I have an ECS K7S5A 3x motherboard and I need to flash the BIOS using the aminf333 flash with the 10-29-02 rom update. Problem is I've been going crazy trying to find out how to do this and none of the info I've uncovered thus far has helped at all.

I'm real good at following directions, even complicated ones, but I can't find any that will allow me to do this.

I do not have a CD burner so the data has to fit on a floppy. Is this possible? I really need some expert advice.

Thanks, fella's!

Once you have downloaded the bios update (usually about 256-512KB) you will want to exctract it to a boot disk. If you don't have one, you can download a Windows 98 boot disk (recommended) from bootdisk.com. Just copy the bios update file and the update utility to your bootdisk, and reboot, then follow the instructions listed with the bios update.

I've tried doing that and in fact I went to the site you recommended and downloaded a Win98SE OEM boot program. I've turned off the S.M.A.R.T. function for the drives and enabled the 'Try Other Boot Devices. With those options set as I just mentioned, or not, I get the same error type message, "NTLDR Missing" press any key to continue.

The other problem I have is that the boot program and the flash BIOS data won't fit on one floppy. At least, the aminf flash utility (512kb) won't fit though the ROM file (256kb) will. The ECS website says to use the flash utility in conjunction with the ROM file though they openly warn that ME & 2K cannot be booted by floppy.

This really is confusing. Can you please set me straight?

In case that was unclear, which I think it is, I have the flash utility & the ROM file on one floppy but they won't cram onto the one that holds the boot program. Only the ROM file is small enough to be placed on a floppy with the boot program.

Just give one of the DOS boot disks a shot, it should be more than enough to flash the bios, without the added overhead of the utilities.

I must be thick as a brick 'cause I don't quite follow what you're saying to do. Give one of the DOS boot disks a shot? I only have one boot disk - the one with Win98SE that gets me know where (see error msg above) fast and I suspect that without a NTLDR file, the other will do the same, though I haven't put it to the test yet.

Is it possible to boot the system using a floppy that has only an AMI Flash BIOS on it?

It sounds like you have not configured your BIOS properly to allow for booting from floppy disks.

If the boot disk has been created properly, then you shouldn't have any problems booting to a DOS prompt. If there was a problem with the boot disk, you should get an 'invalid system disk' type message.

You should be able to delete most of the files on the floppy disk without any problem.

Here's a list of the ones you should leave:

Autoexec.bat
Command.com
Config.sys
Himem.sys
IO.sys
MSDOS.sys

A few of those files are kiond of optional if you're just flashing your BIOS, but you might as well leve 'em all. That should take around 340KB of your disk, leaving you about 1MB for your BIOS flashing util and the data file.

In your BIOS, you should have a section that will let you define the boot priorities. You want the Floppy drive to be listed as the first boot device. Doesn't matter what comes after it, as long as it is first.

With this set, you should be able to boot to a DOS prompt using the boot disk.

You can then remove the boot disk, insert the second floppy disk that has the BIOS flashing files on it and flash the PC.

Once done, remove flopy disks and reboot

What you could do is simple:

1. boot from floppy (win98 as above)
2. Run flash program from floppy (same flopyy as in 1 or other)
- The flash program will ask you which ROM file to use, well
3. Switch floppy to the floppy containing the ROM file

To make it clear, when you have started the flash program, it is in the RAM. You can take the floppy where it is out, and put in a different one with the ROM file.

H.

Would you believe that I simply transferred the file, without opening it first, that I downloaded from the bootdisk site, straight to the floppy I had formatted for that purpose. Holy Mackeral, what a dumbkopf!!

Naturally, after I transferred the opened files to the floppy everything went smooth as silk with nary a hitch. I may sometimes be slow, err, doddering, but I do catch on eventually. Thanks for your patience and understanding Much obliged :-)

Glad to hear it worked!