It has been suggested that I flash my BIOS in an attempt to correct a problem, I have also been warned that this could leave me with more problems than I started with, so how can I avoid this other than the obvious not doing it? And How is flashing the BIOS accomplished?

What is the problem? Usually BIOSes are updated to let the motherboard be compatable with more things or add more functions to the BIOS.
Generally, if the hardware is PlugNPlay, then all you need is a driver for it.
Of course, BIOS upgrades may help the computer run more efficiently too...

Your BIOS controls the way the various aspects (memory, Video settings) of you computer are registered and addressed, sometimes these BIOS settings are slightly incorrect.

My Sony Vaio laptop has had several BIOS updates from Sony. I coulndn't use photoshop (without getting a BSOD) for about a year until they released a new BIOS update that I had to flash (Install).

This site gives a little glimpse on the problems Sony Vaio laptops have had with their BIOS'es. Might help give you a better idea of the process of updating (flashing) BIOS.

http://www.myplc.com/sony/Bios.htm

Hope it helps, holler if you need anything else

Hi dcc,

For any proper advice to be given, we need to know the make and model of the motherboard (or of the system if it's a big name one) We also need to know precisely what the problem is.

I'm moving this to the hardware section for you.

Hi Catweazle...this is a home brew a friend put together about six years ago:

MIS K7 Pro (MIS6195 ATX IR3) motherboard with a AMD Athlon Pluto K75 , OS W2K Pro

Because of a problems with a corrupted file,(or files) I reformatted my OS, after that the computer was running fine except for one of the original problems, the computer stops randomly in the POST, alway in the same place. I was able to identify the item by the LED display on the motherboard and the diagnostic chart provided for that, and it always stops at the same place, initializing the floppy drive controller. It seems that the general consensus is that the chip set on the motherboard containing the floppy drive controller is going south. I disabled the seek floopy drive in the BIOS, but the problem persist. At another web site it had been suggested that because of the age of my BIOS I should either upgrade or flash the BIOS. If the machine is dying of old age, I'm not adverse to learning something new if it isn't going to precipitate a quicker death.

As well as disconnecting the floppy in BIOS, disconnect the floppy data cable and also the power cable connector from the rear of the drive.

You might be 'disabling' it but the power and signals being detected are telling BIOS it's there. Disconnecting those cable will actually 'remove' the drive, and if it's a failing drive causing the POST problem you need to remove it. Try that and see if it helps. Disconnect the relevent cables (with the power turned off of course) reset CMOS by removing the CMOS battery for a few minutes and then refitting it, and then start up. Faulty drives DO cause startup problems

If that doesn't help, then I'm afraid your a BIOS update wouldn't fix a 'dying chipset'. But you'll notice that one of the available BIOS updates corrects some drive detection issues. The final version 1.8 update will contain ALL fixes, so download that one. It will be a self-extracting zip file which when run will expand both the update data file and the installation tool. You'll need a working floppy drive, so does that floppy drive work when the system DOES boot up? If not then replace the drive.

Installation instructions should be contained in one of the motherboard manual downloads. You copy the files to a bootable floppy disk, boot from the floppy and run the update as instructed in the intructions for either the AWARD or AMI BIOS updating instructions as the case may be. (I didn't download and read the motherboard manual to determine which you have - you can get that information from the initial POST screen info )

Thanks Catweazle...I was in a rush to get out the door this morning and forgot to mention two important pieces of information, the BIOS is AMI, and I did replace the fdd and data cable. Replacing the fdd didn't correct the situation, but I do now have a fdd that works without growling loudly.

This last week I had a new problem which is beginning to make me think that there may be a problem with the BIOS, when the system gets to the last part of the startup I'm getting an error message regarding the driver for the software for my modem, I unistalled and reinstalled the software with no effect. I will do as you have suggested and see if what effect it has on this problem.

In the nine months that I've had this computer it seems that I've always been doing one thing or another to it, I suspect that if I ever get this machine running smoothly I'm always going to feel as if something is missing.

The error message about the modem driver will almost certainly be a Windows installation issue rather than a BIOS issue. Even if your modem is an internal one, it will be an add-in card, not an onboard feature. BIOS will only be handling the PCI bus communication between modem card and the rest of the system

I should have realized that, I didn't think it through. :o

Does this mean that my recent reformat has a problem?

Catweazle...After posting my last reply here last night my computer slowed to a crawl and eventually the cursor wouldn't respond at all, I tried rebooting and got as far as the page with the MS logo and then it stalled and eventually the computer shut down. I restarted it which took a very long time to do, and after a while the computer started speeding up to normal, this action was a first, its' never done any thing like this before. This morning it started up like normal and I went into the event viewer to see what had happened last night, and there were 51 disk errors with the number 7 in the event column, all of these occured last night. Looking back further there have been a large number of service control manager errors with the numbers 7000, 7001, 7026. Is there a way to refrence these event numbers?

I'm guessing that my hdd is on it's way south, the BIOS and everest both show the SMART to be bad. I'm going to start transfering files and downloaded programs to CDs this morning...I should have started this immediately after the last reformating. :rolleyes: