The Basic Input/Output System provides the roadmap to all computer operations for each of the various subsystems. Most motherboard vendors release BIOS updates on a regular basis, as each new version typically offers improved performance, stability, or compatibility. While detailed instructions are usually available for the upgrade procedures, the chance for BIOS corruption is a readily understood risk. An improperly coded BIOS file, a bad flash routine, a power failure, and a variety of other problems can occur during the update.
Even after a failed flash, a potentially dead motherboard can possibly still be recovered. Most BIOS manufacturers (Award, Phoenix, and AMI) now include an option known as Boot Block protection. The Boot Block sector is write protected, thus it can only be damaged if the flash utility is explicitly directed by a command line switch to overwrite this EEPROM memory range. The Boot Block can load the most basic BIOS functions for the simple I/O operation of ISA video, floppy drive transfers, and keyboard input. Luckily these features are all that is generally required to rebuild the entire working BIOS.
| Required Features | |
| Floppy Drive | Needed to load boot disk and new BIOS update |
| Boot Floppy | Needed to load the basic operating sytstem, preferably MS-DOS |
| ISA Video Card | Optional, but can simplify the recovery process |
Each required aspect should be self-explanatory to most users. A startup disk can be automatically built from the Add/Remove Programs applet within the control panel. The boot disk is a vital part of this guide, though users with WinNT/2K will need to build this boot disk from a system running MS-DOS or Win9x/ME. If this is not possible, then a variety of DOS-oriented boot disks are available for download from BootDisk.com. Be sure to copy all needed BIOS utilities and update/backup files used during the original flash process to this disk as well.
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