Bios updates

i have been having some trouble with my graphics card and have had it recommnded that i update my bios. i have downloaded the update but i don't know how to install them. any ideas?

First thing to do is make sure that the BIOS update addresses the specific problem you are having. BIOS updates aren't exactly like your normal graphics card, sound card or software updates which one can do on a regular basis. If the BIOS update does not add or update a feature that you absolutely need, you are better off not flashing the BIOS.

If this is not the case, and you really need that update, then most BIOS manufacturers have a program that you can put on a floppy disk by which you can install the BIOS update. Be sure that this update and installation program ("flash" program) came from your motherboard manufacturer's site to insure you are getting the right one.

What problem are you having with that graphics card? If we can avoid the BIOS flash altogether we'd be better off.

well first of all this is what i sent the people who make my graphics card technical support;

hello,
i have recently purchased a 'PNY nvidia GeForce 6600gt 128mb AGP8' for ebuyer.com and have been having some trouble with it. after installing the card, which went with no problems, i tried to play several games on my PC and in all of them the graphics started to flicker green and purple until the entire screen is covered and the computer crashes. this only takes about 2-5 minutes to occur. i believe if has something to do with the card over heating as it is getting very hot inside my computer. You cannot even put your hand on it without it burning you within a few seconds. it is connected correctly and the fan is on but it gets hotter and hotter the longer you play on games until in crashes. on windows desktop however the card is still hot but not as hot as when playing games and doesn't cause any problems to the running of windows. so i was wondering if you could help in finding a solution to this other wise i will have to return it. i have only had the card for 5 days and this has been happening since the day i got it.
Computer specs;
120GB hard drive
Windows XP Professional
330watt power unit
1GB memory
Pentium 4, 3.0 GHz processor
ASUS P4S800D motherboard
Thanks,

and this is the e-mail they sent me back;
Dear customer,

Downloaded the latest chiset drivers and bios of your mobo:
http://www.asus.com/products/mb/sock...d/overview.htm

Downloaded the latest nvidia drivers:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_71.89.html

Downloaded the latest patches of these games from the manufacturer web site
and
If nothing change go to the bios and change the AGP driving value, and instead of
'auto' used DC (standard is DA).

i have the latest patches for games and nvidia drivers. so all that’s left is the bios update. i have tried to download the bios update i needed although for some reason the page they were on went strange and all the letters were replaced with o's. don't know why. but i downloaded what i think was the latest version; called 'D1008' and another one called 'AFUDOS211'. what size should it be about cause i have one file that is 19kb and one that is 456kb.

if you have an asus mobo many asus mobo have a special flash tool on the motherboard driver disk but tbh i dont think it is your bios that is causing these problems.
out of interest what bios revison do you curently hve on your mobo ?
if it is running hot enough to burn you that signals to me a hardware fault.
i personaly would try and get a replacemnt card as u should not be haveing problems like that.

'Out of interest what bios revision do you currently have on your mobo ?'
Lost me their mate. lol. Haven’t done anything to my mobo since i got it.
Was going to sent it back but i thought i would give them a chance to fix it. But if it is complicated and risky to chance i won't bother.
On a slightly different note will my motherboard support a 6600gt 128mb PCI card as i bought the AGPx8 because I was told it only takes AGP? Is that true

This is the problem with contacting these support staff, they just send you a pro-forma reply, which never has anything to do with fixing the problem. Reflashing the BIOS isn't going to cure an overheating graphics card, which you obviously think this is (and I agree). First of all try blowing a room fan onto the graphics card and see if the problem goes away, if it does then it is definitely an overheating problem.

For future reference, never reflash a BIOS unless you are 100% certain that you have the correct one for your motherboard. Unlike drivers, you only get one chance - if it goes wrong, you have a dead computer on your hands (except for those of us with Gigabyte mobos, which have a dual BIOS for backup, he says smugly :p ).

yeah cheers for that i'll keep it in mind, not that i know how to change the bios anyway! lol.
And i opened the case up so that the inside got a much air as possible as i don't have a fan. But it was so hot i can't believe a fan will do the job. i mean you couldn't touch it without it burning you. i'll just send it back and try again. As i said before can my mobo support a PCI graphics card?

Yeah...i was going to say...that answer you got back was straight off a cue card. Ridiculous.
Yes, that board supports that card. Those symptoms are definitely typical of an overheated card.
A graphics card is going to get pretty hot even with it's fan on, but it helps also to have a front intake fan and a rear exhaust. Do you have these? If not, then it's going to get mighty hot inside that case very, very quickly.

The only fans on my computer are 2 on the PSU blowing heat out, one on the CPU and the one on my graphics card. The case also has a lot of holes in the back and a vent in both sides. But the card was getting so hot; i mean i can't believe any amount of fans could cool the thing down. And as soon as i played a game, even if i had just turned my comp on, it would start going strange colours and crash after only about a minute, if that. Well i will send it back and see if i can get the PCI version as, if I’m correct, that is quicker. see if that one works.

No...the PCI version isn't quicker, but I would still try to get a replacement AGP card. In the time being, I would install a front intake fan and a rear exhaust fan on that case. You want to get as much cool air as possible flowing through there...would help tremendously. At the very least get a rear exhaust fan on it. if you look closely at that rear grillwork (usually near the CPU and just above the vid card), you should see mounting holes for a fan around it (four of them). This fan is usually 80mm in size, but some are 120mm.
Measure the distance between the holes. If it is around 3 inches, then you need a 80mm fan. If it is close to 4.5 inches, then you need a 120mm fan. Installation is a simple matter of mounting it on the grill (on the inside of the case) with the airflow going OUT of the case and plugging in the power. Recommend you get a fan with a 4-pin Molex plug so you can easily plug it into a power supply cable. That rear exhaust fan will help draw cool air into the case. Adding a front intake fan helps the airflow even more. Also watch room temperatures. The warmer the ambient temperature, the hotter your case is going to get.

ok then, cheers for the advice I’ll look into it. looks like this is going to cost me far more than i thought. Just about stretched the wallet for the graphics card only to find out i needed a new psu and now fans. the graphics better be good after all of this! or at least better than my slightly crappy 5200fx i am currently using.
and just to make things clear which is the best card, PCI,AGPX8?

The AGP unit should easily outperform the PCI. You should not even remotely be considering PCI on that mainboard.

Fans are not very expensive. I usually make a point of filling all of the possible fan mounting locations with fans on all the systems I build, even the ones that don't have advanced graphics cards like you're trying to install. The further up the performance ladder you go, the more heat the card will generate when strained (like when gaming). The P4's themselves run fairly warm as well (you don't mention if your "3.0MHz" :) is a Prescott, those run even warmer). Without sufficient airflow, the system will quickly overheat.

You'd be surprised how much heat can be exhausted by a few of those fans. The system will still be quite hot, but in use you're not supposed to be touching the insides while it's running anyway :)

Intake and exhaust fans a fairly cheap.
Look at this link and you will find what you need:
http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Br...SubCategory=62
Case fans a very important, especially in the newer high power systems.

Or here is a good selection for the UK:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...e_Fans_47.html

The airflow path through the computer should look like this.

https://discussions.virtualdr.com/im.../2008/08/8.gif

One low and in the front blowing in and one high, near the ps [power supply] blowing out the back. Yes, we have to be sure cool air is going into the case as well as the heated air in there is being removed.
Keep all ribbons and cables out of the airflow path.

ok cheers fo the advice and links. just a few questions. do i have to screw the fan in, can't i just stick it in? and i don't have a fron vent, so should i get 2 fans, one to suck air in from the side vent and one to blow it out the back?

Unless the case has some fan cages, then you have to screw them in, the fans will come supplied with screws. Have the rear fan blowing out for sure, for the side fan, it can vary - sometimes they work better blowing in, and sometimes they work better blowing out. The only way to find out is to try bothe ways round and monitor the temps and see which way works best for you.

Well just tried the card once again. When i put it in it was very cold and i managed to play Vietnam for about 10 min before it started to over heat so it defiantly is that. Also got Everest and it says my CPU is at about 35-40 degrees C, is that fine?
i have found the rear exhaust mountings and it has room for 2, 3.5inch fans and the case also has a side vent for another 3.5inch fan. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a front opening. Should i get 3 or is that a bit extreme? i suppose 2 should do the job.
Now i just have to decide whether to get the fans and see if the card works, if not send it back or get a replacement card and the fans at the same time?

Those a re good CPU temps...nothing wrong there. As far as those fans go, two 80mm rear exhaust fans might be all you need to draw cool air into the case through the front grill and exhaust it. I would try that first, then add a side vent fan later if the temps do not behave. Look at the side of the fans for arrows that indicate spin direction and air flow. Make sure the airflow is going OUT of the case when you mount those fans.

Looking at Train's diagram above, if it isn't available to put a front intake fan on the front panel, then you might consider sometime installing a fan 'blowhole" on the side panel in that lower front corner...that would still draw some cool air into the case...might add a short angled duct to direct the air towards the motherboard. Would make for an interesting project. :)

well I’ll look into it.
what connections do the fans have power wise? do they just plug into the 4 pin PSU ones ore will i need some kind of adapter?

You can get 3-pin mini-plugs or 4-pin Molex plugs with those fans. The 3-pin variety are for plugging into the motherboard fan connectors (which I generally avoid doing) or into a fan bus controller (such as pictured here). The 4-pin Molex variety are convenient because you use them with your normal power supply cables. You might need to get a Y-splitter/extension cable if the cable length is too short.

3-pin 80mm fan
4-pin Molex 80mm fan
Y-splitter used to connect two 4-pin Molex fans to one power cable plug (or to extend the length of one cable and you just "cap" the extra plug)

cheers for all the advice once again. i got a couple of 4pin fans and a Y splitter cable. lets just hope it works.

Well just to keep you guess informed the fans have arrived today and all is good. Bought 2, 3000rpm fans and they seem to be doing the job. Although if you get to close to my computer the fans suck you in. lol. So cheers for all the help, and wow are my graphics improved, from low to high :) .

3,000rpm? Whoa! :D Hope you can endure the noise level. Anyway...how are the temps?

Temps seem to be fine but i can't get a temp for the card and the CPU, memory etc all just a bit lower than before. There not too loud that i can't put up with it but i might take one out and see if the other one manages ok just to keep noise to a minimum.

Bad news again :( . The card runs fine when playing games ect so I’m happy with that, but i have found another instance when it does overheat again. I have just got '3dmark' benchmarking program and when i run any of the 3 graphics tests the card again overheats after about 15-20 seconds until it crashes. I mean how many extra fans does this card need to work ffs!

I'd say that there is either a fault with your particular graphics card, or it doesn't care for the layout (and hence the airflow) of your particular PC. I think you need to look at getting a better HSF unit for the graphics card, as there is no doubt that this problem is caused by an overheating GPU.

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/home.php?cat=667

well i spent all my money on the card and then the fans so i have no money left for anything else, lol. at least it runs fine with all the games i am currently using and I’ll look it to getting the new fan when it becomes an issue.