Thread: Who else has had problems with Via M10k Bios v1.16?

I downloaded Via's latest bios for the EPIA M10000 mobo. I went to flash it with Via's windows flash util Flight Deck, and it wouldn't flash. It complained that the bios image didn't match the motherboard. I should have known right then to stop. But I had just downloaded it right from Via. It must be right!

Anyway, so I made a bootable floppy and used the Award Flash util and flashed my bios. Fortunately for me, I backed up my old bios.

After I upgraded to the new bios, did a clean install of WinXP Pro. During the install my system spontaneously rebooted once or twice and I had to start over. Then once WinXP was loaded, my system would spontaneously reboot whenever it felt like it. I managed to get the new "required" video driver loaded (required for use with the new Bios), and the rebooting seemed to stop. I then managed to download and install all of the Windows Update critical updates, including service pack 2, which took forever.

After service pack 2 was loaded, the spontaneous rebooting started again! I even reloaded the drivers, just in case. I loaded all the other "latest greatest" drivers from Via's web site. No luck - still rebooting. It seemed to me that it was an IRQ conflict. My network card and the video display and one USB channel were all sharing IRQ11. I couldn't for the life of me assign everything to alternate IRQ's.

So I gave up. I wasted a couple days trying things from Via's forum, like setting your bios to the default settings before flashing. Reloading WinXP again and again. I ever tried to go down to version 1.13 of the bios. It messed up the video majorly, so I finally went back to my original 1.0f version of the bios and reinstalled WinXP.

So I ask: what is everyone else's experience with bios 1.16? Has anyone else had the rebooting problem? Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance:
Tom