Bios update info!

[Heloyse]

Hello,

Recently a lot of my games have been crashing, and a friend told me that I should update my Bios...

I've been reading a lot about updating the Bios, and it seems like it's kind of a dangerous process for the computer if not done right...

I also went to this website award Bios upgrades, and they charge 50$ and they send me a new Bios by email and all the process and they have a one year warranty...

Lately I've put a lot of money on my computer, so I would rather not pay for that if possible...

So my questions are...

Should I proceed with them?

Or should I use my awdflash, and do it myself even if I never done it myself, and if so, are there steps I should follow before doing it?

Or is there something else safer I can do?

Thank you very much

 

[CntdwnToExtn]

games crashing can be a few things.

bad psu
graphics drivers don't lke your system - update them or even rollback.
could need a bios update...i guess

can you post your system specs?
it could be something other than the bios

 

[Heloyse]

computer specs

Hello,

Here are my computer specs...

AMD athlon 64 3000+
ABIT AX8 motherboard
1GB DDR RAM
SB Live! 5.1
160 GB SATA HD X2

My video card is a GeForce 6600GT, but now I'm using an ATI X300 SE because my GeForce is defective so I sent it to manufacturer and I'm waiting for them to send me a new one...

All my drivers are also updated, I just updated everything in the last 2 days...

Thank you

 

[Trotter]

Went from nVidia to ATI? Did you fully uninstall the nvidia drivers first? nVidia and ATI do not play well together. That very well could be your problem.

How about programs running in the background? I know I have to kill everything but my antivirus when I play BF2.

 

[Heloyse]

Yes I have completely uninstalled nvidia drivers, there's no sign at all of nvidia at the moment in my computer...

In the background, I don't have anything critical other than my antivirus...My system boots very basic

 

[Trotter]

Browse your hard drive and look for anything about nVidia and delete any you find. Run a registry cleaner to get rid of any stray keys for nVidia (CCleaner has one, I use TweakNow... you can find both of majorgeeks.com).

 

[Heloyse]

I did a search for nvidia, found absolutely nothing...

I run ccleaner, Registry mechanic and CleanUp everyday on my computer...

 

[Trotter]

Well, to update your BIOS, you'll need to know which AX8 version you have (there are four of them):
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/search.php?model=AX8

Once you know, go here:
http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/bios/
and choose socket 939, then VIA K8T890 (your chipset), then you board, and hit Next.

The BIOS on ABIT's site is the specific BIOS for your board, and they are free since you own an ABIT motherboard.

As for how to actually perform the update, here's ABIT's page on it:
http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/bioshelp.php

 

[Heloyse]

Thank you for the info

How do I know which one is exactly my motherboard?

 

[Heloyse]

Heh sorry about the double posting...

Will I also lose everything on my computer if I update the Bios, or is it all safe?

Thank you again