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Updating BIOS, I have many questions?

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by coadman, 2005/02/27.

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  1. 2005/02/27
    coadman

    coadman Inactive Thread Starter

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    I have a ASUS motherboard(P4R800-VM)(socket 478). I have been having a few "odd" problems of late, with copying cds and dvd's. A person on another site said to check my BIOS and DRIVERS for the latest updates. When I did this I have found several updates in both my BIOS and DRIVERS from a year ago, when my system was new. I had no problem in downloading the new chipset drivers, as they had an installation program included. But, now the BIOS is another problem. I tried using a utility that was included on my original cd that was packaged with the MB. It "should" let me update and download the most currant updates from their website. When I go to use it, I receive the error message "The model of the BIOS IMAGE doesnt match the BIOS ROM currantly present. Press exit button to exit" On the ASUS site their are currantly many updates more currant than my present one, but I cannot access them using this utility. I went ahead and downloaded the most recent update, and have it one file on my computer, but do not no how to implement it. Also on the ASUS website there are instructions for updating BIOS via DOS, but I cannot get that process to work either. Any ideas?
    thanks,
    coadman
     
    coadman,
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  2. 2005/02/28
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    Hi coadman!

    I went to the ASUS homepage and navigated to the download page for the P4R800-VM.

    To check what is avilable, I downloaded P4RVM1006.zip which is the most current BIOS version, AFUDOS211.zip which is the most current BIOS update tool and e1662_p4r800-vm.pdf which is the most current user manual.

    Did You download and use the same BIOS version and BIOS tool?

    Did You follow the exact steps as outlined in the user manual 2.1 pertaining to using AFUDOS? Not omitting any spaces in the command line and noting that it should be a "slash" and not a "back-slash "!

    What type of bootdisk did You use?

    A "plain" bootdisk for BIOS flashing can be downloaded from BOOTDISK.COM.

    (I don't have an ASUS board myself but I flashed a P4P800 DeLuxe for a friend and following the steps in the manual, it was successful.)

    I always download the necessary files manually and do it the DOS way. I don't trust that an automated process will get it right on all occasions and one miss is enough for a bad ending.
    I always download and use the most current tool to update the most current BIOS version since an older tool may not be compatible with a newer BIOS version.

    Christer
     
    Last edited: 2005/02/28
    Christer,
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  4. 2005/02/28
    coadman

    coadman Inactive Thread Starter

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    need more assistance...

    I just created a boot disk by going to my computer, a: drive, format to ms/dos boot. I downloaded all the files you listed, except for the owners manual(I guess I did download it but there were so many files, I didnt know what I was supposed to do with them. I changed the name of the bios to end in ".rom ", and copied the bios and the flash utility to my boot disc. I rebooted the computer, came into dos, A prompt, typed in,,,afudos /ip4rvm1006.rom and hit enter,,,,this is what I got,,,AMI firmware update utility-version1.19(ASUA) "some other numbers" THEN warning, do not turn off power during flash BIOS, Search necessary information, ERROE:unable to open Rom file.................So, what went wrong?
    thanks,
    coadman :confused:
     
    coadman,
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  5. 2005/02/28
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    Yesterday, I didn't notice the "ami" extension and renaming is probably the cause of Your problem. I downloaded and extracted the 1005 version and it too has an "ami" extension. I also downloaded the most recent BIOS version for the P4P800SE and it has the "rom" extension.

    The ASUS site is soooooo slooow for me right now and I don't have the time to wait for it but I would try the ASUS forum (if there is one) or ASUS support (again, if there is one).

    The situation is very confusing ...... :confused: ...... !

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  6. 2005/02/28
    coadman

    coadman Inactive Thread Starter

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    no help on ASUS

    I could not find a help forum on their site(it sure would be handy). The problem seems to be in renaming the bios ext. to .rom. All I did was just clicked on the file, selected rename, and then typed it in, with the .rom instead of the .ami.
    coadman
     
    coadman,
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  7. 2005/03/01
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    I dropped ASUS International an email with a request for assistance. Let's give them 24 hours to respond!

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  8. 2005/03/01
    coadman

    coadman Inactive Thread Starter

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    Success!

    I used an "alternate" method someone suggested, using an "EZ-Flash" program that is built into the chipset, and it worked! I had to change the name of the new bios file to " "P4R800VM.ROM ", and the program too the update and flashed the bios. Thanks for trying to help!
    coadman
     
    coadman,
    #7
  9. 2005/03/01
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    You're welcome ...... :) ...... glad You sorted the situation!

    From post #3:

    As they say ...... :eek: ...... hindsight is 20/20 ...... :p ...... !

    That resulted in 9 letters/digits in the filename and only 8 are allowed in DOS (plus the 3 in the extension).

    In the manual that I downloaded;

    - when using AFUDOS, in the context of copying the current BIOS, it says that any user provided filename in the 8.3 format can be used. I never read that part and it isn't mentioned in the context of updating the BIOS. As I understand it, You could have renamed it ABCDEFGH.ROM and it would have worked as long as the 8.3 format was adhered to.

    - when using ASUS EZ Flash, it instructs to rename the file "P4R800VM.ROM" and according to Your experience it works.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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