The note included with the file in my bios update provided by the manufacturer has specific instructions so I'm asking for help since I'm afraid to do it. Its an older Panasonic Laptop. A CF-48v discontinued model. I put Windows XP pro onto a NEW hard drive. The Panasonic site provides updated drivers for XP. The bios update is definitely needed to help with "save issues". The instruction says to create a bootable floppy diskette with no config.sys or autoexec.bat. Then extract a copy of the bios update files to that diskette. Reboot the computer booting from the diskette. The files included on the bios update are: "autoexec", "BU48M4", "ECMOS", "README" (with the above instruction) and "V400L130.484" (The new bios filename). When it says create a bootable diskette, I usually have formatted a disk with the files that make the floppy bootable. Do these instructions mean to leave out those files added when you format the disk or am I to remove the autoexec and the bat file that is included in the bios update provided? I can't see why those files would be included just to remove them so I assume that I should just copy them to a floppy and it will be automatically bootable without adding files from the floppy driver when formatting it before the download of the bios update. I hope this makes sense. I read here often to learn as much as I can. I appreciate any advice in advance. I've put this off for 3 weeks worrying that I would mess up.That machine is really going to struggle with XP on it...
On top of RISKING a bad BIOS flash that may create a paperweight i would look into some other alternatives first...Thanks patio. The computer originally came with 2 operating systems - Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The setup disk that was included originally came with the choice of these 2 operating systems. You had to choose one of them. It had a 40 gig hard drive which was bad and I bought a new one and installed it. Then, since I don't have the setup disk that came with it, I just installed XP Pro from a disk I had for my other laptop which is toast now. The issue seems to be that the service pack 1 from Windows caused issues with saving files from the INTERNET. Panasonic released a bunch of updated drivers and the bios update was the first file. I tried to live without the bios update but when I try to save something or d/l a file, the "save as" action does not work. I spoke to Panasonic and they told me the bios update would fix that problem. They said it was a known issue after the release of SP1 for XP. I actually haven't installed all the drivers yet. There are quite a few, but other than the d/l and save as problem, the computer appears to handle XP fine. Maybe I should install all the drivers first  and see if the problems are resolved but I figured I should update the bios too since its a known issue. Its the instructions for it that throw me. It says create a bootable diskette, I thought that MEANS to use the "create an MS-DOS start-up disk" when I format the floppy. That puts a whole bunch of files on it like display and keyboard, EGA and Mode so I thought maybe I should just copy the bios files and leave off the files added when formatting but there are no config.sys or autoexec.bat files in there so what the heck are the instructions talking about? There are those files in the bios update zipped file. Why would they be there for me to delete? Maybe because its an update for many computers but mine should not use them? The instructions also say "Bios update for cf-48v/x using windows 2000/xp only!! Yes, the exclamation marks are there. Its the first line of the readme file:
BIOS update for CF-48v/x using windows 2000/XP only!!
Use extreme caution when updating the bios.
1. Create a bootable diskette with no config.sys or autoexec.bat.
2. Extract or copy these files to that diskette.
3. Make sure the computer has the AC adapter connected.
4. Re-boot the computer, booting from the diskette.
5. When finished, remove the diskette and reset the computer.Sorry for the long posts but trying to be thorough.These are the files from the unzipped bios update:
autoexec
BU48M4
ECMOS
README
V400L130.484
The current bios file in the computer is V4.00L10 (Phoenix)
The motherboard is DL3UP1176AAA. I can't get much info on that.If it had Win2K on it i would stick with that...this would NOT REQUIRE a BIOS update...and it will run better than XP.