ASUS BIOS — UPDATE — FLASH — HOW-TO

[eulogon]

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.

 

[BillParrish]

Not bad, not bad at all.

Before flashing, go into the bios and "reset to factory defaults" to remove any overclock, you want the computer running at plain stock (all OCing turned off) speeds. You might want to take notes of any special settings you have made so you can restore them after the flash.

 

[kirbyrj]

I know this is heresy, but I've always found it easiest to update Asus bioses using their Windows utility. I don't update from the internet though, I download the file then flash from the HDD in Windows. I haven't had a problem doing it that way since the old P4P800 days. Even then the flash worked, but there was something a little fishy with it, so I ended up flashing via floppy. But with the P5W, I never updated outside of Windows and never had a problem.

 

[troisanh]

all it took was 1 bad windows bios flash and ever since then either floppy or now, usb stick for darn p5k dlx.

 

[kirbyrj]

all it took was 1 bad windows bios flash and ever since then either floppy or now, usb stick for darn p5k dlx.

What went wrong? Windows crash on you? Like I said, I've never had a problem personally. The Asus program is very easy to use.