I want to update Note Sony Bios

sl45vietnam · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:59 am Post subject: I want to update Note Sony Bios

I've just bought a secondhand notebook Sony Vaio PCG-505V with PhoenixBIOS Note 4.0:
- BIOS version: R3128R0;
- Serial number: 28981101-1309291
I have a Floppy; no CD drive. Now I want to use a USB drive to boot and format/fdisk HDD, then reinstall Windows.
I read on the website of Phoenix that, if I update BIOS I can boot from USB CD-rom Drive, floppy, ZIP in DOS environment.
So I think that I can format, fdisk and reinstall Windows via USB after updating BIOS.
I found a program name BIOS R0213P1 For Windows 2000 and Me. I don't know if I use this exe file to update my BIOS.
Can you tell me about this? Or can you give me an advice and how can I backup BIOS and update BIOS with which program?
Thanks in advance!
Best regard!

Ritchie · BIOS Guru Joined: 30 Oct 2002 Posts: 761

I consider updating the BIOS on a laptop risky. Here are a couple of alternatives you may want to consider.

If you can boot with a floppy disk that enables the USB CDROM (I'm not sure if a Windows created boot disk will do this), then once you are booted and CD-ROM support is enabled.

1) Windows 95/98 - You can start the SETUP from the CD-ROM at this point. I think this is in the WIN95 or WIN98 subfolder on the CD.

2) Windows 2000 (and probably also XP): You can use the CD to create a set of floppy disks (I think four or five) from which the first boots the PC once created, and once these floppies run through if I remember correctly the control of Windows setup is passed to the CDROM drive.

It has been a long time since I have performed number 2 - I have always managed to boot with CD-ROM drives - the fact that I have not done much on laptops without internal CD-ROM drives installed also helps. A desktop PC you can always attach an ATA CD-ROM drive.

Ritchie · BIOS Guru Joined: 30 Oct 2002 Posts: 761

The other thing is if the laptop allows an internal CD-ROM drive but one is not present, you may be able to get one suitable fairly cheaply. Sometimes the floppy drive can be ejected to allow a CD-ROM drive to fit in instead.