User manual ASUS P4SP-MX SE

[. . . ] P4SP-MX SE User Guide Motherboard E1676 Checklist First Edition V1 July 2004 Copyright © 2004 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it, may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form or by any means, except documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes, without the express written permission of ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Product warranty or service will not be extended if: (1) the product is repaired, modified or altered, unless such repair, modification of alteration is authorized in writing by ASUS; or (2) the serial number of the product is defaced or missing. ASUS PROVIDES THIS MANUAL "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. [. . . ] Reboot the computer from the floppy disk. The BIOS setup must specify "Floppy" as the first item in the boot sequence. 3. In DOS prompt, type AFLASH, then press <Enter> to run AFLASH. Save Current BIOS to File, then press <Enter>. The Save Current BIOS To File screen appears. If the word "unknown" appears after Flash Memory, the memory chip is either not programmable or is not supported by the ACPI BIOS and therefore, cannot be programmed by the Flash Memory Writer utility. 5. Type a filename and the path, for example, A:\XXX-XX. XXX, then press <Enter>. 2-4 Chapter 2: BIOS information Updating the BIOS Update the BIOS only if you have problems with the motherboard and you are sure that the new BIOS revision will solve your problems. Careless updating may result to more problems with the motherboard! To update the BIOS: 1. Download an updated BIOS file from the ASUS website (www. asus. com) and save the file to the bootable floppy disk you earlier . Reboot the computer from the floppy disk. In DOS prompt, type AFLASH, then press <Enter> to run AFLASH. Update BIOS including Boot Block and ESCD, then press <Enter>. The Update BIOS Including Boot Block and ESCD screen appears. Type the filename of your new BIOS and the path, for example, A:\P4SPMXSE. BIN, then press <Enter>. When prompted, press Y to start the update. 7. The boot block is automatically updated only when necessary. This minimizes the possibility of boot problems in case of update failures. When updating is done, the message "Flashed Successfully" appears. ASUS P4SP-MX SE motherboard user guide 2-5 8. Follow the screen instructions to continue. If you encounter problems while updating the new BIOS, DO NOT turn off the system because this may cause boot problems. Just repeat the process, and if the problem persists, load the original BIOS file you saved to the boot disk. If the Flash Memory Writer utility is not able to successfully update a complete BIOS file, the system may not boot. If this happens, call the ASUS Technical Support for assistance. 2. 1. 4 Recovering the BIOS with CrashFree BIOS The CrashFree BIOS auto recovery tool allows you to restore BIOS from a floppy disk that contains the BIOS file, in case the current BIOS on the motherboard fails or gets corrupted. · To use the CrashFree BIOS feature on this motherboard, install a VGA card in one of the expansion slots before rebooting the computer. On motherboards with onboard VGA, such as the P4SP-MX SE, you will not see the screen display when the BIOS crashes even if you reboot the computer. Prepare the floppy disk that contains the motherboard BIOS (P4SPMXSE. BIN) before proceeding with the BIOS update process. [. . . ] When you select this option, a confirmation window appears. Select [Yes] to save changes and exit. If you attempt to exit the Setup program without saving your changes, the program prompts you with a message asking if you want to save your changes before exiting. Pressing <Enter> saves the changes while exiting. Exit & Discard Changes Select this option only if you do not want to save the changes that you made to the Setup program. If you made changes to fields other than system date, system time, and password, the BIOS asks for a confirmation before exiting. Load Setup Defaults This option allows you to load the default values for each of the parameters on the Setup menus. [. . . ]