Flashing the BIOS

I have an old MSI KTV4 board and i need to flash the BIOS so it is compatible with the Sempron. The MSI website has the BIOS update and has a "flash utility"

Is this going to be an easy proceedure? Can anything go wrong. I just thought i'd ask before i tried actually doing it

Cheers

D.L

Just follow the instructions and you'll be fine. Just remember NOT TO TURN THE PC OFF WHILE FLASH IS IN PROGRESS !! Power failure during the flash process will result in a dead mobo.

Relax, follow the flash instructions to the letter and you'll be ok

to continue with my question, to flash the mobo i wud need to have it set up in a rig.....i have a sempron now, so will the mobo POST if i use the original BIOS that doesnt support the CPU chip? I mean, i need to get into windows to start the driver update right? Or is it a DOS thing?

Cheers

d.l

Well you have two options. Both will require a functioning processor.

You can use the Windows based flash utility (which works fine), or you can use the award BIOS flash utility along with a Windows Boot disk. (there is a link on the MSI bios utility page about how to flash the BIOS that covers how to do the floppy flash.

Either way, you will need to be able to boot your machine, which means you will need to have a processor inthere that works with the current BIOS.

If that is not an option, you can try calling some local computer stores, and asking if they might be able to flash the BIOS for you. Some places will be more than happy to slap a chip in that works, and flash it for you, and in some stores, they may have the hardware neseccary to flash EPROMS by themselves.

I just went through the MSI flash for the American Megatrands mobo using an NTFS file system. Your mileage may vary. You will need a functioning processor. Any supported Socket A will do. Tee preferred, from the MSI forums perspective, method:

1) Download a floppy image of Windows 98 or ME that supports a RAMdisk. These can be found at www.bootdisk.com. I used the ME version.
2) Install on a *blank* floppy. I ended up using scandisk (part of ME) to fix problems with the floppy to repeat this step after errors when doing step 6 below.
3) Download the flash program and BIOS.
4) Put them on a second floppy.
5) Boot from ME floppy, select version with CD support (not sure why CD would matter).
6) Copy flash utility and BIOS to RAMdisk.
7) Burn from RAMdisk.

I would be *very* careful. Minor errors are costly.