How to Update the BIOS on an M2N-MX
By Ryan K Oylear
As late as the year 2000, updating the BIOS of your motherboard was a risky endeavor that could only be done with a floppy disk and drive, and required knowledge of the DOS prompt and command line syntax. In order to ease things, motherboard manufacturers started to incorporate simpler means of updating the BIOS without needing a floppy disk or drive. Asus is one such company, using an interface that they call EZ Flash, which can boot the PC to a level capable of reading from a CD or USB flash drive to update the BIOS quickly and easily. The M2N-MX is one such motherboard that has EZ Flash.
Step 1
Download the latest BIOS update file from the Asus website. The file will come in a zip archive. Extract this archive to the desktop. Rename the resultant file in the "8.3" format, where the file name is eight characters or fewer and the extension is three characters. For example, "newbios.bin" would work well.
Step 2
Copy the file to the USB flash drive, or burn it to a blank CD. Make sure to have the drive or disc inserted before rebooting the computer.
Step 3
Reboot the PC. At the POST screen, press the "Alt" key and the "F2" key at the same time to invoke EZ Flash, or press the "Del" key and enter EZ Flash via the "Tools" menu in the BIOS.
Step 4
Wait for EZ Flash to finish checking the current system BIOS. When this is complete, the screen will show details on the current BIOS in the upper left. On the lower half of the screen, to the left, you use the arrow keys to select the drive letter of the CD-ROM or USB flash drive, and then press the "Tab" key to switch to the right pane and select the BIOS update file.
Step 5
Press "Enter" when you have highlighted the update file. EZ Flash will check the contents of the file to be sure it matches the current system. When the check is complete, it will ask if you wish to go ahead with the update. Select "Yes" and press "Enter." EZ Flash will then update the BIOS. When this is complete, reboot the computer.