AWDFLASH Windows Flash?

[SinsFeelNatural]

Is there a windows version of AWDFLASH that I can use to flash my motherboard bios? I do not have a floppy drive.

 

[psionic98]

PLEASE NOTE: THESE ARE NOT 100% MY DIRECTIONS, BUT THEY WORKED FOR ME!

this is one USB method for flashing the BIOS on the EVGA X58 SLI and EVGA X58 SLI . download the following to your desktop...

BootDisk2BootStick - freeware program for imaging USB stick
AWDFLASH.EXE - program used to flash the BIOS in DOS
Image for Dr.DOS - image of Dr.DOS that will create a bootable USB stick

plus whichever BIOS you wish to flash...and of course, you need a USB stick...

>1MB USB thumb drive or USB card reader with >1MB flash card (2MB minimum as BIOS file is 1MB)

i have provided the Dr.DOS image that we will use BootDisk2BootStick to image our USB thumb drive which allows booting to Dr.DOS. after imaging the thumb drive, we simply drop the .BIN BIOS file and AWDFLASH.EXE on the USB stick and we are ready to flash in a relatively safe DOS environment without a floppy drive or burning a CD.


Step 1 // Install BootDisk2BootStick
this is fairly straight forward, simply double click the .EXE file on the desktop and follow the prompts. there are not many choices here:

choose your language OK


select NEXT


select the installation directory NEXT


choose start menu options INSTALL


FINISH




Step 2 // Image USB Stick with Dr.DOS
when BootDisk2BootStick opens, we can see it is very small and quite simple. we want to write an image of Dr.DOS that i have prepared to the USB stick that will allow us to boot to the thumb drive. the only thing you have to make sure before imaging the USB stick is that Windows is not accessing the USB stick. ensure there are no Windows Explorer or prompt windows open to the USB stick, otherwise bootstick2bootdisk will not be able to image the drive.

select Write to USBStick/Flash tab


ensure Floppy Disk-Image is selected for Source(Floppy/Image): & choose your USB stick from the drop down menu for Destination (USB Stick):
i am using a CF card in a card reader that was evidently last used in my camera, hit START


the dialogue to open our Dr.DOS image opens so go to Desktop and select the drdos.bin file i have included above


the program will ask if we are sure we want to overwrite, click OK


the image will then write to the USB Stick. it only takes a second or two and the progress meter across the bottom disappears when done




Step 3 // Place .BIN BIOS file and AWDFLASH on USB stick
open explorer to the USB drive we wrote the image to and we should see the following, indicating we now have a bootable floppy disk instead of a USB Stick.

you may not see the files unless you have Show hidden files and folders selected as well as Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) un-checked. you can change these options in XP by selecting Tools > Folder Options > View (tab). In Vista you can access these options going through Organize > Folder and Search Options > View (tab).


at this point, simply drag&drop or copy the desired BIOS .bin file to the USB stick as well as the included AWDFLASH.EXE and we are ready to go. the drive should now look like this, substitute EZ758SZ19.BIN with whatever BIOS file you are flashing




Step 4 // Load BIOS defaults, boot to USB stick, flash BIOS
at BIOS defaults, the EVGA X58 SLI seems to automatically see the USB drive as a bootable device. so at this point, we want to reboot the system with the USB stick plugged in and enter the BIOS to LOAD DEFAULTS...SAVE & EXIT

during POST after the reboot, hold down ESCAPE to enter the boot menu


select REMOVABLE then the USB stick we prepared

the system should then boot as normal but instead of going to Windows, say Starting Caldera Dr-DOS...and go to a command prompt. type the following exactly as shown including spaces...

awdflash <bios filename> /sn /cc /cd /wb

so for instance, if we were flashing SZ19 we would type...

awdflash E758SZ19.bin /sn /cc /cd /wb

AWDFLASH will start and automatically load the BIOS file. do not hit any keys until the program asks us if we are sure we want to flash the BIOS. at that point hit Y for Yes then wait until you hear the series of beeps upon completion asking us to hit F1.

after rebooting i always recommend loading BIOS DEFAULTS then SAVE & EXIT, then going back in and adjusting settings.

you can now flash your BIOS without a floppy drive, without burning a CD, and without rolling the dice of doing it in Windows. HTH and if there are any questions, concerns, or comments...fire away. keep in mind this is the manual method and you should be able to flash any BIOS previous or after SZ19 with this method...simply copy the desired BIOS file to the USB stick and flash it instead.

**of course i don't take any responsibility for your inability to follow instructions or an un-expected act of deity during flashing...flash at your own risk

 

[trents]

Go to your motherboard manufacturer's web site. There you should find the necessary files and utilities to do this as well as directions for flashing bios from Windows. Make sure you have closed all open programs before starting the flash and when it is done and you are ready to reboot into Windows the first time, go first to bios and return everything to default settings before you load Windows.

 

[SinsFeelNatural]

Go to your motherboard manufacturer's web site. There you should find the necessary files and utilities to do this as well as directions for flashing bios from Windows. Make sure you have closed all open programs before starting the flash and when it is done and you are ready to reboot into Windows the first time, go first to bios and return everything to default settings before you load Windows.

I did and all Shuttle has is the DOS flash utility.

 

[QuietIce]

You didn't specify a motherboard.

Can it use bootable thumb drives ...???