E6600 question

I have an E6600 and an Asus P5W Deluxe, I know I need to update the bios, I have a friend with an 805D chip I can use to boot the computer.

My question is this, do I need windows installed to update the bios? If I do need windows, once I remove his 805 and put my E6600 in will my brand new copy of windows xp I just bought for 90 bucks be no good? Or will it not matter since I dident change chipsets?

Thanks.

you dont need windows.. just the bios boot disks (the site should have spelled out directions)
you have a floppy drive installed?
set the bio's to boot to floppy, put in the disk, power down and let it boot up and update is the usuall procedure. it takes a few.

last time I checked the XP licence is good untill you change the motherboard.

another option, you can download a evaluation copy of 2003 server for free and do all your messing around and inital testing/tweeking/benching and hardware swapping with it

windows is supposed to only be installed on 1 motherboard, but you can usually get around that by calling in and saying you just changed your harddrive. you'll be fine if you switch the processors.

So I can boot up windows, download the bios, install it, then swap cpus no problem?

sure, but you dont have to, you can do it before installing windows (if you got your floppies ready before-hand or have another computer to prep them)

making the floppy now

read and follow the manifacures directions to flash the bio's

I have swapped CPUs several times without having to reauthenticate. I've changed mobos several times too, but usually you have to reauthenticate. It's a slight hassle, but it's not a big deal.