How do you Update a Bios

[SLCoran]

I've heard people talk about this but my IT friends advice against it if things work acceptable to the user. Are there any real benefits to it? How do you do it w/o jacking your crap up?

[lamah]

i'm assuming you're talking about a motherboard.......i've killed a motherboard once from an unsuccessful flash. so yeah, the general rule is, if everything's working fine on your system, there's no need.

go to the mb's website, and look at their download section for your mb. look at all the revisions to see if you need to update. stuff like "support for new cpu's" you should download only if you have one of the new cpu's. "improves/fix raid setup" is optionally also if you don't use raid. if you see something like "improves agp or pci-e performance", then it mite be worth downloading and flashing your mb.

the flash program usually comes in dos exe file, sometimes windows exe file (much more convenient). either way though, when you run the program, YOU MUST NOT END IT manually or have a power outage in the middle of its updating. there's usually an info file you can download on how to use the flash program, read it carefully

some manufacturers do not consider mis-flashing your bios to be covered under warranty. so that's something else to think about.

[Drayu]

The update process depends on the mobo. I always check to see what the benefits are of the new bios before upgrading. You want to see if you will gain any benefit from it. For me, my last update was essential because it added support for the Q6600.

The way I do it is based on my ASUS board. But, check the manual for your particular board. I know that ASUS offers several ways to update, but there is really only one way to go, AFUDos.
1. Record all bios settings and then set to default
2. You boot off a floppy drive (you can USB if you set it to boot), run AFUDos
3. Run the BIOS overwrite
4. When it is completed shut down
5. Remove the battery and reset the jumper pins to clear CMOS. Leave it that way for at least 15mins
6. Reboot and reset bios settings
7. You're good to go

It sounds alot harder than it is. It really only take a few mins (except for the jumper/battery part). Only thing you want to make sure of is that your don't lose power during update. ALSO, never use an autoupdate like ASUS has, or a windows based update. THEY SUCK AND YOU WILL PROBABLY FRY YOUR BOARD!!!

[Aeromotor1]

the way I do it is with AWDflash and floppys, You can do it thru windows off a cd.
It's easy, but backup everything first, always to sep drive.

it usually to fix bugs or add update to mobo for newer products.

Here's some info


http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=36748

[LordBeer]

Sometimes it can make hardware a little more compatible and/or stable. An example being some of the AMD motherboard needing a BIOS update before they will be able to use quad core CPUs. They usually dont give you much of a performance boost though. The BIOS listings will usually say what the specific BIOS changes are for each version.

Depending on the motherboard there might be a few different ways of doing it. I've seen some of the higher end boards that will allow you to burn a bootable CD with all the stuff on it you'll need. I usually do it the old fashioned way though and use a bootable floppy drive with the flashing utility and BIOS file on it. Some boards have a nifty self boot that takes you directly into a BIOS flash screen.

1st thing is you'll have to go to the motherboards manufacturer's website. If you look up on the support pages for your specific boards you should be able to find a listing of the BIOS updates. Depending on what options are open to you, there should be some tutorials on the website that will walk you thought it.

It really is pretty easy to do. However there are a few risks. If you should encounter any of the problems though, it will surely shut you down your PC for a while. You'll need the aid of another PC to fix it at best. At worst you'll kill the board. If the power goes out in the middle of the BIOS flash then you'll have a board with a corrupt or missing BIOS. This will prevent it from booting. Some boards have a dual BIOS setup to cover you though and others have gotten better at being able to reflash the BIOS. Although some will leave you completely shit out of luck. All depends on what kinda board you have.

Can you tell us exactly what brand, model, and revision your motherboard is? Should show the info during the POST process or in the board manual.

[sir_digalot]

i use the win version of awd flash, it generally works great, the only issues people have is loss of power, or windows/computer crash during the process and of course the wrong bios file.....

all of hte above will effectivly brick your motherboard, however for the most part all is not lost because most new mobo's have a bios chip that can be swapped out so you can usually find and buy a replacement

[Aeromotor1]

Most newer mobo's have a crash free bios anyway, so refer your manual and check into doing it

[LordBeer]

I remember one of the meanest viruses I ever saw and encountered had to do with the motherboard's BIOS. It would go in and flash the BIOS on you and brick your board. Was one of those early email bitches. Was odd when I ran into it. It was sent to me, my brother, and my barber all within the same week. I had some decent security settings for my brother and I. My barber was not so lucky. Her board was fubar. I forget the name of that one though.