Award wants $30 for Bios upgrade

[stevejt]

I recently tried to d/l a bios upgrade patch, as I have done in the past.  I first was told had to "request" it.  The response email had an 800 number I had to call to get "approved" for it.  Here is the next response I got after I didn't respond to 3 please call them emails:


Steve,

It has been a few days since we received your BIOS upgrade request online. Due to customer demand, we have decided to offer the new BIOS upgrades via an e-mail download.

eSupport.com is the Exclusive Authorized Upgrade and Support Center for Award BIOS. For the past 16 years, we have constantly upgraded thousands of motherboards and developed new BIOS upgrades for all the latest technology.

Based on the technical specifications you had submitted, we have an excellent BIOS Upgrade for your system. We have the brand new Award BIOS for your motherboard. The price is only $29.95.




WTF???  Charging for a bios upgrade?  This is ridiculous.  I just lost all respect for Award, which has now merged with Phoenix. 

Steve

PS-  I did a search and didn't see this.  Sorry if this has been discussed already.

[SirPeale]

Why are you trying to get a BIOS upgrade from a BIOS manufacturer, instead of the motherboard manufacturer?

[DrewKaree]

He may not know the mobo manufacturer or how to get the info, but the BIOS information is right there for you.

That being said, there are tools out there to help you find the mobo manufacturer and possibly board version info.

I've NEVER seen a FREE BIOS update from the BIOS manufacturers, but I've never seen a BIOS update that they charge for when going to the mobo manufacturer's site.

[lucindrea]

if you know the bios ( i.e it boots and you get the memory counting screen ) then you can find the motherboard

http://www.wimsbios.com/numbers.shtml

[stevejt]

Why are you trying to get a BIOS upgrade from a BIOS manufacturer, instead of the motherboard manufacturer?

Well, that might explain it.  But it's a low quality MB, and when I typed in the model number, their website linked to award.  Don't remember what the comany was, but threw the MB in with the spare parts for now.

Thanks For Pointing Out The Obvious!

Steve

[DrewKaree]

If you check out the link lucindrea gave, it should point you to some solution that's free.

Also, what problems are you having that you wanna do an update, or is it just the "wanna have the newest BIOS" thing?  From what I've seen, they don't recommend you updating their BIOS unless you're having specific problems, and they have several different BIOS' to address those specific problems.