User manual ASUS P4B-LS

[. . . ] ® P4B-LS User Guide Motherboard E861 Checklist First Edition October 2001 Copyright © 2001 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. BIOS setup must specify "Floppy" as the first item in the boot sequence. 4. In DOS mode, type A:\AFLASH <Enter> to run AFLASH. 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. ASUS P4B-LS motherboard user guide 4-1 5. Save Current BIOS to File from the Main menu and press <Enter>. The Save Current BIOS To File screen appears. 6. Type a filename and the path, for example, A:\XXX-XX. XXX, then press <Enter>. 4-2 Chapter 4: BIOS Setup 4. 1. 2 Updating BIOS procedures 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! 1. Download an updated ASUS BIOS file from the Internet (WWW or FTP) (see ASUS CONTACT INFORMATION on page x for details) and save to the boot floppy disk you created earlier. At the "A:\" prompt, type AFLASH and then press <Enter>. At the Main Menu, type 2 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:\XXX-XX. XXX, then press <Enter>. To cancel this operation, press <Enter>. 6. When prompted to confirm the BIOS update, press Y to start the update. ASUS P4B-LS motherboard user guide 4-3 7. The utility starts to program the new BIOS information into the Flash ROM. The boot block is updated automatically only when necessary. This minimizes the possibility of boot problems in case of update failures. When the programming is done, the message "Flashed Successfully" appears. 8. Follow the onscreen 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 service center for support. 4-4 Chapter 4: BIOS Setup 4. 2 BIOS Setup program This motherboard supports a programmable EEPROM that you can update using the provided utility described in section "4. 1 Managing and updating your BIOS. " Use the BIOS Setup program when you are installing a motherboard, reconfiguring your system, or prompted to "Run Setup". This section explains how to configure your system using this utility. [. . . ] The computer's primary storage area used to write, store, and retrieve information and program instructions which are passed to the CPU for processing. The information in RAM can be repeatedly re-written with new data. Compared to other storage media like magnetic tape, floppy disk, and hard disk, RAM has an extraordinarily fast access rate. RAM, however, is volatile, which means that the data stored in it are lost when the system power is turned off, or if power glitches occur. [. . . ]