UPGRADING PCs

The BIOS is one of the key components for upgrading, but it alone cannot compensate for lack of hardware interfaces. Actually, updating the BIOS should be updated on a regular basis by you!

However, you need to have enough knowledge of hardware to realize that if you want to upgrade from a Pentium processor to a Pentium II processor, you will have to do more than upgrade your BIOS, and go out and buy a Pentium Processor chip. A BIOS update on a SOCKET 7 motherboard will not allow you to put a Single Edge Contact CPU on the motherboard.

HOW DO YOU UPGRADE A BIOS?

Actually, it is a relatively simple process, if you have a BIOS that can be updated by running a program! An example from my most recent experience is this:

  1. We have some Pentium P75 processors on a Micronics M54L... motherboard.
  2. To upgrade the BIOS, I went to the "www.micronics.com" web page and then had to manipulate until I found the BIOS updates for this motherboard.
  3. Then I click on the download option for the particular BIOS for the motherboard.
  4. It downloads to my PC.
  5. I run the executable which decompresses the files from the executable I downloaded.
  6. I run the update program which was in the compressed file. It updates the BIOS.
  7. I reboot the PC, and the updated BIOS is shown as the current BIOS.

Some older equipment, such as my 486SX with a 1989 BIOS, doesn't have an "electrically erasable programmable ROM" for the BIOS, it is not updatable with the above process. Some of the older BIOS chips were just ROM, some PROM, and some EPROM. Many BIOS chips cannot be removed from the motherboard; others are in the form of DIP chips, and can be removed and shipped to a vendor for updates.

To update an BIOS, you will need to know several things, among them are:

  1. BIOS manufacturer - it is on the chip.
  2. BIOS version - usually available on the first line of the screen when you boot your PC.
  3. Motherboard Nomenclature - it should be in your user or system manual.
  4. WEB site/telephone number of your motherboard manufacturer.
  5. A little bit of tenacity.
Once you know the above, you can usually find the necessary information on the WEB, but you may have to call the manufacturer to get an update for older BIOS chips. In most WEB downloads, you will get a "readme.xxx" file. Read it carefully!

WHY? With some BIOS updates, you cannot go back to an earlier version. Doesn't seem you would want to go back, but I have seen a couple of cases where we wanted to drop back one version. GOOD LUCK!

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