[Damien]

I've said this before and I'll say it again, why is it so difficult for Microsoft to provide a utility on both the Win 2K and ME cd that creates a basic MS DOS boot disk which will allow users to update their bios? It seems like a simple thing to me so why don't they just do it instead of saying there will be a problem for users of these operating systems.

Bios updates have become increasingly important recently, what with fixes to ACPI etc. that multiple updates seem more the nore these days.

[halen]

In my opinion, BIOS and hardware vendors need to start bundling their updates as disk images and Winimage or something that will work. With all the people using Win2000, WindowsME and even Linux, this would be so much easier.

[DrSchmoe]

Halen: Yes, you are right, it would be easier, but it would also be illegal.

Bundling a disk image would include MS-DOS system files, which are still copyrighted material.

There are other versions of DOS (non-MS) that could be bundled, however they don't have 100% compatibility and some upgrade utilites won't work properly.

Here is something even more pathetic... I own a Xerox printer. Recently, Xerox released a firmware upgrade, however the upgrade utility is Win9x only!!! I honestly don't have access to any 9x machines (2K at home and a NT/2K mix at work)! They could have made it DOS based, and made my life easier. So it looks like I need to drag my printer to Kinko's if I want to upgrade. How sad is that?

[SpongeMaster]

The Win98 CD is bootable, and everyone I know that uses a Microsoft OS uses win98 or at least dual boots. This eliminates any need for a floppy boot disk. If you pirated your copy, you're SOL here.

[BadDad]

I agree about the Win98 CD. Additionally, if you ever had 98, you should still have a 98 bootable disk. I use it all the time to apply bios updates.

[DrSchmoe]

True, the 98 CD is bootable, but I would say "everyone I know that uses a Microsoft OS uses win98 or at least dual boots" might be true of your pals, but highly innacurate when comparing all the 2K users (especially considering most of them use it for business).

Actually, myself and my company do not own 9x, only NT4 and 2K. If an employee came to me wanting my sign off on the purchase of a 9x workstation, I would probably look at them as if they weren't speaking my language, then quickly inform his or her coworkers so they could plan an intervention...

[fargo]

Asus has a BIOS update utility that works in windows, have used it to flash my P3b-f and my P3v4x and it has worked every time (Windows 2000). I know it might not be the smartest solution but it sure is the simplest

[shawkins]

http://www.bootdisk.com

If you are in dire need. . .

[pr-man]

guys, all I use is my win98 boot disk and I am able to flash new bios's fine. If anyone needs I can post a copy of my win98 boot disk to my website

[Ronin]

Ya,

I use a Win98 Boot Disk to flash all my harware. If you don't have Win98 loaded anywhere at home, find a someone and have them make you a disk. I don't see what the problem is.

...

[DosFreak]

Must have been a slow news day. More mindless dribble from the register.

[BadDad]

I agree DosFreak--they act as if they've never worked with NT before.

[Damien]

As DosFreak and others point out, there is still something of a blatent misunderstanding going on here. Some owners of Win 2K assume that we all have Win 98 too! This simply isn't the case. Okay so I do indeed have 98 SE and can boot from the CD, but what about the poor sod who got Win 2K full edition with his machine? What the hell is he supposed to do? No old copies of dos, no older copies of Windows - so bios update - at least not without breaking the law!

I suppose it would be possible for a bios manufacturer to write a program that generates a boot disk to write to the bios - technically they wouldn't have to illegally use MS DOS code, they could write their own custom program that loads from the boot strap. However this would take time, and I doubt many companies would be willing to do this.

[CM]

[Alex_w]

Its not hard at all to make a dos boot disk with windows 2000 you can make one from the cd, just go to \VALUEADD\3RDPARTY\CA_ANTIV\ and make a disk easily. for anyone that knows how to use dos anyway.

[SpongeMaster]

Win2k has been out for 6 months. If during that amount of time, you could not find a boot disk, you shouldn't be in business.

[CUViper]

btw, not all win98 cd's are bootable.... like the msdn cd's. The msdn win2k cd's are bootable, but not the msdn win98 cd's Go figure....

[A-guy]

Windows millenium is retarded. I cant for the life of me figure out why they removed real mode dos support even if the base of it still uses dos. Are they trying to trick us or something?
www.bootdisk.com

there. I too think it would be cool to have dos diskettes bundled with win2k. Even better yet why not just make it a boot option. ;-). But I guess that is like trying to mix apples and oranges.

[ACID]

Ok please correct me if i'm wrong
but wasn't winme just written because developers weren't doing the right thing with win2k drivers etc so they brought out winme!!
microsoft wants to get rid of dos so they are trying to get ppl to stop relying on it thats why winme sorta hides its dos usage.

i think that the idea about companies making their own bootable disks for they're flash programs etc is a good idea.
may take some time,,,, yes
but worth it when people start needing it when dos is dead.

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