by Spock » Sun 2005 May 15 4:27
A BIOS upgrade is both simple and dangerous... [:D] [:O]
It is dangerous because, if the upgrade is interrupted before full completion, you will need to physically replace the BIOS chip. With newer motherboards, this is non-trivial and would require the old chip be unsoldered from the board and a new one reinstalled. This would most likely destroy the motherboard. Therefore, if the upgrade fails, a motherboard replacement is usually required.
It is simple because all you need do is follow the instruction to about creating a boot floppy containing the BIOS upgrade, leave the floppy in the drive, make sure your computer is set to boot from a floppy first, shut down the computer, and then restart. When restarted, the bootable floppy will boot the computer as far as is needed, update the BIOS, and tell you to remove the floppy. Once finished, you reboot the computer and the new BIOS is in place.
I have done many BIOS upgrades with no problem but I also make sure than the computer to be upgraded is connected to a UPS so there is no chance of a power failure causing an interruption during the write phase of the upgrade.
I don't know if this is the information you were looking for but this is all I know. [;)]
My recommendation is that, if your new printer does not work with your old computer, you either need to:
1. return the new printer and get your money back,
2. upgrade the BIOS on your computer, or
3. get a new computer.
I can understand why the store selling the computer doesn't want to upgrade your BIOS as then they would be responsible for its replacement if they failed. If you don't feel competent doing the upgrade yourself, there should be any number of computer service organizations local to you who would be all to happy to do it for you.
You may also want to go on the Internet and research prices for replacement motherboards similar to yours ... just in case. If it's really old you should be able to find a replacement or even a slightly newer one for less than $200 complete with CPU and BIOS.