How to flash a BIOS using a CD?

C

Chowder Head

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Messages
244
Hey guys, I would search for this answer but the searching feature is down.

Anyway, I've been trying to flash my BIOS a few times tonight but am having problems. I tried using the MSI Live Update Tool but when I tried that, it said it installed correctly but the old version still remains. So I decided to download the lastest BIOS from MSI's website and burn it on a CD since I don't have a floppy drive on my computer. The only thing I'm familiar with burning software onto CD's usingg the ISO image but the zipfile doesn't even have that. Can anyone break it down for me?

If it helps, here's the link to the BIOS page.
http://www.msicomputer.com/support/bios_result.asp

If you go to 'AMD' then 'MSI K8N Diamond Plus (MS-7220)' the top BIOS is the one I'm trying to get.

Another question, a notice is highlighted next to the download button.

It says: "Please Note: BE SURE TO UPDATE THE BIOS WITH FOLLOWING COMMAND: AFDOS404 A7220NMS.30A /P /C /B /N
or use the 7220.BAT file attached"

Excuse me for sounding like a complete retard but what the hell does all that stuff mean?

Lastly, if it's possible, could someone download the BIOS I'm looking at and tell me what I need to put onto a CD to make it work?

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks a lot! :)
 
It appears that all the necessary files for the BIOS flash operation are contained in the zip file. You need to use something like Nero, and create a DOS bootable disc. Nero has all of this built in. Then, add the files from the zip archive to the contents area of the disc. Once it's burned, you boot from it, and run the commands you listed.

If you don't feel like burning the CD, then just run it from a bootable USB Thumb Drive.
 
djnes said:
It appears that all the necessary files for the BIOS flash operation are contained in the zip file. You need to use something like Nero, and create a DOS bootable disc. Nero has all of this built in. Then, add the files from the zip archive to the contents area of the disc. Once it's burned, you boot from it, and run the commands you listed.

If you don't feel like burning the CD, then just run it from a bootable USB Thumb Drive.
Click to expand...

Oh wow, that easy? I have Nero but never knew it had a feature like that. Thanks man!

Just two more questions if you don't mind. How would I do it on a bootable USB Thumb Drive? Nero doesn't have a feature for that too does it?

Lastly, about that notice I desribed earlier. If I were to do, say a bootable CD, I wouldn't have to worry about that because the .bat file will be included, correct?

Thanks for the speedy response man, it's appreciated!
 
For the second question, yes, the .bat file handles all the commands for you, so you'd run that one file, and it will handle the rest.

As for the bootable USB Thumb Drive, you'd need to make one bootable using something like the HP Utility. I have a link at work I can post. Once it's bootable, you copy the files to it, and boot from it. Then you'd run the commands the same way as you would with the bootable CD.
 
Thanks, djnes, I successfully burned the BIOS onto a bootable CD without a problem.

The problem now I'm having is what to I enter in the field prompt to initiate the BIOS update process. Even with including the bat file, it still asked me to enter something.

So first, I entered the weird text I mentioned before in this thread. The "AFDOS404 A7220NMS.30A /P /C /B /N" one. I made sure to enter a space after "404" but it didn't work at all. I'm was looking at updating BIOS guides, even the one from MSI and it's throwing me off. The MSI BIOS step by step process is here: http://www.msicomputer.com/support/BIOS_AMI.asp

It says to enter the 'flash utility which is the EXE file' include a space, then enter, and then enter the 'BIOSFILE.VER' which I'm assuming is the "A7220NMS.30A" part.

Does anyone know what I'm missing? I thought since I included the bat file, I wouldn't have to enter anything? I guess not?

Any ideas at all are greatly appreciated because I'm pretty much stuck at the moment.

Thanks in advance!
 
I just:
1: burnt bootable DVD with new bios
2: restarted PC
3: entered BIOS
4: used Bios update option (I have ASUS board so I dont know if MSI has something simmilar in BIOS)
5: end :)
 
I was doing fine just like that until it asked me to enter something, lol.

Any more advice guys? Did I word my posting confusing perhaps? Sorry about that, I tried to simplify it as easy as I could but there's a lot of weird characters that I just had to post. I entered the text exactly again today, hit enter, and it said 'invalid command' or something similar to that.

Any other advice from anyone at all would be greatly, greatly appreciated. I'm still stuck right now and I have no idea how to progress.

Thanks again!
 
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