Award BIOS 4.51PG

Need to know the motherboard, that BIOS is on many MBs.  Give the MB identity please...

I edited the question. Is that enough information?

In general, however, the 440BX chipset and the 450MHz CPU are much too slow to run XP.  You will need at least a 700 MHz CPU to get XP to work with any degree of tolerable speed.  YOu will also need a minimum of 384 MB of RAM to use the OS.  The hardware you are trying to put XP on is just not up to it, but it is perfectly suited to 98 -- perhaps make this a backup system?  That would be my suggestion.

BTW, when I read your question, you asked about XP, now I see that that request is gone from the Q, so your editing of the Q, removed the XP requirement.  Is it still a requirement or not, if so, my comments above hold.

I just need it to be theoretically able to handle XP as far as the BIOS is concerned. It doesnt matter that the speed cant really handle XP.

Hello Matthew,

Here you can find the latest upgrade for your Award BIOS, you need to visit the link and run the BIOS upgrad agent online to see if there is any upgrade available for your version,
http://www.esupport.com/global/

Other reference to understand BIOS Flash and online upgrades,
http://motherboards.mbarron.net/bios.html#flash
http://www.msi.com.tw/html/support/bios/note/award.htm
http://members.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=124434

Hope you find it useful, if you want any further details please do let me know,

Regards,

Engineer_Dell

You seem to have a Giabyte GA-6BXC.  Offical BIOS upgrades can be found at the bottom of this page:
 
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.co.uk/rl/servicesupport/techsupport/boards/Motherboards/GigaByte/Ga6BXC/GA6BXC.htm

You are running V2.8 and there are V2.9 and V3.0 levels out there.

However I am not sure how happy you will be with the performance.  At a minumum you need to get more memory. Depending on what you are doing a 450Mhz CPU may be fast enough, but 128MB of RAM is not going to cut it.

Hi Matthew
You can download the BIOS update from any of these two sites,

BIOS Manufacturer AWARD MODULAR BIOS (Now AMERICAN MEGATRENDS' AMIBIOS)
http://www.esupport.com/global/

Computer / Motherboard Manufacturer,
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=1445  (This is for your motherboard I searched by details you provided you can download it)

>>Giltjr V 2.9 and V3.0 are basically motherboard updates NOT BIOS updates

Hope this helps,
Engineer_Dell

Engineer_Dell, not sure what you mean by MB updates and not BIOS updates.  They don't change my MB at all.  One change it to add support for a newer CPU's and you do need a specific PCB revision to take advantage of this change.  However other changes include fixes for things that are not PCB  revision specific.  

>>Giltjr
A BIOS is short for "Basic Input Output System" and is Firmware (ie code stored on a static medium such as a chip) which controls how all of the motherboard chips on the system board work. Flashing a BIOS requires a Exact match between the motherboard Maker and board model and the Bios file itself. if the bios file is not for that "EXACT" board then there is a good chance that the flash even if it takes withaout a error will produce a non working motherboard.

A BIOS string is NOT something like AMI 6.02 or Award 1.01a these strings are GENERAL descriptors and are not motherboard id specific.
a correct Bios file can be determined from the Keyboard bios string. (not to be confused with the motherboard bios 6BXC V.2.8 however) and will look something like this > 03/23/1999-i440BX-8671-2A69KG0DC

A BIOS flash is when you run the BIOS FLASHING TOOL (such as AMIflash or AwardFlash) and have this tool load in a bios image from disk, ERASE the existing bios image on the chip, and have this NEW image installed

Regards,
Engineer_Dell

I know what BIOS stands for, I know what it does is, I know that it is MB specific.  I been working with PC's since '83, back when a BIOS upgrade meant replacing the BIOS chips and was only done for major problems.

I still don't have a clue what you are trying to say.  If you are attempting to say V2.9 and V3.0 are PCB revisions levels and not BIOS version no they are not.  The URL I refered to, specifies which PCB version the BIOS upgrades are for.

engineer_dell, the esupport site seems to have the BIOS update I am looking for, however, they are a paid service and it is not worth spending even one cent on that old computer. Do you have a link to a free upgrade? If not, its ok.