Is it safe to flash my bios from a CD-R instead of a floppy?

P

Procharger

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• Apr 2, 2003

• #1

I don't plan on installing a floppy unless it is absolutely necessary to flash my bios. Maybe a dumb question but I really am not sure.

Oh yeah it's an EPOX 8rda+ motherboard.

 

Disco_Stu

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• Apr 2, 2003

• #2

yea, shouldnt be any problem to flash from a cd. just change the boot order and flash away

 

OP

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• Apr 2, 2003

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• #3

cool thanks. My doubts came from all the warnings about only using a floppy which makes little sense to me.

 

Disco_Stu

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• Apr 2, 2003

• #4

actually, i just did a search on it, you need a bootable floppy image on the cd too, sorry!

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=180476&highlight=cdrom+bios+flash

 

R

repo man11

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• Apr 2, 2003

• #5

As far as I know, the only reason you really need a floppy these days is to load RAID drivers. I think there is a substitute for everything else.

 

OP

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• Apr 3, 2003

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• #6

I've got a bad floppy drive so I have no choice but to try and load it from CD but my only concern is that I don't understand what to download to CD to start the flash. Can I still use the AWDFlash function (alt F2 I think) that my 8rda+ shows in the bios when booting up or do I need to buy a floppy drive.

 

OP

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• Apr 3, 2003

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Disco_Stu said:

actually, i just did a search on it, you need a bootable floppy image on the cd too, sorry!

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=180476&highlight=cdrom+bios+flash

Click to expand...

Do you or anyone know what I need to download from this sight to make it work?

Are you saying that I need something to tell the system that my CD is a bootable disk?

 

R

repo man11

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• Apr 3, 2003

• #8

I believe the 8RDA should have the Awardflash utility built in, the same as my 8k3A. YOu don't need anything but the BIOS image on the disc if that is the case. But I'm not sure the alt/F2 method will work on a BIOS file on CD. If not, you'll need to put the floppy image, flash utility, and the BIOS file on the CD.

Go to www.bootdisk.com , I believe they have a "how to" section there.

 

T

Toasted Comp

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• Apr 3, 2003

• #9

You can always flash from windows...I have done it about 5 times and works great http://www.aoaforums.com/files/code.php?file=1241

 

Lazlo Panaflex

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• Apr 3, 2003

• #10

http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/#clean would doing exactly what this sais here would i be able to make a bootable cd? I want to be very exact on this because i just messed up the one in my sig and I DONT want to mess up my new 8rda+!!!! If any of u bios experts could create a extremely detailed post on how to do it i would love you and have probably ur first couple of children.

 

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• Apr 3, 2003

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Toasted Comp how do I go about flashing my bios inside windows with that file(s)?

 

lazyart

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Feb 21, 2003

• Apr 3, 2003

• #12

The 8RDA+ driver CD has MagicBios on it. Install that, then look for WinFlash.exe in Program Files> Epox> MagicBios. Use it to zap your BIOS. MagicBios is supposed to fetch the latest release from the Epox servers, but it has never found what it's supposed to for me.

 

Lazlo Panaflex

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• Apr 3, 2003

• #13

yeah ive had the same problem. The program has never worked for me....

 

OP

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• Apr 4, 2003

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• #14

Should I just not flash this bios. A guy at school said if it's the Phoenix bios to not flash it because chances are it will mess up.

 

lazyart

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• Apr 4, 2003

• #15

Wasnt Phoenix swallowed up by Award years ago?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Flashing from Windows isn't really a big deal, IMHO-- just be sure you aren't running anything else at the time. You don't want Windows crashing in the middle of it.

 

Valid

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• Apr 4, 2003

• #16

Flashing your BIOS is probably one of the more dangerous/irreversible things you can do to your computer (short of pulling off the HSF mid-run). Flashing from a CD-ROM is slightly worse than flashing from a floppy, because you will not be able to make a backup of the previous BIOS in case the new one doesn't take. If it fails, keep reflashing.