Windows 7: NTVDM.EXE has stopped working

Apologies if this is in the wrong section, i was unsure where to put it.

I have a Gigabyte MA77OT-UD3P motherboard, i am trying to update my bios. Whenever i try to run bios update i get the following error

''NTVDM.EXE has stopped working''

I believe this has something to do with dos but am not pc savvy enough.



Any help would be greatly appreciated

Run the BIOS updater as Admin
Run as Administrator

Thanks for the reply yawanvista, i have tried that already and still get the same error

Note that if the utility requires actual DOS, you can't run it from within Windows (especially x64) - the version of the cmd prompt on Windows is not really DOS, and does not have actual hardware or BIOS access (just like any other Windows app). If you're running x64 Windows, you can't run 16bit code at all.

You probably need to run the updater from a *real* DOS boot disk.

Thanks for the reply, i am running win 7 ultimate 32bit. Could be more specific please, what i a real dos boot disk and where could i get one?

Thanks

Depending on the revision of your board, the BIOS updates for it are available here:
GIGABYTE - Support & Downloads - Downloads=
First, make sure the update you're using matches the revision of your board - otherwise, it won't work.

Next, I downloaded the files and all appear to indeed be DOS-only utilities (running from autoexec.bat, no less). You will need a bootable DOS floppy disk to run this - you can get disk images from bootdisk.com (download one of the three links to the right of "Driver Free Disk For BIOS Flashing") that, when run, will place the image on a 1.44MB floppy disk. Once you've created the floppy from the downloaded image file, you can then copy the contents of the BIOS utility (including the .exe file, the .F11 file, autoexec.bat, and any other files included in the download) onto that floppy. Once you do that, you can boot to that floppy disk and it will start the flash process for the BIOS automatically.

However and again, this is NOT something you can run from Windows (or even WinPE) - it *MUST* be run from *REAL DOS*. I cannot imagine why in today's day and age (well, this was released in 2009, anyway) we still have BIOS and motherboard makers shipping systems that must be flashed from a utility run from DOS. Bootable (and free to use) Windows PE environments have been around since 2006, and PE itself has been available to system makers since at least 2002.

I do not have a floppy drive

Can it not be done from cd?

You can also use an USB drive

ok so copy the bios exe and other files to my usb hub?

Then do i run it from the usb in windows or do i boot from the usb instead of my hard drive when i start my pc up? Can you explain it in laymans terms please thanks.

Making a USB key DOS bootable is not that easy . It can be done, and search engines bring up pages like these to make a USB key DOS-bootable:
how to flash your bios with dos using a usb stick:
HOWTO: I have no floppy drive, how do I boot DOS from a USB Memory device!! - PC Perspective Forums
DOS Bootable USB flash drive - how I did it : Perley's Pontificating Place
DOS-on-USB - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Note that I have not done any of the above things (I keep a DOS-bootable CD ROM ISO around for such things, which is also not necessarily easy to create either), so ymmv. Once you have a DOS-bootable USB key, you would copy the vendor's files to the key and then boot from it (rather than your hard drive) - you may have to change the boot order in your BIOS, or press the Fxx function key on the keyboard that corresponds to the boot menu during your BIOS post process.

Now you understand why DOS utilities on systems that ship with no floppy are just stupid and lazy on the vendor's part in today's day and age.