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Saving original BIOS in A7V333

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OC Detective

Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2001
Location
Mauritius
I have an issue with both trying to update or save an original copy of the BIOS within my A7V333. When I boot up I press del to get into the BIOS screens however when I exit the screen I cannot seem to get to a prompt - the cursor just sits on the line where it says I can press F1 to continue (if I was wanting to boot up my software) or Del to enter the Setup screens. Obviously I am doing something glaringly obvious wrong but can someone guide me in the right direction?? My manual is version 1.0 so I am trying to use AFLASH.
 
OC Detective said:
I have an issue with both trying to update or save an original copy of the BIOS within my A7V333. When I boot up I press del to get into the BIOS screens however when I exit the screen I cannot seem to get to a prompt - the cursor just sits on the line where it says I can press F1 to continue (if I was wanting to boot up my software) or Del to enter the Setup screens. Obviously I am doing something glaringly obvious wrong but can someone guide me in the right direction?? My manual is version 1.0 so I am trying to use AFLASH.

1st, go here and download a good no-driver boot disk.

Make the disk, and copy AFlash, and the new bios to it.

2nd, boot into the bios, set it to boot from drive-A (floppy) 1st, CD-Rom 2nd, and Hard Disk last.

Insert the floppy, and boot to it, and flash away.

If you're not sure how to flah a bios, I suggest going to the Beginners Guide on this sites home page.

Good luck,

:)

Doc
 
Thank you good doctor for your reply which resolves the issue of flashing a newer BIOS. I still have an issue (or maybe it is not really one!) regarding saving the original BIOS when the computer is being used for the first time (i.e. just built). The manual for Asus says at the DOS prompt type FORMAT A:/S to create a Bootable system disk etc and do not copy config.sys and autoexec.bat - my question is how do I get to the DOS prompt?? If I exit the BIOS setup screen there is no dos prompt - is this correct?
 
If I'm not mistaken, you have to hit F5 or Shift-F5 before windows starts loading.
 
Thanks it probably is F5 or somesuch but I am talking about saving the original BIOS before I have even installed the Operating System software (will be WINXP) - under section 4.1.1 of the operating manual where it says Using the computer system for the first time and where presumably AFLASH is copied from the Mobo CD? Do I have to install WINXP before I can save a copy of the original BIOS?
Besides once I have everything installed and flashed I will change the BIOS setup so it reads the hard drive first and windows boot up will hopefully be automatic :)
 
OC Detective said:
Thank you good doctor for your reply which resolves the issue of flashing a newer BIOS. I still have an issue (or maybe it is not really one!) regarding saving the original BIOS when the computer is being used for the first time (i.e. just built). The manual for Asus says at the DOS prompt type FORMAT A:/S to create a Bootable system disk etc and do not copy config.sys and autoexec.bat - my question is how do I get to the DOS prompt?? If I exit the BIOS setup screen there is no dos prompt - is this correct?

I'm guessing that you want to save the bios b4 installing the OS?

Although this is not needed, you need to make the boot disk like I described above. Do this on the computer you're reading this message on now.

If you're planning on using raid, put in a new formatted floppy in the drive, and logon to the Asus site. Download the latest Promise Raid drivers to your puter, and copy them to the floppy. You will need this later, when you install WinXP.

Insert the new boot disk in the floppy drive of your new PC, and boot into the bios.

Set the boot option in the bios to boot from the floppy (A-Drive) 1st, the CD-Rom drive 2nd, and the Hard Disk 3rd.

Save the changes, and reboot.

It will boot up into DOS from the floppy.

At the "A" prompt, type: aflash.exe

Follow the directions on screen, and make a backup of the bios.

Don't flash it to a newer one unless you need to.

Once you've saved the bios, reboot with your WinXP CD in the drive.

If you're planning on using the Raid feature, press the F6 key when prompted by the WinXP installer.

Install the Raid drivers from the floppy you made when prompted.

Install WinXP.

Good luck!

:)

Doc
 
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