Kevin McCoy wrote:
> luth-astro{at}earthlink.net wrote:
> 
>>IBM instructions for doing a BIOS upgrade on my ThinkPad 770E say I must
>>have both a fully charged battery and an AC connection in order to do
>>the upgrade.  Anybody know why?
> 
> Just the battery is probably good enough, but the house power 
> requirement might relate to battery management stuff that BIOS does. It 
> is going to "lose its mind" during the reflash, so bad things might 
> happen to power management during the upgrade.

I believe that a battery is required because the "path" is from the AC 
socket, through the DC converter, through the battery, into the 
computer.  I don't think Thinkpads run without a battery yet plugged 
into the wall.

I'm sure both are specified to prevent any sort of power failure during 
the process, as you mentioned.

> I have done reflashes with lots of tower computers and never had a 
> problem (10 to 20 reflashes over the years) so I wouldn't worry about it 
> *too* much.  Do follow the instructions to the letter though. Make a 
> backup of the old EEPROMs if the BIOS update software supports it.  You 
> might want to revert to the old BIOS if you don't see the improvements 
> you expect. You will need a blank floppy for the backup.

Yes, IBM BIOS Flash software provides the utility for a backup.

> Don't forget to re-configure all your CMOS settings after the reflash. 
> Your CMOS settings (IDE, clock, power saver, boot drive order, Etc) will 
> likely be garbled after the reflash - this is completely normal.  It 
> might be productive to write down all your CMOS settings _before the 
> reflash_. You can then set them back the way they were after the 
> reflash. Note that some settings may move around or be changed somewhat 
> after the upgrade. Squint your eyes a bit and you can probably figure 
> out where everything goes.  It is not rocket science.

IBM recommends that you make note of all your BIOS settings and that 
they may change, however in the dozen or so IBM desktops and Thinkpads 
I've flashed, I've never lost any of the settings.

Craig.



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