The step-by-step guide is:

• 1. Save your uncompressed BIOS file (usually a .rom or .bin file) to a blank floppy disk
• 2. Reset your computer and enter the embedded BIOS programmer (see previous page)
• 3. Backup the current BIOS file used by your motherboard onto a floppy disk
• 4. Load the new BIOS file from floppy disk
• 5. Upgrade your motherboard BIOS
• 6. Reset your computer

In Figure 9, you can see the main menu of the embedded BIOS programmer from the motherboard pictured on Figures 6 and 7 (Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Ultra). This motherboard (as well as all high-end motherboards from Gigabyte) has two BIOS chips, a feature called “Dual BIOS.” Some motherboards from Albatron also have this feature. This feature allows you to recover your BIOS file if you program the wrong file on your BIOS chip by mistake. If your motherboard has this feature, first upgrade only the main BIOS chip. After upgrading it and making sure that your system is working fine, you will need to perform a second upgrade, this time updating the backup BIOS chip. You can simply use the “Copy Main ROM Data to Backup” function to do this. If your BIOS upgrade fails (which is very unlikely to happen if you downloaded the correct file for your motherboard), your system will be able to use the backup BIOS (which still has a copy of the old BIOS), allowing you to enter the programmer and restore the contents of the main BIOS chip.

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Figure 9: Motherboard embedded BIOS programmer

The first thing to do is to backup the current BIOS used by your motherboard; in this example, this would be done by selecting “Save Main BIOS to Floppy.” Do this and name your backup BIOS file as something like “old_bios.bin.”

Then load the BIOS file located on the floppy disk; in this example, using the “Update Main BIOS From Floppy” option. See Figure 10. In our case, we were loading the 7VAXPU.F7 file.

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Figure 10: Loading the BIOS file from our floppy disk

Next, the programmer will ask us to confirm that we want to upgrade our BIOS. In some programmers, you may need to manually select an option called “Upgrade BIOS” or something similar to program your BIOS chip. Select “Ok” or “Yes” and wait while your BIOS is being upgraded. See Figure 12.

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Figure 11: Confirmation screen

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Figure 12: BIOS being upgraded

After the procedure is finished, simply reset your computer, and your PC will be using the new upgraded BIOS.