Updating BIOS?

[lewisner]

I run a Packard Bell 6810 SLI with 4GB of RAM installed and W7 64 Bit OS installed but it can only "see" 3GB.I've searched high and low for a solution to this and been told that I should try updating my BIOS which are Award Software and dated 2005.Problem is that Award have changed hands to another company and every attempt I have made to update them has failed.
Is it it possible to replace my BIOS with a newer version from a different company and if so how could this be done?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Pencil42]

No, BIOSes are typically motherboard-specific. You'll need to check with Packard Bell to see if there is a new BIOS available.

Curtis

 

[lewisner]

OK cheers.

 

[lewisner]

Checked Award again and they are now Phoenix Technologies.They will not update BIOS for free but require you to buy their updating Agent and charge you £25 for it.

 

[sniper297]

Might try here;

http://www.packardbell.co.uk/pb/en/GB/content/support

See if they have a BIOS update for your system.

 

[lewisner]

Sniper, Packard Bell wouldn't give advice since my PC was out of warranty and referred me to the Tech Guys at PC World.
They told me that if I wanted a solution I would have to pay £1.50 a minute "calls to last no longer than 20 minutes" so I took a rain check on that!
Last night I ran the Phoenix BIOSAgentPlus and it said my BIOS were out of date and an update was available.
Reluctantly, because I want a solution to this problem, I paid the £25 and was told I would receive the FlashUpdate in 12-24 hours.
I received the mail and was told that although they had an update for a"similar model", my (2005) BIOS were "the most up to date for my specific model".
So, I have wasted £25 and will be demanding my money back.
I called NEC Computers today and asked if they had any suggestions and the incredibly softly spoken Indian sounding guy said "I'll see what I can find" then I listened to 10 minutes of absolute silence (not even canned music) before I put the phone down.

So, back to square one.....

 

[ColPrice2002]

Hi,

Is there a particular reason to update the BIOS?

Since it's very Motherboard specific, if it's working, then it's not something that needs updating (mine did - but that's for dual core support as I changed the processor...)

Colin

 

[lewisner]

Hi Col Price, it's as I outlined at the start of the thread - as you know Trainz is very RAM hungry and although I have 4 GB installed my PC can only "see" 3 GB. Therefore I have paid for 1 GB which my PC isn't using.My PC should have 25% more RAM than it does.This doesn't make sense and I have followed every logical step to address the problem but been defeated. The next step should be to take my PC down to the river and throw it in but I don't have sufficient dosh to buy a new one.

 

[RRSignal]

Well, hammer Packard-Bell some more. Colprice is right in that BIOS is VERY VERY VERY motherboard-specific. You run the risk of smoking your mobo if you try to update with another BIOS not specifically designed for it. This is even true for mobos of the exact same model, but different versions - it's that specific. And don't think for a second that the BIOS installers actually do any homework; many (if not most) of them are primitively-written and do no checking to see if their update applies to your board.

Oh, and if you do a BIOS update (or any kind of firmware update for any product, for the record) either have a UPS running or at least make sure the power isn't going to go out. Because, if it does during the update process, your device will probably get fried.

 

[clam1952]

Hi Col Price, it's as I outlined at the start of the thread - as you know Trainz is very RAM hungry and although I have 4 GB installed my PC can only "see" 3 GB. Therefore I have paid for 1 GB which my PC isn't using.My PC should have 25% more RAM than it does.This doesn't make sense and I have followed every logical step to address the problem but been defeated. The next step should be to take my PC down to the river and throw it in but I don't have sufficient dosh to buy a new one.

Just had a thought it may not be a bios problem, it may be mixing the type of ram? According to my search on Google your PC is supposed to take 4GB of dual channel DDR400 in which case it doesn't look like a bios problem.

Couple of questions.
When you boot up how much ram is it showing?
When you installed the ram did you access the bios, some boards won't recognise extra ram until you access the bios and save.
Are all, I presume four, sticks working individually, try them one at a time

If you have a manual, check you don't have to add a jumper or something when you add extra ram unlikely but it is a Packard Bell and they are a bit weird.
Suggest running your system through Crucials memory scan and see what they think you have installed.

Regarding bios upgrade if it really does need one have a look at wimsbios.com, if you can't find an upgrade through that site it probably doesn't exist.
Also they have instructions on how to recover a failed bios flash with a dead PC, can be done if you have a floppy drive and a copy of the original bios.

 

[sniper297]

Well, browsing the Packard Bell site I don't see a system called a "6810 SLI", altho I have a similar problem - on the case and when I bought it, it was a
"Dell XPS-400", but DXdiag reports it as a "Dell DXP051" and that's the model I have to use when hunting for stuff.

ftp://ftp.download.packardbell.com/

If the driver you need is in the legacy download section you SHOULD be able to download and install without paying anything. Didn't help for me, I bought two sticks of Crucial Ballistix 800mhz RAM, even after installing the last BIOS for this machine (2007) the RAM only runs at 667mhz and is not customizable in the BIOS. Odd because the FSB on this contraption is 800mhz, specifically why I bought 800mhz RAM in the first place.

 

[lewisner]

As I mentioned before I tried PB and they said it wasn't their job as it was out of warranty so "bashing them" would just give me a sore head.Anyway I tried the only thing I hadn't done - I took both pairs of RAM out and changed them over, then rebooted.BIOS said I still had 3 GB but when I went into System it said I had "32"GB RAM!!!! and "4 GB Usable". After restarting it, it was back to square one.
My PC also has another problem in tthat the time and date are all wrong.After searching for advice I bought a new CMOS battery but the guy in the shop said that the capacitors on my my PC may be misfiring - at any rate the new battery didn't solve the problem.
I'm coming to the conclusion that the Mobo on my PC must be screwed and I think I will try to find a new one and probs replace my 2 X 6800 GPU's with 8800 GPU's.
As ever though, thanks for the advice.

 

[ColPrice2002]

Hi,

Sorry to hear that. I suppose it's possible to change the capacitors ...

You may find these people useful:-
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/

They seem to be quite competent (colleague has had a PC built to his specifications by them) - and I've had good service (including returns).

Changing the M/B isn't that difficult - I've done that - but do make sure you get a good PC Case. I changed mine from standard to one with 2 fans + easy access. The CPU temperature dropped 10C - that's got to help the longevity.

Cheers,

Colin

 

[wholbr]

Sniper, Packard Bell wouldn't give advice since my PC was out of warranty and referred me to the Tech Guys at PC World.

what ever you do do not go to the Tech Guys at PC World. They can be a complete disaster when it comes to getting anything repaired.

I bought a new laptop at Currys a couple of years ago, after a week it just kept crashing for no reason at all. They told me to send it to the tech guys at PC World and three weeks later they sent it back to me with no operating system on it.

It was returned back to them again and a fortnight later it was returned to me with the operating system reinstalled but it still kept crashing. I went back to the store I purchased it and demanded my money back and stayed there and I got it.

if you look on the Internet there are plenty more stories like this about them

All The best
Bill

 

[lewisner]

LOLZ I could tell you LOTS of of PC World stories! When I bought this PC there they got me to sign a "whatever happens" agreement at £10 a month.Later they REFUSED to honour it - they said I didn't have a cover plan!

BTW if I did decide to sort my PC out on a basic level would changing my two 256MB 6800 GPU's for 2 X 8800 512 MB GPU's be likely to give me a worthwhile increase in performance with my existing CPU which is an AMD Athlone 64 4000+?
And would it be possible to change the CPU for a more powerful version to give still better performance?
Plus, would I need to upgrade the PSU?

Here are the specs of my PC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/4710324346/sizes/o/