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"Help needed!"

Ok, I need to update the BIOS on my motherboard.

I have an exe file I got from the 'net.

But do I need to format my HDD drive before I do it? If I don't, is there a risk I may lose everything on my HDD?

I have an Abit KT7A RAID motherboard (but I'm not actually using the RAID thing).

Thanks.

Cheers for the help HalT, I did go to the www.viahardware.com site the other day. I got some new drivers for my sound card and it works fine now.

Thansk again!

Your Honour wrote:
> Thanks for the help HalT. I updated the BIOS but it didn't make any
> difference.

I'm running a Monster Sound MX300 sound card, which
> does have compatibility problems with the KT7A chipset.

Your Honour. try the following it may work.

1 Make sure the sound card is in slot 3 and that slot 2 is free.

2 Manually reserve IRQ5 for 'legacy ISA' in BIOS 'PnP/PCI configurations.

3 Disable Delay Transaction and PCI master Read Caching and setting PCI master time-out to 0, in Advanced Chipset Features.

4 Install the latest 4in1 drivers.

For more info check out the following links:-
(without spaces)
ABIT http://fae.abit.com.tw/eng/cgi-bin/ul timatebb.cgi
ViaHardware http://www.viaha rdware.com/faq/kt7/kt7faq.htm
Amdmb http://www.amdmb.com/vb/index.php

HalT.

Thanks for the help HalT. I updated the BIOS but it didn't make any difference.

I'm running a Monster Sound MX300 sound card, which does have compatibility problems with the KT7A chipset.

I've found an faq site on the 'net where I've got some help, I'll post the link to it here later. I've got new drivers for my soundcard which I need to try, if that deosn't work, then I need a new sound card.

Heh, I don't *do* careful. My floppy drive's still wonky and that HDD will never work again :-)

Turbonutter wrote:> All sounds too much like hard work to me. Also sounds dangerous.
Anyway, every minute spent wasting time on something I don't need to do could be spent here on SR!

It is only dangerous if you are not carefull.

Anyway cann't argue with the second bit.

All sounds too much like hard work to me. Also sounds dangerous.

Anyway, every minute spent wasting time on something I don't need to do could be spent here on SR!

Turbonutter wrote:> Well, won't be doing THAT then!

Why not its easy!!!

Well, won't be doing THAT then!

Your Honour If your problem is with a C/L Sound Blaster Live series of sound cards. Your problem is most likely the 368B bug. To fix this update your 4in1 drivers to v4.32
and you may also need viapdf100.exe. (The 368B bug update available from viahardware.com).
I hope this helps. H.

Your Honour The motherboard BIOS update does not affect the hard drive as long as you have the right files. If you are worried about data on your hard drive disconneting it may put your mind at ease.

To upgrade your BIOS, follow the steps below.
If you follow them exactly you should experience no problems.

In order to flash update the BIOS, you will need a floppy disk containing the the following:
DOS without any memory management drivers installed. I recommend you use the DrDOS 7.X boot disk designed specifically for BIOS flashing.

The BIOS *.bin (or *.b00 or *.b01) file you wish to update to ( This file can be found by running / extracting the "EXE" file. SEE BELOW).
The previous BIOS *.bin file (just in case you wish to flash back!)
The latest AWDFLASH.EXE utility from ABIT.
The ABITFAE.BAT file from ABIT.
Optional: ABIT have started supplying a file called RUNME.BAT with their BIOS releases which calls ABITFAE with the BIOS filename. You can put this on the floppy disk if you wish, and then instead of Step 6 below, type "RUNME".

Note that ABIT often supply their BIOS files as executables (eg. KT7_WW.EXE). You will need to run this executable (which is a self extracting Zip file) to get the BIOS binary file and possibly also AWDFLASH.EXE, ABITFAE.BAT and the optional RUNME.BAT.

Shut down your computer properly, then turn it off.
Restart the computer with the DOS diskette in the floppy drive.
Press DEL and go into the BIOS and set to default settings. (Ensure Bios Flash is not protected).
Shut down your computer properly, then turn it off.
Restart the computer with the DOS diskette in the floppy drive.
At the A: prompt, type DIR to check the files on the floppy disk. Assuming all the files in Item 1 of this list are present, go to the next step
At the A: prompt type AWDFLASH
type ABITFAE filename - where filename is the name of the *.bin or *.b00 file you are using. (DO NOT TYPE *.EXE this will kill your bios.)
(If you installed RUNME.BAT, you can simply type RUNME instead)
The utility will ask you to confirm a number of things, and will then automatically flash the BIOS with the correct parameters.
Once it has finished go to the next step.
Press F1 to reset, then immediately press DEL to go into BIOS, then please:
Go into CPU SoftMenuIII to adjust your CPU speed and voltage (please make sure the CPU voltage matches your CPU specs)
Set up any other BIOS parameters you required (remember you will need to redetect your hard disks!!)
Save and Exit
You're done.

ABIT now have a step-by-step guide with pictures which may help.You can find this on their web site. Note that the steps they describe are slightly different to those above, however.
BOTH WORK.

FlashMenu

ABIT have recently released Flashmenu - a Windows-based utility that allows you to flash the BIOS under Windows. FlashMenu can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/flashmenu and is on the downloads page. This allows automatic web-based updates of the BIOS, or more traditional user-based updates of the BIOS from specific files - but all under Windows - so no more need to boot into DOS. This whowever requies the use of your hard drive.

However the best method is to use DOS and to flash TWICE without restarting.

ALWAYS UPDATE YOUR BIOS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

If the power goes of while the BIOS is flashing you will have an unusable motherboard.

Only update if you have a problem or require extra features in the new bios.