Need help with BIOS Cleanup

[eheske]

My PC is Dell which came with factory loaded Windows vista Home Premium. Since I wanted to upgrade it to Ultimate, I tried a DVD downloaded from a Torrent Site. Windows installed successfully (I took care to clean install the Windows by reformatting my HDD) but my ultimate version became a trial version with 30 days validity. I tried several cracks and one of them has worked fine and now my windows vista has passed the WGA Teat and has been downloading all the updates from Microsoft for the past two months.

However, as a result of my trying different cracks, my BIOS has got fully messed up. Though this doesnt affect my windows performance my BIOS runs into three-four pages with many entries which promt me to enter/esc./boot from floppy dis/choice of operating system etc. and generally it has created lot of nuisense.

My request with friends in this Forum is, is there a software by which I can restore my BIOS to the earlier condition or edit the BIOS to the original condition? If it is available I will be most grateful if somebody posts the same for me.

Another problem I am facing after upgrading to ultimate is that my windows freezes completely at different intervals for about 5-10 seconds for no reason at all. When it happens nothing will work even my mouse. This happens for the first 30-40 minutes after I boot my PC and thereafter every thing is fine. I have no driver conflicts and all my drivers are properly loaded. My computer is Duel Core with 2 GB RAM. This problem was not there when I was using Windows Vista Home Premium. This is not a Software related issue as the same DVD has been used to upgrade one of my friend's Laptop which was earlier working on WINXP SP2 (Clean Install). The Laptop works better than ever with Genuine Windows Logo. Can someone indicate what may be the problem?

Thanks and Regards to all.

[Samurai]

Not entirely sure on the problem, as it would need to be problem solved in person. It could be that one stick of RAM is not fucntioning, thereby slowing the PC down and so forth.

Quick question though... what makes you think it's the BIOS exactly? I highly doubt anything you've installed could of affected the BIOS in such a way to cause problems., unless of course the installation was awry to begin with.

The easiest way to reset the BIOS, would be to probably shut down the PC and leave it for 5 mins. Either wearing an anti-static wristband or by grounding yourself (try touching a radiator) to reduce any static electricity you've built up. Remove all connected cables, and open up the case. You should see a coin-sized battery somewhere on the motherboard. Remove this for a few minutes, before replacing. This should clear your BIOS.

Sort your case back together again, and try turning on. Let us know if this fixes the issue.

Next time you boot up though, see if the BIOS is reading the memory ok, i.e 2048MB RAM.

[Anteus]

Well the memory problem could be scanned with memtest:

press F8 during boot of windows and then choose memory test

If you really messed with the bios and can't reset it by deleting CMOS (removing battery) then maybe you (I dunno with dell...) could reflash it... (WARNING! bla bla...)

I too don't think you could have messed with the bios settings when trying to use one of thoose Royal Bios crack because it is only an emulator, I think ?. Maybe you the mess is with the windows boot loader.

Have you tried google on the problem/mess?

[Zeus_Hunt]

my BIOS runs into three-four pages with many entries which promt me to enter/esc./boot from floppy dis/choice of operating system etc

Boot options, is BIOS related, but not choise of OS... Thats OS...

There are no pages that BIOS produces so....

After u try to reset the BIOS to default factory settings by the steps provided above... if u still have those options or pages coming up let us know.. we can provide u with with the best solution for Vista :)

I was getting a couple of screens as well... before getting the animation of Vista.. but thats just boot options to OS..

[dock98]

Not entirely sure on the problem, as it would need to be problem solved in person. It could be that one stick of RAM is not fucntioning, thereby slowing the PC down and so forth.

Quick question though... what makes you think it's the BIOS exactly? I highly doubt anything you've installed could of affected the BIOS in such a way to cause problems., unless of course the installation was awry to begin with.

The easiest way to reset the BIOS, would be to probably shut down the PC and leave it for 5 mins. Either wearing an anti-static wristband or by grounding yourself (try touching a radiator) to reduce any static electricity you've built up. Remove all connected cables, and open up the case. You should see a coin-sized battery somewhere on the motherboard. Remove this for a few minutes, before replacing. This should clear your BIOS.

Sort your case back together again, and try turning on. Let us know if this fixes the issue.

Next time you boot up though, see if the BIOS is reading the memory ok, i.e 2048MB RAM.

you can also remove the jumper on the motherboard that clears all the bios.

[myidisbb]

i have hp vista ulimate 64 version. its not very stable. i end up having to do restores every so often. i think its the internet ip over here in (the promise land) :P internet explorer will crash when their lines are not working right.

also change the window setting paint of vista aeon to something less. that default seeting will eat a 1Gb ram alone.

oh btw did you install the right vista ulimate as in 32 or 64 over your home version? or was it maybe a beta build that you gotten?

if you used a key that key might been for certain commerical company types. ei a hp key will be different from dell

[eheske]

Wow! Wow!! Wow!!! Friends!!!! I am overwhelmed. :) I am really proud that I am a Nsane Member.

Thank you friends for your prompt response. I shall try all the solutions provided and then get back to you.

Thanks once again.

Good day!

[Anteus]

you can also remove the jumper on the motherboard that clears all the bios.

a little bit harder to find though... since there are quite alot of jumpers on a motherboard.. (read your motherboards manual to find it)

[nsane]

@Sam & Anteus - just a quick note, it's actually quite easy to 'soft-flash' (not sure that's the right term) a BIOS with NO way to recover except 'hard-flashing' the default (which requires some pretty expensive hardware). so don't ditch that scenario so quickly :P

would've said that earlier, but i've really just been glancing through stuff lately...

[Anteus]

@Sam & Anteus - just a quick note, it's actually quite easy to 'soft-flash' (not sure that's the right term) a BIOS with NO way to recover except 'hard-flashing' the default (which requires some pretty expensive hardware). so don't ditch that scenario so quickly :blink:

would've said that earlier, but i've really just been glancing through stuff lately...

What about the BIOS saftey on a ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe? I flashed it many times from windows and from DOS (the motherboard burned out on me after windows hibernaion...but should be working from 10$ repair in Poland :P)

[myidisbb]

@Sam & Anteus - just a quick note, it's actually quite easy to 'soft-flash' (not sure that's the right term) a BIOS with NO way to recover except 'hard-flashing' the default (which requires some pretty expensive hardware). so don't ditch that scenario so quickly :blink:

would've said that earlier, but i've really just been glancing through stuff lately...

What about the BIOS saftey on a ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe? I flashed it many times from windows and from DOS (the motherboard burned out on me after windows hibernaion...but should be working from 10$ repair in Poland :P)

wasnt win xp sp1 was it?

[Anteus]

No... WinXP SP2 with all update then (last christmas).