Need Upgrade for Award Modular BIOS v6.0 Revision 1005

[alex613]

I am hoping someone is able to help me get the upgrade for my bios.. here are the specs.. thanks in advance

BIOS Date: 06/20/02
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v6.0
BIOS ID: 06/20/2002-I845 -P4B
OEM Sign-On: ACPI BIOS Revision 1005
Chipset: Intel 1A30 rev 3
Superio: Winbond 627F/HF rev 7 found at port 2Eh
OS: WinXP SP2
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 1800 Mhz
BIOS ROM In Socket: Yes
BIOS ROM Size: 256K
Memory Installed: 512 MB
Memory Maximum: 3072 MB
Memory Slot 01: 256 MB
Memory Slot 02: 256 MB

[BOB IROC]

BIOS upgrades are specific to Computer Brand/Model number or Motherboard Brand/Model number if it is a custom built. Award makes BIOS for many different companies so we would need your computer Brand and Model or your Motherboard Brand and Model to direct you to the correct BIOS update if there is one.

I suggest downloading and running this utility as it may tell us a little more about your system.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download181.html

Then you can post and attach the HTML report if you want so we can sort through it.

[alex613]

My Computer is a Sony Vaio PCV-RX580
This is the info i was able to pull out

Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 06/20/2002-I845 -P4B-LX
Motherboard Name Asus P4B-LX

Front Side Bus Properties:
Bus Type Intel NetBurst
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 100 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 400 MHz
Bandwidth 3200 MB/s

Memory Bus Properties:
Bus Type SDR SDRAM
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz
Effective Clock 133 MHz
Bandwidth 1067 MB/s

Chipset Bus Properties:
Bus Type Intel Hub Interface
Bus Width 8-bit
Real Clock 67 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 267 MHz
Bandwidth 267 MB/s

Motherboard Physical Info:
CPU Sockets/Slots 1
Expansion Slots 3 PCI, 1 AGP
RAM Slots 2 DIMM
Integrated Devices IEEE-1394
Form Factor Micro ATX
Motherboard Size 240 mm x 240 mm
Motherboard Chipset i845

Motherboard Manufacturer:
Company Name ASUSTeK Computer Inc.


BIOS Properties:
BIOS Type Award Medallion
Award BIOS Type Award Modular BIOS v6.0
Award BIOS Message ACPI BIOS Revision 1005
System BIOS Date 06/20/02
Video BIOS Date 03/25/02

BIOS Manufacturer:
Company Name Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
Product Information http://www.phoenix.com/en/products/default.htm

Problems & Suggestions:
Suggestion System BIOS is more than 2 years old. Update it if necessary.
Suggestion Video BIOS is more than 2 years old. Update it if necessary.

[BOB IROC]

Well after checking Sony's website I see that your computer already has the latest BIOS issued by Sony. Is there a reason you feel that it needs to be updated?

[alex613]

Sony has the 1005 version which i already have. There is an updated version that was released on 12/03 which i dont.. I would like to see if the new version will increase performance and i would also like to enable shadowing which the current bios will not let me enable

[gemstone]

You should really only update your BIOS code if it is needed to take advantage of a new piece of hardware, say a different CPU or if it cures some bug. Flashing a BIOS whilst very simple and easy can also destroy your chip completely so it's not advised as a 'routine'.
Shadowing should be turned off anyway, older systems could take advantage of holding small pieces of BIOS code in RAM however in modern machines this is not any advantage and can seriously impede performance or cause BSOD's.

You are more likely to gain performance by adjusting the timings of hardware with your current BIOS, but the 'gain' is usually so slight (unless your board is specifically designed to be clocked, which yours isn't) it's not worth the hassle of all the problems you will encounter with stability issues.

Edited to add a tip.
Increase your RAM to 1GB if the board suppports it and then make some registry settings which will turn off paging and increase throughput.
If you get more RAM post back and I can send you a file to import into the registry to make gains, or I can detail them here, they are commonly known by peeps working with PC's and do gain performance by using memory more effectively, personally I would recommend 1Gb RAM as a minimum for XP.

[BOB IROC]

Sony has the 1005 version which i already have. There is an updated version that was released on 12/03 which i dont.. I would like to see if the new version will increase performance and i would also like to enable shadowing which the current bios will not let me enable

How do you know there is an updated one released on 12/03? There is no reference to that on Sony's website (that I have seen). Also I highly do not recommend using a BIOS other than Sony's releases on that motherboard as you will most likely lose the ability to Restore the computer and cause other problems.

I would follow gemstone's advise and increase your memory and make sure your computer is clean (Spyware/viruses), hard drive is defragged and free from errors.

[CCT]

It may help explain things here to note that when a company like Sony orders a load of mobo's from someone like Asus the boards they get are indentified as an Asus board of a specific type BUT

BUT!!!!

because the company that ordered them wants proprietary rights to the OEM computer they are building quite often the bios is DIFFERENT between their board and the 'stock' board that a mobo manufactirer sells under the same part number/board type.

Using the Asus bios update MAY destroy your ability to even boot.

I hope this helps.