I had previously been concerned about running an AMD2600 with a Front Side Bus (FSB) spec of 333 on a board with 266mhz FSB speed. No problem. However, the speed of the CPU is 1600 instead of 2600 as verified by two utilities. Also, at boot it shows AMD2000+ instead of the correct speed. The obvious concluson is that I need a new bios since the ECS web site says that the K7S5A V3.1 motherboard should run 2600 AMD XP cpus.Down loaded the latest bios and both the DOS and Windows flash utilities to update the BIOS. Problem is that neither utility works. The windows version comes up with a screen with some garbage at top center along with the Windows XP message to send/not send an error report. Tried various compatibility settings to no avail. The DOS version says that the BIOS file "Chipset/Flash part isn't available".Has anyone had any experionce with this type of problem where the BIOS flash utilities will not work?Dick Boley @KLBE

i wrongly flashed a BIOS recently and although the machine would boot my XP 3000 was being reported as a much slower CPU. I was not able to flash the BIOS with the correct file, getting similar messages to you, in the end i phoned the Mobo manufacturer and got them to send me the latest BIOS chip, i put this in and the problem was solved.

Hi Dick, do you still have your old CPU handy? If yes, stick that one in again. With regard to the bios, it could be the wrong one? Be happy -case so- it didn't work. Nevertheless, it's better to flash first and then swap CPUs. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

I had tried to flash before chnaging CPUs but the results were the same then. I had hoped that the in-place BIOS would work but..........Perhaps it is time for a new motherboard anyhow. That way I can get the full 333mhz bus speed which I will probably not notice anyhow but it makes one feel good.Thanks,Dick Boley @KLBE

Well, that's bad luck so far then. If the board's OEM says it's possible, it should be. Maybe you could reset the CMOS (w/ the old CPU inserted) before any further attempts. Perhaps do everything with 1 RAM module? Maybe re-verify the mainboard version? Do you really have the v.3.1 board? Because the bios didn't load, my suspicion lies here. I don't remember what kind of RAM you have, but in case, perhaps don't buy PC2700 (333MHz) anymore. PC3200 (400MHz) is much more flexible. To take full advantage of the FSB, it's the combination of RAM, board and CPU. Well, guess you're aware. Please don't forget to unplug the computer and unload yourself when re-setting the bios or dealing with RAM-sticks. It should work... Good luck and kind regards Jaap

Thanks for the excellent tips. I do not get as far as the BIOS load when using the Windows BIOS "flasher". It will not even load. I found another Windows "flasher" for a different model board and it loaded ok. I have done a flash before back in 2002 that worked. I think that I will try the flashing from Safe Mode to make sure the system is as pristine as possible.Thanks again,Dick Boley @KLBE

you should be flashing th BIOS from a floppy disc, although there are utilities that you can use to flash from within windows (not sure if they will work in safe mode), once you have flashed the BIOS and also when ever you change the CPU you should shut the PC downpull out the power lead and reset the CMOS, when you restart the PC afterwards you will have to reset the BIOS, if you use the failsafe defaults they will default single data settings (166 instead of 333), you will need to set to either optimal or your own settings to get the system to run at the correct speed.