BIOS flashing?

P

Panchev

hello I am new at BIOS flashing can anyone guide me through how to do it,
someone told me its a bad idea but i think I need to do it with my Asus
M2N-E Motherboard.

I downloaded a zip file and all it has in is a .bin file

what do i do to flash the bios?

any help would be lovely

Thank you
 
P

Panchev

Panchev said:
hello I am new at BIOS flashing can anyone guide me through how to do it,
someone told me its a bad idea but i think I need to do it with my Asus
M2N-E Motherboard.

I downloaded a zip file and all it has in is a .bin file

what do i do to flash the bios?

any help would be lovely

Thank you

I have downloaded version 0304 for my motherboard Asus M2N-E will this be
ok, I dont know what version my drivers are currently at? will i need to
flash them at 0301 before 0304? I also download AWDFLASH.EXE from the asus
website, what do i do with this tool?
 
P

Panchev

Panchev said:
hello I am new at BIOS flashing can anyone guide me through how to do it,
someone told me its a bad idea but i think I need to do it with my Asus
M2N-E Motherboard.

I downloaded a zip file and all it has in is a .bin file

what do i do to flash the bios?

any help would be lovely

Thank you

should i do the flash before installing windows or after installing windows?

does it matter?
 
P

paulmd

There's a program missing. Get it from asus.

ftp://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/AWDFLASH118.zip

This is the latest bios from ASUS. It pacthes a memory incompatibility
issue.

ftp://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socketAM2/M2N-E/M2NE304.zip
ASUS should have directions, same place you found the BIOS.

http://support.asus.com/technicaldocuments/technicaldocuments.aspx?root=198&SLanguage=en-us
should i do the flash before installing windows or after installing windows?

does it matter?

Given the choice, i'd choose before. But it rarely actually matters.
 
P

paulmd

Panchev said:
I have downloaded version 0304 for my motherboard Asus M2N-E will this be
ok, I dont know what version my drivers are currently at?

IT will tell you during POST (you have under 1 second to read it)

will i need to
flash them at 0301 before 0304?

No.


I also download AWDFLASH.EXE from the asus
website, what do i do with this tool?

See posted directions from ASUS.
 
J

Jan Alter

There's a program missing. Get it from asus.

ftp://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/AWDFLASH118.zip

This is the latest bios from ASUS. It pacthes a memory incompatibility
issue.

ftp://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socketAM2/M2N-E/M2NE304.zip

ASUS should have directions, same place you found the BIOS.

http://support.asus.com/technicaldocuments/technicaldocuments.aspx?root=198&SLanguage=en-us

If you follow the directions given by Asus flashing should go as expected.
I'm sure you're aware of the importance of not turning your machine off
during flashing and that you shouldn't bother if the newer features of the
bios are not going to impact on anything you're doing. But most times
flashing will go smoothly being meticulous about the procedure.
 
P

Plato

Panchev said:
hello I am new at BIOS flashing can anyone guide me through how to do it,
someone told me its a bad idea but i think I need to do it with my Asus
M2N-E Motherboard.

I downloaded a zip file and all it has in is a .bin file

what do i do to flash the bios?

Yellow Pages | Computer | Sales And Service
 
P

Panchev

Jan Alter said:
If you follow the directions given by Asus flashing should go as expected.
I'm sure you're aware of the importance of not turning your machine off
during flashing and that you shouldn't bother if the newer features of the
bios are not going to impact on anything you're doing. But most times
flashing will go smoothly being meticulous about the procedure.

--
Jan Alter
(e-mail address removed)
or
(e-mail address removed)12.pa.us

what about the Asus win Flash it says on the asus website for BIOS 0203 not
to flash in windows or with EZ-Flash it is only a in the description for
0203 BIOS update check the link below..

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M2N-E

look under BIOS does this mean flashing weith the 0304 BIOS in EZ-Flash will
be ok?
 
P

Paul

"Panchev" said:
should i do the flash before installing windows or after installing windows?

does it matter?

Read section 4.1.3 here. (PDF page 65). It doesn't get any easier
than this. The flashing tool is built-in to the BIOS, and is accessed
by pressing <alt-F2>. You put the unzipped BIOS file on a floppy
and the built-in flashing tool can read the file off the floppy.
It is also supposed to be able to read the file off a USB key.

ftp://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socketAM2/M2N-E/e2630_m2n-e_manual.pdf

Since the manual says the flash chip is a 4 megabit device, the
unzipped file you use should be 512KB in size. There should be room on
the floppy, to backup the current BIOS version onto the floppy,
before flashing the new version. If you ever need to go back to
the old version, then you'll have a copy.

Also, no matter which flashing method you use, always read the
warnings on the Asus download page. If you click the BIOS button
on the download page for your board, then click "BIOS History",
a popup window shows you this:

******************************
[ 0402 ]
----------------------
Latest beta BIOS.

[ 0304 ]
----------------------
Patch memory compatibility.

[ 0302 ]
----------------------
Patch memory compatibility

[ 0203 ]
----------------------
(Do not use EZ-Flash to flash BIOS if your BIOS version is prior 0203.)
Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at:
http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx
******************************

Look at the paper sticker on top of the socketed flash
chip on the motherboard. Sometimes it has printed on it,
what BIOS version is currently installed. If the version
is earlier than 0203, you should use a method other than
the built-in EZFlash2 method. So it pays to check for
warnings, before attempting to flash.

In section 4.1.6 of the manual, it describes the Crashfree 3
feature. If the BIOS is ever corrupted to the point that
it gives a "BIOS ROM Checksum Error", then the board can
use the motherboard CD, to flash a known good BIOS into
the board. Be aware, that if you are overclocking, sometime
you will see this error. Instead of reflashing the BIOS,
all you need to do if you overclocked too high, is
clear the CMOS and this error will go away. Flashing
a motherboard while it is overclocked, is not a good
idea, because on some motherboards, the LPC bus to the
flash chip also gets overclocked.

Paul
 

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