BIOS Version on New P4C-800E Deluxe

[Peter]

I'm about to order a new P4C-800E Deluxe for a PC I'm building. When I
receive the board how will I know what BIOS version is on it? Will it be
on the box or on papers enclosed with the board?

The reason I'm asking is that I plan to use a 3.4GHz P4 chip which
according to the Asus web site requires the latest BIOS. That raises the
question: If the board does NOT come with the latest BIOS, how will I get
it there if the 3.4GHz chip will not work in it without the latest?

Peter

 

[Philip Callan]

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Peter wrote:
| I'm about to order a new P4C-800E Deluxe for a PC I'm building. When I
| receive the board how will I know what BIOS version is on it? Will it be
| on the box or on papers enclosed with the board?
|
| The reason I'm asking is that I plan to use a 3.4GHz P4 chip which
| according to the Asus web site requires the latest BIOS. That raises the
| question: If the board does NOT come with the latest BIOS, how will I get
| it there if the 3.4GHz chip will not work in it without the latest?
|
| Peter
|

Well congrats on picking a kickass board, and heres the solution to your
dilemma, its in the manual, which you can pickup online and peruse it
before you get your board.

Its in Section 4.1.3 Using ASUS EZ Flash to Update the BIOS

Without the fancy verbage it works out to:

Download the new BIOS .ROM
Rename it P4C800E.ROM
Save it to disk (does *not* need to be bootable)
Boot the system, and press <Alt> + <F2> during the POST

You will see:

User recovery requested. Starting BIOS recovery...
Checking for floppy...
Floppy Found!
Reading File "P4C800E.ROM". Completed.
Start flashing...
Flashed Successfully. Rebooting.

TADA!

hth
Philip


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[Peter]

Peter wrote:
| I'm about to order a new P4C-800E Deluxe for a PC I'm building. When I
| receive the board how will I know what BIOS version is on it? Will it be
| on the box or on papers enclosed with the board?
|
| The reason I'm asking is that I plan to use a 3.4GHz P4 chip which
| according to the Asus web site requires the latest BIOS. That raises the
| question: If the board does NOT come with the latest BIOS, how will I get
| it there if the 3.4GHz chip will not work in it without the latest?
|
| Peter
|

Well congrats on picking a kickass board, and heres the solution to your
dilemma, its in the manual, which you can pickup online and peruse it
before you get your board.

Its in Section 4.1.3 Using ASUS EZ Flash to Update the BIOS

Without the fancy verbage it works out to:

Download the new BIOS .ROM
Rename it P4C800E.ROM
Save it to disk (does *not* need to be bootable)
Boot the system, and press <Alt> + <F2> during the POST

You will see:

User recovery requested. Starting BIOS recovery...
Checking for floppy...
Floppy Found!
Reading File "P4C800E.ROM". Completed.
Start flashing...
Flashed Successfully. Rebooting.

TADA!

hth
Philip

Two followup questions:

1. Can I do all of the above with the 3.4GHz P4 chip installed on the
board or do I do this before installing the P4 chip?

2. ack to my original question, will the P4C-800E come with anything that
says what BIOS version is installed?

Peter

 

[Raoul Louar]

There is an utility :asusupdate on the mb cdrom which will say to you what
bios version is on your mb and what bios version you can download.(with this
utility)
Most of the times, all af this can be done without any floppy.

 

[Philip Callan]

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Peter wrote:

|
| Two followup questions:
|
| 1. Can I do all of the above with the 3.4GHz P4 chip installed on the
| board or do I do this before installing the P4 chip?
|

AFAIK the BIOS doesnt support the CPU specifically, not its
architechture, it should POST with the 3.4c installed, even if it is
mis-detected due to its microcode not being in the BIOS.

Honestly I think the only way to find out is going to be to POST it, I
can remember slapping a coppermine core P3 in a box that had an older
cpu, it wasnt detected right, but it POSTED at a lower speed.

| 2. ack to my original question, will the P4C-800E come with anything that
| says what BIOS version is installed?

Uhmm, yeah, your POST Screen unfortunately no, mine didnt come with
any such indicators (and was 1008 IIRC) Im currently running 1014 with
no problems, simply remember to flash, enter the bios, reset to
defaults, reboot, THEN setup your settings.

Philip
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[Steve]

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Peter wrote:

|
| Two followup questions:
|
| 1. Can I do all of the above with the 3.4GHz P4 chip installed on the
| board or do I do this before installing the P4 chip?
|

AFAIK the BIOS doesnt support the CPU specifically, not its
architechture, it should POST with the 3.4c installed, even if it is
mis-detected due to its microcode not being in the BIOS.

Honestly I think the only way to find out is going to be to POST it, I
can remember slapping a coppermine core P3 in a box that had an older
cpu, it wasnt detected right, but it POSTED at a lower speed.

| 2. ack to my original question, will the P4C-800E come with anything that
| says what BIOS version is installed?

There is a sticker on the Bios chip that will tell you what rev. Of bios
is loaded....

 

[Philip Callan]

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Steve wrote:

| There is a sticker on the Bios chip that will tell you what rev. Of
bios
| is loaded....
|


Sonofa! you know what, you're right, there it is on an odd offsize
square (not rectangular) BIOS chip.

I think the odd shape confused me, but it does have '1008' on it, which
was the version loaded.

Learn something new each day....
[grabbing magic marker to alter to 1014]

Philip


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