Hi all. I recently formatted my computer running windows xp and bought windows 7 to upgrade it. When I upgraded the computer it was getting very high CPU spikes without me running hardly anything at all and so I decided to update my bios but now when my computer starts up it says Press F1 to run SETUP or F2 to load default values and continue. When I go into setup it takes me to the blue BIOS screen and F2 starts the computer. Incidently the computer still has the high CPU spikes so the flash hasn’t really done the job I wanted it to do so I’m pretty stuck now.
My board details pre the update we’re as follows:
MS-7350 1.0, Bus Clock: 267 megahertz, BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. V2.3 07/12/2007.
My new update is V2.6 07/29/2008 with all else being the same.
My computer has a 2.4 ghz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor with 4 gig of ram and I’m running a 64 bit win 7.
Can anybody help with this? I have spent so much time trying to get it right but not getting anywhere fast so any tips or suggestions would be greatly welcomed.
That does not include problems caused by you installing incompatible ram or changing which ram you have installed, which is another subject.
If the bios version worked fine previously with the same hardware, usually the only time you legitimately may need to flash the bios to a newer version is if you installed a cpu the bios doesn’t recognize properly !
When you have flashed the bios, you ALWAYS get a Cmos Checksum Error or similar message after that when you boot the computer.
You MUST go into the bios after you have flashed the bios and set at least the current Date and Time, Save settings, because those have been set to bios defaults.
You get the same message and have to do the same things after you have removed the Cmos battery and then re-installed it, or after you have moved a jumper on the mboard to clear the Cmos, then moved it back, with a desktop mboard. Doing those things sets the Time and Date to bios defaults too.
When you have changed the bios version, you should ALSO load bios defaults (or remove and re-install the Cmos battery, or move a jumper on the mboard to the clear Cmos position, move it back) , because usually flashing the bios does NOT clear the previous contents of the Cmos part of the bios and your changed bios version will probably not work properly until you have loaded bios defaults.
…….
“when I save the changes it doesn’t take them.”
If you removed the cmos battery,
– usually it must be installed so the the + marking shows on the top (horizontal battery socket) or the side (vertical battery socket) when it’s installed .
– make sure the battery socket contact that touches the battery on the + side is touching the battery – if it isn’t, the easiest way to fix that is remove the battery, bend the contact farther than it needs to be, install the battery.
If it’s installed backwards, or if the contact on the + side is not touching it, the bios behaves as if it’s dead or not there.
If that doesn’t help, the cmos battery is probably too weak or dead – replace it.
If you moved a jumper on the mboard to clear the cmos, you must move it back to it’s original position.
If you’re not sure about either of those things, see the manual or the info for your mboard !
“the version of AFUDOS.exe is not compatible “
AFUDOS.EXE is the flash utility for flashing the bios !
If you use it in Windows, it must be the correct version – 32 bit (a.k.a. x86) or 64 bit – whatever your operating system is.
If you use it on a bootable Dos floppy or CD, usually it must be the 32 bit (a.k.a. x86) version.
The version of AFUDOS.EXE must also be compatible with using it with the bios flash chip model the mboard has, and the bios update.
In some cases, the flash utility version changes for newer bios updates for the same mboard model.
“I have contacted my motherboard company to see if there is a BIOS update compatible with Windows 7 …”
Bios versions are NOT operating system specific.