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Another BIOS Upgrade Quest :)

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 2:47 am
by coolkish
Hi,

My current BIOS is Award 4.51PG

Useful ID Info 693-596A-2A6LGD4FC

I believe I Have DFI Mobo and VIA Chipset (82C691 rev 68)..
I ran bios upgrade software and I notied I have DMI Ver 2.2 instead of 2.3

Do I have the latest? I did not find any info on dfi.tw website on newer BIOS ..maybe I am wrong..

Appreciate your help.

Cheers,
Kishore

P.S.-You guys are doing a great service here...

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 10:59 am
by NickS
Hi Kishore
Award 4.51 is a generic version number and does not tell us much about your BIOS.
To decide whether you have the latest version for your board you need the date information usually shown in front of the BIOS ID. Try BIOS Agent (a free download - see the banner at wimsbios.com homepage) and report what it says.

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 12:18 pm
by Denniss
You need your model and revision number/letter,too to find a newer Bios .
Hint : DFI often has newer Bios in their Beta-section

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 11:46 pm
by edwin
DFI boards have the model number printed on a sticker that is sitting on top of the parallel printer port connector, yes you have to open your case to view it.

Update

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 11:34 am
by coolkish
Guys,

Following is my update- I am a bit wiser :P

BIOS Date is 05-30-2000

So String is: 05-30-2000-693-596A-2A6LGD4FC

FYI-SM Bios Ver 2.2

I opened up my PC and saw that my Mobo was CA-61 Rev B. (Thx Edwin :))

I went to dfi.tw and saw 3 revisions after 05-30..

Should I download & install all of them (the 3 newer ones) or just the latest one? Any Dos or Don'ts?

Cheers,
Kishore

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 2:19 pm
by KachiWachi
You only need the latest one (BIOS update file replaces the entire BIOS...they are not cumulative or patches).

You should only do so if you are trying to solve a system problem or get updated support for a device (like larger HD sizes)...it isn't always necessary just to have the "latest version".

Do you have a problem you are trying to solve?

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 7:29 pm
by coolkish
My 733MhZ PC (128 MB-goin to upgrade RAm soon) 'hangs' or idles every 3-4 min for ~30 secs.. and is a major pain in the a**. I did a google search and remember coming across a check for BIOS upgrade..

So I copy the BIOS exe file to my FDD and boot it up with it?

Thanks,
Kishore

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 9:59 pm
by edwin

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:51 pm
by KachiWachi
Doesn't sound BIOS related to me...but you never know.

What OS?

Does it do the same thing in "Safe Mode"?

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 12:47 am
by Denniss
Sounds like some background action is hanging the system (Virus Spyware or such things) or HDD is swapping a lot and /or it runs in PIO instead of DMA/UDMA

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 3:20 am
by coolkish
The idle or busy mode happens when I am surfing..I can open other applications fine-but I have to wait for browswer to refresh or go to a new site for ~30s-there is also no traffic thru my network card. I used some utility which states 'idle' and then life is normal..

Anyway got BIOS upgraded...Thx guys :)

Cheers,
Kishore

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2003 10:51 am
by edwin