Please help...Rather baffled

[KingStew]

Hi there,
Im needing some help changing from AMI bios to Award.
I have looked at the faq on the micro star site and it says to
"Use
AMIFL634.COM to program the AWARD(R) BIOS."
i downloaded the ami flash utility but i cant find the AMIFL634.COM thing. the site is not very clear 8(
Do i have to download it and where from ie is it on the microstar site ?
My motherboard is a MS-6178 and at the minute it has the ami bios.
The reason i want to change to award bios is because according to the manual
it lets you alter fsb speeds which i cant do with aim.

Any input would be most apreciated,
Cheers
Stew.

 

[LimeyGreg]

The flash utility should be available from either the bios manufacturer (Award in your case seeing that you want to change to that), the binary file should be at the board makers site as it is specific to the board. It's probably in zipped form. When you flash you usually need to be in dos mode with no tsr's loaded.

I just d/l your manual and can not find any instructions on flashing the bios. The MSI site says it's a live update flash done online, so only the executable should be necessary but I can not find the faq page to see if there is any help there. Are you sure the bios chip used for an AMI bios can be flashed to an Award bios? If you have any further info post it here and maybee we can find an answer.

 

[KingStew]

this page has the info on flashing the bios http://www.msi.com.tw/support/bios/main.htm
it also says you can change the bios using the aim/award flash utility. when you run the program it ask you which file to program and this is where i get stuck. on the faq

http://203.69.93.66/faq/view.asp?Page=1&Serial=66

it says to use AMIFL634.COM but i cant find this file.
i might have just missed it but the site is not particually clear on the procedure

again, any input would be most apreciated
cheers
Stew

 

[LimeyGreg]

That is probably a fairly old faq and the flash utility has been updated, the latest version will enable you to flash the bios. It is in two parts really, the utility and the binary file. The latter usually has to be extracted as it's in zipped form. Follow the instructions closely, clean floppy with system files, put utility and bin file on there and boot to it. If there is a compativility problem it will usually let you know and you can just back out of the proceedure.

Be sure to note your bios rev before you flash it, usually found as the last two letters on the string of characters you'll see just after you start the boot process - lower left corner of screen. When you get done flashing the bios make sure that it took and the bios rev changed. I know it seems scary and there are a couple of things that can happen (you're not in Calif are you? Don't want a rolling blackout when your half way through the flash or you bios chip will be toast), but when you've done it you wonder what all the fuss was about.

 

[KingStew]

Success !!!

you were right the problem was that the file names it told you to use were out of date so i substituted them for the fiels i had and it worked. the new bios has a lot more options so hopefully i will be able to overclock now which means i will have more questions to bug you with..... 8)

cheers
stew

 

[LimeyGreg]

Hey, excellent news. You can consider that you have completed your right of passage, many people shy away from flashing the bios. Bring on those questions, you'll find no shortage of help on this site, glad to have you on board. For a really feel-good experience may I suggest you check out the Folding@Home section and join our team in trying to help out the world of science and medecine, and it's free - it just uses those idle cpu cycles.

 

[Shadow ÒÓ]

LimeyGreg (Apr 05, 2001 11:25 p.m.):
Hey, excellent news. You can consider that you have completed your right of passage, many people shy away from flashing the bios. Bring on those questions, you'll find no shortage of help on this site, glad to have you on board. For a really feel-good experience may I suggest you check out the Folding@Home section and join our team in trying to help out the world of science and medecine, and it's free - it just uses those idle cpu cycles.

agreed. There is no bugging here! I sit here looking for questions I can answer like a lot of people do. If it bugged me I wouldn't log in!

The perfect question is what LimeyGreg said.......willing to give Folding a try? =)

Glad you got it running friend.