thanks Bill. I inspected the motherboard and it seems to be a micronics m7shi - 01. There doesnt seem to be much about this motherboard, or a bios update for it, on the web, or on the diamond mm homepage -

http://www.diamondmm.com/support/diamond/default.asp?menu=support&submenu=Legacy_Motherboards&product=Pentium_M7S_Hi

any ideas?

: Many motherboard makers used the Triton chipset - not just Intel. You can't use a BIOS update for Intel's Triton boards on every Triton board.

: You must examine the board for a brand/model name. It's written on there somewhere. Look for a 5-8 digit number between the slots.

: Bill

: : Hi there,
: : I'm having some major bios / USB difficulties that maybe someone could help me with. I've searched for hours on the web to find information, but alas there was nothing specific to my problem. I've got a PC that's about 5 years old. It has 2 USB ports that look connected to my motherboard when I open up the PC (I'm no hardware expert, though), but I'm not sure if these ports have ever been used. It's running windows ME, but had previously been running windows 95. I'm not sure how it was upgraded, as I didn't upgrade the OS myself. I just bought a scanner and tried to set it up, but discovered my USB ports were not enabled in windows (they were not listed in device manager). I tried to enable them in bios, but my bios makes no mention of USB anywhere. I read in several places that a bios upgrade might be needed, but when I got the last BIOS version available (BIOS 1.00.07.DH0) for my motherboard (Intel Triton 430HX rev 3) from the Intel website, and tried to upgrade the bios, I got an error message saying "this system does not support flash memory". Does anyone know what might be causing any of these problems - USB not showing in bios, bios not updating, or can anyone give me advice on how to get my USB running? Would reinstalling windows 95 make any difference to my bios settings? I appreciate any help anyone can offer here. I've also posted this on a BIOS forum, in case some elements of my query are not relevant here. Thanks very much,
: : Eoin

: : more info

: : OS: windows ME
: : Program: Unicore BIOS Wizard Version 1.8
: : Program: Unicore Chip Detect v0.72 2000.03.10
: : BIOS Date: 01/27/97
: : BIOS Type: PhoenixBIOS Version 4.05 M7SHi-01
: : BIOS ID: unknown
: : Chipset: Intel Triton 430HX rev 3
: : Superio: SMC 93x rev 1 found at port 370h