BIOS upgrade

[namelkcip]

I've got an HP n5420 that someone gave me for free due to a power surge causing some problems. I need to upgrade the BIOS, which requires floppy in disk drive and issue a restart. Here is a quick list of the current status quo:

1. The CD/DVD ROM drive won't read CDs, so I can't boot to it (I think the laser is shot b/c it is at least recognized in the BIOS and windows).

2. The floppy drive is recognized in the BIOS as 1.44/3.5" as it should be, but in the OS (win2k prof) the floppy controller has a red X on it (have tried reinstalling the driver and d/l latest from manufact. but is still no good) - so I can't boot to that either.

Here is what I have done to attempt the BIOS flash, in the hopes that it may repair some issues w/ the floppy/CD/DVD drives???

1. Tried network boot to get BIOS files over network, but MSCLIENT didn't have drivers for my card, and I don't know how to add them.

2. Tried disabling floppy controller in BIOS and forcing RAMDRIVE assignment using XMSDSK in autoexec.bat - gives me an error indicating "invalid drive specification (increase LASTDRIVE)" ... Lastdrive is set to 'Z' in the config.sys. However, I can set a RAMDRIVE to letter B:, but I need it to be letter A:.

3. I am not sure editing autoexec.bat and/or config.sys is working anyways b/c the only way to get to a DOS prompt at this point w/ Win2k is safe mode, and I am not sure if that processes the autoexec and config?

4. Have an external Iomega 650 Zip CD USB, and have been able to access it in DOS via USBASPI.SYS, but the BIOS does not support using it as a boot device.

5. Have tried to edit the autoexec.bat that begins the BIOS flash process to pull files from C:\ by replacing all calls to the floppy drive with the hard disk, but that didn't work either.

I am trying to figure out why XMSDSK gives me the error telling me that the selection of 'A:' is not acceptable for the drive letter - if I could figure that out, I would boot to safe mode w/ command, run the command line to set up ramdrive, copy bios files to it, and flash. My only thoughts are that even though the floppy drive is disabled, that somehow the resources for drive 'A:' are already allocated? Counter-intuitive to this is the fact that booting a Win98SE w/ RAMDRIVE from CD will load diagnostic tools to RAMDRIVE letter A: anyways, even if I have a floppy drive...so what's up with that? I d/l Win98SE boot files to C:\ and booted to COMMAND, then ran command line for processing the Win98SE autoexec.bat, and it still came up with an error indicating that a RAMDRIVE could not be created. Lastly, someone said that a pointer could be created in DOS that will make DOS think that the C:\ drive (or some other drive) is the A: drive (something along the lines of how you can use one physical floppy drive as two, A: and B. Not sure how that would work, and it is probably OldSchool DOS, not the crap you end up with from having to safe boot w/ command in Win2k (i.e. "DOS" 7.0).

So there you have it...anyone who can figure out a way for me to flash the BIOS without a bootable floppy, external CDROM or network boot gets the kudos!! I know, you're probably saying "just buy another cd/dvd drive or floppy..." and you're right, but without being able to complete full diagnostics and/or testing on this, I don't want to buy more parts just yet.

Thanks,

Scott:frown;

 

[Uncle Bob]

my 2cents;

flashing the bios will almost certainly not resolve your problems with the floppy or most likely with the CD drive.

it's possibly worth trying a clear cmos, you will need to find the battery which if you're lucky will be accessible by removing a small panel from underneath and if you're unluky will require that you get inside the laptop which is often easier said than done.

are you saying that with the floppy controller enabled in the bios, and with the floppy being set as a bootable device, that you can't boot from a Windows 98 startup disc?

but then you state that you got the external Zip CD working? in DOS?

disregarding the bios updating, what do you want to do with the machine?

 

[namelkcip]

Uncle Bob,

You are correct in that the BIOS has the floppy enabled, and under detailed boot window shows the FDD as 3.5" - yet putting a bootable floppy in the drive results in nothing more than checking (FDD light comes on) and bypassing. I can access the USB drive in DOS, but the BIOS does not support booting to it, AFAIK. I suppose I could put a boot CD in and select CDROM as the boot device, but whether or not that will include the USB CDROM in its search for an available drive, I don't know.

For machine useage, I really want to just use it to wander around my house wireless on the net, which I can do, and use it as a video display for my GameCube. So far, I just need a video input device (either USB or PCMCIA). I am trying to get everything working though so that I can further my abilities with hardware troubleshooting, and the use of those drives would be nice (particularly the CD/DVD for watching DVDs).

Any more ideas are always appreciated.

Scott

P.S. I also get the error "IRQ not configured" on three devices, two on Bus ID 0, the other Bus ID 1 - does that mean part of the mobo is shot?