Hi, I have been playing about with our 3 Abit NF7-S 2.0 based computers and trying to install Vista Home Premium.
I have managed to do this after a few false starts on the main computer. As I am running mobile cpus they are not recognised by the standard bioses and I was wondering if the lack of recognition was affecting my Vista score rating.
I installed the D26 Mantaray bios which recognises the cpu and then decided to have a look at the latest official D27 bios.
I have done bios flashing for years and so was not expecting trouble.
In went the new bios and in came my 6 year old son.
"Keep away from the switch on the wall" I said.
"You mean this one?" and he promptly switched it off in the middle of the bit where the bios is saving the changes.
Yes, the fans span but not a lot else after that!
Do I ring Abit and buy a new bios chip or do I have a go at hot flashing?
After a quick google I came across this site that actually deals with my motherboard.
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=62&pgno=0
Sure enough it seemed possible but it would involve the potential of spoiling my other son's comp as you have to mess about inside whist the machine is still running.
I levered out my bios chip quite easily without any damage and then did the same for the good computer. As the idea of this hot flashing is swap chips whilst the comp is running I tied a loop of strong thread around the chip between the prongs so that I could put it into the socket and then pull it out again at the correct moment for the swapping over proceedure.
I pulled off the Sata leads to the hard drives and then placed my Dr Dos floppy in the drive. When it got to the A> prompt I popped in the disc with the D27 bios on but before typing "runme" I pulled on the thread and out popped the good bios chip. In went the knacked one and so I typed "runme" and held my breath.
Bingo it flashed just the same as it always had in the past.
I allowed it to post and then turned off the comp. Swapped the chips back into the correct machines, rebooted and reset the bios to my requirements.
Moral of the story, do not turn off your machine during bios flashing and it is very handy if you know someone with the same motherboard as you.
I could have waited for Abit to send me another one but knowing my luck they would be out of stock!
PeterT
I have managed to do this after a few false starts on the main computer. As I am running mobile cpus they are not recognised by the standard bioses and I was wondering if the lack of recognition was affecting my Vista score rating.
I installed the D26 Mantaray bios which recognises the cpu and then decided to have a look at the latest official D27 bios.
I have done bios flashing for years and so was not expecting trouble.
In went the new bios and in came my 6 year old son.
"Keep away from the switch on the wall" I said.
"You mean this one?" and he promptly switched it off in the middle of the bit where the bios is saving the changes.
Yes, the fans span but not a lot else after that!
Do I ring Abit and buy a new bios chip or do I have a go at hot flashing?
After a quick google I came across this site that actually deals with my motherboard.
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=62&pgno=0
Sure enough it seemed possible but it would involve the potential of spoiling my other son's comp as you have to mess about inside whist the machine is still running.
I levered out my bios chip quite easily without any damage and then did the same for the good computer. As the idea of this hot flashing is swap chips whilst the comp is running I tied a loop of strong thread around the chip between the prongs so that I could put it into the socket and then pull it out again at the correct moment for the swapping over proceedure.
I pulled off the Sata leads to the hard drives and then placed my Dr Dos floppy in the drive. When it got to the A> prompt I popped in the disc with the D27 bios on but before typing "runme" I pulled on the thread and out popped the good bios chip. In went the knacked one and so I typed "runme" and held my breath.
Bingo it flashed just the same as it always had in the past.
I allowed it to post and then turned off the comp. Swapped the chips back into the correct machines, rebooted and reset the bios to my requirements.
Moral of the story, do not turn off your machine during bios flashing and it is very handy if you know someone with the same motherboard as you.
I could have waited for Abit to send me another one but knowing my luck they would be out of stock!
PeterT
