How can I update the BIOS w/ no floppy drive

[-=TriX-R4-KidS=]

Im trying to update the BIOS on my nf7-s........BUT...my floppy drive is dead, i dont have access to a spare one, and id like to avoid buying a brand new one if possible.

so how can I update my BIOS? any way to boot into pure DOS w/ XP pro?

help appreciated,
TriX

 

[Yarr]

XP can simulate DOS, but as far as I know there is no way to boot in DOS though.
If you have an original win98 CD (or if you can get it from someone else) you can boot DOS from that.
You will have to burn your flash utilities (including the new file) on a CD ofcourse.

Isn't there a program under winXP that can do it too?

 

[-=TriX-R4-KidS=]

i think ive got a win98 cd lying around somewhere.

ill give that a try. thanks for the tip.

-TriX

 

[MrAngry]

What bios version are you updating to? I made a CD boot disk that had bios 1.6 files on it for flashing and it worked great. I updated the floppy I have for the 1.7 bios but haven't made the CD as of yet. I uploaded a Nero image on my personal web space for others to use if they wanted it. Let me know what revision your board is and I can help you more.

 

[Tecumseh]

Why can't you grab a bootable DOS image off the Net and
create a bootable CD out of it? I do that with a lot of
utilities like memory tests and disk checkers.

Floppy drives are not long for this world. Say goodbye !!

 

[Sonny]

Make a bootable CD and place the flash files on the Hard Drive. Now after booting from the CD change folders to wherever you put the flash files and execute from there.

The need to go to your HDD is so that you dont get an error when it tries to save your old BIOS. Floppy drives will be here for a long time, until the the hardware manufacturers & M$ decide that they ant to install drivers for mass storage devices a different way druing install of the OS you will be stuck with a need for a floppy.

 

[Tecumseh]

Well, you don't need to save the old BIOS. If you are sure
you have the correct BIOS and that it is not corrupted in some
way, blow off the "Save Old BIOS" option. If you are using
NTFS, and you should be, there is no way to simply change
to a HDD folder to save or browse files from a DOS boot.
DOS and variants don't speak NTFS.

 

[Sonny]

IF..... LOL!!! You can't deny the functionality of a floppy & FAT32, until hardware manufacturers & M$ decide that it is still usefull you will always need a floppy.

 

[Tecumseh]

IF..... LOL!!! You can't deny the functionality of a floppy & FAT32, until hardware manufacturers & M$ decide that it is still usefull you will always need a floppy.

You are right about one thing: compact flash (CF) and
variants and Zip drives will be using FAT, not necessarily
FAT32, for a long time to come....Bummer.