Hello,

My Windows XP PC freezes often.  Simply freezes.  No blue screen.  No death cry.  Just stops.  Even the mouse stops moving.  As if it had eaten a deadly mouse poison.  A very quick acting poison; it doesn't give the mouse a chance to kick or jerk about violently in death throes or anything!  No throes.  Just death.  Frozen death.  

I have to (hard) reboot the PC to get it back to life.  

"Clear!"  
*apply EEG*  
*bang!*  
...and it comes back to life.  

Checking the system log I found that this message was being displayed just before the freeze, each time:
ERROR:
AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port address (0x71), which lies in the 0x70 - 0x71 protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance.

Searching the net for possible solutions led me to think that maybe I should get my BIOS updated....
Do I need to get my BIOS updated?  
If so is it possible to do this without sending my credit card details to very dubious looking internet sites?

Thanks for any help
BibbityBobbityBoo.

Hiya BBB You sound like our kind of nutter

I regularly get that error message in my error log and don't have any problems with freezing. However the aforementioned Serenity does have the messages and her PC regularly freezes. I have suggested that she buys the PC a sweater and some warm socks

Updating your BIOS can be very easy and it can be fraught with danger. It all depends on the make of motherboard you are using and your personal level of technical expertise.

I'll let Serenity tell you how her BIOS upgrade went I'm not ready for a nervous breakdown today

Could you let us know the make and model of your motherboard? This information will allow us to find out if you need to update the BIOS. My guess is that you probably don't and that whatever is causing the freezing lies elsewhere

Actually it did say it was successful Serenity so I think it did flash it correctly but whether it was an incorrect bios for your version of motherboard or not we couldnt really be certain  

PC Shop here I come.... now my only trouble is where I live they only speak chinese.  Anybody know how to say "flash upgrade my bios" in chinese?

Here was where the chinese characters were.. but it screwed up   and it was soo flunny as well

刹那升级我的生物活素

.. Trust me I'm a blonde hair chinese man

Well the forum should be quieter for a few days now that Serenitys gone  

I am on the phone to her now Clive  

My heart is in my mouth.  I know it's not an easy job to change a motherboard.  Adept told me that.  

:heehee: