Upgrading BIOS

[stebesplace]

Ok, i looked on my MB manufacturer's web site today and noticed there had been alot of updates to my MB over the past year which i had none of. Bios updates. About 7 in total. What process should I use to update. Are they cumulative? Do i do them all or just the most current one?

Here is my MB: ABIT TH7-II

Thank you,


-Steve

 

[BarryAZ]

They are cumulative -- you just need to apply the latest one.

Not sure of their update process -- with folks moving to XP and Win2K, increasingly, the BIOS update process is supported as an operation one can do from within Windows and then reboot.

The alternative approach (which works even with those that support a Windows flash), is to create a Win98 or even DOS 6x boot CD and run the DOS level flash utility which should be provided by the board manufacturer as a download.

 

[Mattster]

In most cases, the latest BIOS update is cumulative, with all of the past fixes, additions, changes that were provided by the previous BIOS, in addition to whatever the new BIOS has. I've flashed boards with the first rev of their BIOS to the latest and never had problems, providing that the latest BIOS does not call for a specific revision of the board. If that is the case, the manufacturer will usually point that out in the release notes or on the webpages for the updates.

I have always used the bootable floppy disk approach, as this almost never fails. Get a couple of floppys, do a Full format on them to make sure there are no problems (bad sectors, etc.) and make one a bootable Win98 disk and but the update files on the other diskette. Its fairly foolproof this way, as long as you follow the instructions on flashing from the manufacturer.

Hope this helps and good luck
Matt