Hi all,

I recently started to build a new box based on this board: http://www.techspot.com/review/168-msi-x58-pro-e/ All is going well enough except for very poor sound, and before I go any further trying to sort it out, it seems smart to update the bios as I am 5 or so releases back.

The readme with the bios flash utility/file says to use a win98 boot disk + bios/utility floppy but the bios file itself is much too big to fit on a floppy anyway so I haven't been able to create a floppy-emulating cd as most discussions seem to suggest doing.

I'm sure I'm missing something, but there has to be a way to take a win98 boot disk image, plus 2 files and get that to either boot from cd or better yet usb drive.

My question is can anyone point me to a RECOMMENDED way to flash the bios without windows, or floppy support?

I read the documentation...

If you download the latest BIOS for the X58 Pro-E, 7522v88.zip and open it, there is a guide, including information on flashing the BIOS using a USB flash stick.

On my Gigabyte board, I can do the same, but the USB flash must contain nothing but the BIOS and its associated programs. If the U3 utility is present, the USB cannot be used. U3 must be removed with its own removal tool.

There's also:
http://www.flashrom.org/Flashrom
which might support it.

I read about what they call M-flash, but it makes me nervous because on the forums there are reports of bricked boards after seemingly successful updates. I did prepare a stick though in case I didn't find a different solution.

Flashrom didn't seem to support my board, but I may not have looked quite as thoroughly since I was preoccupied with trying to find a floppy-style solution.

Thanks for the replies, I'll be reporting back with results, hopefully from my new rig with updated bios.

"it seems smart to update the bios"

I disagree, only update if the changes listed directly affect your issues.

I think freedos can be used and maybe ultimate boot cd has tools.

Some boards don't even need an OS. They can boot to a mini os to add updates.

You can also cat or dd a boot floppy and copy it to track one of a cd.

There were updates relating to the audio. Updating the bios DID NOT fix my audio problems, but it did give me confidence in the usb update method. It went without a hitch.

Thanks to everyone for their input.