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No PC Prob, Just two questions
1) I have a Family member that has purchased the 200 dollar version of windows 7. Is it true that we can install that same copy on all our PC's we use, with no problems?
2) I have been studying as much as I can find about PC's since christmas. Asking questions and applying what I ve learned (Thanks y'all), but now I'm getting to the the point that I need to have a little beter understanding of BIOS, in general, FLASHING, in specific, and some theory ( like balncing, system RAM freq and CPU etc etc). Everything I have found and read so far, seemed to be written for people with technical training, rather than a retired Texas Plumber trying to better himself.
Anyone know of a good site, for the laymen, that I can check out?
Comments
Are you looking to understand the BIOS to overclock?
Windows 7 packs can come in 3-user licenses, you will have to check the box as to what it says. A 3 user license pack is usually about $280 or individual upgrade packs at about $90 each.
Yes Avery, Thank you, I am interested in having an understanding how to FLASH, BIOS. And the uses of a BIOS FLASH. I am not interested in OC'ing, at this point.
The best site to learn to BIOS flash is the motherboard manufacturers site of support forums. They should detail on how its done.
Basically, you have a CD or 3.55" floppy that boots into DOS, then you run a command in DOS.
If you get an ASUS motherboard you can use a windows free utility that will flash it for you. Personally I use a USB Thumb Drive and just follow instructions off the manufacturers website.
Regarding the BIOS flashing: Unfortunately, no two motherboards manufacturers use the same methods. The manual MIGHT tell you how, but I've seen plenty that don't. Definitely not a shining point in the annals of motherboard history overall. And if you're using a premade computer (Dell, HP, etc), many of them don't allow for it at all.
Is there a particular reason you want to flash the BIOS? Generally speaking, it's something you don't normally do unless you specifically need to fix an issue, or you've got a newly released board by a company that uses early-adoptors for testing (aka ALL OF THEM)
A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs:
That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.
It's a long story, has to do with not ending up homeless, having things on my record that wont allow me to get an education, etc.
So I experiment at home, while I have one, and learn. Ask questions, and learn. I will need to build and repair PC's from home, so I have my work cut out for me, as I am one stupid SOB.
Most of what I read makes absolutely no sense to me, except on these forums. The info I have got here, makes sense to me, and works.
I can carve wood well, and sculpt, so I have some ideas for one of a kind PC's. A friend of mine can cast alloys, and machine anything.
As I say I have my work cut out, Theory, and Bios, are next.
2) This is actually a lot of questions in one it seems :P The BIOS is the most basic code on the machine, stored on the mobo in non-volatile EEPROM memory, meaning it doesn't get lost when there's no power. It is responsible for detecting and managing all your hardware at the basic level and acting as the go between for your hardware and the OS.
By managing your hardware what it's doing is establishing clock frequencies and assigning the hardware IRQ numbers and memory addresses which the OS can later use to access the hardware (provided you have the proper drivers for the OS to control the hardware). This process is called POST, and the very last step of it is to check your storage device's boot sector for boot code and execute it thus starting your OS (or a virus w/e happens to be there).
The process of overwriting the BIOS is called flashing it, and rewrites the code stored in the EEPROM with new code, generally to add newer CPU support or fix minor bugs in the original BIOS code. It's often not necessary but if you see something in the BIOS version notes that addresses a problem you have then you should update. Because this code is responsible for the most basic functionality of the hardware if the flashing process gets screwed up (power surge or whatever) then the mobo is bricked. It's possible to reflash a ruined BIOS with proper tools but unless you have them you might as well buy a new mobo at that point.
This is different than the saved BIOS settings which are not actually that important and can be reset quite easily by doing a Clear CMOS by removing the CMOS battery or using the jumper right next to it.
I have never had a BIOS flash go bad btw and I've been doing it for 15 years. Just go to the mobo's product page to find out specific instructions for flashing their motherboard. Newer mobos often have tools you can run from Windows to flash the BIOS, but many mobos require you to boot to DOS mode so it helps to have a Win98 boot disk/CD (I usually just use a Win 98 install CD and select boot to command line) or some free DOS boot disk/CD (check Google).
Because you can't access an NTFS formated hard drive from DOS you have to put the BIOS updater on something you will have access to, either a floppy, a burned CD, or a USB stick if the mobo supports it. It's also not too hard to make a DOS bootable USB stick, which is handy because you can just put the BIOS updater and .bin on and easily reuse it. I believe Win 7 finally added an option to make a DOS boot disk too which was something I think was lacking from WinXP and Vista.
The second half of your question involves the BIOS settings, which allow you to adjust frequencies, timings, boot devices, etc, but I kind of typed a lot.
Thank you, noquarter, very edifying.
ha just got bad comany 2 loaded on this machine, last night, yuk, looks like I will be doing some overclocking after all.