BIOS Upgrade

[ScoutPL]

Does anyone know if it is possible to upgrade BIOS with a generic upgrade or if they have to be manufacturuer specific?

[Tanks a Lot]

I would highly recommend going with the manufacturer when it comes to BIOS upgrades. Flashing with the wrong BIOS can make your motherboard unusable.

[Schrullenhaft]

It is possible to find a BIOS from another manufacturer that matches your motherboard. However this is rare (usually only works in the case of a main motherboard manufacturer and either subsidiaries or other distributors using the same board, but renaming it).

Things that would have to match between the motherboards would be:

1) main chipset

2) I/O chipset

3) any hardware monitoring chips

4) preferably the same BIOS designer (i.e. - AMI, Award, etc.)

5) the flasher has to be able to recognize your flash BIOS chip and program it

6) no other differences in hardware should exist between the boards (i.e. - no or same audio chip, both should or shouldn't have ISA slots, etc.)

7) the voltage controller/regulator should be the same

8) the PNP CPU (or switch setting) scheme should be the same.

In general it is not a good idea, as Tanks a Lot said, to use another manufacturer's BIOS. There are often too many variables to account for in trying to get a match. Depending on how popular (usually name brand system like Gateway, etc.) and how old your computer is, there may be updated BIOS available from third party BIOS programmers. There are only a few of these companies (Unicore is one that I can recall off hand).

Is there any particular feature you feel is missing from your current BIOS or is there some sort of incompatibility that you're running into that you believe a BIOS update will fix ?

[ScoutPL]

Not really I just read in an advice column that if you have a motherboard thats a couples years old and you are running into trouble with a graphics card a BIOS update may be in order. I'm not really having any serious problems, I just want to run as efficiently as possible. Will the motherboard manufacturer be listed in the BIOS setup or somewhere like that?

[Dogface]

some do some dont, some even tell you on the first boot screen.

99% of the time just open yer case and look should be printed somewhere usually by the ISA slots or by the main chip..

[Schrullenhaft]

As Dogface pointed out - you can sometimes tell by looking for silk-screened lettering somewhere on the board for a model number (and on rare occasions, the manufacturer name). Depending on the BIOS it may be possible to tell the model number and manufacturer from numbers on the initial POST screen. Many AWARD BIOS licensed motherboards will have a row of numbers along the bottom of the POST screen that can indicate the manufacturer (the numbers have to be 'decoded'), while near the top a motherboard model number along with the BIOS revision is often listed.

One place to go to find out your manufacturer and model number is here:

Wim's BIOS Page:

http://www.ping.be/bios/

Search for 'BIOS numbers' depending on the BIOS family (AMI, Award). If your machine is using a Phoenix BIOS, then it is a large manufacturer (like Gateway, Intel, etc.). There's even a utility (written in German) that can identify your motherboard manufacturer and sometimes your model number.

If you're not having problems with your machine right now, then a BIOS upgrade may not really do much for you. Depending on the manufacturer you may get larger hard drive recognition and possibly patches for certain problems. There's no guarantee that the latest BIOS will fix any video issues or make your system more compatible with newer video cards (that may often be an issue with the chipset or other hardware details about the motherboard).

[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 04-05-2001).]