IS FLASHING BIOS RISKY????? NEED URGENT GUIDANCE

[Mohan]

Could flashing of BIOS render the motherboard useless. This is what I read Zdnet.com discussions.

I am looking for a valid guide-line from your experience because I was just about to go ahead with the upgrading the BIOS of my CUSL2 motherboard (with BIOS version 1001.a to the latest BIOS 1003.a).

The reason for me to upgrade as above is because the Hardware Monitor on the mobo is showing unacceptable variation in two of the leads - +12v to +10.6
-12v to -8.90 although on checking with voltmeter the leads showed correct voltage output from SMPS.

Every time I boot the PC, I have to press F1
to continue.

Shall be grateful for your input.

 

[AMD4ME2]

yes its risky.. but ive never had it kill a bios when done correctly with the correct files and with a boot disk. I did fry one by my own stupidity..(I tried to do it in dos mode)

alot of the new mobos have windows flash utilities which im unsure about, I would still rather do it with a boot disk.. windows can't manage my memory without it leaking out all over the floor so I wouldn't trust it with flashing the bios.

 

[Davegod75]

of course it is risky but nothing to be scared of at all. I flash my bios like once a month and there are hundreds upon hundreds of people on this forum doing it all the time. Just follow the instructions.

 

[Thump553]

I agree with both of the above comments. Apparently, if it crashes partway throught your motherboard is trashed permanently. But I have flashed bios probably 2 dozen times without any problems.

Its very important that the flash not be interupted. For piece of time, hook the computer to a uninteruptable power supply (UPS). CompUSA has the Blackout UPS on sale this week for $50-I have one and its fine. Saved my computer from lightning damage when another computer in house got fired (and was hooked up to a $50 surge surpressor).

Most important thing-print out and follow the instructions. Its really pretty simple.

 

[paulip88]

Agreed. Yes, its potentially dangerous, but only if you lose power while you're doing it (so if you live in Cali, it might not be a good idea) or if you're a jacka$$ and turn the power off since you think it stalled when it in fact did not.

As for the utilities that run in windows, I personally would not try those unless I absolutely have to. If windows crashes during the process (and we know how windows loves to do that), you're screwed.

 

[toph99]

depending on how the BIOS chip is installed on the motherboard, if the flash goes wrong and you have a removable chip, the vendors will usually send you a replacement

 

[paulip88]

Oh yeah, there are also certain manufacturers who have two BIOS chips on-board, so if one gets fried, you'll still have another one to use till you get the other one replaced (if you get the other one replaced).

 

[Valvoline6]

I have a CUSL2 and flashing the BIOS could not be easier. Just make sure that before flashing you go into the BIOS setup and hit F5 to reset all settings to the BIOS default. If you do not do this you can run into trouble. I forgot to do this once and had trouble. Luckily unplugging the power and pulling the battery for 10 min fixed it. I have never had trouble when resetting to defaults..