ecs k7vmm BIOS upgrading

[captainmpirical]

Hi, Clockers.

The best thing's happening to me, lately. I took an A+ Certification class (at NHCLC) , and am studying for the tests, now.

I got a 3rd computer (now I have 3 AMDs) to experiment with. I want to upgrade the BIOS on its socket 462 board. It's a K7VMM. The manufacturer (ECS) site has a BIOS download page. It's got 2 links on it (http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Downloads/Downloads_Driver_Detail.aspx?detailid=67&MenuID=0&LanID=0)...1 for Download {k7vmm020812.exe}, 1 for Flash Utility Download {aminf342.exe}. Of course there are no instructions mad !
I know I used a 3.5" floppy to flash the BIOS on my old Gateway Sytem 8DT-084_ and seem to remember just booting with the BIOS update on the floppy, inserted in the drvie.

So I'm not sure what to do. (A) Should I try to install both the "Flash Utility Download {aminf342.exe}" and the "Download {k7vmm020812.exe}"? (B) Should I burn 'em on a CD and have the CD in during boot? (C) Should I just run either (or both) from the command prompt (CMD)?

I know the danger of BIOS updating, and the computer is running fine (except for the system error that always occurs {"AMLI:ACPI BIOS is attempting to write to an illegal I/O port address (0x75) which lies in the 0x74 - 0x76 protected address range"}, and 1.7Ghz processor being reported, instead of 1.4Ghz)...I just want the experience.

It shows:
62-0523-001131-00101111-040201-VIA_K7VMM- during bootup.

Help.

 

[redduc900]

Extract the *.ROM from the k7vmm020812.exe file, and put both that file and the flash utility (aminf342.exe) on a bootable thumb drive or floppy (freshly formatted w/ system files installed). Boot to the thumb drive, and at the prompt type: aminf342 e020812s.rom to flash.

How to use AMI Flash Utility
http://www.ecs.com.tw/extra/flashutl/amiflash.pdf

 

[captainmpirical]

Thanks, redduc900. That clears a lot up.

I'm running XP Professional, though, not '98, like the pdf instructions give example of.

Can you make a bootable "floppy" for XP? I'm hoping to use a 32G thumb drive as the "floppy".

 

[redduc900]

Sure... a XP bootdisk is created the same way as in Win98.

 

[captainmpirical]

O.K. Got it. Thanks again.

With this limited set of boot-up resources, will it be able to recognize the 32G thumb-drive, though (and I won't have to reformat it {[I mean the thumbdrive] FAT32 or anything}, will I??)?

 

[redduc900]

I've always used the HP Flash Utility to create a DOS bootable thumb drive...

How to Make a MS-DOS Bootable Flash Drive
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/46707-ms-dos-bootable-flash-drive-create.html

... so if there's anything on the drive you need to save, make sure to do so before running the utility.

 

[captainmpirical]

I've decided to bail on the thumb-drive idea, and use the floppy drive.

I guess it's o.k. to format the 3.5" floppy FAT16
A:\>format A: /fs:FAT (when I tried /fs:NTFS, I got an error: "The NTFS file system does not function on floppy disks" [eventhough C:\format/? shows the FS switch option, 'NTFS' {another Microsoft documentation fallacy}].)
...right?

So I:
1) move the k7vmm020812.exe and aminf342.exe over to the computer that I want to do the BIOS upgrade on.
2) run k7vmm020812.exe and it will extract files
3) place all the extracted files on the floppy
I hope it's o.k. that I downloaded the 2 exe's onto a harddrive with NTFS, and copied them onto a thumb, then transferred it to the target computer (also with NTFS), and copied 1 exe onto a floppy formatted with FAT (I hope that doesn't corrupt NTFS file [k7vmm020812.exe]).

4) then I'm not sure what to do...copy the aminf342.exe to the floppy and then run it from the floppy (with XP up and running--using the command-tail option you explained, "A:\> aminf342 e020812s.rom")?

 

[oldbrave]

You do NOT update the bios from windows, thats the best way I know to brick your bios.
You go into the bios and make sure the boot order starts with the "a drive" as the first in the boot order. put the floppy in with the proper files on it and reboot the computer it will post to the "A" promt then you use the command line "A:\> aminf342 e020812s.rom" without the quotes, after it's finished with the flash then reboot, but not until it's done !

 

[trents]

I have Windows-based bios flashers on a number of occasions and never had a problem with it but doing it from a DOS boot floppy or thumb drive is the safest way for sure.

 

[captainmpirical]

O.K!
I've got a FAT16 formatted floppy with:
(1) NTDETECT.COM,
(2) NTLDR,
(3) e020812s.ROM (extracted from the "BIOS for K7VMM(PCB:1.2A)" {'k7vmm020812.exe} ),
(4) aminf342.exe (flash utility), and
(5) boot.ini (with the contents:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
)
I've got XP Pro.

There weren't any instructions extracted, only the 1 e020812s.rom file.
I just rebooted with the floppy in to check it's bootability....then just read the 2 new posts (above)...
...thanks oldbrave. I made sure. got the message searching for boot record from floppy & heard the drive driving...then a: drive stoped, and got a normal XP boot screen & XP desktop...maybe I have a bad floppy...but...
When I changed the boot order to CD/floppy/IDE-0 I noticed 2 other AMIBIOS SETUP- ADVANCED SETUP options: "Floppy Drive Swap" (Disabled), and "Floppy Drive Seek" (Disabled)..perhaps that's something else, & makes no difference...especially since the 5 files copied o.k. onto a: ....

...and thanks, trents ....I thought I was creating a DOS bootable, but never messed with NTDETECT & NTLDR ....just msdos.sys & io.sys (and nice system, trents...I got a 775 last year [but took it back, when I decided on a desktop]--It looked killer).

...is a floppy with NTDETECT & NTLDR considered a DOS boot floppy?

Perhaps I need to update the boot.ini file I created to disk(1) ?
{boy, this is going slower than I could have imagined}

 

[captainmpirical]

AlligatorLizards! I'm feeling stupider by the minute: I just found a "Create an MS-DOS startup disk" option off the "Format" option off the context menu, right-clicking on A: (never thought to use XP to format [instead of the "DOS prompt"])!
I'm recopying the other 2 files, now.

 

[trents]

AlligatorLizards! I'm feeling stupider by the minute: I just found a "Create an MS-DOS startup disk" option off the "Format" option off the context menu, right-clicking on A: (never thought to use XP to format [instead of the "DOS prompt"])!
I'm recopying the other 2 files, now.

I was going to mention that earlier but I figured you were already aware of it.

Are you familiar with MSDOS syntax? It will display a maximum of 8 characters plus a 3 character extension, i.e. the characters to the right of the "." If your .rom file name is longer than 8 characters you will see "~" for the ones not being displayed and if I remember correctly you need to use that same ~ when you type in the file name to be loaded by the flash utility.

 

[captainmpirical]

Success!
I'm still getting the "AMLI:ACPI BIOS is attempting to write to an illegal I/O port address (0x75) which lies in the 0x74 - 0x76 protected address range" system error, but perhaps that's from a non-compliant acpi, with this system (I have the power plan set to turn off harddisks: NEVER {I thought that might fix it})?

Thanks, everyone.

(yes, I'm very familiar with the 8.3 filenames, trents...I started out on DOS {DOS 3.3 I think it was}. ). Now the dot is part of the filename--go figure!

My new BIOS ident. is 62-0812-001131-00101111-040201-VIA_K7-K7VMM- ...whew-hoOoH!