Flashing a BIOS

leeh14

leeh14

leeh14

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Joined
12 Jan 2009
Posts
101
hey,

How risky is it to flash a bios. Has anyone had any trouble doing it. read a guide on how to do it and it said use a floppy! but can you do it with a disc?
 
I can do mine with a USB key, it depends on your MB I think.

I can't see why you can't do it from a CD though.

It can be risky though, but you should be fine if you take it slow and are patient with it.
 
Firstly, do you need to flash your BIOS? If not then dont bother, it shouldnt be risky, but if it goes wrong the consequences are pretty extreme. So I dont recomend doing it unless necessary
 
95thrifles said:
Firstly, do you need to flash your BIOS? If not then dont bother, it shouldnt be risky, but if it goes wrong the consequences are pretty extreme. So I dont recomend doing it unless necessary
Click to expand...

What he said, its not like updating drivers. Unless you can see a problem that is effecting you in the release notes then there is no need.

It depends on the board, but most will accept a USB drive. Whatever you do dont do it from inside Windows!
 
In the last 5 years or so a real market for bios chips has sprung up on ebay, particularly Asus ones as their awlful Windows flash utility seems to just be a "fry your mobo" application.
 
the only times it can go wrong is if the power goes out or you flash the wrong bios although sometimes it wont let you flash a completely random bios.

the media which is use doesn't really matter as it will read the bios into memory before it flashes it to stop any read errors will its flashing

only way to recover a badly flashed mobo is to hot swap the bios chip although some mobos they are soldered on :(

MW
 
Best idea is to check the appropriate forum and see if there's a guide. I've just had to flash my MSI BIOS a few times, and there's a handy tool on their forum that makes it a lot easier.

Also, like the others said, don't do it if you don't need to, and be prepared to undo it anyway. I've just tried to upgrade my K9A Platinum from 2x1GB RAM to 4x1GB RAM. It demands a BIOS update to accept the 4GB, but mangles the performance in return. Only do it if you really have to.
 
i have flashed my bios through windows many times with Asus and Evga and so far no issues (have latest versions of bios on both boards).

guess i must be lucky since so many seem to say to avoid it, anyway i flash through windows and will continue to do so since quicker and easiest option.
 
lunarwolf said:
i have flashed my bios through windows many times with Asus and Evga and so far no issues (have latest versions of bios on both boards).

guess i must be lucky since so many seem to say to avoid it, anyway i flash through windows and will continue to do so since quicker and easiest option.
Click to expand...

Well I tried to update my Asus P5B with the windows utility and fried it. It's now on its way back to them to fix or replace.

I would echo what has been said above and only do it if you think it's really necessary, then get as much info as you can before you start. I didn't and now regret it.
 
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