Just spent an "interesting" (to put it mildly!) weekend on this project with
the other computer, to enable a microprocessor upgrade. I wouldn't
recommend it for the faint-hearted, suffice it to say, or you might end up
with a paperweight. :-)

You know, it wouldn't be quite so bad, except that in some cases, there is
no reverse path available (i..e, it's a one way trip) - which seems
unforgiveable, on their part!

My question is: why do these BIOS manufacturers sometimes make it so damn
difficult to upgrade/downgrade or go back to a previous version (especially
when going from one manufacturer to one its subsidiaries, or vice versa
(like Dell and Intel)?

And not only that, but even block certain upgrades with certain chips, just
out of self-centered arrogance on their part (and not due to real chip
limitations)?

You may wish to pose your question to the BIOS manufacturer. Microsoft
doesn't manufacture BIOS and therefore your question is inappropriate to
these groups.

--

Xandros


"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:%23Ofly3$gIHA.6032@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

Xandros wrote:
I don't.

I'm talking to people in a newsgroup who might have had some experience with
it, not IBM. And yes, BIOS *does* indeed tie in with the operating
system, laddie.

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote:

So does Microsoft Word, but this ain't the place to ask MS Word
questions either, pops.

PD43 wrote:
Big difference between Microsoft Word, and which paragraph style to use, and
BIOS, laddie.

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote:

Ask yer BIOS question in windowsxp.hardware pops.

On Mar 12, 12:00*am, "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net>
wrote:
As previously stated, this is not really a XP question.

BIOS manufacturers tend to create their chips fast and at the lowest
cost. Some manuafcturers do provide a downgrade path and others make
soem BIOS with a spare chip.

BIOSes are currently extremely important to motherboard as these store
how to access the PC's components correctly so updates most be done
correctly. Update applications must make sure that you the user
definiately want to do an update and must verify that the update
completes correct.

You show also note that Intel is trying to replace the BIOS chips with
a different technology but since BIOS is used on most motherboards, it
will take time.

On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:00:06 -0600, "Bill in Co."
<not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote:

Why do idiots bring all this in a group that is about XP and has
nothing to do about what the group is for?

Just stop Professor Farnsworth...Great News, Everyond.

PaulMaudib wrote:
Because we're trying to emulate you in absentia, Bubba.

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:%23Ofly3$gIHA.6032@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
All the motherboards I've dealt with have had an Award bios on them. I've
never run into the discrepancies you're speaking of as a result of an
attempted bios flash. The option to save the current bios to floppy has
been around for a long, long time.

Paramount to flashing the bios in my learning experiences was setting the
bios settings to default both before and after the flash. Perhaps, clearing
the cmos from time to time as well.

That all was with single bios chip configurations.

My current dual bios chip configuration on my current motherboard makes all
of that so much easier in the case of a botched bios flash. Also using
Award bios.

--
Dave

My vote in this primary was for the lesser
of many evils...

Lil' Dave wrote:
AMI and (now) Intel BIOS, over here. But no, they don't ALL have that
option, sad to report.

And it's even been documented on some of the forums (I found out later) that
some of these BIOS "upgrades" (esp. to a different manufacturer), are
one-way journeys -once you do it, you can't go back (due to some of the code
in the BIOS installer).

But at one point I actually tried to, by using a Hex Editor to change some
specific bytes in the BIOS exe installer (discovered this proposed
workaround solution on another forum), but it was still a no-go.

Trust me, there apparently are a LOT of variations and eccentricities in
this BIOS arena, and it seems I've only discovered the tip of the iceberg,
at least from what I can tell. But it is fascinating (when it's not hair
raising)

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote:

An old-time under-the-hood player like you (or like you represent
yourself to be) should've found that out years ago.

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:%23jDb72XhIHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
On the older single bios chip flash upgrades, with some, due to its limited
flash storage area, an upgrade might mean losing something to gain something
else. I do remember having to resort to flashing the backup bios bin file
to restore to condition prior to the flash upgrade. I liked what the
upgrade provided that wasn't there before, but liked less what I lost in the
process. The upgrade flash file online provided the info what was new, but
not what I would lose in the process.

--
Dave

My vote in this primary was for the lesser
of many evils...

PD43 wrote:
Hey Bubba, they aren't all that way, but since you've never done any, I'll
cut you some slack here.

Lil' Dave wrote:
And you were lucky that you had that option. :-)
This is not to say that I haven't been able to accomplish that indirectly
too (at least in some cases) (esp if in the same family) - but only by
reflashing to the previous version, however.

Indeed.
Often the documentation (WHEN you can find it, and IF it even exists),
leaves a bit to be desired, to put it mildly.

But in the final analysis, I came out way ahead, as I went from 800 MHz to
1.6 GHz, for my other computer.

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote:

Flash the BIOS? 3 I think.

PD43 wrote:
That's encouraging to hear, as I was about ready to tell you how to access
the BIOS, and now I won't have to (which saves me some typing, and I know
you have some difficulty with "longer" posts).