Copyright: (c) Copyright 2006 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
Citation: (c) 2006 Phoenix Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved


Contents
Copyright © 2000-2006 Phoenix Technologies Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
December,21 2006

Introduction

Award WinFlash utility is a program Which runs in a Windows environment to update,backup,and restore the system BIOS on a flash device.

The BIOS (Basic Input and Output System) is a program stored on a Flash chip on the motherboard. When you turn on your computer, the BIOS starts and tests the hardware devices on your system. When everything is ready, it loads the operating system, usually from the hard disk.

You can perform two procedures with Award WinFlash:

Backup your current BIOS by copying it from the flash chip to a file on your disk

Write a new BIOS to the flash chip.

For directions on writing a new BIOS to the flash chip, see Running WinFlash.

Warning!  Writing a new BIOS to the flash chip is a very critical procedure. Do not perform this procedure without instructions from the manufacturer of your computer.


Running WinFlash

To run WinFlash as a Windows-based utility, perform the following steps:

Close all other programs.

Click the WINFLASH.EXE icon to execute the program. The main window displays.

Backing up the BIOS

To save the old BIOS to a file, perform the following:

1.Select File>Save Old BIOS from the main menu.

2.Specify the name of the backup file and click the Save button.

3.When the Backup BIOS dialog displays, click the Backup button to start backing up the BIOS.

Updating the BIOS

To update the BIOS, perform the following:

1.Select File>Update BIOS from the main menu.

2.When the Open window displays, specify the name of the BIOS file in the File Name field and click the Open button.

3.When the Update System BIOS dialog displays, click the Update button.

Additional options

Additional tasks that can be performed with WinFlash include the following:

Update BootBlock

Clear DMI

Clear PNP

Clear CMOS

Load CMOS default

Rebooting

After the BIOS has been updated, the WinFlash program then displays the following dialog asking if you want to reboot.

Select Yes to reboot your system. After your system has rebooted, the updates to your BIOS will take effect.


The BIOS file is a binary file.