Awdflash.exe

BIOS Flash Upgrade Utility

User Guide

The Award BIOS Flash Upgrade Utility

This manual briefly discusses the Award BIOS Flash Upgrade utility, with instructions to guide you through updating an Award BIOS.

In the examples given here, we use the file name newbios.bin to represent the new BIOS and the file name oldbios.bin to represent the old BIOS. Note that these file names are only examples to help you understand the updating process.

Awdflash.exe commands are not case-sensitive. Upper- or lowercasing of command letters in this manual is for clarity only.

Preparation

The upgrade process requires two files from Award:

	The new BIOS file (e.g., newbios.bin)
	The upgrade utility (awdflash.exe).

Although you may conceivably use a different media for the files, this manual assumes that you are using a floppy disk.

Create a bootable floppy disk.
Transfer the two Award files listed above onto the diskette.
Check whether your system protects the BIOS EPROM chip by a jumper setting. If necessary, change the jumper setting to allow a flash to the EPROM.

Now you are ready to start the upgrade process.

WARNING! DO NOT interrupt the upgrade program while it runs! Interrupting the program leaves the system without a BIOS and unusable. If by some unlikely chance the power goes off during the few seconds the program requires to run, the system is left without a working BIOS and needs a correctly programmed flash EPROM installed.

If you are running the BIOS in an Intel 28F001BX-T flash memory chip, the 8K boot block area may retain its original code during the update process, depending on hardware settings (e.g., boot-block jumper setting).

Running the Program

Boot the system from the bootable floppy diskette you created. Booting from the diskette bypasses loading drivers from the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files on the hard drive, eliminating the possibility of loading a program (e.g., a memory manager) that conflicts with the Award flash utility.

NOTE: The Award flash utility cannot run when EMM386 or QEMM are loaded. If you try, an error message appears.

At the DOS command line, type awdflash and press ?.

A screen similar to this appears:

FLASH MEMORY WRITER v5.3x

Copyright?1996, Award Software International

For I430HX-2A59F000 DATE: 06/18/96
Flash Type -

File Name to Program:

The cursor should be opposite File Name to Program
Type the name of the new BIOS file (e.g., newbios.bin), and press ?.
At the bottom of the menu, this prompt appears:

Do You Want to Save BIOS (Y/N)?

If you DO NOT wish to save the old BIOS, type N and press ?. Then move to step 8.

If you DO wish to save the old BIOS, respond Y, and press ?.
In the File Name to Save field, type a file name for the old BIOS (for example, oldbios.bin), and press ?.

Your old BIOS is saved in a file as named, in the default drive and directory (in this example, on the A drive).
Then the program prompts you

Do You Want to Update? (Y/N)

If you DO NOT wish to update the BIOS, type N and press ?.

The program exits to the command line. Skip the following steps in this section and go directly to the next section.

If you DO wish to update the BIOS, respond Y and press ?.

When the updating is finished, the following message appears:

Programming Flash Memory - 1FF00 OK

Please Power off or Reset System

Restart your system. Your BIOS should be successfully updated.

Command Line Parameters

You can run the BIOS flash update utility at the DOS command line. This section describes the command line parameters and switches, with examples of their usage.

NOTE: This document describes parameters implemented in Award flash update utility version 5.31. For a full list of parameters in the version you are running, type awdflash /? and press [Enter] .

/P Program (update) BIOS; switch y or n.

/S Save old BIOS; switch y or n.

Example 1

To program a new BIOS and save the old BIOS, enter the following at the command line:

awdflash newbios.bin /Py oldbios.bin /Sy

The program saves the old BIOS to the file as named and updates it with the new BIOS.

Example 2

To program a new BIOS without saving the old BIOS, enter the following at the command line:

awdflash newbios.bin /Sn

After executing this command, the program prompts you:

Do You Want to Update? (Y/N)

Type Y in response.

Example 3

To save the old BIOS to a file without updating it, enter the following at the command line:

awdflash /Pn oldbios.bin

After executing this command, the program prompts you:

Do You Want to Save BIOS (Y/N)?

Type Y in response.

The Award flash utility version 5.31 and above has three additional command line parameters:

/CC Clear CMOS.

/CP Clear PnP data (ESCD)

/CD Clear DMI data