Author Topic: BIOS upgrade opinion (Read 304 times)

StarOfAfrica2 · « **on:** January 09, 2006, 06:37:02 PM »

Trying to upgrade my BIOS to support the 64-bit Sempron CPUs. My BIOS wont recognize it, thinks its an Opteron or something, and only recognizes half my RAM. Esupport.com offers upgrades from Award, AMI, Pheonix, etc. I bought an upgrade from them, but cant get it to flash my MOBO. Now they say for another 10 bucks they can send me a pre-programmed chip replacement that negates the need for a flash.

HUH??

I didnt think this was something the average user could do? They say its easy but wont give me details unless I pony up the 10 bucks. Anyone have any experience with this kind of BIOS upgrade?

Kev367th · « **Reply #1 on:** January 09, 2006, 08:15:58 PM »

What mobo you got?

38ruk · « **Reply #2 on:** January 09, 2006, 09:34:31 PM »

Ive never heard of paying to update bios, usually bios updates are like driver updates , you download , flash and go . As far as replacing the bios chip , it real easy if you have the right chip puller , if not you have to take a very small screwdriver and work the corners up slowly . Not a big deal . As kev asked , What board do ya have , ill have to make sure to stay away from them . IMO paying for a bios update is terrible

hubsonfire · « **Reply #3 on:** January 09, 2006, 11:01:21 PM »

I suppose it depends on the mobo, but I've flashed my old Asus board in the past, and all I had to do was download the updated files, fire up the utility, and reboot.

With the exception of Omega's Nvid drivers, I never bother with, or download, third party drivers, or pay to download the hardware manufacturers' drivers from a third party. I will never pay for either.

I hope I'm wrong, but I think you've been had.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 10, 2006, 12:20:57 AM »

Sorry. Lack of information, I was at work and in a hurry.

This is an AOpen motherboard I originally bought to build a cheapo upgrade for my wife. MK89-L. AOpen had an updated BIOS which I downloaded and flashed just fine, no problems. Only it is a year old and still doesnt support the 64 bit Semprons. Award HAS a BIOS available for this motherboard's chipset that supports the Semprons. AOpen doesnt have it.

Esupport.com does direct-from-source BIOS upgrades from all the major companies that write them. You pay 30 bucks, they collect your MOBO info and email you the latest and greatest BIOS for your computer, and provide tech support and tools to help with the install. I've tried several ways and can't get their updated BIOS to flash on my motherboard. Apparently AOpen is difficult like that. Lucky me. I've found other people having similar problems. The company I bought the BIOS from says if it wont flash, for an extra 10 bucks they'll send me the pre-programmed chip so I dont have to worry about flashing, and instructions on how to do it myself. I was having nightmare visions of taking a soldering iron to my motherboard.

They wont make guarantees against me screwing up on the install, but they do guarantee that the BIOS they send me will solve my problem and work on my computer. So if I install the chip and it still doesnt work, I send it back and I get my money back. My question is on the ease of installing the chip. I've obviously never done such a thing before.

Kev367th · « **Reply #5 on:** January 10, 2006, 05:51:39 AM »

If they send you the chip puller it's real easy.

Ground yourself.
Extract the old bios chip using the puller.
Push in the new one.

boxboy28 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 10, 2006, 09:15:54 AM »

i think in this case the $10 is for packaging and shipping more so than the bios upgrade, if your having trouble with the flash.

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #7 on:** January 10, 2006, 10:23:17 AM »

A full featured new motherboard with all bells and whistles is $70-$140 range. Hardly worth any trouble with reflashing and uncertain compatibility.

Just get a new mobo. That's what I'd do.

38ruk · « **Reply #8 on:** January 10, 2006, 10:35:04 AM »

Well that makes it clearer SA2 , like i said before , its easy with a puller , and actually its not that hard to do with a small slotted screwdriver . you just have to take your time and not chip the edges when your working it up . Ive done it with both a puller and screwdriver , it not hard at all . 38

x0847Marine · « **Reply #9 on:** January 10, 2006, 01:28:33 PM »

FWIW those looking for a new Mobo, the Gigabyte dual BIOS is fantastic.. takes seconds to update in Windows by flashing the unused one.

Kev367th · « **Reply #10 on:** January 10, 2006, 04:15:35 PM »

Theres also a device called a "BIOS Saviour".
Gives you dual BIOS'es, available for most boards.
Flick between them with a switch, real sweet for safeguarding against a bad flash.
Fitted one in every board I've owned the last 3 years.

http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/RD1BIOSSavior.html

You can find it available in the U.S. , link is to show what it is.