to extract all the files in the ZIP file.

 

[pmbauer]

AMI is correct. What is the file extention of the file you downloaded? If it's .exe then just double-lick it and it will run either the program to update the bios, or the extractor to extract all the files in the ZIP file.

Thanks for responding....I've been working on this for hours and my kids are going nuts....

After unzipping the file the file name is K8VSEDX.007

I'm at my witts end...it shouldn't that hard to wipe the drive clean with a reinstall of xp but it goes through all it's set up files and I load drivers and then it says xp can't load cause there are no drives present.....then I reboot and go right into xp.

 

[dingo07]

with all due respect - you should forget the aggravation of fixing this dinosaur and buy parts to make a new one. You can do it for under $500 easily. Then, at a later date, you can get back to resurrecting the dead, if you feel like it

 

[wavetrex]

That is the bios file, but you still need a software that will burn it to.

Please check your motherboard's website for instructions, because you most probably need a bootable floppy with MS-DOS, put the K8VSEDX.007 file on it along with the executable software and run it from command line.

However, if you never used DOS or floppies, I suggest you find someone near you with better knowledge of computers, because if you do it wrong, your computer won't start anymore and you'll end up with a dead motherboard.

 

[dingo07]

Are you sure you downloaded the correct BIOS Update file? The .007 indicates its part of a volume file and there's .006, .005, etc missing...

 

[pmbauer]

No I'm not exactly sure.... but below is the link to where I got the zipped file and when I opened it that was the file name.

http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=K8V%20SE%20Deluxe&p=1&os=17

I know I'm resurrecting a dinasour but I have apps I use that I couldn't afford to purchase.

 

[pmbauer]

That is the bios file, but you still need a software that will burn it to.

Please check your motherboard's website for instructions, because you most probably need a bootable floppy with MS-DOS, put the K8VSEDX.007 file on it along with the executable software and run it from command line.

However, if you never used DOS or floppies, I suggest you find someone near you with better knowledge of computers, because if you do it wrong, your computer won't start anymore and you'll end up with a dead motherboard.

Hey wavetrex,

Following the mobo manual it had me make a bootable floppy disk in xp. There is a utility on the mobo cd that I have to run (afudos.exe) What throws me is that it references drivers with the .rom extension and this file doesn't have it. Plus it also has directions for me to copy the bios off my pc but I can't find that either. So I'm trying....but I really don't want a dead mobo.

 

[dingo07]

You have to run afudos.exe from the bootable floppy to make this bios update happen - there's no turning back once you have it reference the .007 file - hope it works and updates properly witghout a power failure (use a UPS at all times with your computer) and then hope you can continue where u left off earlier

 

[pmbauer]

You have to run afudos.exe from the bootable floppy to make this bios update happen - there's no turning back once you have it reference the .007 file - hope it works and updates properly witghout a power failure (use a UPS at all times with your computer) and then hope you can continue where u left off earlier

I've put afudos.exe on a bootable floppy but just haven't committed yet. Like you said there is no turning back and that makes me a bit nervous. I do have an UPS on the computer. How do I find the bios file on my computer. I did a search on *.rom files and came up with bios1.rom, bios4.rom and v7vga.rom all with a date from before the computer was built.

Apparently, according to the mobo manual I can use afudos to copy the bios from the pc, in case the system bios fails or gets corrupted. I just don't know the name of the bios.

Thanks .

 

[dingo07]

Sorry, I couldn't tell you that - I have no idea what the filename would be. You could however, return to the webpage where you downloaded the updated bios and download the older one as well.

 

[wavetrex]

There is no .rom file on your computer, don't bother searching for one.
That suggestion is for backing up the existing bios, inside another file on the floppy, but I doubt it fits.

Anyway, it's not important...
I have checked your file, that K8VSEDX.007 you have is correct.
Make a bootable floppy with XP, put it on the floppy, also put the AFUDOS.exe - They are both downloadable from ASUS (and zipped, you have to unzip the downloads first).

Then, boot from the floppy, and where it writes A:\

just type:

AFUDOS.exe K8VSEDX.007

Then follow the instructions... The program should to it's stuff in about 1-2 minutes. Once it's over, reboot computer. Done.

Make sure it's a working floppy, if there's ANY error while AFUDOS runs (it will automatically detect a bad file), restart the process with another disk.

Good luck !