I need to flash my BIOS because my computer isnt detecting my hardrive on start up... to do this i need to run a cd but to do this i need to get into dos mode or something .... I need help because the only way i can flash it is with a floppy disk, and i hate using floppies the dont work. Please help this problem is pissing me off something chronic... Thanks

"i need to get into dos mode or something .... " Or 'something' is right - there's no native DOS in WinXP, so, if you want to boot to DOS, you'll require a bootable diskette or CD - if you can handle that http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm A BIOS flash should really only be attempted if it specifically addresses the issue in question - it's a simple process... that has been known to go very badly for some. If you only 'hope' the flash will cure your ills, it may not (depending) Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie!'... till you can find a rock

thanks, but yeah it didnt work. I burnt it to the disk but it wont recognize the disk because it wants a 'System disk' so i was wondering if their was something like an auto run file or something that could run a disk with the bios flash on it, or a dosprompt so i can run the disk with the bios flasher on it. ~when i say disk i mea CD coz i dont have a floppy drive. Thanks

Have you set up the BIOS to boot from CD or Floppy before the HDD? Are there any error messages? "Computer security." — Oxymoron

If you 'burnt' an ISO to a CD, ie you now have one file on it like blabla.iso, it's not bootable. You need to use the ISO to make a bootable CD. Many burners have this capability. Nero for one. jboy is right, as usual, in saying that unless you have a good reason, best to avoid flashing. Separate but related, it might be time to buy and unstall a floppy drive. And although there is no DOS in XP, XP will [very oddly] allow you to make a boot disk. Go figure. ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

>> I need to flash my BIOS because my computer isnt detecting my hardrive on start up... << Extremely unlikely flashing the BIOS is going to solve that problem. Hard disks have been around a long time so it is unlikely to be a BIOS problem and the chances of a BIOS going bad are so small as to not be worth considering. If the BIOS can't detect the hard disk, you need to be looking elsewhere. Check cables and jumpers. Disconnect other drives and test it on its own. Then there is always the possibility that the disk drive it self is fried. Far more likely than a bad BIOS. Stuart